The local real estate community opposed Boston's home rule petition when it was introduced earlier this year, but a modified version eventually won tacit indifference from such entities as the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The measure would have allowed linkage fees to increase from $5 per sf to $7.18 per sf to fund affordable housing, and raise a job-training fee from $1 per sf to $1.44 per sf. The fees, which are collected over a seven-year period, are not applicable for the first 100,000 sf of construction.

With little opposition from the private sector, the bill seemed certain to pass, but it was held up in the final moments by two state senators. They demanded a study on how Boston distributes additional community benefits that are often hammered out separately between developers and the neighborhood where a project is located.

Although there have been concerns raised of late about the separate, open-ended benefits and their potential for choking future projects, Tyler says the real estate industry was not as worried about linkage itself, given its predictability. Lobbyists did repel efforts to apply linkage to the first 100,000 sf of construction and to require the payments be made up front, but the hike in rates was deemed acceptable to reflect the rise of inflation since 1987.