In more suburban residential real estate, you’ll oftentimes hear the phrases “scrape off” and “pop the top”, referring to buying a home namely for the land and bulldozing the house down to build something bigger and better, and buying a one-story ranch style home and adding an additional level to it, respectively. Boston may be poised for the latter. The Boston Courant ran a story last year that covered several new large-scale developments (both commercial and residential) that were in the works for Boston, and one of those has been getting more press lately: the high-rise build out of the Neiman Marcus store.
The potential build of a 47-story tower over the top of Neiman Marcus near Copley Square, adding a reported 300 luxury condo units to the area, is in the works. Our sources at the Boston Redevelopment Authority have received a Letter of Intent (LOI) for project submittal from Simon Property Group (Developer), so the process has officially begun.
If built, this would be the grand daddy of the Back Bay in terms of residential condo tower height, and would provide owners on high floors unparalleled views of the city, Copley Place, and the Charles River.
What’s interesting to note is that the Wall Street Journal just published a front page weekend edition story entitled Woes in Condo Market Build As New Supply Floods Cities, which speaks to the troubles that some cities such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and San Diego (no mention of Boston was made) are experiencing where condo developments in the pipeline are having difficulty selling out, shifting direction to rentals, or are being canceled all together. The rising supply is a reflection of the picture in 2004 through 2006 — a time of huge demand for condos. Speculation was rampant as investors believed empty nesters and young professionals seeking an urban experience akin to what they watched on “Friends” would prop up the condo market for years.
The downtown Boston real estate market has remained strong (see No Real Estate Crisis in Boston), and condo developments are continuing to break ground and come online (take the Bryant on Columbus, the Clarendon Back Bay, and 285 Columbus Lofts for instance, all within 2 blocks of the potential Copley Place tower). We have seen projects move from for sale condos to rentals, take Avenir, and Harbovriew for instance. However, there may be good reason for such “failures” as for sale condo developments (see Harborview Navy Yard Fails, Now Luxury Rental). We’ll stay close to this new development near the heart of the Back Bay, should it be built, it will be a grand addition to the area.
Keith Munsell 
