Buried in an article in Sunday’s New York Times was an update on Gale International’s One Franklin, née Filene’s building, development project.
As most readers know, the project has been delayed “because of difficulties obtaining credit,” according to the Times.
According to Gale president and chief executive John B Hynes, III, about three-quarters of the 250,000 square feet of retail space has been preleased, half of it to Filenes, the buildings original tenant … [also], he said, a buyer was found for a 275-room hotel, and one-quarter of the buildings 500,000 square feet of office space has been leased.
The Times article was focused on complaints from members of the commercial real estate industry that very little of the $350 billion injected by the government into the banking system has found its way out of lenders’ pockets into borrowers’ hands. (That was a very tortured sentence.)
So Im sitting here in Boston waiting for coins to fall out of the sky, and nothings happening, Mr. Hynes said. I thought they were getting the money so that they could lend it out and we could create jobs. Its like giving the automakers $25 billion, and then they dont make any cars.
Funny. I’m sitting here in Boston, too, waiting for coins to fall out of the sky.
Sometimes, it just ain’t that easy!
Source: A Wish List For Real Estate – By Amy Cortese, The New York Times
