Who Owns Boston? Patrick Mannion - pmannion@college
Land Ownership by Sector
Land ownership, particularly in urban areas, is a complex issue. An individual or organization’s holdings may be measured by area or by value, by potential sale price per unit area, or by the age-old adage “location, location, location.”
Public Private
In Boston, a relatively liberal city where the government is involved in many parts of life, the public sphere’s influence is borne out in the man-made landscape. Public entities control 54% of land in Boston - this includes property held by the federal, state, and city governments. The majority, however, is dispersed across approximately 1000 sub-agencies, from the Department of Parks & Recreation to the MBTA. Private 46%
Private land ownership is largely residential and commercial, and broken into many small chunks of land. These are much less centralized in their ownership - there are over 90,000 distinct private owners.
Public 54%
Top 5 Landholders, by Area Private THE GARDENS AT GETHSEMANE IN STERLING SUFFOLK RACECOURSE CSX TRANSPORTATION INC S M LORUSSO & SONS INC NEW GEORGETOWNE LLC Public CITY OF BOSTON MASS PORT AUTHORTY COMMWLTH OF MASS MASS BAY TRANSP AUTH FOREST HILLS CEMETERY
sqft 6,454,590 4,739,040 3,220,620 3,064,972 2,659,092 sqft 132,960,466 101,596,835 119,318,130 12,996,613 10,677,266
4.5% In Boston, the top 5 private landholders combined own just 4.5% of the total area controlled classified as private property. Public property ownership is very decentralized
40.5% Meanwhile, the top 5 public landholders own 40.5% of publicallyzoned land. Public land ownership is quite concentrated.