Photo illustrationryan huddle \globe staff;Adobe
At long last, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is proposing tax breaks to jumpstart new housing construction. This is a moment you might think would have developers jumping for joy. Who doesn’t love a tax break?
But instead what the city is proposing is so meager it feels laughable. The broad contours of Wu’s offer – as my colleague Catherine Carlock has reported – revolves around a real estate tax abatement during construction and up to 10 years after that.
From the city’s perspective, this sounds like a reasonable way to offset high construction costs and interest rates that are combining to quash new development, without sacrificing too much precious tax revenue.
Reasonable, that is, until you look and see what other cities are doing.
Just over the Charles in Somerville, developers Beacon Communities, Rise Together, Mark Development, and Samuels & Associates started construction in March on 319 new apartments on the site of a long-shuttered Star Market at 299 Broadway. The deal was helped along by a 20-year tax abatement on two buildings and a reduction in the share of units that must be set aside at below-market rents, from 20 percent to 10 percent.
Cutting affordable housing requirements might seem like a no-no in pricey, progressive cities. But even San Francisco is proposing to do it. Two weeks ago, Mayor Daniel Lurie, working with the Board of Supervisors, labor leaders, housing advocates, and developers, crafted a so-called grand bargain that paired reducing affordable housing set-asides by two-thirds with support for a ballot measure to double city housing funding.
Then there is New York City’s approach: double down on affordability and offer generous tax breaks to build. Two years ago, then-Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul ironed out a deal to deepen affordability housing requirements – at least 25 percent for large projects – while providing a 40-year tax break and setting a minimum wage for construction. Developers, affordable housing advocates, and labor unions could all claim a win.
Work is underway on several new housing developments in Somerville.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Wu herself has demonstrated a willingness to be bold. She has set aside $110 million to jumpstart housing construction, and just pumped about half of it into Boston Housing Authority’s ambitious $1.4 billion re-do of the massive, aging, Bunker Hill public housing complex. She has also crafted generous tax abatements for office-to-residential conversions, financially complex projects that hold so much promise.
But on tax breaks for market-rate projects, she and developers seem to be miles apart. It’s no help that they got off on the wrong foot in her first term. It’s also problematic that they are on opposite sides of the rent control ballot initiative.
But there’s a good lesson from other cities: The onus can’t just be on the mayor. Developers, labor leaders, housing advocates, and environmentalists all have to pitch in to come up with creative ways to cut construction costs.
These aren’t forever fixes; they’re temporary to get us through a rough patch. And maybe if people took half the energy they’re putting into the rent control fight and devoted it to finding ways to build more housing, the region would actually get somewhere on lowering rents.
A teenager jumps over the pickleball net at Lawn on D.
Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
There will be free World Cup watch parties on the Lawn on D after all. The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority will soon announce it is launching a Boston Fan Zone hosting 10 watch parties in Boston and Springfield. The Lawn on D – an outdoor space MCCA operates next to the Menino Convention & Exhibition Center – was among potential sites for the official FIFA World Cup Fan Festival, but that big event went to Boston City Hall Plaza instead. Boston’s first MCCA watch party – the June 13 matchup between Haiti and Scotland – will be held inside the Menino Center because it is a night game. The other five Boston watch parties will be on the Lawn on D. The four watch parties in Springfield will be held at MassMutual Center’s outdoor space called The Landing. The MCCA, with an assist from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, is spending around $2 million to organize the parties that will feature a 40-foot outdoor screen. We expect Lawn on D’s June 15 watch party (Cape Verde vs. Spain) to be a special one for the region’s large Cape Verdean community. We can guess who MCCA interim executive director John Barros will be rooting for. Watch party details will be listed here.
The wait for the grand realignment of the Mass. Turnpike and a new train station in Allston feels more interminable than the weekend traffic jams in Charlton. Tom Nally with business group A Better City has long birddogged the project closely, and reported on its most recent task force meeting last week. MassDOT went back to the drawing board after losing almost all federal funding pledged for the $2 billion project, and announced plans in December to hire a consultant for a new cost and engineering analysis. Advocates moaned because it would add up to a year to the planning process. More like a year and a half: ABC’s Nally reported that with consultant Arcadis on board, MassDOT now expects the process to be concluded in May of 2027. (Coincidentally, Arcadis was also just hired by the Boston Green Ribbon Commission to study flood protection projects along the city’s waterfront.)
Former Fed chair Jerome Powell received the 2026 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston from Caroline Kennedy on Sunday. Scott Eisen/Getty
Bob Rivers wanted to make the JFK Library Foundation’s annual Profile in Courage awards dinner on Sunday “tentworthy” – worthy of renting a giant tent, that is, instead of just holding the annual gala in the Library building itself like most years. It’s safe to say Rivers, Eastern Bank’s executive chair, pulled it off, raking in $2.9 million for the foundation, the second highest ever. (The only time the foundation raised more was when Barack Obama was honored, in 2017.) Rivers took over as chair of the foundation’s board of directors in January for former Staples chief executive Ron Sargent, and gathering table sponsors for the gala was among his chief tasks. Good thing he had a bankable name for an honoree in Jerome Powell, the Fed board member who just stepped down as its chair. Rivers said nearly every bank in the area was represented at the event as a result.
Maybe HubSpot won’t get swept up in the “SaaSpocalyse” after all. The Cambridge-based marketing firm’s stock has taken a hit this year, like many “software-as-a-service” businesses, because of concerns about the impact of AI. But on Friday, the firm’s shares surged, and then jumped again on Monday, climbing more than 30 percent over two days (before shedding some value Tuesday). What happened? Well, right before this rally, HubSpot chief executive Yamini Rangan held forth with Jefferies & Co. managing director Samad Samana at an industry conference in California. Rangan downplayed AI concerns, saying ChatGPT, Gemini and the like are complementary, not hostile, to HubSpot. A large language model, Rangan said, can write a blog, but it can’t run a marketing campaign. And HubSpot is finding considerable success with getting clients placed among AI citations. It sure sounded convincing. But Rangan has more to do: Despite the runup, HubSpot shares are still down more than 30 percent so far this year.
World Cup games are coming to Boston in two weeks, along with thousands of tourists and plenty of disruption. How are you feeling about it? Take our survey here, and we’ll share the results on Friday.
Peter Wolf leads The J. Geils Band at a 1979 concert at The Boston Garden.Janet Knott/Globe Staff
Last week, we asked readers which rock star with ties to Boston finally received a college degree this spring. Most people guessed either Steven Tyler or Peter Wolf. The correct answer is Peter Wolf, who came to Boston for school but dropped out to help launch The J. Geils Band. Last month, he got an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. MassArt’s commencement was held, appropriately enough, at a concert venue, the Leader Bank Pavilion.
Former Massachusetts First Lady Diane Patrick (l.) won the “Yelling Bee” on Friday, besting Rubato chef-owner Laurence Louie and Globe’s Love Letters columnist/podcast host Meredith Goldstein.WBUR/BOLT
Diane Patrick was the big star of WBUR Festival’s “The Game Show” at Boston University Friday night. The former Massachusetts First Lady and retired Ropes & Gray partner won the “Yelling Bee” portion, besting Rubato chef-owner and “Top Chef” contestant Laurence Louie in a tense showdown. This was a spelling bee with a twist: if a contestant got a letter wrong, the audience yells to help redirect them. Patrick clinched the competition after correctly spelling “Rascoe” as in the last name of NPR “Weekend Edition” host Ayesha Rascoe. Our colleague, Love Letters columnist and podcast host Meredith Goldstein, was eliminated in the first round after misspelling “unanimous.” D’oh! But maybe she can redeem herself. WBUR is planning more Game Show programming throughout the year at its CitySpace venue.
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Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com. Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.