The Boston Herald was on the proposal by state Rep. Marty Walsh (D-Boston Mayoral Race) to redevelop City Hall Plaza like Brown on Williamson.
Monday’s front page:
Marty Walsh pushes City Hall redevelopment
Mayoral candidate state Rep. Martin J. Walsh is pushing a dramatic downtown development plan that would put a new City Hall under private ownership and open up Boston’s most coveted site to a hotel, apartments and stores.
“You could put a hotel boutique here. [We think he meant boutique hotel.] You could put a full hotel here. You could have an office building. You could put so much in this area,” Walsh told the Herald while walking through the vast, deserted brick plaza yesterday morning. “We could have shops … that would fit in with Faneuil Hall Marketplace.”
The Dorchester Democrat’s plan, which he unveiled exclusively to the Herald yesterday . . .
That is, of course, if by “unveiled exclusively to the Herald” you mean “also unveiled to the Boston Globe.”
From Monday’s Globe Metro front page (print edition headline):
Walsh proposes City Hall sale
Boston mayoral candidate state Representative Martin J. Walsh announced a proposal Sunday to revitalize downtown by selling City Hall Plaza to a private developer and moving government services somewhere nearby — an idea sharply criticized by some of his opponents.
“This area must evolve from a 9-to-5 weekday government-dependent culture to a culture economically driven to add value 24/7,” Walsh said in a statement from his campaign.
Apparently a nonexclusive statement.
Not to get technical about it.
Fun fact to know and tell:
Both dailies reported that City Hall could “fetch” between $125 million and $150 million. But the Globe added this:
The idea of moving City Hall has been discussed for decades. In 2006, Mayor Thomas M. Menino proposed selling the plaza to private developers for between $300 million and $400 million and using that money to build a new City Hall on the South Boston Waterfront.
So, wait – City Hall is now worth half as much as it was seven years ago?
Tom Menino has some ‘splainin’ to do.
