The Downtown Boston BID welcomes 2013 with excitement and anticipation, as the positive momentum in downtown continues.

The past year brought numerous developments: Millennium Partners' takeover of the Filene's site, Oxford Capital's plans to develop a hotel at 59 Temple Place, Origen Property's announcement that it would be developing a new restaurant at the former Locke-Ober's, and the addition of dozens of new businesses to the district. Millennium Partners opened their Millennium Place sales office, and the response so far has been extremely robust. Millennium Place will open this fall, with Hamilton Crossing, the 8 Winter Street apartment development, opening in just a few weeks.

The BID was equally busy: this past September we launched our new website, www.downtownboston.org, greatly expanded our social media presence, and added new and exciting destination events, such as Boston.com's "Running of the Bridesmaids" and "The Boston Cup," the Boston Common's new classic car show. Both events will return this September, coupled with the week-long "Celebrate Downtown" week. At the end of the year, we released our first annual report (takes a moment to download), which captures our progress to date.

This year will bring even more initiatives: a spring Home Tour, an inaugural downtown Arts Festival, and a number of special activities that are being developed in collaboration with Boston Magazine. As construction resumes at the Filene's site, we will be looking to program events in new and exciting ways throughout the district, at venues ranging from public spaces to rooftops and empty storefronts. We welcome your help and suggestions. If you are interested in helping with an event or have an idea that you think would be unique, please let us know.

Our capital improvement work remains a priority, as the BID and the BRA retained Klopfer Martin Design Group to develop a streetscape design standards and wayfinding program for downtown. This work will continue the efforts Mayor Menino and the BRA began several years ago with their recommendations and vision for the downtown area. We look forward to this project and are excited about the great team assembled to execute it.

Finally, as we close out another holiday season, we want to thank all the property owners and businesses in the BID district that added to the spirit by installing beautiful holiday lights and decorations on their buildings. We received many favorable comments from the public, who said the district looked exceptionally festive this year.

We are grateful for your continued support and readership. Your feedback has been tremendously helpful and we hope you will continue to contact us whenever the occasion arises. On behalf of our board of directors, our BID Ambassadors and staff, we wish all of you who work, shop, live or visit here a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Rosemarie E. Sansone, President
Downtown Boston Business Improvement District