CRA-MTA Pact Will Save Downtown Market

In an effort to save the privately owned Grand Central Square project, the City Council agreed on steps Wednesday to avoid foreclosure of the historic downtown market, office and apartment complex.

Under agreements between the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the CRA will help the developer, Ira Yellin, cover his bond debt. The CRA will pay about $600,000 per year for the next four years and $99,000 in each of the following 25 years.

The MTA helped back the bonds because a Red Line subway station is less than a block away and MTA officials believed the project could boost ridership. “The project is a stellar project, one of the cornerstones of the downtown area,” said John Molloy, the CRA administrator. “We simply do not want to see a foreclosure here.”