Post Office Square

Boston’s Post Office Square is known as one of the greatest public spaces, ranked #14 for ‘Best Squares & Plazas’ in the World by “Project for Open Spaces.”

1. Piazza del Campo, Sienna
2. Piazza San Marco, Venice
3. Campo Santa Margherita, Venice
4. Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, OR
5. Hotel de Ville (City Hall), Paris
6. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA
7. Rathaus Park (City Hall), Vienna
8. Union Square Park and Greenmarket, New York, NY
9. Piazza Navona, Rome
10. Washington Square, San Francisco
11. Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
12. Plaza de la Constitucion (Zocalo), Oaxaca, Mexico
13. Plaza de Armas, Cuzco, Peru
14. Post Office Square, Boston, MA

History & Background

"Park above, park below" is the slogan at Boston's Post Office Square. A public-private partnership financed the design and construction of the park and garage, while fees from the garage are targeted to repay capital costs and ongoing maintenance.
Garage attendants patrol the park and provide general maintenance, while Friends of Post Office Square pays for a private park ranger in the summer. The park/garage design has received more than 20 planning and architecture awards, and created open space in an extremely dense quarter of the city.

The development of the Park at Post Office Square began in the early 1980s‚ when the real-estate market was booming in downtown Boston and development space was at a premium. In the heart of the city's revitalized financial district stood a three-story concrete parking garage. With construction and renovation going on all over the downtown area, many buildings in the financial district turned their backs on this unsightly concrete structure.

One developer, Norman Leventhal, was renovating a building across the street from the parking facility and promoted the idea that the area would be more attractive without the garage. Leventhal founded Friends of Post Office Square with the intention of buying the garage and redeveloping it as a park. However, the ownership of the old garage and the cost of the project were considerable obstacles. Friends of Post Office Square consulted with the Parks Department and the Boston Greenspace Alliance, a consortium of open-space advocates, and decided to build a parking structure underground with a park above it.

With the strong support of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Friends of Post Office Square secured the development rights from the City of Boston. The parking garage opened in 1990; the park, in 1992. The $80 million construction cost was financed through a $50 million loan from Bank of New England (now Bank of America). To raise capital funds for the garage, Friends of Post Office Square offered stock in the parking structure. Local businesses were sold individual shares for $65,000. Along with the right to a monthly parking space, the purchase arrangement with Friends of Post Office Square included a cumulative 8% dividend to be paid to shareholders when debt relief is complete. The entire lot of 450 preferred shares was sold in just six weeks, raising $29.25 million.

After the debt has been paid, the partnership has arranged for the city of Boston to receive all profits from the garage. These funds are slated to be allocated to other neighborhood parks as well as to the city's general fund.

More Fun Facts

Its official name is The Norman B. Leventhal Park, after the Boston building manager and designer who designed it.

The garage is named "The Garage at Post Office Square," and it is 80 feet below the surface, which is the deepest point in the city.

The 1.7 acre (6,900 m²) park is a popular lunchtime destination for area workers. It features a café, fountains, and a pergola around a central lawn, and provides seat cushions for visitors during the summer. Designed by the landscape architects The Halvorson Company, the park is also home to "125 species of plants."