In Robert Campbell’s Critic’s Notebook about the Millennium Tower in downtown Boston, he wrote, “The Millennium Tower lurks like a wizard behind the scenes, pouring a fresh mix of condos, shops, and services onto a site that once was a beloved destination for shoppers but had deteriorated to the point where it was literally a hole in the ground.’’

The site certainly did not deteriorate into a hole in the ground. There was a fairly attractive building (apparently with no historic protection) that was demolished, and a hole was dug during the original development of a tower at the former Filene’s site. The developer could not get funding to continue and just left the hole. Years later, fortunately, Millennium Partners took over the site and restarted the development.

I’m happy that there is housing being developed in the Downtown Crossing area, but I’m disappointed that Campbell overlooked the details of how that came about.

Ken Sisson

Boston