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Cruise terminal plan runs aground PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 26 April 2008 10:44
City opposes turning warehouse building into offices

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr. Globe Staff / April 26, 2008

A $300 million-plus plan to modernize and expand the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal for waterborne visitors to Boston has run aground at City Hall.

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Although the City of Boston stands to gain $40 million to $50 million over a decade from Cargo Ventures LLC's plan to revitalize the facility, the Menino administration opposes the company's proposed redevelopment of an adjacent warehouse building, which was supposed to finance construction of the new terminal.

Cargo Ventures disclosed its plan late last year to redevelop the parallel structures: the deteriorating Black Falcon Cruise Terminal and the Bronstein Center warehouse space, which is in the same blocks-long building as the Boston Design Center.At the time, officials at the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns Black Falcon, were enthusiastic about getting a new $75 million terminal that would receive cruise ship passengers.

City officials worry that office space could take over the area, once it's allowed. So, Palmieri said, the BRA has made it clear to Cargo Ventures and Massport that 'We didn't want to find ourselves on a slippery slope.'

Nor do city officials like Cargo Ventures' plan for parking for about 1,000 cars in the cruise terminal building, which is next to the Reserved Channel.

A garage would make the office space more desirable, but, 'We're not quite sure that's a place parking should be located,' Palmieri said.State Senator Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat, said he is optimistic a compromise can be reached, perhaps allowing a mix of office and industrial uses in the Bronstein Center. Hart said he has spoken with Menino.

'The mayor suggested and I would suggest that he's going to bring the BRA, Massport, and interested parties together and hopefully work something out,'Hart said.

Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association, had a similar hope. 'The mayor has been quite successful in broadening the definition of industrial,'she said, citing banking and food operations that have taken space in the industrial park. 'You're not manufacturing widgets anymore.'

John Cremmen, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, said finding industrial users for the Bronstein Center will be a tough task. 'I'm one that preserves the industrial base as best I can in my daily efforts,'he said. 'But most of the industrial you see doesn't want to be on multiple floors.'

In an earlier time, the Menino administration itself argued that the building wasn't right for industrial use.In 1996, Menino proposed selling the entire Boston Marine Industrial Park. Linda Haar, the BRA's planning director at the time, said the string of buildings, including the Bronstein Center, should be sold and the area no longer considered part of a marine district because the buildings were unsuitable for maritime operations and contained little of those uses, anyway.

Menino backed off when South Boston politicians and their constituents complained he wasn't protecting their blue-collar jobs. Menino has promoted his Back Streets policy, protecting and encouraging blue-collar jobs, in several neighborhoods.

Cargo Ventures' proposal, which appears to be on hold, included a 120,000-square-foot cruise terminal with modern customs, baggage-handling, and security systems, and amenities like shops and restaurants. It would be a new front door for visitors arriving by ship, who now are greeted by rundown warehouse space.

Cargo Ventures also proposed to rent out the rehabilitated Bronstein Center space to biotech and life-sciences companies, among others, which city officials initially seemed enthusiastic about.

Palmieri pledged officials would entertain a compromise on uses for the Bronstein Center.

Port officials declined to comment.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


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