Aquarium says tower plan could threaten sea animals, finances
The New England Aquarium on Monday came out in opposition to developer Don Chiofaro’s plan to build a 600-foot tower on its doorstep, declaring that the aquarium would face “substantial financial risks” if the massive project goes forward.
The New England Aquarium on Monday came out in opposition to developer Don Chiofaro’s plan to build a 600-foot tower on its doorstep, declaring that the aquarium would face “substantial financial risks” if the massive project goes forward.
Aquarium officials said the vibrations and noise from construction of a tower on the Boston Harbor Garage site next door could threaten the health of its marine animals and that the towers would worsen existing traffic and parking problems in the neighborhood, scaring away the visitors it depends on for revenue.
The opposition threatens to escalate a neighborhood scrap over traffic, parking, and shadows that would be created by the towers into an ugly brawl involving an institution known to generations of New Englanders.
“We don’t have a significant endowment or financial reserves. We need people walking through the door,” said Bill Burgess, chairman of the aquarium’s committee on the garage redevelopment. “To the extent that people can’t get here or are dissuaded from coming here because of construction, that poses a significant financial risk to the aquarium.”
The aquarium’s concerns came in response to draft recommendations recently released by the Boston Redevelopment Authority that would allow the proposed development on the Harbor Garage site to reach 600 feet. Aquarium officials said they are open to a smaller building, however.
A spokeswoman for Chiofaro Co. said that it appreciated the aquarium’s “thoughtful participation” in the approval process and looked forward to “collaborating with the aquarium . . . to produce an exceptional project that will deliver exceptional public benefits and dramatically enhance this section of the waterfront.”
The aquarium’s concerns, outlined in a letter sent to the BRA on Monday, don’t differ much from complaints voiced by residents of the nearby Harbor Towers for years: that Chiofaro’s grand project would block access to the waterfront, add traffic to congested streets, exacerbate the shortage of parking spaces, cast long shadows, and bring obnoxious dust and vibration to the area during construction.
But unlike those neighbors, the aquarium can marshal an army of wealthy and politically connected donors and board members — not to mention the 1.3 million visitors who come to see its seals, turtles, penguins, and exhibits each year.
The vocal opposition poses a headache for city officials, who are eager to see the long-delayed project break ground before the hot real estate market cools and financing becomes harder to secure.
In a statement, a spokesman for the BRA said the authority valued the aquarium’s feedback but defended the guidelines as “sensible” and insisted that redevelopment must proceed.
“We would not endorse a plan that significantly disrupts the aquarium’s operations, and we don’t believe our recommendations would lead to this,” BRA spokesman Nick Martin said.
Because the garage stands on state-regulated tidelands, Governor Charlie Baker’s environmental affairs office will have the final say on any development.
“The city is probably getting frustrated with [Chiofaro],” said Michael McCormack, a former Boston city councilor and longtime real estate attorney whose practice is a tenant in nearby Chiofaro’s International Place development. “They want to see a project on this site move forward, and a letter from the aquarium now doesn’t help that process at all.”
McCormack said he was surprised the aquarium was making its objections public instead of going directly to Chiofaro, and he saw the letter as a sign the developer may have allowed a vital relationship in the neighborhood to sour. He said the two sides ought to have been able to work out a way to minimize the project’s impact on the aquarium.
Frustrated aquarium leaders broke off preliminary talks with Chiofaro in September, saying the developer had slick renderings but did not seem ready to discuss their concerns.
“He’s a schmoozer, but there wasn’t enough specific detail for us to react to,” said Eric Krauss, the aquarium’s chief financial officer. “The issues we need to get comfortable with require a lot more than a concept.”
Chiofaro has been fighting to develop the property since he acquired it with Prudential Real Estate Investors in 2007 for more than $150 million. He famously tangled with thenmayor Thomas M. Menino, who opposed any tower above 200 feet. But the current mayor, Martin J. Walsh, seems open to a taller project.
The draft recommendations the Walsh administration released two weeks ago would allow a 900,000-square-foot complex anchored by a tower as high as 600 feet. That’s roughly four times the height allowed for the site under existing state rules, but smaller than the 1.3 million-square-foot project Chiofaro wanted.
Chiofaro has not said how he might revise his plans to comply with the new city recommendations, which still need to be reviewed by a committee of waterfront stakeholders and voted on by the BRA’s board.
The aquarium’s leaders want a tower no taller than 300 to 400 feet, saying a smaller building would help alleviate traffic and shadow problems. However, they say that vibration and noise would be a problem for the sea animals regardless of the project’s height.
McCormack doubted the city would bring its recommendation down to that range. To recoup the cost of tearing down the garage and building so close to the water, any project would need to accommodate a large number of rent-paying tenants, he said.
The aquarium is also worried that Chiofaro would cover too much of the 1.3-acre site with buildings, skirting “open space” regulations and reducing the project’s public benefit.
And while the developer has said he would replace the 1,400 spaces in the current garage with a new underground parking facility, the aquarium is concerned its visitors will have to share those spaces with tower tenants and will have nowhere to park during construction.
The aquarium voiced similar concerns in a 2009 letter it sent to the city in response to an earlier Chiofaro proposal for an even taller tower.
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto. Dan Adams can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DanielAdams86.