PLAN: DOWNTOWN - Broad Coalition of Downtown Boston Stakeholders Objects to City’s Surprising Zoning Proposal

May 29

Written By DBNA

Latest zoning proposal once again disregards community feedback and now calls for 700-foot towers in historic area of Downtown Boston

BOSTON, Thursday, May 29, 2025, 5:15pm ET - Earlier today, the City of Boston released its Final Draft of PLAN: Downtown, a plan that intends to reshape large portions of Boston’s historic Downtown neighborhood. Among its most alarming elements is a new allowance for 700-foot towers in proximity to Boston Common and Boston Public Garden for the purpose of building luxury housing. This dramatic change comes at the expense of dozens of important local and national landmarks and a main arts and culture, shopping, and transit corridor. This area of Downtown Boston, along Washington Street and inclusive of the Ladder Blocks and Park Plaza, with its historic commercial structures and pedestrian-scaled streetscapes, possesses a character that is unique, historic, livable, vibrant, and irreplaceable.

The administration’s latest misguided proposal represents a complete reversal of the Mayor’s promise to engage in a collaborative process that would genuinely consider the interests of the community. A broad coalition of organizations and community leaders has worked tirelessly for more than five years to produce a plan for growth that respects the historic character of the blocks surrounding some of the City’s most beloved parks and landmarks. Instead, the Wu administration and the City’s Planning Department have just released a zoning proposal that blatantly disregards broad and passionate community feedback. The City previously unveiled a failed zoning proposal on January 8th, 2025. That proposal called for 500-foot towers along the entirety of Washington Street and was widely rejected during one of the most contentious public meetings held in the past decade. The community also expressed its opposition through 500+ letters submitted during a public comment period that ended on February 17, 2025.

The Wu administration is now doubling down by removing all height and density limits in much of that same area, employing tactics reminiscent of those deployed by the now discredited Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the very agency that Mayor Wu committed to abolishing and reforming when she was running as a candidate for Mayor. In its latest release, the City once again fails to provide any basic analysis, renderings, shadow studies, or infrastructure impacts related to the proposed zoning plans. This is not thoughtful, comprehensive planning - it is a high-rise tower gamble devoid of sound analysis and valid proof of concept. Furthermore, it will not yield meaningful on-site, truly affordable housing and stands to threaten the character of the neighborhood.

The coalition of stakeholders that attempted to work with the City to achieve compromise envisions a different future for this area of Boston - one that builds upon the structural and aesthetic character of this part of the City, that unlocks the value of older buildings that have clear potential to become affordable housing, and that respects the many historic landmarks and parks alike, including Boston Common and Public Garden, Old State House, Old South Meeting House, and the Paramount theater. To be precise, our vision holds the existing height limits in a SKY-LOW-D district extending from Tremont Street to Washington Street and Boylston Street to Stuart Street (see map), but would also allow taller structures in an unencumbered SKY District in the traditional Financial District that lies east of Washington Street. We expressed a willingness to consider reasonable compromises and offered creative solutions that balance affordable housing, retail vibrancy, building restoration, and smart development.

Unfortunately, it has become clear that the Planning Department and administration did not intend to engage in a good faith effort to arrive at a compromise. As with the disastrous rollout of the zoning plan that was released on January 8th, 2025, the coalition of organizations and leaders that have been involved in PLAN: Downtown has, yet again, been blindsided and disregarded. The Mayor personally assured this coalition that the City would work collaboratively to engage in meaningful dialogue and aim to reach a compromise and that it would not try to rush to the BPDA Board for approval. With the release of today’s draft, it has become abundantly clear that this was never the administration’s intention and that the few meetings that were held with the coalition were simply a disingenuous “check-the-box” exercise.

Now more than ever, the City of Boston desperately needs smart, thoughtful development. We implore the Wu administration to reverse course and move away from its ill-informed, insular approach to planning and development. Boston still bears the scars of misguided, top-down planning efforts that led to the destruction of the West End and portions of Roxbury and the South End. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. On January 30, 2025, in a meeting with coalition members, Mayor Wu said with confidence, “Let this [the PLAN: Downtown process] be a model for how we can move through planning for the whole rest of the City. We have a lot more work to do after Downtown as well, so if we can’t get this right with all of you who are so engaged [in Downtown Boston], it doesn’t bode well for everything else, so I really want to make sure that we do get this right.” On this point, we all agree.

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Following the City’s January 15, 2025 virtual public hearing to introduce its PLAN: Downtown zoning draft, a broad coalition of organizations and community leaders, representing thousands of Boston residents and stakeholders, mobilized and participated in meetings with Mayor Wu and other City leaders to work in good faith with the City to achieve compromise. Participating organizations include (in alphabetical order):

Bay Village Neighborhood Association

Beacon Hill Civic Association

Boston Preservation Alliance

Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association

Freedom Trail Foundation

Friends of the Public Garden

Individual Community Stakeholders & Leaders

Neighborhood Association of Back Bay

Revolutionary Spaces

45 Province Residents

Millennium Place Residents

Millennium Tower Residents