BOSTON—Construction cranes dot the landscape, neighborhoods are being revitalized and the tech and life sciences sectors are bringing plenty of new businesses to the city. All the more reason to encourage further growth, says John Barros, who was named Boston's first-ever economic development director this past February and who will give the keynote presentation at the RealShare Boston conference happening here Tuesday morning.
Economic development initiatives in some cities may be attempts to jump-start activity, any activity. Clearly, Boston doesn't face that challenge. Yet Barros tells GlobeSt.com, “It's more critical to do it now, so that we have the capacity to think about where we're going and make sure we're proactive in getting there. It allows us to leverage this growth in a way that creates exponentially more growth. Now that we're doing well, how do we push to do even better?”
And “doing well” is a good way to describe Boston's current economic climate. “A lot of people are really attracted to the notion of doing business in Boston,” says Barros. “Boston is booming with a lot of opportunities. It's the right time to go out and work with new companies and the right time to work with companies that are growing here, so it's the right time to create this position.”
At the start of 2014, Mayor Martin Walsh created the cabinet-level position Barros now holds, as well as the Boston Economic Development Authority he now leads, “with the understanding that the city did not have a senior-level position that was coordinating all of the economic development activities for the City of Boston,” explains Barros. “The city was not necessarily looking at the economic activities and asking the questions of how do you make it easier to do business in Boston?”
Among other things, the focus will be on streamlining the permitting process and on thinking about “how the city can be a better partner for those who want to invest in the city, a better partner for existing companies that want to grow and create more jobs, a better partner for small businesses and new entrepreneurs, those who are innovating and creating new products in our city,” he says. He adds that his job is not only to coordinate economic development activities but also to “go out and sell the city to potential new investors and new companies” who would look to set up shop here.
Creating this position and the BEDA, Barros says, was done with the understanding that “the continued growth of Boston is going to happen because we're going to involve all of our neighborhoods, we're going to be better at citywide planning and we're going to do it in a way that involves as many different small businesses and entrepreneurs” as is feasible. Walsh tapped him for the post, he believes, because “the mayor knows that I have a history of successful engagement in the planning process with multiple stakeholders to do economic development” in one of the city's poorer neighborhoods. He brings experience in corporate America at the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. and a 13-year tenure as executive director of Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
