Walk into a meeting with Don Chiofaro, and you expect a little controversy. On a slow news day, you wish for it.

Imagine my surprise when Chiofaro came to the Globe last week speaking from a carefully crafted 12-page script that took him about 20 minutes to get through. No more Mr. Off-the-Cuff. Know his history, and you understand why his handlers want to keep him on message.

This is the Boston developer who, left to his own devices, so angered then-mayor Tom Menino that he was pretty much persona non grata at City Hall. Not good for anyone trying to get a project done in this town.

The Chiofaro who visited Morrissey Boulevard seemed humbled by what’s happened in the eight years since he bought the Harbor Garage, next to the New England Aquarium, and dreamed big. He came to the Globe to declare that he has accepted — grudgingly — the city’s requirement that his project encompass no more than 900,000 square feet, nearly a third smaller than originally planned.

Did he try to fight for more? Of course, he did. But the new Don knows to stop when he’s ahead.

The old Don also would have used the Globe to unveil another grand plan showing how he can turn the world’s ugliest garage into a piece of art.

But the new Don knows he can’t lead with his ego. Instead, the former Harvard linebacker is uncharacteristically holding back and waiting until the city finishes new zoning rules for the harbor from Long Wharf to the Evelyn Moakley Bridge. A final round of discussions begins next week, and the process is expected to wrap up in November.

Instead Chiofaro feeds us this line: “At present, we do not have a design. What we have is a vision.’’

It’s a clever move, if only to disarm — for a moment — his growing number of critics.

Sure, Chiofaro may have cleared a big hurdle in winning over City Hall last year when Mayor Marty Walsh gave his blessing for the developer to blow past waterfront guidelines and build up to 600 feet high.

But new opponents have joined the fight against the developer, whose last major project was International Place. It’s no longer about placating the garage’s next-door neighbors, the residents of Harbor Towers.

Now the aquarium is worried about construction that will drive away visitors and harm the health of its marine animals. The Conservation Law Foundation is raising concerns about the compromises City Hall is making in its harbor plan by allowing Chiofaro to provide 30 percent open space instead of 50 percent. Then there is the influential Barr Foundation, which is warning that the Boston waterfront is “in jeopardy’’ with parcel-by-parcel planning.

Without a specific design, however, it’s hard for those who don’t like Chiofaro’s $1 billion project to immediately shoot it down.

Take, for example, the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, which sent the city a scathing letter in January criticizing the harbor planning process in general and its handling of the Harbor Garage in particular.

The foundation doesn’t like how developers like Chiofaro are driving the waterfront plan, and while it’s clear that the foundation is unhappy with the size of the garage redevelopment, it can’t do anything beyond voice concerns. The group hesitates to say whether it will sue to stop Chiofaro.

“I don’t know,’’ said the foundation’s senior counsel, Peter Shelley. “We are paying very close attention.’’

The other critical player who has yet to enter the fray is the state. Because Chiofaro is building on the waterfront, he will need a Chapter 91 license from environmental secretary Matthew Beaton. Chapter 91 is a state law that mandates public access to the waterfront. It sets requirements, such as the amount of open space on the property, but that can be modified by a municipal harbor plan like the one the city is drawing up.

Chiofaro, for example, can offer a package that preserves and creates open space at alternative sites in the neighborhood.

Already, Chiofaro has met with Beaton to make his case, even before a proposal is submitted. Meanwhile, aquarium officials have also met with Beaton this year.

The garage has always been seen as a key parcel in enlivening that section of the harborfront but even more so now as the Seaport District gets fully developed and feels overbuilt. Those who want to get the waterfront right are focusing their attention on Chiofaro.

But don’t mistake measured responses to the developer’s latest gambit as a sign of détente. In fact, a Cold War is settling in, with both sides gearing up for a battle. over the future of our waterfront.

Shirley Leung is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @leung.