The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority announced today it plans to start over with plans to develop six acres it owns near the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, rather than going forward with either of the two mixed-use development proposals it had received.
The Boston Business Journal reports one of the proposals included a landing pad for electric-powered copter-like air taxis on the land, along D and E streets.
South Boston elected officials - State Sen. Nick Collins, State Rep. David Biele, and City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty - all vehemently opposed the authority's timing and lack of public input on the plans - for which the authority issued an RFP this past Thanksgiving week, with plans to pick one of the two options last month.
Authority Executive Director David Gibbons said the authority hopes to issue a new RFP soon and that this time, it will talk to the BPDA, if not necessarily the public, before it selects a company this fall to develop the land.
Gibbons said the decision to cancel the current RFP came after "input received by several constituencies."