Banker & Tradesman's negative point of view

Proposed Pru Center Project Faces Towering OppositionTenants in Trio of Luxury Apartment Buildings Start Petition Drive to Stop Office Facility Plans
By Thomas GrilloReporter

Nancy Sonnabend, a resident of the Fairfield at the Prudential Center, led a petition drive to stop plans for a pair of towers outside her window.

Opposition to a pair of proposed towers at Boston’s Prudential Center is mounting.
Tenants in the three luxury apartment buildings at the Pru voted overwhelmingly last Thursday to fight plans for a 19-story glass office tower on Boylston Street and a 30-story residential high-rise on Exeter Street.

“The revolution has begun,” said Celia Sniffin, who has lived at the Pru for nearly 40 years. “There will be a lot more to come and this is just the opening skirmish in a long war. We intend to organize and get the facts out about this proposal.”

Boston Properties and Avalon Bay Communities have filed a controversial proposal with the Boston Redevelopment Authority that calls for a 438,993-square-foot building at 888 Boylston St., between the Mandarin Oriental Boston Hotel and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention. The second project, Avalon Exeter, would be a residential tower on Exeter Street, across from the Boston Public Library.

Nancy Sonnabend organized a tenant petition drive to prevent construction of the two buildings. In a packed meeting of the Prudential Center Residents Association (PCRA) late last week, the longtime resident of the Pru’s Fairfield complex presented 157 signatures in opposition to the development. The letter demands that plans for the Exeter building be withdrawn and that the Boylston Street tower be limited to 11 stories.

“No. No. No. These buildings are too big for the small site they’re on,” said Sonnabend. “They will cast big shadows on Boylston Street, exacerbate an already traffic-choked section of the city and destroy the light and the views.”

Sonnabend is one of 1,100 residents in three high-rise buildings adjacent to the Prudential Center. The towers, named Gloucester, Boylston and Fairfield, were purchased in 1998 by AvalonBay, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, for $129 million. The buildings at 770, 780 and 790 Boylston St. contain 781 units.

Anthony Selvaggi, PCRA president, did not return a call seeking comment.

Warren Markarian, a member of the association, declined to say how he voted, but acknowledged that there is growing unease about the development.
“The office tower was approved years ago at 11 stories, but now Boston Properties wants 19 stories,” he said. “The apartment building is a harder sell because people live next door. At first, people questioned whether the Exeter building should be 30 stories; now some tenants don’t want anything built there at all.”

The vote is pivotal for Markarian, the tenants’ representative on the Prudential Project Advisory Committee (PruPAC). Former Mayor Raymond Flynn established the 41-member group in the 1980s to advise City Hall on development projects at the Prudential Center. Mayor Thomas M. Menino has told Banker & Tradesman that he intends to take seriously the panel’s recommendation before the project moves forward.

Later this month, PruPAC subcommittees are expected to make recommendations to the full panel on whether to support the project.

“I don’t know how I will vote at PruPAC,” Markarian said. “It’s clear that there was overwhelming opposition to both buildings among the tenants who attended the meeting. But PruPAC is still gathering information about the project and I haven’t decided which way to vote.”

But Sonnabend insisted that Markarian must reject the project when it comes to a vote at PruPAC.

“He represents the Prudential tenants and he must vote according to our wishes,” she said. “The mandate is in.”

‘Already Impassible’

State Rep. Martha M. Walz, a Back Bay Democrat, said she has heard from many Pru Center residents who have expressed strong opposition to the proposed office tower at 888 Boylston St.
The Boylston Street office building originally was approved by the BRA as a 287,493-square-foot, 11-story tower at the site. But Boston Properties has said that it needs more height to make the project economically viable. The developer is seeking to add 8 stories to the design and needs city approval.

Walz has asked Boston Properties to justify the reasons for the increase in height. Without the added density, the company has said, the developers cannot afford to design and build a plaza.
“The developers said they need additional height to do Class A office space,” she said. “But Ron Druker plans to build a 120-foot-tall Class A office building on the very same side of the very same street.”

In September, Banker & Tradesman was the first to report that The Druker Co., which owns the former Shreve, Crump & Low building across from the Boston Public Garden, planned to replace the 5-story mid-rise with a new building. Earlier this month, Druker told the BRA that he intends to build a 120-foot building totaling 221,000 square feet at 330-360 Boylston St.
“Druker’s proposal completely undercuts Boston Properties’ argument,” Walz said. “How can Boston Properties say they can’t build at 155 feet when, a few steps away, Druker says he can do high-end office space at 120 feet?”

At a packed public hearing at the Boston Public Library last month, many residents of the city’s Back Bay neighborhood said the 19-story glass office tower proposed for Boylston Street is too tall. In addition, they argued that 180 parking spaces are not enough for the 1,600 employees expected to fill the skyscraper. Meanwhile, others pleaded for more time to study the consequences of another tall building that would overlook the historic neighborhood.
So far, none of the developers are talking. Michael A. Cantalupa of Boston Properties declined to comment. Michael Roberts, vice president of development at Avalon, declined to comment. Druker did not return a reporter’s call.

Sonnabend said the fight has just begun.

“Boylston and Exeter Streets are already impassible,” she said. “The area is looking more and more like [New York’s] midtown Manhattan.”