Barney Frank kicked off what proved to be an exciting and interactive day yesterday at ULI’s Urban Marketplace Boston. Over lunch, the Congressman, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told us about a four-part overhaul of the nation’s finance system. Most notably on the real estate side was the idea that there would be more government investment in affordable rental housing. He talked about the ever-growing need for affordable rentals, especially now when people are being forced out of mortgages that they never could afford in the first place.
After lunch, more than 200 people gathered to hear developers, financiers and city officials discuss four emerging markets: Fenway/Longwood, Southwest Corridor (One Roxbury Crossing, Jackson Square), Lowell and Downtown Crossing. Ideas were exchanged on everything from how to re-brand Downtown Crossing (you can’t just stick a new name on an old site, you actually have to change it, was the consensus) to how to get projects out of the ground at Jackson Square and Roxbury Crossing. It was really interesting to hear so many people engage in this type of format. We even got to hear John Hynes unveil a new proposal for the Filene’s site and people’s immediate reactions (slightly taller that re-incorporates residential uses).
Later, Jerry Rappaport of New Boston Fund gathered everyone for a closing panel and thoughts from some of the guests on where the real estate market is today and where it is headed. John Fowler of Holiday Fenoglio Fowler, who has worked through many downturns, told the crowd that some new innovation would come out of Massachusetts and lift us out of this recession. He wasn’t sure what it would be, but sure that it would happen as it always has.
--Alison Thompson is an account supervisor at Solomon McCown & Company. She can be reached by email at athompson@solomonmccown.com
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