Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/174813
Millennium Place is the jewel in the crown of John Fish's Suffolk Construction. "This is a city I love deeply. I have a responsibility as a Bostonian to do whatever I can to make this a better community." —JOHN FISH helping decide the future look and feel of the city's public spaces. "I'm hoping, with this new cycle of development that is happening in the city, that we regain our confidence to think boldly about the future like the great architects and developers of Boston's past," he says. J ohn Fish is one of the men quite literally laying down the foundation for this bold future Hacin hopes for. The chairman and CEO of Suffolk Construction, Fish has grown his company into a billion-dollar behemoth that tops the list of general contractors in New England. According to the Boston Business Journal, of the 53 major projects happening in the Commonwealth today, Fish is building 13 of them. His firm powered through the Great Recession, coming out the other end unscathed and with acquisitions dotting the country. While he's well on his way to building a national brand, the Hingham native says Boston will always remain the cornerstone of his business. "I'm very proud of my Boston accent," Fish says, sounding more like Bobby Kennedy than Click and Clack. "This is a city that I love deeply, and I feel strongly that I have a responsibility as a Bostonian to do whatever I possibly can to make this a better community." When Fish graduated from Bowdoin College in 1982, he looked on as general contractors like his father transformed old buildings into housing and mixed-use developments. Even before then, in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, Fish believes that Boston lacked a clear vision of its future, and construction generally followed the ebb and flow of manufacturing. "Now the buildings are becoming more reflective of where the city is going, as opposed to where the city has been," he says. So while building respectfully in historic neighborhoods like the North End and Chinatown, Fish is breaking new ground with projects like Waterside Place, a $125 million 20-story mixed-use development on South Boston Waterfront, which is perhaps one of last frontiers for new construction. "The whole idea of the Innovation District is going to transform the city of Boston," Fish says of the Waterfront, "and again, it is reflective of where we are going, not where we have been." L eading the charge in the Innovation District is developer Joseph Fallon, president and CEO of The Fallon Company. Much like Fish, Fallon grew up learning the construction industry from his father. He eventually transitioned into real estate when he began working under his childhood neighbor in Milton, Thomas Flatley, the legendary developer who arrived in America in the 1950s as a pauper and then went on to become the Hospital, and the State House, Bulfinch did not enjoy the same financial security afforded today's architects, and he even had to moonlight, ironically enough, as the city's police superintendent just to get by. Nevertheless, Bulfinch rose up out of the rubble of the American Revolution and transformed Boston from a city of splintered wood into one of elegant brick and granite. Centuries later, Bulfinch's Boston endures with the same European-inspired aesthetic and colonial charm that ultimately led him to design much of the nation's capital at the behest of President James Monroe. And while the city would continue to evolve at the hands of many other skilled men, it was Henry Hobson Richardson who propelled Boston to its next significant benchmark during the late 1800s. Richardson's architecture was inspired by his continued on page 116 Faneuil Hall, circa 1900. BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 112-119_BC_F_Men_LateFall_13.indd 115 115 9/16/13 6:46 PM