By Scott Helman, Globe Staff | November 29, 2006
Governor Mitt Romney, erasing any doubt that he intends to make a White House bid in 2008, is laying plans to run his presidential campaign from a three-story waterfront building at the edge of Boston’s North End, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the proposed deal.
Romney’s decision to base his campaign in Boston would end speculation that the governor, who often pokes fun at Massachusetts’ liberal reputation before out-of-state Republican audiences, was looking to put his headquarters in his native Michigan, a more politically moderate state where his father was a three-term governor.
Developers plan to eventually demolish the vacant, gray-and-tan building at 585 Commercial St. to make room for an eight-story, 62-unit, luxury condominium tower. But that project is still in the early stages, and Romney is expected to base his campaign operations in the existing building in the meantime, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the governor’s bid for the site.
Romney’s campaign team has not finalized a deal for the space yet, the sources said, but an agreement is expected soon. Romney has said he intends to make an official announcement after the first of the year about whether he will run for president in 2008.
Jared Young, a spokesman for Romney’s political action committee, the Commonwealth PAC, refused to comment on whether Romney plans to rent space at the Commercial Street property. He said the governor had not made up his mind about 2008.
“The governor hasn’t made any decision yet and has said that he won’t until after the holidays and he talks with his family,” Young said. “All of this is predicated on what decision he makes.”
But Romney has made many moves in recent months signaling that he is likely to run for president, including an announcement Monday that Warren Tompkins, a veteran Republican operative in South Carolina, has joined his political team as a top adviser for the Southeast. Tompkins, who worked for President Bush when Bush first ran in 2000, helped engineer attacks against US Senator John McCain of Arizona that helped end McCain’s candidacy. McCain, along with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, has already set up an exploratory committee to test the waters for 2008 and could emerge as Romney’s chief rival in the primaries.
Today, the PAC plans to announce other political advisers who will be joining Romney’s team.
Romney will be in Miami today for the annual conference of the Republican Governors Association, the organization he has led over the past year. Romney, who made stops yesterday at political events in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Jackson, Miss., will hand over the chairmanship to Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia at the session and is also expected to hold private meetings about his presidential plans.
The Republican Governors Association conference, held this year at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, occurs less than a month after Republicans lost six governorships to the Democrats in the midterm elections. Though the real politicking at such conferences happens behind closed doors, public events this year include an address by outgoing Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman and a speech by Google’s chief executive officer Eric Schmidt.
But the presence of Romney, his potential 2008 rival Mike Huckabee, governor of Arkansas , and Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, who is viewed by some as a potential vice presidential pick, promises to add some political intrigue.
The Commercial Street building was built by the federal government in the 1960s and housed the US Food and Drug Administration. More recently, the building has been home to the Boston law firm Prince Lobel Glovsky & Tye and high-end home furnisher Roche-Bobois.
The condominium tower proposed for the site would, according to plans on file with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, feature one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units and 135 parking spaces in an underground garage. The ground floor would have a restaurant and bar, a spa, fitness center, lap pool, and inn.
But the project has drawn opposition in the North End, with some residents arguing that it would accelerate gentrification in their neighborhood. Romney, whose PAC currently leases space in the Old City Hall on School Street, would be able to base his political operation there while the developers contend with the residents’ opposition and go through state and local permitting.
Documents on file with the secretary of state’s office list CrossHarbor Capital Partners, a Boston real estate investment firm, as part of the development team for 585 Commercial St. William H. Kremer, a managing partner at the company, declined to comment yesterday.
Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.
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