In celebration of the year that was, we took a look back at some of the more popular stories and topics in 2016.
At press time, the most-read story of the year on beta.bankerandtradesman.com was Steve Adam’s report on plans filed by New York City-based Midwood Investment & Management for a 59-story residential tower in Downtown Crossing. Adams originally broke the story of Midwood’s plans to develop its downtown parcels in November 2015. (Incidentally, that was the most-viewed story of that year as well.) Midwood submitted designs to the BCDC and BRA in April for a tower containing 300 luxury apartments, 119 condominiums and 235 parking spaces.
In another “landmark” change, the Boston Redevelopment Authority in September became the Boston Planning & Development Agency. A result of a $670,000 study authorized in March to inspire “greater trust and confidence” in the agency, the new name is “designed to better reflect the agency’s far-reaching roles shaping Boston’s landscape.”
In 50 years, when everyone who’s currently in the commercial real estate scene is retired and the BPDA is celebrating a landmark anniversary (assuming it doesn’t change its name again before then), perhaps the taint on the name the BRA will be forgotten – but don’t count on it. Bostonians have long memories and are champion grudge-holders. The BRA fairly earned a lot – not all, but a lot – of the condemnation heaped upon it. A new name and logo doesn’t overwrite a half-century of bad memories.
The most popular In Person of the year, unsurprisingly, was Jim Morrison’s interview with Michael Richardson, a former cornerback for the New England Patriots and now a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker. The top banking story, courtesy of Laura Alix, was coverage of HarborOne’s plan to reorg into a mutual holding company and offer a partial IPO.
Other hot topics included continued coverage of GE’s move to Boston; the luxury housing market, both condos in Boston and vacation homes on the Cape, as reported by Scott Van Voorhis; Harvard University’s dealings in Allston; and Shire’s continued expansion in the suburbs.
The top three special sections of the year were the third annual Loan Originators, the CRE Insider and the 2016 Women of FIRE. The landing page for the Gossip Report and our Media Center also saw a lot of views this year.
In more recent news, Dec. 5 clocked the most page views of any single day in 2016. So thanks to you, readers, for helping us go out on a high note. We made it. With apologies to the Beatles, another year is over and a new one is almost begun.
Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find coverage of the cities and towns in our fair commonwealth that have yet to recover their 2005 housing peaks, as well as a review of the 2016 housing market and some predictions for 2017. But the news – and life – are nothing if not unpredictable, and Realtors, bless their hearts, are relentlessly optimistic. Too many variables await us next year to, with any certainty, place bets on what will come.
But rest assured that when the news happens, you’ll see it first in the pages of Banker & Tradesman. Thanks for a great year, readers – we’ll see you in 2017.
