We relocated here from New York City, where Midtown is a very distinct thing: a conterminous commercial district and residential neighborhood. Walk too far north, south, east or west and—bam!—you're out of Midtown Manhattan. Boston has a Midtown, too, though it's often the subject of disbelief or derision. Apparently, though, Boston 2024, the private group pushing the 2024 Summer Games for the region, seeks to transform Midtown through billions in investment and millions of square feet of new space.
With or without the Olympics, Boston 2024 says it wants to build out the 18-block, Widett Circle-centered Midtown area—bounded roughly by West Fourth Street, Dorchester Street and I-93—to the tune of $1.2 billion and 7.89 million square feet of space. Privately driven development (with public subsidies) would unfold all the way until 2040; and features would include 950 residential units by 2024 and a further 525 by the following year. There would also be 440,000 square feet of hotel space and thousands more parking spaces as well as new retail and offices.
Related: 18 Renderings and Maps to Explain the Boston Olympics
Speaking of Manhattan, the fresh pitch, which Boston 2024 unveiled Monday, has already been compared to the Hudson Yards development on that New York borough's far West Side. There, a team led by the Related Companies is constructing more than 17 million square feet of residential and commercial space over what were largely train yards. Interestingly enough, that mega-project sprang from New York's push to host the 2012 Summer Games (the one London nabbed). How? Fierce debate about plunking an Olympic stadium on Hudson Yards got people and the powers that be talking about development there in general. And viola: a city within a city. Settle in.
· Boston 2024's $1.2 Billion 'Legacy' Plan for Midtown [Biz Journal]
· N.Y. Project Offers Model, Lessons for Widett Circle Proposal [Globe]
· Our complete Boston Olympics coverageOur complete Boston Olympics coverage [Curbed Boston]
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