MIDTOWN — One of Midtown's prime movers and shakers is expanding his reach outside Manhattan.
Dan Biederman — co-founder of the Grand Central Partnership who also helms the 34th Street Partnership, Bryant Park Corporation and the Chelsea Improvement Company — has been commissioned to revitalize Boston's South Station.
Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, his private consulting firm, has been tasked with boosting the station's appeal through new programming and amenities that will attract business, according to a statement from Equity Office, the real estate firm that manages the historic Beantown building.
Biederman Redevelopment already has a hand in Boston projects and has been working with Friends of the Public Garden to revitalize Boston Common and with the Esplanade Association to make improvements to the Charles River Esplanade.
Biederman, who is widely credited with revitalizing Bryant Park, said that working in Boston is a big change from New York.
"After New York, everything seems simpler, if not simple," he said via email, adding that "the techniques of reviving parks and other public spaces work in every city, no matter the size.”
Biederman also dismissed concerns that some have raised over the years that he's spread himself too thin while still collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in multiple salaries.
"I've been advising outside clients for more than 15 years, and those neighborhoods and their parks have kept improving throughout those years," he said.
"I'm more efficient than I used to be, I guess."
