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The Downtown Partnership takes invited members on an annual Urban Exploration Trip, highlighting projects in a particular city that demonstrate lessons learned that can be applied to active development projects in St. Pete. This year, we are going to Boston to see the Boston Public Gardens, Downtown Crossing, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and Seaport. Please find more information about the Boston Public Gardens below.
DOWNTOWN CROSSING
Located at the hub of downtown Boston's retail and transit activity and covering several blocks radiating from a central T stop, Downtown Crossing has always been a popular location for department stores, specialty stores, and eateries. With a subway station at every corner, including the prominent Park Street and Downtown Crossing stations, thousands of people experience the historic streets of the district daily. It sits at the intersection of Washington, Summer, and Winter Streets, just steps from Boston Common and the Financial District.
In the early 1900s, Temple Place in the heart of Downtown Crossing could have been considered the Fifth Avenue of Boston — the street was famous for its shows and women's fashion.
The area was anchored by two of New England's most celebrated department stores: Jordan Marsh and Filene's, including the legendary Filene's Basement, which became a cultural institution in its own right. For generations, Downtown Crossing was the undisputed commercial heart of the city.
Postwar Disinvestment and the Pedestrian Mall Gamble
The neighborhood took a nosedive after World War II, becoming a place that was lonely and desolate after dark, despite the daytime shopping bustle. White flight, suburbanization, and the rise of suburban malls pulled investment and shoppers away from city centers across America — and Downtown Crossing was no exception.
To reverse the trend, following the success of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston decided to redevelop the Washington Street area into a pedestrian-only mall, which was unveiled in 1979. At first, foot traffic and business in the area declined, but it slowly returned as the popularity of the mall as a shopping area increased, helped along by a cart vending program.
The recovery proved fragile. By the turn of the millennium, once-great commercial retail institutions like Jordan Marsh and Filene's had closed their doors. Jordan Marsh became a Macy's in 1996, and Filene's closed its landmark flagship in 2006. Over time, the gutted interior of the historic Filene's building became a symbol of decline in Downtown Crossing — a hulking, fenced-off hole in the ground at the neighborhood's most prominent corner, sitting vacant for years.
Urban Management to the Rescue
The single most important institutional force in stabilizing and reviving Downtown Crossing has been the Downtown Boston Alliance (DBA), formerly the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District (BID).
The Downtown Boston Business Improvement District is Boston's first BID and one of only six in Massachusetts. A binding assessment levied on all commercial property owners based on property value funds BID activities. A 33-member board of directors elected by BID members oversees the organization, representing the cross-section of Boston's business and residential communities.
The DBA's mission is to significantly improve the experience of all who live, work, visit, go to school, or shop in the 34-block, 100-acre service area by providing supplemental services to keep the district clean, safe, and vibrant while catalyzing an energetic and thriving business climate and serving as the neighborhood's voice and advocate.
The DBA deploys several key urban management tools:
From Retail Hub to Mixed-Use Neighborhood
The most dramatic physical reinvention of Downtown Crossing came with the redevelopment of the old Filene's site. Millennium Tower, a 60-story, 684-foot residential skyscraper, was built on the site of the former Filene's flagship store. Construction began in 2013 and was completed in 2016, containing 442 condominiums, a Roche Bros. grocery store, and Class A office space.
When Millennium Tower opened in 2016, there was enormous excitement — at 685 feet, it was Boston's tallest residential building, featuring an indoor swimming pool and a well-appointed lounge, promising to alter the city's skyline and revitalize Downtown Crossing.
The pandemic, however, dealt a new blow. Following the release of a Downtown Revitalization Report in October 2022 that showed post-pandemic commercial office space vacancy rates of approximately 20 percent, city planners began exploring residential conversions as a pathway to restore vitality.
In July 2023, Mayor Michelle Wu launched a Downtown Office to Residential Conversion Pilot Program, using property tax breaks of up to 75 percent of assessed value for 29 years to incentivize property owners to convert office space to apartments or condos.
New zoning approved by the BPDA Board strengthens protections for Downtown's historic and cultural assets, streamlines pathways for adaptive reuse of buildings, and enables housing and mixed-use density that Downtown needs to grow as a vibrant and more inclusive neighborhood. Meanwhile, in June 2024, Suffolk University purchased 101 Tremont Street for $30 million with plans to convert it into a dormitory — a sign of the diverse reuse strategies now reshaping the area.
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