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Rosemary Sansone, President of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District, said her organization in its four years of existence the BID’s strength has been that it is “nimble, flexible,” and, “That’s been our greatest success – listening to people.” Sansone reviewed the success over four years of the BID, which is funded by an assessment on the businesses in the Downtown Crossing district. The budget of the organization is $6.7 million, spent about a third on keeping the neighborhood clean and about a fifth programs and hospitality.
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CREW Boston members had the opportunity to tour 888 Boylston Street, which is deemed the most sustainable building in Boston. Members enjoyed a video highlighting some of the key features of the building before Dave Stewart and Mark Denman took them on a guided tour of one of the unfinished floors to see the open floorplan and then down to another floor, which had an outside terrace overlooking Boylston Street.
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CREW Boston’s November luncheon at Mandarin Oriental Boston focused on the City’s planning efforts leading into 2030 and beyond. The event centered around the question of who we want to be as a city in 15 years and how these planning efforts can help us to get there. The event kicked off with an overview of Imagine Boston 2030, the City’s planning initiative which is working to define a vision for Boston leading up to its 400th birthday and beyond and provide a roadmap to realize that vision. As Boston’s first citywide plan in 50 years, Imagine Boston 2030 will create a framework to preserve and enhance Boston while embracing growth as a means to address our challenges and make the city stronger and more inclusive.
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CREW Boston’s October luncheon at Boston’s InterContinental focused on the future of Kendall Square, the most innovative square mile in the world, with its dense cluster of life science, technology and education sectors thriving off of each other. Our panel included Bob Coughlin, president and CEO of MassBio; Tom Andrews, executive vice president of Alexandria Real Estate Equities; Bill Kane, senior vice president of BioMed Realty; Michael Owu, director at MIT Investment Management Co.; and Michael Cantalupa, senior vice president of Boston Properties. Tina Cassidy, executive vice president and chief content officer at InkHouse served as moderator.
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Just weeks after Millennium Tower welcomed its first residents, Kathy MacNeil and Halle Auerbach of Millennium Partners gave members a private tour and special networking event. After the tour, the networking continued at the Millennium Tower Sales Office with cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres.
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CREW Boston and the New England Chapter of the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) gathered at the newly opened rooftop gardens and Conference Center at 53 State Street for a discussion on Multi-Family Housing. Moderated by Don Bouchard with Lincoln Property Company, panelist discussed the state of supply, demand, construction costs and the forecast for the multi-family market in Greater Boston. Panelists included Tom O’Brien, Founding Partner and Managing Director of HYM Investment Group and a former Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Leslie Cohen, Principal, Chief Operating Officer of Samuel & Associates and Lauren O'Neil, Director of HFF.
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CREW Boston’s September luncheon featured Doug Poutasse of Bentall Kennedy, a Harvard-trained economic analyst and forecaster who shared his insights on mega trends in capital markets, the real estate industry and the overall economy. Overall, Poutasse said that the U.S. economy is poised for continued growth, with 2.5 million jobs created within the last year. However, consumers remain cautious and have decreased spending despite an increase in wages. Demographically, immigrants, baby boomers and millennials are key transformative forces in terms of labor markets, housing markets and consumption. The election does raise the risk of market uncertainty or policy changes but so far, the future looks bright.
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CREW Boston's June luncheon and annual meeting at the Boston Harbor Hotel featured Carla Harris, vice chairman of global wealth management, managing director and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley. Carla, who is also the author of Strategize to Win and Expect to Win, inspired attendees with Carla’s Pearls, valuable lessons she’s learned through her successes and failures during a long career as a woman on Wall Street. Carla drove home the importance of not only surviving in the workplace, but thriving. She also provided key insight on how to get out of bad situations and achieve success despite any type of environment.
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CREW Boston's May luncheon at the Four Seasons featured John Barros, Boston’s first Chief of Economic Development. At this luncheon, CREW gathered a full house ready to hear about the opportunities, challenges, and future of development in Boston from the City’s perspective. John dove headfirst into the state of Boston’s economy as it stands. The numbers tell part of the story - Boston’s economy is thriving, growing 3.7% from 2012 to 2013, compared to the U.S. average of 2.2%. Also between 2012 and 2013, the city added 12,000 new jobs. But as John noted, to keep Boston growing sustainably, the City has to prioritize.
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