News
REAL ESTATE'S MOST BENEVOLENT
November 1, 2010
| For the 17th year, the real estate industry rallied for the United Way, to the tune of nearly $2.8M. On Thursday at the Westin Copley, 1,000 met for breakfast to help Massachusetts parents and their kids. They were also there to honor industry vet Jerry Blakeley and the late Ed Linde. |
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| We snapped Boston Properties' Doug Linde, whose late father Ed founded the REIT with Mort Zuckerman. Still vivid for Doug are childhood memories watching Boston Properties projects rise around the city. Mort gave the keynote and told us he was ?doubly blessed? to start out working with Jerry at Cabot Cabot & Forbes where he met Ed. Mort and Ed worked together for 45 years. They started Boston Properties, he says, ?in a borrowed office with a borrowed phone.? On Friday, it had a market cap of $12B. Mort says Ed was always ?considerate, never arrogant.? |
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| Elder statesman Jerry Blakeley (right) launched CC&F and introduced the concept of the landscaped industrial park. His developments helped revitalize CBDs in places like Boston, DC, LA, Philadelphia, and Seattle. For 28 years, he owned the Ritz Carlton Corp. Now, as president of Boston-based Blakeley Investment Co, he's speculating on land in Florida and California, he told us with a definite glint in his eye. He says he owns 15k acres in California where a new reservoir is slated to be built and is excited about the prospects. ?I?ll have seven miles of frontage on a beautiful new lake.? |
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| The Chiofaro Co.?s Don Chiofaro (right) was one of many guests who Jerry helped launch in commercial real estate. Mayor Menino told the audience that back in the day, Jerry and his pals reigned supreme in a group called ?The Vault.? On Thursday afternoons they would ?sit, drink, and decide where the city was going.? Now, Boston is a ?benevolent dictatorship?, quipped the Mayor. As people left, they ponied up a little more for the United Way that helps thousands of kids graduate with meaningful options and families tohave safe homes and skills to become financially stable. |
