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Don Chiofaro

By adamg - 7/12/22 - 1:37 pm

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that the state's environmental secretary went too far in approving a plan that would let developers replace the Aquarium garage and the James Hook seafood store with skyscrapers - not on the merits but because the legislature didn't give her specific permission to put her stamp on waterfront projects. Read more.

By adamg - 8/26/21 - 3:33 pm

Acting Mayor Kim Janey today cited Boston's unique vulnerability to rising sea levels in announcing she was withdrawing a waterfront plan developed by then mayor Marty Walsh under which the Chiofaro family would have finally gotten to build a skyscraper next to the New England Aquarium, long blocked because of the family patriarch's unceasing feud with Tom Menino, and which would have let developers replace the James Hook seafood trailer and the rest of its fire-ravaged pier with a hotel. Read more.

By adamg - 1/22/20 - 8:32 pm
Architect's rendering of Pinnacle building

Architect's rendering. Note birds in right view. See larger.

The Chiofaro Co. today filed formal plans with the BPDA for its proposed Pinnacle at Central Wharf, a 42-story, 600-foot-high office and residential tower that would replace the Aquarium garage - 12 years after it bought the garage and after years of an infamous feud between Don Chiofaro and then Mayor Tom Menino. Read more.

By adamg - 11/20/19 - 4:42 pm

The Chiofaro Co. told the BPDA today it will soon file detailed plans for a 600-foot-tall tower to replace the garage in front of the New England Aquarium - a garage Donald Chiofaro has been trying to replace for more than a decade now, at first under the specter of a feud with then Mayor Tom Menino. Read more.

By adamg - 6/22/18 - 9:21 am

The condo association at the Harbor Towers says it plans to sue the state over its recent approval of a city plan to allow developer Don Chiofaro's proposed replacement of the Aquarium garage. Read more.

By adamg - 2/21/18 - 11:44 am

In a letter to the state, the BPDA says it's resolved its long-standing issues with Don Chiofaro and the city is now OK with him replacing the Aquarium garage with a 600-foot tower (yes, just one), as part of a waterfront master plan that would also see new open space at what is now a Long Wharf parking lot and a new deck for the Harborwalk near the Moakley Bridge. Read more.

By adamg - 4/24/17 - 9:50 am

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports how the BPDA and developer Don Chiafaro have figured out how to get around pesky open-space requirements that would otherwise limit the size of his perpetually proposed plan to replace the Aquarium garage with a mega-complex: Buy the IMAX theater and then raze it. Read more.

By adamg - 9/19/16 - 10:30 am

The Globe reports Don Chifaro finally realizes he's just never going to get to replace the Aquarium garage with one of the tallest buildings in the city and so will file plans for something a bit less grand, but more in line with BRA recommendations.

By adamg - 12/1/15 - 10:30 pm

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports BRA Director Brian Golden is saying he can't deal with Don Chiofaro and his proposed towers anymore. In a letter to a waterfront advisory committee, Golden says the BRA and Chiofaro are at an impasse on the size of the towers.

By adamg - 9/7/15 - 11:08 pm

The Globe reports Don Chiofaro thinks the city should help him out with his proposal to replace the Aquarium garage with a big complex because it won't let him build it quite as big as he wants.

By adamg - 6/10/15 - 7:03 am
Chiofaro's proposed towers

One of these might have to go.

The Globe reports that City Hall is about to give the developer permission to put up at least one 600-foot tower at the site of his ugly Aquarium garage. But life is full of compromises and so City Hall will only let him build a total of 900,000 square feet of sheer awesomeness instead of the 1.2 million he feels is his due, which might limit the size of the second tower he wants to put there.

By adamg - 9/12/14 - 10:02 pm

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on the results of a BRA-hired consultant's report on the shadows Chiofaro's proposed two towers would cast on the Greenway - and the issue of whether the project would have any of the required "open space."

By adamg - 7/24/14 - 11:58 am

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports the trustees of Harbor Towers have come out swinging against Donald Chiofaro's proposed towers next door, saying they're just too damn big:

Since modern urban planning began here in Boston in the early 1960s, it has been customary and an article of faith that we do not build huge skyscrapers and excessive density on our waterfront; the recent, professionally conducted Greenway District Guidelines, supported by broad public participation, reinforced that principle.

By adamg - 6/25/14 - 4:53 pm
Proposed Chiofaro towers

Rendering by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. See it larger.

Developer Don Chiofaro, whose efforts to replace the Aquarium garage with a $1-billion pair of towers were thwarted by archnemesis Tom Menino, today proposed a $1-billion pair of towers for the site.

By adamg - 4/18/14 - 10:02 am

The Globe looks at the prospects that the downtown developer may finally be able to tear down the Aquarium garage and put up that tower he wants, now that Boston has a mayor who doesn't take offense at his existence.

By adamg - 6/4/12 - 7:07 pm

The Boston Business Journal reports Don Chiofaro has finally figured out how to get things done in Boston, after waking up to a horse's head in his bed a little chat with Godmayor consigliere Peter Meade: The BRA will actually work with him to replace the Aquarium garage with something a little taller, as long as he stops doing stuff like going on Greater Boston to bitch

By adamg - 11/11/11 - 10:33 pm

MassINC Presents: Mayor Tom Menino's Parody of the Opening Scene from The Godfather

By adamg - 12/1/10 - 7:21 am

Brian McGrory reports this morning that Don Chiofaro's latest plans for the Aquarium garage would keep the garage in place (no word on the stupid red ribbon) and stick 12 stories of condos and apartments on top of it. That would keep the thing at the 200-foot level Mayor Menino insists is the tallest anybody can build along the Greenway (and a far cry from the 48-story complex Chiofaro proposed a couple months back).

But here's an idea:

By adamg - 9/20/10 - 8:44 pm

Developer Don Chiofaro says 48 stories is as low as he can go with his proposed $1 billion project in front of the Aquarium and that dramatic changes mean the city should just let him move forward.

"Frankly, I think this is an opportunity for the mayor to step forward as a leader and do something that could be really terrific for the city," he told Emily Rooney on "Greater Boston" tonight (watch).

By adamg - 7/30/10 - 8:56 pm

The BRA fires back at Don Chiofaro over his proposal to tear down that garage near the Aquarium (the one with the weird red ribbon thing) and replace it with a skyscraper:

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