Boston Business Journal Award-John Drew, visionary

BOSTON, MA, USA - BBJ Real Estate Awards: John Drew, visionary

May 15, 2015
By Jay Fitzgerald

Taken from the Boston Business Journal

Thirty years ago, John Drew saw something few others saw in Boston: the potential for a booming Seaport District.

In the 1980s, the area was mostly a swath of surface parking lots, abandoned rail lines and often derelict buildings that time seemed to have passed by over the years.

But Drew and his partner, Fidelity Investments, saw something different and proceeded to develop the World Trade Center, the Seaport Hotel, the Seaport East and West buildings and other projects, all well before the recent building boom in the area.

Earlier this year, the Drew Co. also opened the first phase of the new Waterside Place, a 236-unit luxury apartment complex in the Seaport. In addition, Drew has been a pioneer with other developments, such as the creation of the Bayside Exposition Center in Boston and the Great Woods Center for Performing Arts in Marshfield, now known as the Xfinity Center.

Drew, the recipient of this year’s real estate Visionary Award, recently talked to BBJ correspondent Jay Fitzgerald about the long and winding path he’s cleared as one of Greater Boston’s true development pioneers.

Before you even got involved with what we now call ‘Seaport,’ what was it about the area that made it attractive to you? The obvious attraction was the availability of so much undeveloped land on Boston Harbor and so close to Downtown – and yet it seemed to be ignored. So that was the biggest thing. It was the site itself. If you go across the country from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States, there was nothing quite like it, a large part of a city that already hadn’t been developed. It was a great opportunity.

Were there some people at the time who thought you were crazy for venturing into the area? I wouldn’t use the word ‘crazy.’ But I would simply say that most people basically didn’t venture there, from an investor’s standpoint. At the time, it might be explained that the boom in Downtown Boston had passed a bit and we were in a slow period. Sooner or later, others would have discovered it.

If you had to choose, what’s your favorite Seaport development project that you handled? Waterside Place is my favorite project because, quite frankly, from the ground up we were able to do what we wanted there. I’m so pleased it worked out so well and it’s been so well received. It’s been very, very rewarding. There’s a great deal of pride involved with it.

What was the most difficult development project you handled in the Seaport area, in terms of engineering, politics, finance or a combination of all three? The most difficult one was the original World Trade Center itself. The building turned 100 years old only a few years ago. It’s an old building that had a lot of issues around it. It was basically built into the harbor. The outer ring of the building is built out over water, while the rest of it is a big foundation of granite, a foundation that was (built) in 1915, 1916, 1917. The challenge of going in there and putting up a successful office and exhibition complex was quite daunting. There were a lot of logistical challenges that had to be overcome.

Overall, are you pleased with the quality and pace of developments in general in the Seaport area, not just your development projects? Yes, I am. In the past few years, we’ve had phenomenal growth. In recent history and going forward, I am very pleased with it and expect that growth to continue. The quality of what’s been put up has been very, very high. It’s attractive and high quality. I think we’ll have fewer all-glass buildings now because we already have our share of them. But I think the next steps will be more housing and more people living down here. That’s going to stimulate the growth of the retail.

Is there another area of the city that you’re also bullish on for development? I think there’s actually two. East Boston is coming along and people are very pleased with the development there. But the other two areas to watch are, first, the Allston area and that big piece of land Harvard owns and the railways out there near Cambridge. That’s going to be a very, very important part of Boston. Another neighborhood to watch is Dorchester. I think South Boston is basically sort of filling up and the next place it’s going to spill over into is Dorchester, starting probably around UMass Boston and moving all the way across Dorchester to Mattapan.

You’ve done business around the world. Architecturally and development wise, what’s the most impressive city you’d been to in your world travels? Architecturally, I think the most impressive of the new buildings are the ones I saw in China’s Shanghai. I mean, it’s simply
incredible. It runs neck and neck with Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There’s nothing quite like all these new buildings that have been designed by world famous architects. It’s simply incredible, from a business and architectural standpoint. It’s mind boggling to see.

When not working, what do you do to relax? There’s a lot of reading. I spend a lot of time with my family. We have 12 grandkids and I love them all. My wife and I spend a lot of time with our family. We also have a boat down on the Cape that we love to use. And I play bad golf.

Where do you like to go on vacations when not on the Cape? Every year, we take most or the whole family to the British Virgin Islands. We don’t go to the U.S. side. We’re neighbors. But we do go over to Virgin Gorda.

If you could go on a dream vacation in any part of the world, where would it be? The place I’d like to vacation in, and spend some time in, and I’ve never done it, is the Grand Canyon area and up into Montana. I just think there’s so much natural beauty and things to see out there. I’d love to have the time to take all that in. But I haven’t done it yet.

What’s the last book you read – and did you like it? A book that I’m reading and that I can recommend is “Boys in the Boat.” It’s about the University of Washington rowing crew in the ’30s and how they wind up going to the Berlin Olympic Games representing the U.S. It’s unbelievable what these guys lived through in the Depression and how they go on to crew this boat – and how the crew is able to accomplish so much. Some of the guys came from wealthier families. A guy they feature came from an unbelievably poor family.

What’s you’re all-time favorite movie and why? Boy, the all-time favorite. I thought about this and was going to say ‘Bridge on the River Kwai.’ But you know what’s my all-time favorite that I keep going back to again and again? It’s ‘Jaws.’ I have to admit it’s a homer thing. I like Jaws and like the fact it was set here (in Massachusetts). I really enjoyed that movie.

You have a vacation home in Chatham, right? Yes, with the shark and the seals.

So do you think of "Jaws" when you’re in Chatham and there are reports of great white sharks just outside your house in the water?(Laughs.) Yes, I do. With the shark sightings, there has been beach closures and things like that. It’s the movie coming to life. It’s fascinating, with all the herds of seals down there. We’ll go out on the weekends and you’ll see all the seals out basking in the sun and swimming and stuff, and you wonder: If they go around the cut and then further out, what’s waiting for them in the waters?