Connect Boston: How Booming CRE Market Is Shaping Housing Density, Transportation

By David Cohen

Metro Boston has a number of transportation issues, but the city is still far ahead of many other cities on the transportation front. Speaking at the Connect Boston Leadership Luncheon 2019 on September 17, a collection of prominent CRE professionals in Boston gave their thoughts on public transit, increased development in recent years and more.

The panel included Aaron Jodka, managing director of client services at Colliers International; Deke Schultze, regional director of New England at Rubenstein Partners; Evan Griffith, first vice president of investments at Marcus & Millichap; Kevin Nice, program manager of architecture and engineering at EBI Consulting and Victor W. Vizgaitis, principal at Sasaki.

“Transportation-wise, we have some advantages that other cities don’t have,” said Jodka. “While our infrastructure is dated and old and it makes it challenging, at the end of the day we have a base here that is the envy of most other cities across the country if not the globe.”

“We happened before cars here,” added Schultze. “It’s been a huge competitive advantage in the past because we have had a functioning mass transit system and I just view it as less of a competitive advantage if our transportation system gets as bad as everybody else.”

Proposed solutions for Boston’s transit issues have included everything from increased density in the urban core to adding more transit-orient developments along the MBTA line.

But finding enough developable sites along the MTBA line has proved difficult and expanding existing transit lines to new areas isn’t cost effective.

“I think one of the issues in Boston is if you were to really densify transit-oriented developments along the transit line, there still aren’t that many places you can do that and there wouldn’t be enough value in those to actually pay to what needs to be done to the MBTA,” said Nice. “It’s got to be a more global approach.”

Another approach is adding more housing density to Boston’s suburbs. Many communities are trying to address Boston’s lack of workforce housing, but existing residents in suburban areas are resistant to the densification of previously suburban areas.

As the city of Boston continues its impressive growth, it’s apparent that more housing is needed.

“There’s a consortium around greater Boston that wants to add over 100,000 housing units by 2030,” said Jodka. “Which means we have to add more housing per year over the next few years than we ever have before. That’s not going to happen, but there is at least some discussion and some unity on the need for this. The challenge will be seeing if these cities are going to allow for additional density. While there’s a push for it, I don’t think the communities want it. So we might still be in this situation 10 years from now.”

“You need progressive towns and cities outside that aren’t used to density to embrace it,” added Schultze. “Cities and towns outside of Boston need to welcome density, welcome affordability, welcome workforce housing rather than just be a NIMBY. If you look at the suburban communities that are thriving right now, they are the communities that have done that.”

*Pictured above (from left to right): Deke Schultze, Evan Griffith, Victor W. Vizgaitis, Aaron Jodka and Kevin Nice speak at Connect Boston 2019 on Sept. 17. 

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact David Cohen