» Monthly Archives: January 2009

Common sense for developers: don’t let your project be THE election issue
By Jay Vincent Regional Vice President, The Saint Consulting Group It's no surprise that if all politics is local, then today's real estate projects are vulnerable when election season heats up. Whether a developer has an ongoing project in the approval phase or wants to proceed with the purchase of property that needs some type of local entitlement, ...
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Economic slowdown pushes medical facilities development onto life support
By Tom Ahern Senior Vice President, The Saint Consulting Group The global economic slowdown, exacerbated by tight credit markets, flat retail sales and rising unemployment in the United States, has moved beyond commercial real estate to claim its first victims in the healthcare sector. New hospitals, medical office buildings and outpatient surgery centers, which only months ago were ...
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Advice to cities: eight criteria on clear goals, accountability, scarce resources
With economic recession challenging America's cities, it is worth revisiting a succinct outline of essential criteria for the use of scarce resources in a community. Patrick Fox, president of Saint Consulting Group in Hingham, Massachusetts, made the presentation at an Urban Land Institute conference in 2006 on establishing accountability in planning for Springfield, Massachusetts. It applies ...
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How to cut greenhouse gas emissions? California finds devil in the detail
By Jesse McKnight Executive Vice President, The Saint Consulting Group California enjoys a reputation for leading the US, and sometimes the world, in many ways to curtail global warming, but it is finding the devil is in the detail with its efforts to quantify green house gases and develop reduction programs. Translating good intentions into clear criteria and ...
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Good advice to developers — how to win over skeptical politicians to your project
By Nick Keable Vice President, UK Operations, The Saint Consulting Group With so much public opposition to large-scale development, it may be helpful to summarize some advice we share with clients to help developers save time and money and win planning consent. A prospective client asked me an interesting question today: "What options do I have to ...
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SLAPP 2: does public’s role in planning process need protection in Canada? Yes
Concern over protecting public participation in the development process is spreading from the US to Canada. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) laws, which are common in the US, are being introduced in British Columbia and Quebec, and, the movement is percolating in Ontario as well, writes Paul Devlin, a vice president for ...
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“Tranche warfare” pits lenders, investors in $700M debt battle over Boston tower
In Boston, the John Hancock Tower is at the center of a fight among a group of lenders and investors, just two years after private-equity firm Broadway Real Estate Partners bought the iconic office building with help from some big names on Wall Street, according to a Wall Street Journal report by Lingling Lei and ...
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Homeowner caught in eminent domain dispute between two New Jersey towns
It's bad enough when you have to protect your property from eminent domain in your own town. Spare a thought for Bridget Tapkas in Fairview, N.J., who is battling efforts by Cliffside Park, a neighboring town, to take her property. Aside from the sheer puzzlement the case arouses, her attorney, Anthony Delle Pelle points out, "If ...
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Solar panels near Boston’s Fenway Park may power sprawling mixed use project
Developer John Rosenthal, who protested against nuclear power plants decades ago, wants to build the largest solar installation in Massachusetts to power part of a sprawling mixed-used development he proposes near Fenway Park in Boston. Casey Ross writes in The Boston Globe that solar panels could produce enough power for nearly a third of the ...
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Madison, Wis. eyes draconian zoning ordinances to ‘adapt to climate change’
Madison, Wis., is taking a close look at zoning changes to enforce green climate change that echo the draconian "no-growth" proposals which Peter Gorrie explored in the Toronto Star last week -- see Saint Report post by Mike Saint on 6th Jan. Jeff Poor writes in Business and Media Institute: In one of the most ...
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