Seaport-to-South Station aerial gondola imperiled by impasse on relocation

An affiliate of developer Millennium Partners, the same folks behind the recently green-lighted Winthrop Square tower, have not been able to reach a deal with Stavis Seafoods to co-anchor an industrial site on the South Boston waterfront in exchange for a property the company owns in the footprint of a potential technology campus a few blocks away.

Consequently, the developer has lost the right to develop the 6.8-acre parcel in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park that the Massachusetts Port Authority controls. Massport put the parcel back out to bid on June 29, per the Globe’s Jon Chesto.

Millennium needed the seafood company to relocate to the Flynn parcel to free up development space in a planned 12-acre tech campus that Millennium wants to build a few blocks away.

It was from that site that the developer was thinking of underwriting a $100 million aerial gondola to South Station. The plan is one of the more interesting mass transit ideas for the Boston area in modern times.

Now, though, Millennium will likely have to reduce its build-out footprint—and then reduce the money available for transportation. And that could imperil the likelihood of the one-mile gondola 30 to 50 feet above Summer Street.

Or perhaps not: Chesto reports that Millennium might bid on the Flynn site again. Stay tuned.

• Massport puts Seaport parcel up for grabs again [Globe]
• Winthrop Square tower wins key approval, likely a go [Curbed Boston]
• Seaport-to-South Station gondola hangs in the balance of property negotiations [Curbed Boston]