B.R.A. Overnight via Federal Express 2010 AUG 27 A 10 August 26, 2010 John Palmieri City of Bostow/BRA 1 City Hall Square, Floor 9 Boston, MA. 02201-2040 Re: One Franklin Street Project Dear Director Palmieri, We received your letter dated 28 June, 2010 addressed to Mr. Roth. Like the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA,) we are also concemed about the development status of the One Franklin Street Project. As we have discussed many times, we have been in constant negotiations with possible lenders and equity stake holders, and have worked very hard to find a suitable solution for the site that can be financed and meet the City’s goals for the area, Your letter indicates that a lapse of time will occur under Section 80A-6 of the Boston Zoning Code if the project does not have a building permit on file by the third anniversary of the issuance of the Preliminary Adequacy Determination of the project. We did receive building permits by April 2008. The validity of the lapse of time notwithstanding, we do not believe that either the contemplated changes to our project that we have discussed (Residential tower vs. Office tower) or the passing of time increases the impacts of the project on the city and local services. In addition, the recent Permit Extension Act passed by the Massachusetts Legislature and the Governor, we believe, gives the BRA both the ability and the implied intent that projects such as ours be granted additional time in order to continue searching for solutions. In these historic challenging economic times, it is unfortunate that we, like many property ‘owners, have been unable to move forward with our development plans. We hope that you will continue to work with us in finding a solution for the proper development of the site. Any action by the BRA at this time that adversely impacts the approvals we have received only serves to make finding a solution more difficult, and seems contrary to the best interest of the city and the BRA. Thank you fo your en we tion. Le Sandeep Mathrani President - Retail Vornado Realty Trust nj Oba Investors