Developer Ed Zuker has one more celebration to add to the long line of Revolution Era-themed events happening in Massachusetts these days.
This one, though, isn’t tied to a 250th anniversary. Zuker’s firm, Chestnut Hill Realty, will hold a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday to mark the completion of an eight-story, 250-unit apartment building, dubbed the Franklin, at the sprawling Hancock Village complex. Hancock Village now consists of more than 500 single-floor apartments and more than 800 rental townhomes. The Brookline side is essentially built out, though there’s room to grow someday on the West Roxbury side.
Completing the Franklin — buildings, roads, and common rooms in Hancock Village are named after signers of the Declaration of Independence — represents a big milestone for Zuker.
Insurer John Hancock built Hancock Village to provide townhomes for vets returning from World War II, and later sold it after the state adopted rent control. Zuker acquired the 100-acre property in 1986 with the help of investors that he has since bought out, and over the years has worked to refurbish and modernize it. In 2022, he opened two apartment buildings (the Bartlett and the Adams) along with 48 new townhomes. And in 2023, he completed a 25,000-square-foot community center with a pool, fitness center, conference rooms, and offices for rent.
The Franklin has its own set of amenities, including another gym as well as a day-care center, called SolBe. Monthly rents range from $3,200 to $8,700, though one-fifth of the units are set aside at more affordable rates for income-eligible tenants.
While Hancock Village is on the high end of the market, Zuker sees his work there as playing a key role in addressing the housing shortage in Greater Boston. He also has two other projects teed up in Brookline, the town where he grew up: a 210-room hotel and 14-story apartment building at Coolidge Corner, and a 120-unit expansion to the Hampton Court apartments on Beacon Street.
Zuker said town officials initially approached him about building more apartments at all three of these sites nearly 20 years ago. Litigation from neighbors, now resolved, got in the way of his Hancock Village projects.
“I was 58 when they came to me,” Zuker said. “I would have liked to have been doing this when I was 58, not finishing this up when I am 78. It’s human nature: People don’t like to see any change. That’s why we have a problem with housing.”
BC scores with pro athletes
If you notice any pro athletes hanging out around Chestnut Hill this summer, Marty Walsh may have had something to do with it.
The former Boston mayor is now head of the National Hockey League Players’ Association, which has already signed partnerships with several schools, such as the University of Florida, to help players earn their bachelor’s degrees.
Boston College, Walsh’s alma mater, recently became the latest to sign on. And the work that BC’s Woods College of Advancing Studies did to craft their partnership helped pave the way for BC to reach an agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association for a similar degree completion program.
Walsh obtained his degree at Woods College, by studying part time while working as a state representative. Several NHL players have already completed degrees through Woods College, including Brooks Orpik, formerly of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, and Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers; this new agreement puts a formal relationship in place to encourage more to come.
Specifically, Woods College dean David Goodman said, BC is allowing athletes to transfer up to 90 credits toward the BC graduation requirement of 120, up from 60. Athletes will mostly take online classes, though Goodman expects some will be on campus during the summer to attend classes in person.
Walsh said a college degree will likely prove pivotal once their careers are over, particularly by establishing contacts in the next fields they want to pursue.
“Not everyone can be a sportscaster, coach or scout,” Walsh said. “Some of them want to go into finance. Some of them want to go into business. If they don’t have the connections when they’re playing, it’s really difficult to get there.”
Fla. lobbying firm attracts local clients
Teradyne, Sublime Systems, Alkermes, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association represent different sectors of the Massachusetts economy. But they all hired the same lobbying firm based more than a thousand miles away this year: Ballard Partners.
There’s a good reason the Florida firm founded by Brian Ballard has been busy: He is an ally and friend of President Trump. Politico reported this month that the firm may have overstepped its bounds, alienating some in the White House over a cryptocurrency client, but Ballard had enough juice to get a face-to-face meeting with Trump and Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, to smooth things over.
In 2021, Ballard opened a Boston office, led by former state rep Gene O’Flaherty, a Democrat who was Marty Walsh’s top in-house lawyer when Walsh was mayor. But Ballard is not yet a major player on Beacon Hill.
In D.C., it’s another story entirely: Politico reported that Ballard raked in $14 million in lobbying fees in the first quarter, or roughly triple what it generated the same time a year ago, making it one of the busiest lobbying firms in Washington. More than 90 new clients hired Ballard in the first four months of the year.
Harvard hired Ballard before Trump’s inauguration, and before the high-profile fight between the university and the White House that has since ensued. Spokesman Jason Newton reiterated the statement he provided to the Harvard Crimson in January, when asked about Ballard’s hiring: “The University remains active in Washington in support of higher education and research and works with a wide range of partners.”
And the Mass. hospital association said: “Ballard has a strong history of representing safety net hospitals, and our engagement comes during a critical moment when our safety net infrastructure is faltering and decisions around the future of Medicaid funding are being made.”
Hao makes one more pitch for Team Mass.
Yvonne Hao stepped down last month from her job as state economic development secretary. But that didn’t stop her from showing up at a local chamber event last week to make one more impassioned pitch for “Team Massachusetts.”
In a fiery speech to the Charles River Regional Chamber at the Sheraton hotel in Needham, Hao criticized the cost-cutting coming from Washington under the Trump administration and a Republican-led Congress, saying the damage to everything from health care to innovation to education could be long-lasting.
“They’re destroying the fabric of what makes our country great,” said Hao, speaking next to her former lieutenant, and now interim economic development secretary, Ashley Stolba. “Things are not good, and it’s only going to get worse.”
Rather than be gloomy, Hao urged the roughly 250 business leaders in the ballroom not to cry about the latest executive orders from the White House and instead to work together on a game plan to ensure the state’s continued economic success. She said: “When the times get tough . . . that’s when you want to be on ‘Team Massachusetts.’”
Hao had been scheduled to speak before she announced her decision to leave the Healey administration. Chamber president Greg Reibman told her he still wanted her to speak. (Other speakers included Stolba, Eastern Bank executive chair Bob Rivers, and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston economist Mary Burke.)
Hao joined the Healey administration because she felt it was her turn to give back, especially because she was the first in her family to be born in the United States. But finally, she wanted to spend more time with her family, including her aging mother and her two teenage daughters.
“I told the governor, ‘Every day I’m in this job, I’m going to work my ass off,’ ” Hao said. “Unfortunately, when you do the job that way, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things.”
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