The Big Story:

The big news came over night with the announcement that the long stalled Filene’s site at One Franklin will be taken over by Millennium Partners developers of the Residences at the Ritz.  The Project is a $500 million, 1.2 million-square-foot, mixed-use development tower that could hit 600 feet in height.  Needless to say Mayor Thomas M. Menino was happy to make the announcement: “Yesterday, Millennium Partners agreed to take a controlling stake in the development project at One Franklin — the Filene’s site,” Menino said. “It’s a first step toward a new beginning at this historic site.”  Millennium bought half of Vornado Realty's interest.  Here are the stories in the Globe and Herald. 

Some other interesting items from the week:

Boston condo market held steady last year – Boston Globe 1/2/2012 “Some downtown condos sold significantly above their previous price.  ‘What shocked me were some of the re-sales on some of the relatively new projects,’’ she said. “Buyers are going to be challenged in trying to find appropriate properties.’ Said Link president Debra Taylor Blair ’’

Markets Fall as Bank Shares and Home Sales Decline – New York Times 1/27/2012  “A report showed that sales of new homes declined unexpectedly in December for the first time in four months, capping the slowest year on record for builders.”

Real sluggish year – Boston Herald 1/25/2012 “Massachusetts’ housing market ended 2011 on a down note as sales dropped in December to their lowest level since 1990.”

Tight apartment market pushes Boston-area rents to record high – Boston Globe 1/26/2012 “Rents in the Boston area hit record highs in the last quarter of 2011, pushed up by increased demand and declining inventory, maintaining the region’s reputation as one of the country’s most expensive places to live.  Average monthly rents in the metropolitan Boston area, loosely defined as within Interstate 495, jumped to $1,686 between October and December, compared with $1,649 during the same period the previous year and $1,600 in 2009.”

High-tech firms find fertile turf in South Boston – Boston Globe 1/23/2012 “100 companies and 3,000 jobs have come in, bringing a laptop-toting crowd to an area long known for its gritty working seaport and artist studios.”

Fed Lifts Markets on Rate Outlook – Wall Street Journal 1/26/2012 “Clearly, the Fed is saying, 'I'm coming. Rates are going to be lower than you thought.' If you believe that equity prices are impacted by lower interest rates, then you're going to bid up stocks."

New Housing Task Force Will Zero In on Wall St. - New York Times 1/26/2012 “After failing to produce any major prosecutions stemming from the housing crisis, an expanded federal task force is planning a new tack, cracking down on financial firms suspected of improperly bundling home loans into securities for investors, officials said Wednesday.”

The Zero Decade – The Wall Street Journal 1/27/2012 The Fed doubles down to reflate the housing market. “Mr. Bernanke and his Open Market Committee (FOMC) downgraded their already modest growth outlook and said the recovery is so vulnerable that the Fed must keep interest rates at near-zero for another three years.”