Aug. 11, 2025
Welcome to Trendlines. The secret password is “Toledo Truth Teller.”
Today, I look at why restaurateur-turned-developer Jon Cronin is turning over the keys to the St. Regis Residences in the Seaport. Plus: Make up your mind, Wordle Bot.
🆕 The Latest
- Boston’s lab building boom has gone bust. What can be done with the empty space?
- President Trump’s immigration crackdown could cause widespread workforce disruptions in Mass. and across the country.
- Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the US government 15 percent of their revenues from AI chip sales to China, as part of an unusual deal with the Trump administration.
🏢 Lapse of luxury
Jon Cronin’s first foray into luxury condo development got off to a promising start.
In 2015, the ambitious restaurateur unveiled plans for a 22-story residential tower on the site of his Whiskey Priest and Atlantic Beer Garden bars.
The $260 million project boasted a prime waterfront location in the booming Seaport and a striking design. Cronin also had a strong Boston economy at his back.
This week, he’s poised to hand the keys to his mortgage lender. Nearly three years after the first tenants moved in, 40 percent of the 114 units remain unsold.
This should have been a home run.
That’s the refrain I’ve heard from more than one real estate expert. But a mix of construction delays, poor interior design choices, and overly aggressive pricing turned a high-profile debut into one of the city’s biggest real estate flops in years.
Cronin declined to answer questions but sent me a statement.
“We are incredibly proud of what we’ve built with the St. Regis Residences, Boston,” he said.
Missed opportunity
Construction of the St. Regis Residences — the project’s name after Cronin’s branding deal with the high-end hotel chain — was delayed by a legal fight with the Conservation Law Foundation.
The environmental group sued over public access to the waterfront. Cronin settled in early 2018 with commitments for additional public space and mitigation payments.
COVID-related disruptions and the challenges of building on a compact parcel boxed in by water, an existing apartment tower, and Seaport Boulevard caused further delays — and inflated costs.
It took four years to complete construction. By the time the building opened in October 2022, Cronin had missed a pandemic-fueled condo sales boom.
Design shortcomings
Cronin’s architect, the late Howard Elkus, designed a dramatic twisting exterior that set the building apart from the boring glass boxes in the neighborhood.
But interior design decisions put off some prospective buyers.
The building doesn’t employ a secondary wall system to mask the exterior’s unusual angles. While that left Cronin more square footage to bake into asking prices, the units can have odd spaces that are challenging to furnish. Common areas such as the lobby are less than luxurious.
Pushing the price limit
An experienced condo developer might not have made those mistakes. Cronin surrounded himself with trusted associates who also lacked luxury market knowledge.
That led to another bad call: overpricing units that don’t face the water. Developers typically discount these units by as much as 50 percent compared with those with direct water views.
Tough market
Cronin held out for a much smaller differential, hurting sales in an already difficult market.
Overall, Boston condo sales are on pace for their weakest year since 2003, according to data collected by The Collaborative Companies, which handles marketing for many luxury buildings, including the St. Regis.
In the second quarter, sales of units priced between $2 million-$2.99 million fell 14.5 percent, while sales of units above that level fell 23 percent.
Sales picked up earlier in the year but momentum slowed sharply in April and May amid economic uncertainty tied to newly introduced tariffs, the firm said.
Career path
Giving up the St. Regis Residences is the latest turn in Cronin’s unconventional career. Born in 1966 in County Cork, Ireland, he was a hurling enthusiast who went into his father’s steel business after college.
He arrived in Boston to visit friends in 1989 and decided to stay when he saw he could make more money here than back home.
The newcomer worked in construction, tended bar, and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UMass Lowell, according to a 2022 profile in Boston Irish. He used proceeds from the sale of his South Boston home to open his first restaurant, the Boston Beer Garden, with a group of friends, in 1995.
Cronin’s restaurants include Tony C’s Sports Bar & Grill, Temazcal Tequila Cantina, and Jack’s Coal Fired Pizza, and his company is the food and beverage provider at Lawn on D near the Seaport convention center.
In 2020, Cronin bought the parent company of Boston Ship Repair, which operates a 1,150-foot-long dry dock in the city’s marine industrial park. His vision of building three lab buildings overlooking the dry dock — whose rents would help support the repair business — is on hold amid a biotech slump.
Next phase
Cronin’s lender is Cottonwood Group, a Los Angeles real estate investment firm that developed the EchelonSeaport, a nearly full condo and apartment complex across Seaport Boulevard from the St. Regis.
“Cottonwood has been a trusted partner from the start of their involvement,” Cronin said in his statement. “Coupled with Cottonwood’s financial resources and operational expertise, I have no doubt that the enhanced offerings will continue to make this property the best place to call home in Boston.”
Cottonwood CEO Alexander Shing said he’s bullish on the Seaport and is thrilled to be getting Cronin’s building at a discount.
“You can’t build for that amount now,” he said.
“I don’t want to put money anywhere but the Seaport,” he said. “Why reinvent something that is already very good and I can make it excellent.”
🎙️ On the Record
“I don’t particularly like being told that I’m the only one left on the planet Earth that played in the NBA in 1950.”
— Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy, who turned 97 on Saturday.
⚡Energy
Taking a breather: Massachusetts has delayed its next offshore wind procurement until at least 2026.
🧠 Artificial Intelligence
Smart aleck: How to get the most out of ChatGPT’s new model — and where it still falls down.
📄 Politics & Policy
Money questions: Massachusetts business groups are backing two proposed ballot initiatives that would put more money into residents’ pockets by slicing the state income tax and returning excess revenues to taxpayers more frequently.
🏘️ Real Estate
Trouble in paradise: Some of Mark Zuckerberg’s neighbors say the tech mogul has turned their affluent Palo Alto, Calif., enclave into his own personal Monopoly board after he bought a string of properties, building a compound, as well as a private school for his children.
💼 C-suite
Watch your step: A lawyer for Market Basket’s board has issued a stern warning to sidelined chief executive Arthur T. Demoulas, accusing him of orchestrating a PR campaign aimed at ratcheting up “public vitriol” against the board and the majority shareholders, Demoulas’s three sisters.
🔢 By the Numbers
$2.987 billion
— The estimated amount generated by the state’s “millionaires tax” in fiscal 2025, compared with a budgeted benchmark of $1.3 billion.
🤖 The Closer
At first I fancied “CRATE.”
Then came “SLATE” and, when that fizzled, “AISLE.” I moved on to “ARISE,” “ABOUT,” and “ADIEU” — until I read that “PLATE” was the best Wordle starting word.
Yes, I’m one of those people who must play the New York Times word-guessing game with my morning coffee.
It took me a while to notice Wordle Bot — the algorithm built to solve puzzles in the fewest steps — had swapped “PLATE” for “CLASP.” That meant relearning my second and third guesses. Just as I got the hang of it, the bot moved on to “PLACE.” Grr.
Why the churn?
The Wordle Bot FAQ says the bot constantly digests fresh data to keep up with the types of words most likely to appear. The differences in efficiency are tiny, but the bot “has no sentimental attachment to any opening word” and takes “any tiny advantage it can get.”
So do I.
🎂 Joe Jackson is still looking sharp at 71.
Thanks for reading. Trendlines will be back on Thursday.
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Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com.