In this edition: Faneuil Hall’s future, Mitt Romney, and a new coffee conglomerate
Welcome back, everyone, to our second installment of Power Play. Jon here. Shirley and I are back with more scoops and takes on the week’s business news. We’ll kick things off with my behind-the-scenes look at what went down in City Hall when the Wu administration asked local developers what should be done to revive the ailing Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Featuring: David Manfredi, Ed Glaeser, Richard Marks, Rafa Oliveira, Ian Coss, Vicki Kennedy, Dan Koh, Deval Patrick, Charlie Baker, Bill Weld, Maura Healey, and more.
Want to fix what ails Faneuil Hall Marketplace?
Mayor Michelle Wu sure does. It’s why her planning chief, Kairos Shen, summoned around a dozen of Boston’s top developers to City Hall’s ninth floor to huddle behind closed doors for 90 minutes, the day after Wu hosted a public symposium on the Marketplace’s future in late March.
But their solution might not be one Wu and Shen wanted to hear.
A true revival of the festival marketplace, the developers said, can’t happen with landlord J. Safra in charge.
Wu hailed Safra’s arrival two years ago when the Brazilian financial conglomerate acquired the Marketplace’s long-term lease from New York-based Ashkenazy, a lending client of Safra’s that bought the lease for nearly $140 million back in 2011. Drawing more crowds to this Boston landmark is crucial to Wu’s downtown revitalization strategy. So it was time to turn the page from what many saw as an absentee landlord. Bring back more locals, and more life, to the cobblestones.
The problem: Not much has happened since. Yes, Safra worked with local broker Graffito to open some charming locally owned shops. But there are still too many vacancies, a long list of infrastructure repairs, and an aesthetic that doesn’t properly reflect the city’s personality.
The lease dates back to the 1970s, when Mayor Kevin White and developer Jim Rouse essentially pioneered the festival marketplace idea. They turned the three old granite and brick buildings and surrounding courtyard into a magnet for tourists and locals alike. White, through the Boston Redevelopment Authority, gave Rouse a 99-year lease for a token fee of $10 a year, in return for extensive renovations to accommodate all the pushcarts, performances, offices, shops, stalls, and restaurants. (Boston also gets a small slice of merchant revenue, one that totaled $2.6 million in 2025.)
Flash forward to Wu’s dilemma today: Now that we’re halfway through that lease, should Safra get an extension that significantly increases the lease’s value, in return for tens of millions of dollars in necessary capital improvements?
Many of these local developers say no. Instead of a landlord, their thinking goes, the Marketplace needs a visionary, a firm with demonstrated place-making expertise. The firms they mention include WS Development, responsible for much of the retail space in the newer Seaport buildings, and Jamestown, the company behind the Innovation and Design Building. Neither firm was at the meeting, but executives from developers such as BXP, HYM, Redgate, Samuels & Associates, and Tishman Speyer were.
For now, Shen is sticking with Safra.
Edging them out wouldn’t be easy. One alternative involves prompting Safra to take on a joint-venture development partner in the long-term lease. A less friendly way: declaring Safra in default, likely prompting an ugly court battle.
A third option that’s been floated by land-use lawyer R.J. Lyman: Use the city’s Public Facilities Commission to seize the Marketplace from the vestigial BRA, and thus from Safra, and reimburse Safra for the lease’s remaining value – minus all the repair costs.
While the city doesn’t have much money to play with, perhaps some financial help can be found. Philanthropy. A new business-improvement district. State assistance. Or maybe some combination.
Safra, for its part, shows no interest in leaving. J. Safra Real Estate, an arm of J. Safra Group that oversees the Safra family’s commercial properties, says it remains deeply committed to the Marketplace, and enhancing “its energy, accessibility, and year-round appeal.” JSRE’s current focus is on significant physical improvements, dynamic programming, and curating a thoughtful mix of new and long-term vendors.
Its track record? JSRE says it’s been actively involved in redevelopment projects and owns iconic properties in major cities, most notably the egg-shaped Gherkin tower in London.
In other words: We’re not going anywhere.
Wu and Shen hosted several urban planning experts during these sessions last month. They had their own bold suggestions, and will likely propose more in the future.
But the current financial structure seems to limit Boston’s ambitions. That’s why local developers are arguing it’s time for a new one.
SHIRLEY’S TAKE
HEARD AROUND TOWN
CRYPTO MANIA
This week Globe political reporter Kelly Garrity calculated that winning a Congressional seat in Massachusetts takes about $2.5 million, and that some candidates vying to succeed Seth Moulton are on pace to attract much more than that. The latest federal filings indicate that Dan Koh, a former Boston City Hall chief of staff and Biden administration official, has raised $3.5 million this election cycle, and John Beccia, a fintech entrepreneur and former general counsel and chief compliance officer of crypto firm Circle Internet Financial, has $2.4 million, including $2 million of his own money. The crypto sector, eager for friendly regulations, threw more than $100 million into super PACs in the 2024 election cycle, and they’re expected to be just as active, if not more, during the midterm elections. Given Beccia’s background, we’re keeping a close eye on whether crypto money floods into the Sixth District race.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Then there was one. That’s the number of tower cranes in the Boston skyline in the first quarter, according to the RLB Crane Index, which tracks major construction projects every six months. The last survey, done in the third quarter of 2025, indicated there were five cranes. Where is the lonely bird? It hovers above Huntington Avenue, where a 34-story luxury apartment building is under construction next to the renovated Huntington Theatre. The scarcity reflects how major developments are wrapping up, while new high-rise starts are hard to come by, though the index reports that mid-rise, institutional, and office-to-residential conversion projects continue.
PUT UP A PARKING LOT
WS Development doesn’t typically criticize other firms’ projects. But on April 6, WS vice chairman Richard Marks wrote to Brookline’s economic development director, Meredith Mooney, complaining about the limited parking planned for a site across Route 9 from his company’s The Street shopping and medical office complex. A new rezoning proposal that needs town meeting approval, Marks wrote, could allow City Realty to develop a 1.2 million square foot, mixed-use project on five acres with fewer than 500 parking spaces. Current zoning would require nearly 1,900 spaces for similar construction, a “shocking reduction,” in Marks’ words. Meanwhile, The Street is less than one half the size but has nearly 1,400 spaces. Because of the inevitable spillover parking, the rezoning, Marks wrote, is a “real threat” to property owners and businesses within walking distance of the City Realty property.
CHANGES BREWING
The new Keurig-JDE Peet’s coffee conglomerate will continue to have a co-headquarters here, in Burlington. But not a CEO. Keurig Dr Pepper is breaking up: The cold beverages stay in Texas, while coffee stays here. The coffee business is combining with Europe’s JDE Peet’s, which Keurig Dr Pepper just acquired (much to some investors’ chagrin). The new coffee company doesn’t have a name yet, but it does have a CEO: Rafa Oliveira. He’s based in the Netherlands, where the JDE Peet’s corporate office is located. While he’s rooted in Europe, a spokeswoman says Oliveira will “spend significant time in both locations.”
ROMNEYCARE, THE PODCAST
If you can’t get enough reminiscing about Romneycare, which turned 20 this week, GBH’s Ian Coss is here to help. Best known for his 2023 podcast series unpacking the Big Dig, Coss is digging into the story of how Democrats and business leaders reached across the aisle to work with Republican Governor Mitt Romney to pass landmark health insurance legislation that became the model for the Affordable Care Act. Coss has been doing interviews with key players including then-Senate President Bob Travaglini and then-House Speaker Sal DiMasi, as well as Vicki Kennedy, the widow of Senator Ted Kennedy. Coss’s latest series is "Catching the Codfather," about the rise and fall of New Bedford fishing tycoon Carlos Rafael. Coss joined Shirley on the Globe’s Say More podcast this week to talk about the fish tale.
SHIRLEY’S PICK
Speaking of Romneycare, it was a photo that caught my attention: five former and current Massachusetts governors seated together at Faneuil Hall to mark the 20th anniversary of the historic legislation. Governor Maura Healey was joined by Deval Patrick, Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, and Mike Dukakis. Just one question: Where was Charlie Baker? Turns out he was stuck in Indianapolis at the NCAA headquarters where he serves as president. Probably catching up on work after March Madness.
SURVEY SAYS
Power Play readers who responded to our Tuesday survey felt strongly that housing costs are to blame for the state’s economic woes.
NEWS JUNKIE QUIZ
BONUS: Acting ICE director Todd Lyons just announced he’s stepping down in May and heading to the private sector. A recent Globe profile unearthed that the Southie kid was in the same Boston College High School class as Massport CEO Rich Davey. Eagle-eyed readers might catch Davey’s nickname in the piece. If you know the answer, email us at powerplay@globe.com. You might get a prize. We’ll share quiz results on Tuesday.
THANKS FOR READING POWER PLAY.
This newsletter was edited by Tim Logan and Greg Huang and produced by Diamond Naga Siu. Have a happy weekend.
Got a question? Have a tip, gripe, or rumor we should chase? Send Faneuil Hall memories and Boston cream K-cups to powerplay@globe.com.
Delivered Tuesday and Friday.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto. Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com.