Meeting virtually with reporters to discuss the city’s latest economic analysis about a month ago, Mayor Michelle Wu boasted about the success of her office-residential conversion program for Boston’s pandemic-stricken downtown.
Three days later, a different view emerged at a meeting held by commercial real estate trade group NAIOP Massachusetts in the Seaport: One developer described the results as anemic, while another likened locating a workable conversion to finding a needle in a haystack.
So which is it? Boom or bust? The truth will likely end up somewhere in between. We won’t know the answer for a while. Just before Wu’s pilot program offering tax breaks to encourage residential conversions was set to expire on June 30, she announced it will stay open through the end of 2025 — with the help of $15 million in state aid pledged by the Healey administration.
Source: Downtown Boston office-residential conversions off to modest start
