THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE WEEKLY FOR MASSACHUSETTS BY THE NUMBERS
PAGE 15
County close-up: Suffolk Spotlight: Mattapan
TIMELINE
PAGE 8
Massachusetts’ real estate and banking industries have been pivotal parts of the state’s history for generations. See critical moments that shaped them since the Revolutionary War.
WEEK OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2022
This year marks Banker & Tradesman’s 150th year serving the real estate and banking industries. To mark the occasion, we are dedicating this issue to an exploration of the history of the paper and the fields it covers.
150 The number of years the newspaper has been in publication. Source: The Warren Group
72 Virginia Coulter was the longest-serving Banker & Tradesman employee, retiring after 72 years. See page 10 Source: The Warren Group
128 The opening Route 128 transformed the commercial real estate industry. See Steve Adams’ story on this page. Source: Peter Cohan
20
ANNIVERSARY
R E A L
E S TAT E
&
Banker & Tradesman Turns 150 To Mark Anniversary, an Exploration of Paper’s, Industry’s Histories
A M E R I C A ’ S T E C H N O L O G Y H I G H W AY
FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY
Massachusetts’ Road to Reinvention
As Boston Evolved, So Did B&T
BY STEVE ADAMS
BY DIANE MCLAUGHLIN
BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
On Route 128, a History of Constant Innovation
N
Paper Changed Dramatically with the Times
W
1780
othing attracts real estate development in Greater Boston more reliably than the imminent completion of a new public transit stop. For much of the 20th century, however, it was the construction of America’s first beltway-style highway that gave rise to the burgeoning technology and defense industry clusters that established Massachusetts as an economic dynamo. Initially dubbed the Circumferential Highway, Route 128 was designed to replace a network of increasingly congested local roads. It gave rise to office parks populated by defense and tech companies leveraging research from the region’s higher education system, most notably Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Route 128 companies pioneered modern conveniences transforming the lives of post-war suburbanites, from microwave ovens and instant cameras to video games and personal computers.
hen the federal courthouse opened in 1998 on Fan Pier, not far from the Summer Street building where Banker & Tradesman had its office at the time, the newspaper’s editor had questions. “At that time, it was the only thing in that area – the federal courthouse, parking lots and The Barking Crab,” said Michelle Deakin, Banker & Tradesman’s editor from 1997-2000. “How was that area going to be developed? Was it going to be developed? If things were built there, would anybody go?” Banker & Tradesman’s editors have asked these and other questions to shape coverage of the Massachusetts real estate and banking industries. But this news coverage is relatively new to the 150-year-old newspaper. While weekly news stories, columns, guest articles and editorials have covered topics ranging from the effects of
The nation’s first real estate development syndicate was formed in Boston. See page 8. Source: Samuel Eliot Morison
Continued on Page 5
Continued on Page 6
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
IN PERSON
Boston: A Contingent History
Taking the Tumble: TWG’s CEO Reflects
BY SCOTT VAN VOORHIS
BY CASSIDY NORTON
BANKER & TRADESMAN COLUMNIST
BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
MIT’s Building 20 could be considered the hottest property of all time. See page 5. Source: The Warren Group
12 Banker & Tradesman has had 12 editors in its 150 years in operation. See Diane McLaughlin’s story on this page. Source: The Warren Group
49 The Warren Group CEO Tim Warren Jr. has worked for the company for 49 years. See Cassidy Norton’s story on this page. Source: The Warren Group
117 The address of Banker & Tradesman’s former office on Federal St. in Boston. See page 7. Source: The Warren Group
Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from The Warren Group’s Mortgage Market Share Module, Loan Originator Module, Statistics Module and/or proprietary database. For more information please visit www.thewarrengroup.com/business/ datasolutions.
From Nadir to Nonpareil, City’s Fortunes Shaped by Its Response to Change
W
Family’s Fourth Generation Navigated Company Through Digital Transition
T
elcome to Boston, the city that reinvents itself every century or so. That’s one takeaway from a magnificent and masterful book on the history of Boston written by Dan Dain, a top commercial real estate lawyer by day, author at night. Dain’s book, still in draft form but in search of a publisher, looks at all nearly 400 years of the city’s history with a particular focus on the ebbs and flows of its economic fortunes. Yet the manuscript is much more than that, covering everything from the original topography of the peninsula that would one day become Boston to the city’s role as the birthplace of both the abolition and anti-immigrant movements.
he Warren Group owes some of its success and longevity to its CEO falling off a mountain. Timothy Warren Jr., current CEO of company and the fourth generation of Warrens to work in the business, has never lost his wanderlust, but he did need to take a break. “I graduated [from Bowdoin College] and taught high school math for a year, and then decided to do some car traveling. I had worked during the summers in restaurants, mostly as a cook, so I knew anywhere I went I could find a temporary job,” he said in a recent interview reflecting on his nearly 50 years with the company his great-grandfather founded. “I crossed the country four times and drove to Guatemala to bring my college
Continued on Page 3
Continued on Page 4
F I N A N