JLL's New Leader in New England
Jim Tierney has helped shepherd Boston through an incredible growth spurt as chief of staff and special counsel to the director of the BRA. Next month, he will take the reins of JLL’s New England business as market director, responsible for the overall growth and strategy of the region. His aim: help the company assume a larger market share, he tells us. He’s “bullish” on the multifamily boom; investors and developers still want to put money here, he says. He’s hearing rumblings that spec office development is on the way. (Don't say it too loudly, you might scare it away.)
At the BRA, Jim worked on some game-changer projects that altered the development landscape physically and psychologically: Vertex at Fan Pier and Millennium Tower at the former Filene’s site. Vertex was a critical project for the Innovation District and among the first to use the state’s I-Cubed program, innovative use of the state’s bonding capacity to help finance development that creates jobs. While helping to evaluate development plans for the Filene’s site, Jim says they city sought an achievable program that could complete the turnaround of Downtown Crossing. How available is financing? It still takes creativity, but a developer with the right tenant can find a way, Jim says.
