Finally, some real hope for Boston’s blighted Filene’s site

The Downtown Crossing neighborhood the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and other permitting agencies should do all they can to work with Millennium Partners and speed the revitalization of a crucial corner of Boston.

The site has been festering under the control of Vornado Realty Trust of New York, a company that appears to care little about the negative commercial and aesthetic effects of its 2008 abandonment of the Filene’s site. Mayor Menino first appealed to Vornado’s better instincts, a foolish tactic for a company that touted its ability to extract financial concessions from government by allowing its properties to fall into a blighted state. But the mayor and other elected leaders in the city finally found a better way to Vornado’s heart: threatening to disrupt the company’s investment in the construction of a $1 billion casino at the Suffolk Downs racetrack.

Vornado remains as an investor in the Filene’s site. But Millennium is the controlling partner and will call the shots on the proposed $500 million project, which features the construction of a tower that could rise as high as 600 feet. Residents and businesses in Downtown Crossing, unlike those in other areas of the city, are not afraid of height. But the public will be looking carefully at the design and orientation of the tower, as well as the street-level uses, to ensure public access and compatibility with the downtown area.

There have been enough false starts and promises at the Filene’s site to require some level of skepticism. But with a quickening economy and a developer with a good track record of delivering in Boston, the city’s mother of all potholes should be a thing of the past.