Task Force Convenes Neighborhood task force addresses Master Plan in final meeting
The Heights
Published in the Thursday, January 31, 2008 Edition of By Patrick Fouhy Organizational Project Manager
The Allston-Brighton Boston College Task Force met Tuesday night for the fourth and final time before the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) issues its scoping questions to BC. The discussion on open and academic space evoked a far more moderate response than past topics have.
In addition to preserving the open space on Middle Campus and Brighton Campus, BC looks to add green space to Lower Campus, creating a series of "linked quadrangles and pedestrian walkways."
Brighton resident Charles Vasiliades raised concerns over the future preservation of the open space on the former Archdiocese property, requesting that the orchard and wooded area along Lake Street be zoned as conservation land.
"We can't count on an institutional campus to be a public park," said Brighton resident Eva Webster, echoing Vasiliades's request.
"I'm very pleased that the orchard and woods along Lake Street are being preserved … but we have to do more to protect it," said Wilma Wetterstrom, another Brighton resident.
Residents were also concerned with the use of artificial turf on the proposed Brighton fields, including the new baseball stadium.
"We really don't want to see that much artificial turf on the playing fields," said Shelby Marshall. "The athletic fields are going to be fenced in, but we want large enough buffers around the field so we can still walk there."
Wetterstrom agreed with Marshall, citing the environmental benefits of natural open space as opposed to turf surfaces.
"All artificial turf supports is bacteria and viruses shed by kids playing on them," Wetterstrom said.
"Taking what is now playing fields and turning half of that space into artificial turf and fenced-in areas is not maintaining green space," Sandy Furman said.
No comments were aired on the benefits and necessity of artificial turf on the proposed field.
"We plan to work with the athletics department and our consultants [on having turf] and when the city issues a scope, they will most likely ask us about it," said Jeanne Levesque, the director of governmental relations for BC. "We'll be looking at the benefits of artificial turf. We know that there is a need for it as far as scheduling."Setbacks were the final point of contention. While the University plans to use natural barriers along Lake Street to provide a setback for residence halls, neighbors were uneasy with the fact that there were no barriers planned between the neighborhood and proposed fields.
Former city council candidate Alex Selvig went so far as to argue that there "should be no uses that require buffer" on the Brighton Campus.
The University also seeks to renovate Carney Hall, construct three new buildings around the Dustbowl, and build a new Integrated Sciences Center between McGuinn and Cushing Halls.
While little objection was raised to the renovations on Middle Campus, an area outside the purview of the taskforce as it lies in Newton, Leland Webster requested that the school consider building academic facilities on Shea Field rather than the proposed residence halls. The concern for many neighbors remains the potential use of the Reservoir as a cut-through between Cleveland Circle and the proposed Shea Field residence halls. Collectively, though, neighbors seemed to accept the vast majority of BC's plans for academic space.
On Feb. 5, the public comment period for the Institutional Master Plan Notification Form will end and the letter from the Allston-Brighton BC Task Force will be submitted to the BRA. The document aims to voice the major concerns of the community to the BRA. Residents will have the opportunity to send individual letters to the BRA by this date as well.
The BRA officially has 20 days to give BC its scoping questions, but Levesque said it will likely provide them within 10 days of the close of the public comment period.
The scoping questions will ask the University to examine and conduct studies on certain aspects of the plan in a more detailed manner. BC will have an unlimited period of time to respond to the scoping questions and return a letter to the BRA containing the University's response and information found from any studies conducted.
"We're going to take the time to create a good response to the scope," Levesque said. "But clearly we're trying to respond in a timely fashion, we don't want this to go on for months and months," Levesque said.
After the scoping questions are answered, the University will file the Institutional Master Plan with the BRA, which will be followed by a 60-day public comment period after the University notifies the community, Levesque said.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
$ Twenty Four Million
Harvard Crimson
Harvard, Residents Approach Accord
University and Allston days away from agreement; $24 million in benefits at outset
Published On Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:13 AM
By BRITTANY M LLEWELLYN
Crimson Staff Writer
After months of negotiations over dollar amounts and community programs, Boston and Harvard officials say they are days away from signing an agreement that will allow construction of the University’s Allston science complex to commence.
The agreement—a legally binding document that outlines the benefits the University must provide to the neighborhood over the next decade—is the last obstacle in the way of Harvard breaking ground on what will be its 350-acre campus in Allston.
The decision to grant the University approval to construct the 589,000 square-foot complex comes after over nine months of community meetings that have resulted in an increase of proposed benefits from $21 million to $23.9 million. Harvard officials have also established a $500,000 fund to be used for education and health projects for the neighborhood.
“We think that this robust set of benefits related to the science complex will help us advance our partnership with the neighborhood,” said Harvard’s Director for Community Relations in Boston Kevin A. McCluskey ’76. “We look forward to working with the city to develop a master plan for the neighborhood and the many good things that can come from that.”
The science complex, which will house Harvard’s Stem Cell Institute, will consist of four buildings connected by glass sky bridges. The complex will utilize environmentally friendly techniques to keep greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent below the national standard.
In addition to the education and health programs, funds have also been earmarked for workforce and employee development, a housing trust fund, and the creation of two neighborhood parks.
The University has already repaired sidewalks along Western Avenue.
Ray Mellone, who chairs the Harvard Allston Task Force—a mayor-appointed group of Allston residents—said he was optimistic about what Havard’s expansion would mean for his neighborhood.
Mellone said that Harvard’s financial and educational prowess would improve the community and allow it “to grow and become more rooted.”
But despite the University’s promises, some residents continue to feel that the programs and funds will not be enough to substantially improve the neighborhood.
Harry Mattison, who is also a member of the task force, said that he had “tremendous doubts” that the benefits will directly impact the community.
In the past, Mattison, along with others in his community, asked the University to establish and fund a kindergarten through eighth grade school and community center instead of making physical improvements to the neighborhood.
“The city should be able to repair its own sidewalks instead of having to ask for the money from Harvard,” he said.
He added that “trees and sidewalks are nice” but that the University should focus on bringing businesses to Allston to fill vacant properties that Harvard has acquired over the years.
“Harvard has a moral obligation to purchase property without sapping so much life out of the community,” he said.
In the past, University officials have maintained that they are committed to working with Allston residents, as Harvard expands into the community for at least the next 50 years.
Completion of the science complex is scheduled for 2012.
—Staff writer Brittany M. Llewellyn can be reached at bllewell@fas.harvard.edu.
Harvard, Residents Approach Accord
University and Allston days away from agreement; $24 million in benefits at outset
Published On Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:13 AM
By BRITTANY M LLEWELLYN
Crimson Staff Writer
After months of negotiations over dollar amounts and community programs, Boston and Harvard officials say they are days away from signing an agreement that will allow construction of the University’s Allston science complex to commence.
The agreement—a legally binding document that outlines the benefits the University must provide to the neighborhood over the next decade—is the last obstacle in the way of Harvard breaking ground on what will be its 350-acre campus in Allston.
The decision to grant the University approval to construct the 589,000 square-foot complex comes after over nine months of community meetings that have resulted in an increase of proposed benefits from $21 million to $23.9 million. Harvard officials have also established a $500,000 fund to be used for education and health projects for the neighborhood.
“We think that this robust set of benefits related to the science complex will help us advance our partnership with the neighborhood,” said Harvard’s Director for Community Relations in Boston Kevin A. McCluskey ’76. “We look forward to working with the city to develop a master plan for the neighborhood and the many good things that can come from that.”
The science complex, which will house Harvard’s Stem Cell Institute, will consist of four buildings connected by glass sky bridges. The complex will utilize environmentally friendly techniques to keep greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent below the national standard.
In addition to the education and health programs, funds have also been earmarked for workforce and employee development, a housing trust fund, and the creation of two neighborhood parks.
The University has already repaired sidewalks along Western Avenue.
Ray Mellone, who chairs the Harvard Allston Task Force—a mayor-appointed group of Allston residents—said he was optimistic about what Havard’s expansion would mean for his neighborhood.
Mellone said that Harvard’s financial and educational prowess would improve the community and allow it “to grow and become more rooted.”
But despite the University’s promises, some residents continue to feel that the programs and funds will not be enough to substantially improve the neighborhood.
Harry Mattison, who is also a member of the task force, said that he had “tremendous doubts” that the benefits will directly impact the community.
In the past, Mattison, along with others in his community, asked the University to establish and fund a kindergarten through eighth grade school and community center instead of making physical improvements to the neighborhood.
“The city should be able to repair its own sidewalks instead of having to ask for the money from Harvard,” he said.
He added that “trees and sidewalks are nice” but that the University should focus on bringing businesses to Allston to fill vacant properties that Harvard has acquired over the years.
“Harvard has a moral obligation to purchase property without sapping so much life out of the community,” he said.
In the past, University officials have maintained that they are committed to working with Allston residents, as Harvard expands into the community for at least the next 50 years.
Completion of the science complex is scheduled for 2012.
—Staff writer Brittany M. Llewellyn can be reached at bllewell@fas.harvard.edu.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
But There isn't a College in Southie
"Southie's Fear: Allston"
Condo glut seen creating new ‘college town’
By Christine McConville
Boston Herald
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - Updated 5h ago
There’s also growing concern that developers may use the current housing downturn to renege on promises they made to the community in exchange for the right to build condos. Promises include new park benches, street lights, meeting space and money for community groups, and lower-cost housing units.
“The condominiums aren’t selling like they used to, and we are all concerned about what will happen,” said state Sen. Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat.
“What happens if we’ve got a couple thousand units that can’t be sold or rented and they’re made into Section 8?” Hart asked, referring to the government’s subsidized housing program.
South Boston has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, as scores of two-family homes, gas stations and even churches have been converted into upscale condominiums and townhouses.
Some of the most eye-popping changes have taken place on the lower end of West Broadway, near the Broadway MBTA station, as one multistory development after another has popped up.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority reports that 1,270 new condominium units have been created in South Boston in the past five years. And the BRA says 61 percent of the neighborhood’s residents have lived there for less than five years.
But as the demand for housing has softened, locals say the projects went up too fast.
And now that the market has turned, many of the units are empty.
“There’s a plethora of one and two (bedroom units) out there, not moving,” Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty said.
But prices remain high.
In the Macallen Building, which overlooks the highway and the MBTA rail yard, an 800-square-foot studio is selling for $519,900.
“Who are they building these things for?” asked Joyce Gifford Powers, a longtime South Boston resident who predicts that many of the units on West Broadway will sit empty for a long, long time.
The market has already impacted some projects. Not long after the BRA approved plans to build 139 condominiums at 50 West Broadway, home of the former Cardinal Cushing High School, the developers went back to the BRA, seeking permission to build apartments, instead of condos.
To the dismay of South Boston state Rep. Brian Wallace, the BRA approved the change.
“I’ll never support that because we’ll become Allston-Brighton,” Wallace said, adding that he fears other condo developers will also switch to apartments, and his constituents will become transient students from area colleges, instead of homeowners.
“We’ll become a college town,” he said.
Flaherty, however, sees a glimmer of a silver lining in the downturn.
He’s hoping to convince certain developers to abandon their plans for swanky, spacious lofts, and build family-friendly, three-bedroom units instead.
“This could be an opportunity to keep families in the city,” he said.
But Flaherty says he won’t renegotiate the promises that developers made to the community during the building boom.
“All of those things that were on the table when things were good, the park fountains and the benches, we are very firm that these promises need to be honored,” he said.
Of course, not everyone is worried about the aftermath of the building boom.
Kairos Shen, the BRA’s director of planning, said that in a city neighborhood, especially one so close to public transportation, there is no such thing as overdevelopment.
“We need population for the city to work,” he said.
And John Keith, a real estate broker who lived at 9 West Broadway between 2003 and 2006, said he’s watched the area improve.
“When I moved in, the place was pretty empty,” he said. “A lot of amazing things happened and the neighborhood got a lot better.”
Tim Pappas, chief executive of Pappas Enterprise, the firm that developed two of the largest buildings on lower Broadway, pointed out that more housing generally means lower prices.
“Let guys like me go out there and overbuild,” he said. “It’s the only thing that will bring prices down.”
Monday, January 28, 2008
New Plans by Suffolk University
Suffolk Presents Its Proposals For Academic, Dorm Projects
Banker & Tradesman
By Thomas Grillo
Reporter
Suffolk University presented plans Thursday night for a 100,000-square-foot building on Boston’s Beacon Hill and a 12-story dormitory in Downtown Crossing.
The Suffolk Task Force heard details about the school’s expansion as it seeks approval to house a greater share of its undergraduate students and increase its academic space. The 18-member, multi-neighborhood panel was created to advise Mayor Thomas M. Menino on the university’s proposed growth.
The presentations come one year after the Beacon Hill neighborhood and Menino rejected a proposed 22-story dormitory at the former Metropolitan District Commission headquarters at 20 Somerset St. As an alternative, Alex Krieger, a principal at Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, a Cambridge-based architectural firm, provided details for academic space at the Beacon Hill location.
Under the proposal, an 8-story, glass-and-concrete tower would replace the former MDC facility. It would be the new home for Suffolk’s New England School of Art and Design. Suffolk intends to move its art school from cramped quarters in the Back Bay to Beacon Hill.
The tower would offer about 60,000 square feet of classroom, arts and staff space overlooking the Garden of Peace, a tiny memorial park commemorating homicide victims adjacent to the plaza at 100 Cambridge St. Krieger noted that the new building’s height will not be taller than the existing facility.
The two-hour session featured a testy exchange between Krieger and Robert Whitney, a task force member and Beacon Hill resident. Whitney raised questions about how Suffolk arrived at the new facility’s square footage.
“This is different from what was set forth in the draft plan,” he said. “My understanding was that half the building would be allocated for the arts school. How much of the total space is for the art school and how much of the classroom space is not for the arts school? I’m just trying to figure out what the numbers are.”
A frustrated Krieger replied, “Excuse me, why don’t you take out a pencil? No single academic program offers classrooms 24/7. It’s foolish to assign all classrooms to one use.”
Krieger then specified how much space was to be used for administration, classrooms, fine arts and graphs, and journalism. “Maybe we were not clear enough to describe the difference between net and gross square footage,” he said.
But Whitney insisted that in earlier discussions, officials said the arts school would get about half the space.
‘Beautiful’ Façade
Adrian Lebuffe, an architect at CBT Architects, presented the latest plans for redevelopment of the former Modern Theatre on lower Washington Street in the downtown.
If approved, the dilapidated movie house would be restored and a 12-story tower would be built at the rear to accommodate 180 dorm beds. The project would include restoration of the historic façade of the Modern Theatre. Ground-floor uses would a two-story theater and art gallery/display area. Upper-floor uses would offer residences for undergraduate students.
“We will take the Modern’s beautiful vaudeville façade and make that the entrance just for the theater,” he said. “We are working with a number of groups to design the theater to make it work for as many interested parties as possible.”
Earlier this month, Suffolk opened dorms at a failed condominium residence at 10 West St. around the corner from the Modern. The residence hall, which will accommodate 274 undergraduates in suites and apartments, also will feature an upscale coffee shop and a restaurant on the street level.
The new building is expected to be an important component of Suffolk’s student housing program and help support Menino’s goal of encouraging institutions to house more of their students. The 10 West St. facility will be the school’s third residence hall.
Suffolk began housing students in 1996 with the opening of the 150 Tremont St. residence hall, near 10 West St. With that addition, the onetime commuter school can now house more than 1,000 students – nearly 25 percent of its undergraduates.
Under an agreement with the city to build 10 West St., the school has agreed not to seek any more housing for its students in Downtown Crossing. While many residents have insisted that students be moved from the community into dormitories, fights often erupt when schools make plans for dorms in the neighborhoods.
Jane Forristall, a task force member from the West End, said she found it difficult to ask questions because several Suffolk expansion sites are not for sale, including the Charles F. Hurley Building in Government Center.
One of the ideas that have been floated by Suffolk officials for the school’s growth is the possibility of purchasing the sprawling Hurley campus at Cambridge and Staniford streets. Critics have called the 340,000-square-foot concrete facility, which is not for sale, Boston’s ugliest office building. If razed, the space would be big enough to create a new campus for Suffolk.
“Some of these locations are very close to the West End, but I don’t even know what to ask since discussion of this property is not on the table,” she said.
Boston Globe on BC Expansion
Boston Globe
Home / News / Local
Threats taint BC dorm debate
(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)
By Andreae Downs
Globe Correspondent / January 27, 2008
The emotional debate over Boston College's plan to expand to former archdiocese land in Brighton has been muddied by anonymous online threats posted in the last two weeks against neighborhood activists.
Thomas Keady, BC's vice president for government relations, denounced the threats, which he said made his job - getting the expansion plans approved - more difficult.
"We are willing as an institution to cooperate with the Boston Police Department, and the BC police and administration are investigating," he told neighbors at an Allston Brighton Task Force hearing on Tuesday. "I never thought I would be coming here to discuss death threats."
The threats and other offensive comments have been taken down from the Web. One blog that allegedly registered anti-Semitic and sexist comments against one neighbor has been closed to the public. And a blog of neighbors who oppose BC's expansion has been closed to nonmembers because of the number of hateful postings it received.
A few posts calling anyone who opposes BC's plans "whiners" and worse remain at the Allston Brighton TAB site. University officials stressed that the blogs are not affiliated with the school, and that if the offending comments can be traced to BC students, officials will take disciplinary action.
Since Boston College submitted its Institutional Master Plan in early December, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Allston Brighton Community Task Force, an advisory body of BC neighbors, have collected public reactions.
Neighbors at the hearing last week registered unanimous opposition to BC's proposal to house 500 undergraduates in two dorms on the former St. John's Seminary land, which BC is calling its "Brighton campus."
Neighbors want the university to house more or all of the estimated 1,200 students who live off-campus. But they also oppose dorms for 490 on Shea Field, which they argued is too close to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, and many oppose a 420-bed dorm at More Hall on Commonwealth Avenue, at St. Thomas More Road. BC's plans call for dorms no higher than five stories, meaning that more land would be needed.
"This is moving open space from the Brighton campus to the Chestnut Hill site," said neighbor Charlie Vasiliades. "We've accepted enough changes at St. John's. Why not make the Chestnut Hill dorms six to nine stories instead?"
Most at the meeting suggested more students be housed at the one other site for which BC has proposed additional dorms - where 24 temporary structures, called modulars, sit in the center of the Chestnut Hill campus. Another idea was to retain the 790-bed Edmonds Hall, which BC wants to replace with a recreation complex.
BC officials said the plan does not include additional student housing, but instead for half the modulars to be replaced with two dorms housing the current number of students and the other half to be replaced with a university center to be built in 20 years. The Chestnut Hill campus houses 6,000 undergraduates, according to BC spokesman Jack Dunn. He said neighbors in recent years have lodged no complaints about students who live on campus, but have asked that no additional housing be placed on the campus.
"People living near the Brighton campus are now saying they don't like the idea of students living" on the Brighton campus, he said.
Neighbors cautiously welcomed a plan for housing graduate students at the far east point of the Brighton campus - on the other side of Foster Street - and two BC proposals that are not yet part of the master plan: to help staff purchase homes in Allston and Brighton with some kind of mortgage assistance, and to prohibit off-campus students from living in one- and two-family homes (which some said should also extend to three-families).
Last week's discussion followed a Jan. 8 session on BC's proposed athletic facilities, including a fully lighted, 1,500-seat baseball stadium and 100,000-square-foot field house. Neighbors raised questions about the effect of night games, traffic, and lights on houses, and possible chemical runoff from artificial turf planned for many of the fields.
The following week, the topics were traffic, transit, and parking. BC discussed possible changes to the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue, St. Thomas More Road, and Lake Street, where there are chaotic turning patterns and pedestrians crossing busy roads to get to the BC MBTA stop. The university discussed plans to move that stop to a center platform farther east on Commonwealth, which it would allow the city and MBTA to widen by giving up 11 feet on either side of the street.
Neighbors asked the university for more detailed studies of each proposed change, and noted that the task force needs a traffic specialist to analyze data.
"It's premature to comment about what we think is good or not," said Frank Tramontozzi, a Brighton resident who is also chief engineer at MassHighway. "We have no information from traffic studies about existing conditions, how traffic would look in the future without development, and how traffic would look with development. BC should provide the task force with the tools it needs."
Others questioned whether BC had planned enough parking. The plan calls for 500 more spots in a garage on the new campus, but neighbors said an expanding workforce may bring even more workers to the campus. On the other hand, Fred Salvucci, a Brighton resident and transit specialist at MIT, noted that "parking lots are fertility drugs for cars."
The final task force hearing in this round, on open space and academic uses, begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Brighton Marine Health Center at 77 Warren St.
The BRA will compile comments and questions submitted before the public comment period ends Feb. 5, and give BC a summary. The university will file a response, setting off another round of public comment.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Getting to YES at Harvard
Allston Brighton TAB
Harvard science complex gets green light
By Mitra Taj/Correspondent
Thu Jan 24, 2008, 01:55 PM EST
Allston, Mass. -
Allston, Mass. - After months of negotiating a benefits package for the community of Allston-Brighton, the city of Boston has given Harvard University the green light to begin building a $1-billion science complex in north Allston.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority, charged with vetting large-scale developments in the city, will sign the cooperation agreement with Harvard this week or early next week, said Mike Glavin, BRA deputy director for institutional development.
“Two weeks ago, we said we were prepared to move forward and the task force said it was disappointed,” said Glavin at Wednesday night’s Harvard-Allston Task Force meeting. “Last week we had a candid, open conversation with Harvard and now we’re moving forward seeing that Harvard has addressed the concerns raised.”
Talks that began in April between Harvard and the task force fell apart earlier this month amid complaints from residents that the proposed $21 million benefits package from Harvard wouldn’t translate into meaningful benefits for the community.
Changes to community benefits package
Harvard has since increased the package, to be distributed over ten years, to $23.9 million. Other changes to the cooperation agreement include a partnership fund to dole out $500,000 in grants over five years to neighborhood programs; expanding the education needs survey to include assessment of the community’s transportation, public health, and housing needs; a stated commitment to support a public-private partnership that will result in a “transformative project” in Allston-Brighton; and collaboration with the BRA to do something with the area west of Barry’s Corner.
Harvard has been preparing the area on Western Avenue in north Allston for construction and will probably begin building the 589,000-square-foot complex in February, said Kathy Spiegelman, Harvard’s chief planner of the initiative. The center is slated to open in 2012.
“This marks the end of the process of building consensus in the community,” said Spiegelman, “and the beginning of a process that will allow us to start an important campus project. It’s exciting.”
Neighbor’s worries
But not everyone saw a happy ending or hopeful beginning in the cooperation agreement. Task force members Brent Whelan and Harry Mattison pushed to set a deadline for finishing the needs assessment survey and asked Harvard to bump the partnership fund up from $500,000 to $2 million.
“There are a lot of things in the neighborhood that are literally or figuratively crumbling,” said Mattison. “This is our last chance to make a request that Harvard strongly support our community.”
Spiegelman rejected increasing the partnership fund but accepted task force member John Bruno’s suggestion to evaluate the distribution every year to ensure funding is meeting the community’s needs.
Task force member Michael Hanlon said he doubts Allston-Brighton residents will ever see the funds. “If 90 percent of the funds never reach here—what’s the point?”
BRA press secretary Jessica Shumaker said that of the $23.9 million, only $3.8 million allocated for the city’s housing fund won’t go directly to Allston-Brighton. She said it’s important to remember that this is the first of many benefits packages the community can expect as Harvard expands into Allston-Brighton.
Task force member Cathy Campbell, chairing the meeting in lieu of task force chairman Ray Mellone, said Harvard’s revised statement of support of a “transformative project” is worth more than a dollar figure.
“What’s important in the cooperation agreement is a permanent commitment from Harvard to something that has the ability to change the face of the neighborhood,” said Campbell. “We have that commitment from Harvard now and I hope it costs them millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions over the years!”
The Allston-Brighton task force will meet Feb. 13 to discuss proposals for the community benefits package. BRA planner Gerald Autler said he expects the task force to draft a community benefits proposal in May.
Task force member Millie Hollum McLaughlin said despite lingering disagreements, it’s important to recognize how far the task force and Harvard have come. “The community seems more together on this now,” she said. “I think there’s real compromise happening.”
breakout box
Community benefits breakdown
After nine months of talks about a community benefits package, the Boston Redevelopment Authority says it's ready to sign a cooperation agreement with Harvard University, paving the way for construction of the Harvard Allston Science Complex. How does the $24.9 million break down for Allston-Brighton?
· $11.5 million for parks, streets, sidewalks, and landscaping includes support for the creation of two new parks, upgrades to Portsmouth Park, 12 blocks of sidewalk, 150 street trees, and improvements to Barry's Corner.
· $4.7 million for education includes support for an education portal that will offer free tutoring for neighborhood kids, distribution of $500,000 in grant money over five years for neighborhood projects, and a community needs survey to guide future development.
· $3.9 million for employment and workforce development includes support for the Allston Brighton Resource Center to teach skills building and a new classroom for adult students at the education portal.
· $3.8 million for the city's housing trust fund
Harvard science complex gets green light
By Mitra Taj/Correspondent
Thu Jan 24, 2008, 01:55 PM EST
Allston, Mass. -
Allston, Mass. - After months of negotiating a benefits package for the community of Allston-Brighton, the city of Boston has given Harvard University the green light to begin building a $1-billion science complex in north Allston.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority, charged with vetting large-scale developments in the city, will sign the cooperation agreement with Harvard this week or early next week, said Mike Glavin, BRA deputy director for institutional development.
“Two weeks ago, we said we were prepared to move forward and the task force said it was disappointed,” said Glavin at Wednesday night’s Harvard-Allston Task Force meeting. “Last week we had a candid, open conversation with Harvard and now we’re moving forward seeing that Harvard has addressed the concerns raised.”
Talks that began in April between Harvard and the task force fell apart earlier this month amid complaints from residents that the proposed $21 million benefits package from Harvard wouldn’t translate into meaningful benefits for the community.
Changes to community benefits package
Harvard has since increased the package, to be distributed over ten years, to $23.9 million. Other changes to the cooperation agreement include a partnership fund to dole out $500,000 in grants over five years to neighborhood programs; expanding the education needs survey to include assessment of the community’s transportation, public health, and housing needs; a stated commitment to support a public-private partnership that will result in a “transformative project” in Allston-Brighton; and collaboration with the BRA to do something with the area west of Barry’s Corner.
Harvard has been preparing the area on Western Avenue in north Allston for construction and will probably begin building the 589,000-square-foot complex in February, said Kathy Spiegelman, Harvard’s chief planner of the initiative. The center is slated to open in 2012.
“This marks the end of the process of building consensus in the community,” said Spiegelman, “and the beginning of a process that will allow us to start an important campus project. It’s exciting.”
Neighbor’s worries
But not everyone saw a happy ending or hopeful beginning in the cooperation agreement. Task force members Brent Whelan and Harry Mattison pushed to set a deadline for finishing the needs assessment survey and asked Harvard to bump the partnership fund up from $500,000 to $2 million.
“There are a lot of things in the neighborhood that are literally or figuratively crumbling,” said Mattison. “This is our last chance to make a request that Harvard strongly support our community.”
Spiegelman rejected increasing the partnership fund but accepted task force member John Bruno’s suggestion to evaluate the distribution every year to ensure funding is meeting the community’s needs.
Task force member Michael Hanlon said he doubts Allston-Brighton residents will ever see the funds. “If 90 percent of the funds never reach here—what’s the point?”
BRA press secretary Jessica Shumaker said that of the $23.9 million, only $3.8 million allocated for the city’s housing fund won’t go directly to Allston-Brighton. She said it’s important to remember that this is the first of many benefits packages the community can expect as Harvard expands into Allston-Brighton.
Task force member Cathy Campbell, chairing the meeting in lieu of task force chairman Ray Mellone, said Harvard’s revised statement of support of a “transformative project” is worth more than a dollar figure.
“What’s important in the cooperation agreement is a permanent commitment from Harvard to something that has the ability to change the face of the neighborhood,” said Campbell. “We have that commitment from Harvard now and I hope it costs them millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions over the years!”
The Allston-Brighton task force will meet Feb. 13 to discuss proposals for the community benefits package. BRA planner Gerald Autler said he expects the task force to draft a community benefits proposal in May.
Task force member Millie Hollum McLaughlin said despite lingering disagreements, it’s important to recognize how far the task force and Harvard have come. “The community seems more together on this now,” she said. “I think there’s real compromise happening.”
breakout box
Community benefits breakdown
After nine months of talks about a community benefits package, the Boston Redevelopment Authority says it's ready to sign a cooperation agreement with Harvard University, paving the way for construction of the Harvard Allston Science Complex. How does the $24.9 million break down for Allston-Brighton?
· $11.5 million for parks, streets, sidewalks, and landscaping includes support for the creation of two new parks, upgrades to Portsmouth Park, 12 blocks of sidewalk, 150 street trees, and improvements to Barry's Corner.
· $4.7 million for education includes support for an education portal that will offer free tutoring for neighborhood kids, distribution of $500,000 in grant money over five years for neighborhood projects, and a community needs survey to guide future development.
· $3.9 million for employment and workforce development includes support for the Allston Brighton Resource Center to teach skills building and a new classroom for adult students at the education portal.
· $3.8 million for the city's housing trust fund
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Housing for Charlestown In Spite of Neighborhood Council Opposition
Charlestown Bridge
The Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a residential development proposed for the current home of the Knights of Columbus Hall at 75 West School St., Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced last week.
“I’m happy to see that this project is moving forward – the addition of 99 new units of housing is great for Charlestown and the project is an attractive re-use of this site,” Menino said. “The successful use of the development review process helped shape this project and ultimately make it a better one for the neighborhood.”
The seven-story, Federal-style brick building has an estimated cost of $30 million and will contain 99 residential units, 13 of which will be designated as affordable housing. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2008 and be completed by the end of 2009.
The development team of Boston attorney Bruce Daniel and Jack French, president and principal of Monument Square-based Neshamkin French Architects, Inc., are also planning several modifications to the site, including a new tot lot in the rear of the building, a public park at the front of the building on the corner of West School Street and Old Rutherford Avenue and a path along the Phipps Burial Ground that will provide improved public access to the site.
The original proposal included 111 units and had a maximum height of nine stories, but the developers agreed to reduce the overall scope of the project after meeting with representatives of the Charlestown Preservation Society Design Review Committee in early September.
“The project was enhanced and improved by the community process,” French said.
Despite the smaller scale of the revised proposal, the project still drew criticism from some Charlestown Neighborhood Council members at a Sept. 24 meeting co-sponsored by the CNC Development Committee and the BRA. Among the concerns they cited were parking provisions and height restrictions, since the project would exceed the 35-foot limit now in place for the neighborhood.
Still, French believes the development will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood that would recall the days of “old” Charlestown.
“I hope the project acts to extend the look and feel of Main Street on the New Rutherford Avenue edge,” he said. “The goal is to restore the look and feel of historic Charlestown to this Urban Renewal parcel.”
Like French, Daniel was also encouraged by the latest step in the approval process.
“It’s a significant step because the BRA is the planning agency for the city,” he said.
Daniel added the city’s Board of Appeals would review the project at a hearing in early March, marking the final step in the city’s approval process. The project will also be the subject of ongoing design review by the BRA until that time, he said.
Meanwhile, the Knights of Columbus plans to relocate to a new facility at 545 Medford St.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a residential development proposed for the current home of the Knights of Columbus Hall at 75 West School St., Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced last week.
“I’m happy to see that this project is moving forward – the addition of 99 new units of housing is great for Charlestown and the project is an attractive re-use of this site,” Menino said. “The successful use of the development review process helped shape this project and ultimately make it a better one for the neighborhood.”
The seven-story, Federal-style brick building has an estimated cost of $30 million and will contain 99 residential units, 13 of which will be designated as affordable housing. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2008 and be completed by the end of 2009.
The development team of Boston attorney Bruce Daniel and Jack French, president and principal of Monument Square-based Neshamkin French Architects, Inc., are also planning several modifications to the site, including a new tot lot in the rear of the building, a public park at the front of the building on the corner of West School Street and Old Rutherford Avenue and a path along the Phipps Burial Ground that will provide improved public access to the site.
The original proposal included 111 units and had a maximum height of nine stories, but the developers agreed to reduce the overall scope of the project after meeting with representatives of the Charlestown Preservation Society Design Review Committee in early September.
“The project was enhanced and improved by the community process,” French said.
Despite the smaller scale of the revised proposal, the project still drew criticism from some Charlestown Neighborhood Council members at a Sept. 24 meeting co-sponsored by the CNC Development Committee and the BRA. Among the concerns they cited were parking provisions and height restrictions, since the project would exceed the 35-foot limit now in place for the neighborhood.
Still, French believes the development will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood that would recall the days of “old” Charlestown.
“I hope the project acts to extend the look and feel of Main Street on the New Rutherford Avenue edge,” he said. “The goal is to restore the look and feel of historic Charlestown to this Urban Renewal parcel.”
Like French, Daniel was also encouraged by the latest step in the approval process.
“It’s a significant step because the BRA is the planning agency for the city,” he said.
Daniel added the city’s Board of Appeals would review the project at a hearing in early March, marking the final step in the city’s approval process. The project will also be the subject of ongoing design review by the BRA until that time, he said.
Meanwhile, the Knights of Columbus plans to relocate to a new facility at 545 Medford St.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
We Don't Want Students Renting Either!
The Daily Free Press
City Council aims at student housing with apt. occupancy limit
Jeannie Nuss
Issue date: 1/22/08 Section: News
Media Credit: Kellie Borrero
New rules proposed by City Councilor Mike Ross could limit the number of non-family occupants in apartments in Boston.
The search for affordable urban housing may become more difficult if a recent Boston City Council bill to limit the number of people living together in a rental property passes.
If the legislation is approved and then affects the Boston Zoning Commission, landlords would not be permitted to house more than four non-related occupants in an apartment.
City Councilor Mike Ross (Back Bay, Fenway) said the over-crowding of apartments is turning into a serious student-housing issue in neighborhoods such as Brighton, where students comprise a large part of the population.
"Students have been victimized by landlords," he said. "They're paying exorbitant amounts of money to live like sardines."
Ross said an informal search on Craigslist turned up more than 3,000 examples of apartments for four or more occupants.
He said the City Council bill targets students because they are the ones typically living in high-occupancy apartments.
"If you have seven or eight or nine people living with each other, you'd be hard-pressed to find that if it wasn't students," he said.
If Mayor Thomas Menino signs the proposed bill, neighborhoods with large student populations such as Brighton and Fenway may get a demographic makeover, Ross said. He said the bill will reduce the value of property, making it easier for non-students to rent apartments.
"It's to give a fighting chance to a professional or a non-student or a family in a neighborhood," he said. "That's what these neighborhoods like Brighton and Mission Hill were intended for.
"In a couple of years, you're going to want to stay here and you're not going to want to live with four roommates for the rest of your life . . . neighborhoods like Fenway and Mission Hill will not be available," Ross continued.
"I think students will always move off campus," he said. "The ultimate tool is that universities have to provide more on-campus housing."
Ross said he thinks the legislation would not affect the number of students moving off campus because of on-campus housing shortages, Ross said.
However, housing organizations and students said the bill would make off-campus housing more difficult to find.
Grand Central Apartment Rentals President Ishay Grinberg said the bill would not impact the on-campus housing demand and the proposed legislation would only make the student-housing search even more strenuous.
"I don't think we need legislation on top of [occupancy laws]," he said.
The proposed legislation would make the rental market more competitive and possibly raise off-campus housing prices -- especially in student-populated areas such as Allston, he said.
"It's a numbers game," Grinberg said. "[Allston-area] landlords are probably going to capitalize on that."
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences freshman Elizabeth Krasick said she is worried about the obstacles the proposed law would add to the already difficult Boston apartment search.
"Limiting the number of people you're allowed to live with is just cropping boundaries . . . I don't think it's really fair," Krasick said. "It's really difficult to try to find somewhere close and reasonable near BU. It definitely makes me consider on-campus housing, which I don't want."
City Council aims at student housing with apt. occupancy limit
Jeannie Nuss
Issue date: 1/22/08 Section: News
Media Credit: Kellie Borrero
New rules proposed by City Councilor Mike Ross could limit the number of non-family occupants in apartments in Boston.
The search for affordable urban housing may become more difficult if a recent Boston City Council bill to limit the number of people living together in a rental property passes.
If the legislation is approved and then affects the Boston Zoning Commission, landlords would not be permitted to house more than four non-related occupants in an apartment.
City Councilor Mike Ross (Back Bay, Fenway) said the over-crowding of apartments is turning into a serious student-housing issue in neighborhoods such as Brighton, where students comprise a large part of the population.
"Students have been victimized by landlords," he said. "They're paying exorbitant amounts of money to live like sardines."
Ross said an informal search on Craigslist turned up more than 3,000 examples of apartments for four or more occupants.
He said the City Council bill targets students because they are the ones typically living in high-occupancy apartments.
"If you have seven or eight or nine people living with each other, you'd be hard-pressed to find that if it wasn't students," he said.
If Mayor Thomas Menino signs the proposed bill, neighborhoods with large student populations such as Brighton and Fenway may get a demographic makeover, Ross said. He said the bill will reduce the value of property, making it easier for non-students to rent apartments.
"It's to give a fighting chance to a professional or a non-student or a family in a neighborhood," he said. "That's what these neighborhoods like Brighton and Mission Hill were intended for.
"In a couple of years, you're going to want to stay here and you're not going to want to live with four roommates for the rest of your life . . . neighborhoods like Fenway and Mission Hill will not be available," Ross continued.
"I think students will always move off campus," he said. "The ultimate tool is that universities have to provide more on-campus housing."
Ross said he thinks the legislation would not affect the number of students moving off campus because of on-campus housing shortages, Ross said.
However, housing organizations and students said the bill would make off-campus housing more difficult to find.
Grand Central Apartment Rentals President Ishay Grinberg said the bill would not impact the on-campus housing demand and the proposed legislation would only make the student-housing search even more strenuous.
"I don't think we need legislation on top of [occupancy laws]," he said.
The proposed legislation would make the rental market more competitive and possibly raise off-campus housing prices -- especially in student-populated areas such as Allston, he said.
"It's a numbers game," Grinberg said. "[Allston-area] landlords are probably going to capitalize on that."
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences freshman Elizabeth Krasick said she is worried about the obstacles the proposed law would add to the already difficult Boston apartment search.
"Limiting the number of people you're allowed to live with is just cropping boundaries . . . I don't think it's really fair," Krasick said. "It's really difficult to try to find somewhere close and reasonable near BU. It definitely makes me consider on-campus housing, which I don't want."
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Patience and Persistence Pays Off
The Boston Globe
Winds of change for One Kenmore
After 10 years, latest plan emphasizes office space
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr.
Globe Staff / January 17, 2008
After more than a decade of planning and major changes in size, use, and even location, the developer of the One Kenmore project near Fenway Park yesterday again filed plans with the city - this time reducing the number of residential units and adding a substantial amount of office space.
John Rosenthal, whose previous plans for a mixed-use development over the Turnpike between Kenmore Square and the ballpark emphasized residential use, with more than 600 condos or apartments, is bowing to the current market winds that are strong for commercial development but weak for housing.
He told the city he now wants to build almost 340,000 square feet of office space plus 100,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants - and only 282 residences. The housing is currently designed as rental apartments, but some of that could be converted to condominiums if the market rebounds, Rosenthal said.
The expected project cost is about $450 million.
Rosenthal's development has been in the works almost as long as the drawn-out Columbus Center, an other Turnpike air-rights project, which received its designation for four parcels above the highway east of Clarendon Street 11 years ago - but just started construction late last year.
One Kenmore evolved from an idea of a hotel and entertainment complex 10 years ago, to a $300 million complex with 29- and 23-story residential towers in 2003, to a more modest proposal that in recent iterations has been well-received by the community and embraced by the powerful Red Sox organization.
The Red Sox are a minority partner in One Kenmore. The New York Times Co., owner of the Globe, owns 17 percent of the company that owns the team.
In 2005, One Kenmore was relocated, from east of the Brookline Avenue bridge over the Turnpike to just west of it. With the Red Sox as partners, it will now be located along Beacon Street over the MBTA's Yawkey Commuter Rail station, on land and air space previously designated for team owners' use. "It is literally above and surrounding a regional commuter rail station," Rosenthal said yesterday, "reusing ugly surface parking lots." He said $12.5 million has been OK'd by the state for station improvements, work that could be done simultaneously by his contractor, Bovis/Lend Lease LMB Inc.
Rosenthal said his latest configuration represents a "dramatic site plan change," with the tower that is closest to low-rise Audubon Circle area reduced to seven floors. He also now intends to build towers of 22 and 10 floors. Months ago, Rosenthal had proposed towers of 20 and 17 floors; before that, his 2003 proposal for the location closer to Kenmore Square was for towers of 29 and 23 floors and five smaller buildings.
The One Kenmore plans, which must undergo Boston Redevelopment Authority scrutiny over the next year or so prior to construction, call for less total square footage than in previous proposals. In the current plan, One Kenmore would have almost 1.3 million square feet - but more than 500,000 of that would be for parking. The plan includes two garages, with a total of 1,360 parking spaces. About 660 of those would be for use by One Kenmore residents, tenants, and visitors. A public garage with about 700 spaces would serve the surrounding community, including workers in the nearby Longwood Medical Area.
Rosenthal said medical community workers and local business patrons would use the public spaces during the day; at night, Sox fans and residents would use them. One Kenmore is slated for 3 1/2 acres, about half of it over the Turnpike and half on land near Maitland Street.
Winds of change for One Kenmore
After 10 years, latest plan emphasizes office space
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr.
Globe Staff / January 17, 2008
After more than a decade of planning and major changes in size, use, and even location, the developer of the One Kenmore project near Fenway Park yesterday again filed plans with the city - this time reducing the number of residential units and adding a substantial amount of office space.
John Rosenthal, whose previous plans for a mixed-use development over the Turnpike between Kenmore Square and the ballpark emphasized residential use, with more than 600 condos or apartments, is bowing to the current market winds that are strong for commercial development but weak for housing.
He told the city he now wants to build almost 340,000 square feet of office space plus 100,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants - and only 282 residences. The housing is currently designed as rental apartments, but some of that could be converted to condominiums if the market rebounds, Rosenthal said.
The expected project cost is about $450 million.
Rosenthal's development has been in the works almost as long as the drawn-out Columbus Center, an other Turnpike air-rights project, which received its designation for four parcels above the highway east of Clarendon Street 11 years ago - but just started construction late last year.
One Kenmore evolved from an idea of a hotel and entertainment complex 10 years ago, to a $300 million complex with 29- and 23-story residential towers in 2003, to a more modest proposal that in recent iterations has been well-received by the community and embraced by the powerful Red Sox organization.
The Red Sox are a minority partner in One Kenmore. The New York Times Co., owner of the Globe, owns 17 percent of the company that owns the team.
In 2005, One Kenmore was relocated, from east of the Brookline Avenue bridge over the Turnpike to just west of it. With the Red Sox as partners, it will now be located along Beacon Street over the MBTA's Yawkey Commuter Rail station, on land and air space previously designated for team owners' use. "It is literally above and surrounding a regional commuter rail station," Rosenthal said yesterday, "reusing ugly surface parking lots." He said $12.5 million has been OK'd by the state for station improvements, work that could be done simultaneously by his contractor, Bovis/Lend Lease LMB Inc.
Rosenthal said his latest configuration represents a "dramatic site plan change," with the tower that is closest to low-rise Audubon Circle area reduced to seven floors. He also now intends to build towers of 22 and 10 floors. Months ago, Rosenthal had proposed towers of 20 and 17 floors; before that, his 2003 proposal for the location closer to Kenmore Square was for towers of 29 and 23 floors and five smaller buildings.
The One Kenmore plans, which must undergo Boston Redevelopment Authority scrutiny over the next year or so prior to construction, call for less total square footage than in previous proposals. In the current plan, One Kenmore would have almost 1.3 million square feet - but more than 500,000 of that would be for parking. The plan includes two garages, with a total of 1,360 parking spaces. About 660 of those would be for use by One Kenmore residents, tenants, and visitors. A public garage with about 700 spaces would serve the surrounding community, including workers in the nearby Longwood Medical Area.
Rosenthal said medical community workers and local business patrons would use the public spaces during the day; at night, Sox fans and residents would use them. One Kenmore is slated for 3 1/2 acres, about half of it over the Turnpike and half on land near Maitland Street.
10 Less Stories = Still Opposed
Northeastern News
GrandMarc size not factor for local residents
Rachel Zarrell and Derek Hawkins
A Texas developer agreed to cut 10 floors from its plans for GrandMarc at St. Botolph Street, a private residence hall proposed to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) last spring. The original plan called for a 34-story building.
In April, Phoenix Property Co. submitted a project notification form to the BRA citing plans to build the tower near the Northeastern campus, next to the YMCA, complete with 1,140 beds, an Internet café, fully furnished facilities and a 16-space parking garage. The building would house students and faculty from local universities, on four- and nine-month leases.
Local businesses and labor unions generally welcomed the project, but a public evaluation period, which ended mid-summer, showed residents and civic groups to be overwhelmingly opposed.
In response, officials at Phoenix Property Co. announced last week they were considering a redesign to reduce the GrandMarc plans by 10 stories.
Several community leaders, however, have called the redesign insufficient and accuse the company with overlooking their concerns.
Barbara Simons, president of Symphony United Neighbors, has been a vocal opponent of the tower and said she has no plans to reach a compromise.
"Size does matter, [but] it's not the only thing that matters," she said. "We just think this is the wrong building in the wrong place. We don't want it in our backyard."Bill Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association and a member of the Impact Advisory Group, which is reviewing the project, said the developer's focus on height is misguided.
"There are bigger issues than just height of the building," Richardson said. "If that's all they're focusing on, they're missing the boat as to what our opposition is."Phoenix Property Co. has built similar private residence halls near college campuses in Minneapolis, Minn.; Riverside, Calif.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Charlotte, N.C.GrandMarc at St. Botolph Street is the developer's biggest project to date.
Local business owners have expressed support for the building, saying it would ease tension on the local housing market and create jobs when unemployment is on the rise nationally.Some students have also said they were open to living in a private off-campus residence hall, citing extra amenities, affordability and the absence of resident assistants among their reasons.
Sophomore Darren Murphy, a mechanical engineering major, said the building would be more convenient than living off-campus, but was unsure if the size was necessary.
"Do we need 24 floors? I don't know. But overall, it's more practical," he said. "I would live there if it was affordable."Jason Runnels, executive vice president of Phoenix Property Co., did not provide rent estimates for GrandMarc rooms, but said prices would be "competitive" with the local real-estate market.
Meanwhile, local organizations have expressed concern that the project breaks newly compromised zoning laws.
Carl Nagy-Koechlin, executive director of the Fenway Community Development Organization, said he was willing to come to an agreement with the developers - yet feels insulted by what is perceived as a meager new proposal.
Nagy-Koechlin said the new proposition fails to meet the renovated zoning requirements. "Everyone in the city compromised to come to a consensus for a set of zoning guides that we felt that we could all live with," he said. "And even this compromise proposal is two and a half times the height. I think all of us feel like we've wasted our time and the vision we came up with.
"Other residents expressed concern that the structure, even at 24 stories, will conflict with the predominantly five- and six-story skyline.
Peter Wiederspahn, acting head of the School of Architecture, said the face of the community could be altered by the presence of the building, as could foot traffic on the narrow sidewalks on Huntington Avenue."A dormitory of this density might have crossed the threshold," Wiederspahn said.
"It will create a significant concentration of students that may very well affect the character of the neighborhood."Runnels said Phoenix Property Co. intends to submit a proposal with the revised plans to the BRA by mid-March. He added that representatives from the company will meet with Northeastern officials to discuss the project.Jeffrey Doggett, director of government relations and community affairs, said company officials came to Northeastern last summer. Northeastern, he said, has yet to take a formal stance on the GrandMarc project."
We're all waiting to hear, as all the neighbors are waiting to hear, on what changes were made to the proposal," he said.
GrandMarc size not factor for local residents
Rachel Zarrell and Derek Hawkins
A Texas developer agreed to cut 10 floors from its plans for GrandMarc at St. Botolph Street, a private residence hall proposed to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) last spring. The original plan called for a 34-story building.
In April, Phoenix Property Co. submitted a project notification form to the BRA citing plans to build the tower near the Northeastern campus, next to the YMCA, complete with 1,140 beds, an Internet café, fully furnished facilities and a 16-space parking garage. The building would house students and faculty from local universities, on four- and nine-month leases.
Local businesses and labor unions generally welcomed the project, but a public evaluation period, which ended mid-summer, showed residents and civic groups to be overwhelmingly opposed.
In response, officials at Phoenix Property Co. announced last week they were considering a redesign to reduce the GrandMarc plans by 10 stories.
Several community leaders, however, have called the redesign insufficient and accuse the company with overlooking their concerns.
Barbara Simons, president of Symphony United Neighbors, has been a vocal opponent of the tower and said she has no plans to reach a compromise.
"Size does matter, [but] it's not the only thing that matters," she said. "We just think this is the wrong building in the wrong place. We don't want it in our backyard."Bill Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association and a member of the Impact Advisory Group, which is reviewing the project, said the developer's focus on height is misguided.
"There are bigger issues than just height of the building," Richardson said. "If that's all they're focusing on, they're missing the boat as to what our opposition is."Phoenix Property Co. has built similar private residence halls near college campuses in Minneapolis, Minn.; Riverside, Calif.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Charlotte, N.C.GrandMarc at St. Botolph Street is the developer's biggest project to date.
Local business owners have expressed support for the building, saying it would ease tension on the local housing market and create jobs when unemployment is on the rise nationally.Some students have also said they were open to living in a private off-campus residence hall, citing extra amenities, affordability and the absence of resident assistants among their reasons.
Sophomore Darren Murphy, a mechanical engineering major, said the building would be more convenient than living off-campus, but was unsure if the size was necessary.
"Do we need 24 floors? I don't know. But overall, it's more practical," he said. "I would live there if it was affordable."Jason Runnels, executive vice president of Phoenix Property Co., did not provide rent estimates for GrandMarc rooms, but said prices would be "competitive" with the local real-estate market.
Meanwhile, local organizations have expressed concern that the project breaks newly compromised zoning laws.
Carl Nagy-Koechlin, executive director of the Fenway Community Development Organization, said he was willing to come to an agreement with the developers - yet feels insulted by what is perceived as a meager new proposal.
Nagy-Koechlin said the new proposition fails to meet the renovated zoning requirements. "Everyone in the city compromised to come to a consensus for a set of zoning guides that we felt that we could all live with," he said. "And even this compromise proposal is two and a half times the height. I think all of us feel like we've wasted our time and the vision we came up with.
"Other residents expressed concern that the structure, even at 24 stories, will conflict with the predominantly five- and six-story skyline.
Peter Wiederspahn, acting head of the School of Architecture, said the face of the community could be altered by the presence of the building, as could foot traffic on the narrow sidewalks on Huntington Avenue."A dormitory of this density might have crossed the threshold," Wiederspahn said.
"It will create a significant concentration of students that may very well affect the character of the neighborhood."Runnels said Phoenix Property Co. intends to submit a proposal with the revised plans to the BRA by mid-March. He added that representatives from the company will meet with Northeastern officials to discuss the project.Jeffrey Doggett, director of government relations and community affairs, said company officials came to Northeastern last summer. Northeastern, he said, has yet to take a formal stance on the GrandMarc project."
We're all waiting to hear, as all the neighbors are waiting to hear, on what changes were made to the proposal," he said.
Good News for Beantown: Post Big Dig Development
Wall Street Journal
'Big Dig' Done, Office Developments Rise
By MAURA WEBBER SADOVIJanuary 16, 2008;
With rents rising and the "Big Dig" finally completed after 16 years, Boston is seeing a surge of office development.
Average metrowide annual office completions are expected to jump to 3.3 million square feet in 2009 and 2010 from two million this year, according to Property & Portfolio Research Inc., a Boston-based real-estate research firm. Even more remarkable, several of the new projects are "speculative," meaning that developers have no tenant in hand. The city hasn't had any such projects started since rents cratered after the tech bust of 2001.
Speculative construction is a sign of market confidence. But it could create problems if the national recession that many are predicting boosts vacancies and decreases rents.
The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center anchors a redevelopment of the city's waterfront.
For now, Boston office developers are emboldened by demand from technology and professional service companies that have helped push rents up at a double-digit-percentage pace. Many are banking on a surge in accounting firms and other tenants looking to lease large spaces in 2009 and 2010 and beyond, according to Lauren C. Picariello, research manager for Jones Lang LaSalle in Boston.
Average Boston-area rents rose 10.6% to about $28 per square foot in the third quarter from a year earlier, PPR says. The city, which anchors a region that is home to about 4.9 million people, has seen its annual pace of job growth rise to 1% in November from a year earlier, compared with an average annual decline of 0.2% from 2002 to 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Moody's Economy.com.
"The timing is right," says Joseph F. Fallon, chief executive and president of the Fallon Co., a Boston-based developer that also built the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. Fallon is building a spec 500,000-square-foot office building that is part of a larger mixed-use development called Fan Pier on the South Boston waterfront. Over in the financial district, Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. is building the 12-story 220,000-square-foot Two Financial Center without any preleasing. Lincoln plans to complete it in 2009.
Moreover, a number of neighborhoods are benefiting from the $15 billion Big Dig roadway project that unsnarled many city streets and added a series of parks where an elevated highway once stood.
The Big Dig has helped open South Boston's once-industrial waterfront to development by making it easier to reach and more appealing. The 2003 opening of the I-90 connector tunnel, part of the Big Dig, improved the area's access to both downtown and Logan International Airport. That was followed by the 2004 opening of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the waterfront area.
Such public investments followed pioneering office-building development in the 1990s. Together, they've turned the area into a recognized up-and-coming address, Mr. Fallon says. An estimated two million square feet of space is under construction in the area now. An additional 18 million square feet -- a mix of office, residential, retail and hotel -- is planned in the next 20 years, according to Kairos Shen, director of planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Indeed, South Boston's waterfront might even one day count the city's biggest boss among its tenants. In about four years, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino says he would like to see city hall moved from its current 1960s-era landmark building to a waterfront parcel already owned by the city. The move would be part of his push to bring city services to neighborhoods and to ensure a vibrant mix of civic and commercial uses on the emerging waterfront. "I don't just want tall buildings there," says Mr. Menino.
'Big Dig' Done, Office Developments Rise
By MAURA WEBBER SADOVIJanuary 16, 2008;
With rents rising and the "Big Dig" finally completed after 16 years, Boston is seeing a surge of office development.
Average metrowide annual office completions are expected to jump to 3.3 million square feet in 2009 and 2010 from two million this year, according to Property & Portfolio Research Inc., a Boston-based real-estate research firm. Even more remarkable, several of the new projects are "speculative," meaning that developers have no tenant in hand. The city hasn't had any such projects started since rents cratered after the tech bust of 2001.
Speculative construction is a sign of market confidence. But it could create problems if the national recession that many are predicting boosts vacancies and decreases rents.
The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center anchors a redevelopment of the city's waterfront.
For now, Boston office developers are emboldened by demand from technology and professional service companies that have helped push rents up at a double-digit-percentage pace. Many are banking on a surge in accounting firms and other tenants looking to lease large spaces in 2009 and 2010 and beyond, according to Lauren C. Picariello, research manager for Jones Lang LaSalle in Boston.
Average Boston-area rents rose 10.6% to about $28 per square foot in the third quarter from a year earlier, PPR says. The city, which anchors a region that is home to about 4.9 million people, has seen its annual pace of job growth rise to 1% in November from a year earlier, compared with an average annual decline of 0.2% from 2002 to 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Moody's Economy.com.
"The timing is right," says Joseph F. Fallon, chief executive and president of the Fallon Co., a Boston-based developer that also built the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. Fallon is building a spec 500,000-square-foot office building that is part of a larger mixed-use development called Fan Pier on the South Boston waterfront. Over in the financial district, Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. is building the 12-story 220,000-square-foot Two Financial Center without any preleasing. Lincoln plans to complete it in 2009.
Moreover, a number of neighborhoods are benefiting from the $15 billion Big Dig roadway project that unsnarled many city streets and added a series of parks where an elevated highway once stood.
The Big Dig has helped open South Boston's once-industrial waterfront to development by making it easier to reach and more appealing. The 2003 opening of the I-90 connector tunnel, part of the Big Dig, improved the area's access to both downtown and Logan International Airport. That was followed by the 2004 opening of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the waterfront area.
Such public investments followed pioneering office-building development in the 1990s. Together, they've turned the area into a recognized up-and-coming address, Mr. Fallon says. An estimated two million square feet of space is under construction in the area now. An additional 18 million square feet -- a mix of office, residential, retail and hotel -- is planned in the next 20 years, according to Kairos Shen, director of planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Indeed, South Boston's waterfront might even one day count the city's biggest boss among its tenants. In about four years, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino says he would like to see city hall moved from its current 1960s-era landmark building to a waterfront parcel already owned by the city. The move would be part of his push to bring city services to neighborhoods and to ensure a vibrant mix of civic and commercial uses on the emerging waterfront. "I don't just want tall buildings there," says Mr. Menino.
A Success Story in Roslindale
West Roxbury Transcript
Arboretum plan is approved
By Jessica M. Smith
Roslindale - Following four years of community meetings and negotiations, the Boston Zoning Commission finally heard and approved Harvard University’s proposal for the Arnold Arboretum.
The plan, as presented by Harvard and the Boston Redevelopment Authority last Wednesday, involves a 14.5-acre parcel of the Arboretum called Weld Hill.
With the consent of the vast majority of the community, Harvard announced that it intends to build a 45,000-sqaure-foot horticultural research facility devoted to studying the biology of trees.
In exchange for allowing the building to be constructed, abutters requested that the remainder of the land remain untouched indefinitely. Instead, Harvard agreed to leave the land alone until 2882, the same year its lease on the Arboretum expires. The university’s intent will be recorded as a deed restriction, meaning that limitations will be placed on the land such as building additional structures or parking facilities.
The university appeared before the Zoning Commission because it was seeking to change the area’s zoning, which currently only allows for single-family residential structures. Unlike the community process that many described as contentious, those testifying during the hour-long hearing were all in support of the project.
In the 45,000 square feet proposed, Director Robert Cook said that about half the space will be devoted to research laboratories, growing facilities and office space.
According to Kevin McCluskey, a senior director of community relations for Harvard, the research performed in Roslindale is “very, very important scientific research that’s central to the mission of the Arboretum.”
“To the public, it is unseen and perhaps underappreciated,” said McCluskey.
Some of the research involves figuring out how to save trees in cities where foliage is declining.
The remainder will be for the technology that sustains the building, including a geothermal well system.
With the approval of the commission and the signature of the mayor, ground could be broken as early as this spring.
“I almost don’t know where to begin. I feel very good in supporting this process,” said Boston City Councilor Rob Consalvo.
As Roslindale’s representative on the council, Consalvo described the fate of the Arboretum as the number-one issue facing his constituents.
“This is not a case of ‘Not in my backyard.’ [Residents] said build it, but give us the protections we need. I’ve never seen a group work so tirelessly,” said Consalvo, who told the commission that the Institutional Master Plan before them had resolved “99.9 percent of the issues.”
State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, who represents the 15th Suffolk District, agreed.
“It’s a product of the will of the community,” said Sanchez.
According to the two politicians present, the desirable proposal would not have been possible without direct input from Mayor Thomas M. Menino, numerous city officials and Roslindale residents who care dearly about their neighborhood.
For Julie O’Brien, a Mendum Street resident who has led community meetings about the Arboretum, the proposal wasn’t ideal, but it was one she would support.
“[The land] should have remained open, but this does preserve, for the most part, the things that the community wanted,” said O’Brien, adding that she still felt a certain ambivalence toward the proposal.
“I just hope the construction process works out as well as both sides anticipate,” said O’Brien, who was joined by Roslindale resident Walter Michalik.
Michalik, who sat on the Arboretum task force, told the commission that the project was one he had come to accept.
Arboretum plan is approved
By Jessica M. Smith
Roslindale - Following four years of community meetings and negotiations, the Boston Zoning Commission finally heard and approved Harvard University’s proposal for the Arnold Arboretum.
The plan, as presented by Harvard and the Boston Redevelopment Authority last Wednesday, involves a 14.5-acre parcel of the Arboretum called Weld Hill.
With the consent of the vast majority of the community, Harvard announced that it intends to build a 45,000-sqaure-foot horticultural research facility devoted to studying the biology of trees.
In exchange for allowing the building to be constructed, abutters requested that the remainder of the land remain untouched indefinitely. Instead, Harvard agreed to leave the land alone until 2882, the same year its lease on the Arboretum expires. The university’s intent will be recorded as a deed restriction, meaning that limitations will be placed on the land such as building additional structures or parking facilities.
The university appeared before the Zoning Commission because it was seeking to change the area’s zoning, which currently only allows for single-family residential structures. Unlike the community process that many described as contentious, those testifying during the hour-long hearing were all in support of the project.
In the 45,000 square feet proposed, Director Robert Cook said that about half the space will be devoted to research laboratories, growing facilities and office space.
According to Kevin McCluskey, a senior director of community relations for Harvard, the research performed in Roslindale is “very, very important scientific research that’s central to the mission of the Arboretum.”
“To the public, it is unseen and perhaps underappreciated,” said McCluskey.
Some of the research involves figuring out how to save trees in cities where foliage is declining.
The remainder will be for the technology that sustains the building, including a geothermal well system.
With the approval of the commission and the signature of the mayor, ground could be broken as early as this spring.
“I almost don’t know where to begin. I feel very good in supporting this process,” said Boston City Councilor Rob Consalvo.
As Roslindale’s representative on the council, Consalvo described the fate of the Arboretum as the number-one issue facing his constituents.
“This is not a case of ‘Not in my backyard.’ [Residents] said build it, but give us the protections we need. I’ve never seen a group work so tirelessly,” said Consalvo, who told the commission that the Institutional Master Plan before them had resolved “99.9 percent of the issues.”
State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, who represents the 15th Suffolk District, agreed.
“It’s a product of the will of the community,” said Sanchez.
According to the two politicians present, the desirable proposal would not have been possible without direct input from Mayor Thomas M. Menino, numerous city officials and Roslindale residents who care dearly about their neighborhood.
For Julie O’Brien, a Mendum Street resident who has led community meetings about the Arboretum, the proposal wasn’t ideal, but it was one she would support.
“[The land] should have remained open, but this does preserve, for the most part, the things that the community wanted,” said O’Brien, adding that she still felt a certain ambivalence toward the proposal.
“I just hope the construction process works out as well as both sides anticipate,” said O’Brien, who was joined by Roslindale resident Walter Michalik.
Michalik, who sat on the Arboretum task force, told the commission that the project was one he had come to accept.
Don't Change More Road Either
Boston College neighbors: keep More Road as is
By Richard Cherecwich/Staff Writer
Thu Jan 17, 2008, 02:11 PM EST
Brighton - Neighbors are opposed to Boston College’s plan to reroute St. Thomas More Road to the east, saying it would limit the ability to commute from Brookline.
However, many supported a plan to keep the existing More Road while creating a new offshoot adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery.
“Basically, the current More Road should stay in place to allow people who drive on Beacon Street to go to Washington Street. That’s how my husband commutes,” said Eva Webster.
More Road currently accommodates north- and south-bound traffic from Beacon Street and crosses Commonwealth Avenue onto Lake Street, a one-way road running north to Washington Street. BC’s 10-year institutional master plan proposes moving More Road to the eastern edge of the campus and closing the connection to Lake Street. The realigned road would cross Comm. Ave. into the new main entrance of BC’s Brighton campus.
Planners want the Commonwealth Avenue entrance to be the primary access point for the campus. As it currently exists, access to the campus is only available via a right turn in/right turn out from the outbound side of Commonwealth Avenue. The new plan would also feature a break in the center median on Commonwealth Avenue, allowing cars to cross the MBTA Green Line tracks.
The notification form filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority said the school will examine alternatives to this plan, including only opening the median to cross the train tracks or keeping the existing More Road open. At a Task Force meeting on Wednesday night, the community supported the alternatives.
Resident Charlie Vasiliades said he had no problem with the other options, but didn’t want to close the existing More Road segment.
“I’m dead set against it,” he said.
Planners from VHB Inc., the transportation consultants for BC’s master plan, said extensive traffic studies will look at all the options, and more information will come after the BRA request more information in its scoping determination.
“At this point in time, we’re not saying we have it all worked out and we have all the answers. We don’t,” said David Black, senior project manager for VHB.
Moving the BC MBTA station
The 10-year plan also includes the MBTA’s proposed plan to move the Boston College station from its current location north of Commonwealth Avenue to a platform in the center of the road as part of the T’s overall initiative to make stations more handicapped accessible. The existing station cannot be updated, according to BC.
To create the center platform, BC will contribute 11 feet of land on both sides of Commonwealth Avenue to maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction and existing parking. The college has also committed to paying some of the cost. Passengers would exit and enter the train on the same platform, and the trolleys would use a switch to change directions from inbound to outbound.
One former T official said the idea would never fly.
“The crossing trains back and forth wouldn’t work at all,” said Bill Donovan, a former operations coordinator for construction for the MBTA and a Rogers Park Avenue resident. “The BC line is now the slowest in the system. I just can’t see it happening.”
MBTA officials have not appeared before the community to discuss the plans.
“I don’t think any of this has been thought out, and I wouldn’t even talk about MBTA stations there until the MBTA comes with a plan,” Donovan said.
By Richard Cherecwich/Staff Writer
Thu Jan 17, 2008, 02:11 PM EST
Brighton - Neighbors are opposed to Boston College’s plan to reroute St. Thomas More Road to the east, saying it would limit the ability to commute from Brookline.
However, many supported a plan to keep the existing More Road while creating a new offshoot adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery.
“Basically, the current More Road should stay in place to allow people who drive on Beacon Street to go to Washington Street. That’s how my husband commutes,” said Eva Webster.
More Road currently accommodates north- and south-bound traffic from Beacon Street and crosses Commonwealth Avenue onto Lake Street, a one-way road running north to Washington Street. BC’s 10-year institutional master plan proposes moving More Road to the eastern edge of the campus and closing the connection to Lake Street. The realigned road would cross Comm. Ave. into the new main entrance of BC’s Brighton campus.
Planners want the Commonwealth Avenue entrance to be the primary access point for the campus. As it currently exists, access to the campus is only available via a right turn in/right turn out from the outbound side of Commonwealth Avenue. The new plan would also feature a break in the center median on Commonwealth Avenue, allowing cars to cross the MBTA Green Line tracks.
The notification form filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority said the school will examine alternatives to this plan, including only opening the median to cross the train tracks or keeping the existing More Road open. At a Task Force meeting on Wednesday night, the community supported the alternatives.
Resident Charlie Vasiliades said he had no problem with the other options, but didn’t want to close the existing More Road segment.
“I’m dead set against it,” he said.
Planners from VHB Inc., the transportation consultants for BC’s master plan, said extensive traffic studies will look at all the options, and more information will come after the BRA request more information in its scoping determination.
“At this point in time, we’re not saying we have it all worked out and we have all the answers. We don’t,” said David Black, senior project manager for VHB.
Moving the BC MBTA station
The 10-year plan also includes the MBTA’s proposed plan to move the Boston College station from its current location north of Commonwealth Avenue to a platform in the center of the road as part of the T’s overall initiative to make stations more handicapped accessible. The existing station cannot be updated, according to BC.
To create the center platform, BC will contribute 11 feet of land on both sides of Commonwealth Avenue to maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction and existing parking. The college has also committed to paying some of the cost. Passengers would exit and enter the train on the same platform, and the trolleys would use a switch to change directions from inbound to outbound.
One former T official said the idea would never fly.
“The crossing trains back and forth wouldn’t work at all,” said Bill Donovan, a former operations coordinator for construction for the MBTA and a Rogers Park Avenue resident. “The BC line is now the slowest in the system. I just can’t see it happening.”
MBTA officials have not appeared before the community to discuss the plans.
“I don’t think any of this has been thought out, and I wouldn’t even talk about MBTA stations there until the MBTA comes with a plan,” Donovan said.
20 Somerset Street Building
Back Bay Sun
January 16, 2008
Suffolk files IMPNF; responds to BHCA concerns with offer by Dan Salerno
Suffolk University filed its institutional master plan notification form with the city on Friday, despite the objections voiced by the Beacon Hill Civic Association over a lack of detailed information about plans for the 20 Somerset Street building. The filing, however, came with a pledge from university Vice President John Nucci to discuss a non-expansion zone in Beacon Hill.
“While any potential impacts [from 20 Somerset] have been addressed with the Task Force over the last several months, we agree that with the approval of 20 Somerset Street, discussion and negotiation of a non expansion zone is appropriate for the Upper Beacon Hill area,” said Nucci.
“Specific details and boundaries should be the product of review by stakeholders with the aim of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.” A non-expansion zone could be an important carrot to offer to the neighborhood in light of recent resistance voiced by community groups to Suffolk’s plans. Members of the BHCA objected to the inclusion of the 20 Somerset Street project in the IMPNF because of a lack of details about the potential impact on the neighborhood.
Suffolk plans to use address to house its New England School of Art and Design, currently located on Arlington Street in the Back Bay. “There has been very limited discussion on the impact of a new school at 20 Somerset Street on the neighborhood, and the BHCA position is that the description of the potential impact [in the IMPNF] is inadequate,” said Rob Whitney, the BHCA liaison to the Suffolk Task Force, at a meeting in December. “The neighborhood is already saturated with academic uses.”
Nucci stressed that although the project is included in the IMPNF filed on Friday, a separate project plan has not been submitted, and the IMPNF includes only the intended use for the sight, not details of the project, which will be decided in concert with the community. Nucci said that he has expanded the public comment period for an additional 30 days, and that he welcomes the opportunity to work with the community. “We want to be sure that people fully understand that this is a very benign use with limited impacts and we want to be sure they have an opportunity to comment on it,” said Nucci.
In a written statement to the press, Suffolk outlined a number of design principles for the project meant to reduce the potential impact on the community. The principles include a pledge that the height of the new building will not exceed the height of the current structure, that the building use will be solely academic and will not contain any residential, athletic, or student center facilities, and that there will be no increase in shadow impacts on the Garden of Peace, 10 Bowdoin Street or Beacon Hill.
January 16, 2008
Suffolk files IMPNF; responds to BHCA concerns with offer by Dan Salerno
Suffolk University filed its institutional master plan notification form with the city on Friday, despite the objections voiced by the Beacon Hill Civic Association over a lack of detailed information about plans for the 20 Somerset Street building. The filing, however, came with a pledge from university Vice President John Nucci to discuss a non-expansion zone in Beacon Hill.
“While any potential impacts [from 20 Somerset] have been addressed with the Task Force over the last several months, we agree that with the approval of 20 Somerset Street, discussion and negotiation of a non expansion zone is appropriate for the Upper Beacon Hill area,” said Nucci.
“Specific details and boundaries should be the product of review by stakeholders with the aim of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.” A non-expansion zone could be an important carrot to offer to the neighborhood in light of recent resistance voiced by community groups to Suffolk’s plans. Members of the BHCA objected to the inclusion of the 20 Somerset Street project in the IMPNF because of a lack of details about the potential impact on the neighborhood.
Suffolk plans to use address to house its New England School of Art and Design, currently located on Arlington Street in the Back Bay. “There has been very limited discussion on the impact of a new school at 20 Somerset Street on the neighborhood, and the BHCA position is that the description of the potential impact [in the IMPNF] is inadequate,” said Rob Whitney, the BHCA liaison to the Suffolk Task Force, at a meeting in December. “The neighborhood is already saturated with academic uses.”
Nucci stressed that although the project is included in the IMPNF filed on Friday, a separate project plan has not been submitted, and the IMPNF includes only the intended use for the sight, not details of the project, which will be decided in concert with the community. Nucci said that he has expanded the public comment period for an additional 30 days, and that he welcomes the opportunity to work with the community. “We want to be sure that people fully understand that this is a very benign use with limited impacts and we want to be sure they have an opportunity to comment on it,” said Nucci.
In a written statement to the press, Suffolk outlined a number of design principles for the project meant to reduce the potential impact on the community. The principles include a pledge that the height of the new building will not exceed the height of the current structure, that the building use will be solely academic and will not contain any residential, athletic, or student center facilities, and that there will be no increase in shadow impacts on the Garden of Peace, 10 Bowdoin Street or Beacon Hill.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
"She Opposes Everything"
State Representative Opposes Claims She Opposes Everything
By Thomas GrilloReporter
State Rep. Martha M. Walz is in her second term representing Boston’s Back Bay, West End, Beacon Hill and Cambridgeport neighborhoods.
Attend any community meeting in Boston’s downtown neighborhoods and you’ll find state Rep. Martha M. Walz somewhere in the room. In her second term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Walz is the neighborhood’s voice when it comes to development. She has questioned the height of 888 Boylston St., Boston Properties’ office building proposal; fought Suffolk University’s plan to turn a vacant Beacon Hill building into student housing; and spoken out against public financing for the Columbus Center project in Boston.
While she gets high praise from neighborhood activists, members of Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration privately say that she’s against everything. Walz represents Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the West End and Cambridgeport. She also works as an attorney at Littler Mendelson, where she advises clients on employee law.
Walz graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, New York University School of Law and Colgate University.
Q: Some at City Hall say that you oppose any development in Boston. Can you name any projects that you favored at the height the developer’s requested?
A: I did not oppose the height of the Beal Co. project at 131 Clarendon St. [The 9-story building with 350 housing units is under construction.] It all comes down to whether or not a developer has a plan that makes sense for the site and the community. If they do, then height is not a problem. But if the proposal is too tall, I’ll work to get it reduced. It’s disingenuous for anyone to suggest I oppose everything.
Q: You are among the loudest voices in opposition to Columbus Center [the $800 million project that would be built on a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike in the South End. It would feature a 35-story glass tower and four 11-story buildings that will house 451 condominiums, a hotel and 917 parking spaces.]
A: That’s not true. My comments in the last few years about Columbus Center have related exclusively to the question of public financing. Once the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the project, I haven’t said a word in opposition to the project itself. I object to the taxpayers subsidizing the profits of a developer.
Q: But why wouldn’t a developer take advantage of public financing?
A: Because the developer [Roger Cassin] got increased height and density in exchange for a promise not to accept public subsidies. [Cassin denies a promise was made.]
Q: But it still doesn’t sound like you supported the 1.3 million-square-foot proposal. You were a member of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and they opposed it, correct?
A: Yes. NABB opposed it. I did not support approval because I thought more changes should have been made. The design could have been improved and the height on parcel 16 should have been further reduced, and there’s too much on-site parking. I want something built there; the question is what kind of development. I have asked the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to move forward with a Request for Proposals for the air rights parcel at Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street. I also support John Rosenthal’s air rights project in Kenmore Square.
Q: You opposed Suffolk University dorms for 20 Somerset St. on Beacon Hill.
A: I opposed the dorm. But I was not against the school putting an academic building there. It suits developers and those who work with them to paint people in the community as always opposing things, when the facts prove that assertion to be wrong.
Q: You are against Boston Properties’ effort to increase the height of their proposed building at 888 Boylston St. from 11 to 19 stories. A: I favor the approved building at 11 stories.
Q: What about the AvalonBay Communities’ plan for a 30-story residential tower on Exeter Street?
A: I don’t have a point of view on that one. It’s easy for people to paint elected officials and community activists as opponents of everything. But the facts are quite different than the stereotypes that they try to create to suit their own agendas.
Q: The Prudential Center has tall buildings. This is a city. If skyscrapers can’t be built there, then where?
A: There are plenty of locations that are appropriate for tall buildings. No one is arguing that we shouldn’t have height. I have not objected to anything downtown. That’s where they belong.
By Thomas GrilloReporter
State Rep. Martha M. Walz is in her second term representing Boston’s Back Bay, West End, Beacon Hill and Cambridgeport neighborhoods.
Attend any community meeting in Boston’s downtown neighborhoods and you’ll find state Rep. Martha M. Walz somewhere in the room. In her second term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Walz is the neighborhood’s voice when it comes to development. She has questioned the height of 888 Boylston St., Boston Properties’ office building proposal; fought Suffolk University’s plan to turn a vacant Beacon Hill building into student housing; and spoken out against public financing for the Columbus Center project in Boston.
While she gets high praise from neighborhood activists, members of Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration privately say that she’s against everything. Walz represents Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the West End and Cambridgeport. She also works as an attorney at Littler Mendelson, where she advises clients on employee law.
Walz graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, New York University School of Law and Colgate University.
Q: Some at City Hall say that you oppose any development in Boston. Can you name any projects that you favored at the height the developer’s requested?
A: I did not oppose the height of the Beal Co. project at 131 Clarendon St. [The 9-story building with 350 housing units is under construction.] It all comes down to whether or not a developer has a plan that makes sense for the site and the community. If they do, then height is not a problem. But if the proposal is too tall, I’ll work to get it reduced. It’s disingenuous for anyone to suggest I oppose everything.
Q: You are among the loudest voices in opposition to Columbus Center [the $800 million project that would be built on a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike in the South End. It would feature a 35-story glass tower and four 11-story buildings that will house 451 condominiums, a hotel and 917 parking spaces.]
A: That’s not true. My comments in the last few years about Columbus Center have related exclusively to the question of public financing. Once the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the project, I haven’t said a word in opposition to the project itself. I object to the taxpayers subsidizing the profits of a developer.
Q: But why wouldn’t a developer take advantage of public financing?
A: Because the developer [Roger Cassin] got increased height and density in exchange for a promise not to accept public subsidies. [Cassin denies a promise was made.]
Q: But it still doesn’t sound like you supported the 1.3 million-square-foot proposal. You were a member of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and they opposed it, correct?
A: Yes. NABB opposed it. I did not support approval because I thought more changes should have been made. The design could have been improved and the height on parcel 16 should have been further reduced, and there’s too much on-site parking. I want something built there; the question is what kind of development. I have asked the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to move forward with a Request for Proposals for the air rights parcel at Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street. I also support John Rosenthal’s air rights project in Kenmore Square.
Q: You opposed Suffolk University dorms for 20 Somerset St. on Beacon Hill.
A: I opposed the dorm. But I was not against the school putting an academic building there. It suits developers and those who work with them to paint people in the community as always opposing things, when the facts prove that assertion to be wrong.
Q: You are against Boston Properties’ effort to increase the height of their proposed building at 888 Boylston St. from 11 to 19 stories. A: I favor the approved building at 11 stories.
Q: What about the AvalonBay Communities’ plan for a 30-story residential tower on Exeter Street?
A: I don’t have a point of view on that one. It’s easy for people to paint elected officials and community activists as opponents of everything. But the facts are quite different than the stereotypes that they try to create to suit their own agendas.
Q: The Prudential Center has tall buildings. This is a city. If skyscrapers can’t be built there, then where?
A: There are plenty of locations that are appropriate for tall buildings. No one is arguing that we shouldn’t have height. I have not objected to anything downtown. That’s where they belong.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Even 9 p.m. is Too Late for Roslindale!
Roslindale Transcript
Open for dinner or only for lunch?
By David Ertischek
Wed Jan 09, 2008, 11:53 AM EST
Roslindale -
Roslindale - What was once known as Roslindale’s Old Muffin House is now involved in a dispute with neighbors about what time the current restaurant would be open.
The owners of the La Lechonera Café want to be open until 9 p.m., and some residents want the little corner restaurant to close at 2 p.m.
Ted Vega and Efrain Ortiz bought the little eatery on the corner of Cummins and American Legion highways in May 2006 and opened one day after Thanksgiving in 2007.
Vega proudly spoke about repairing the restaurant, which he said was rundown with broken windows and falling apart because the building had been vacant for several years.
But while no one seems to be against the café being open, many residents, including the Canterbury Manning Neighborhood Association, are against the café being open until 9 p.m. and would like to see it close at 2 p.m., similar to what the Muffin House used to do.
“First of all, it poses a parking issue,” said Paula Butler, who lives three doors down from the eatery on Cummins Highway. “They’re parking in front of my house … The man deserves to make a living, but first the hours are way too long for our neighborhood situation.”
A snowstorm stopped the café’s owners from being able to meet with the neighborhood association late last month. The owners and association had met previous to the scheduled meeting, in which the association recommended the restaurant be closed at 2 p.m.
Butler said that she feels as though the café did things behind the neighbors’ backs by opening for dinner without a proper license.
But Dan Pokaski, chairman of the licensing board for Boston, said that is a common mistake among restaurant owners. The café currently has a license to operate from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It happens from time to time. People forget to get common victualler’s licenses. They get the ISD, the fire and the health permit and forget they need a permit to sell food. We don’t want to put them out of business; we want to make sure they comply with the law.”
But the Canterbury association urged the owners to be open only until 2 p.m., which their license was granted for. For a while, the eatery was open until 9 p.m., and they advertise that they are open for dinner. But as of this past Monday, there was a sign on entrance that said they would be closing at 2 p.m.
“Mainly our problem is the same problem we’ve been having since 2006,” said Vega. “It’s that the neighborhood association is not being reasonable with us.”
The main issue is the available parking at the site, which Vega said is more than ample. The restaurant seats 18 people with six tables, and there are 13 parking spots that Vega said is deeded to the restaurant. Some residents contend that the parking is not deeded to the restaurant, but Vega has provided paperwork to the state proving that they do own the lot.
Vega is waiting for springtime so he can draw in better parking lines so the parking lot is more defined. Pokaski himself said he would be going to the location to see the parking situation.
Pokaski said he expects the licensing board to rule today (Thursday, Jan. 10), after the Transcript goes to print, on whether the restaurant may be open until 9 p.m.
But Vega said that most neighbors have received him well. He said that as soon as he put up his signage, residents came over to welcome him to the neighborhood and, of course, get some food.
“This neighborhood is not against us. People came right away. Whites, blacks, Spanish, everybody,” said Vega.
He added that most of his customers come after 6 p.m. for traditional Spanish dinners or Cuban sub sandwiches.
To prove that he has the support of the neighborhood, Vega and Ortiz have been circulating a petition to be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.
Vega said he thought there were some ulterior motives for neighbors being against the eatery.
“It’s creating a lot of friction right now, especially for the Spanish community. Why us? Our interpretation is that it is racism,” he said.
Vega added other points that make him a good neighbor such as the fact that while even it is a liability against him, he allows parents to park their cars in his lot while they wait for the children to be dropped off by school buses. He also patrols the property twice a day picking up every bit of trash he can find.
City Councilor Rob Consalvo said that he would “wait to hear what residents have to say.”
He added that if the restaurant were to take off, there could be a major traffic problem considering the site is already a busy road.
“These are issues that have to be addressed and make the community feel at ease. Everyone has their day in court,” said Consalvo.
Open for dinner or only for lunch?
By David Ertischek
Wed Jan 09, 2008, 11:53 AM EST
Roslindale -
Roslindale - What was once known as Roslindale’s Old Muffin House is now involved in a dispute with neighbors about what time the current restaurant would be open.
The owners of the La Lechonera Café want to be open until 9 p.m., and some residents want the little corner restaurant to close at 2 p.m.
Ted Vega and Efrain Ortiz bought the little eatery on the corner of Cummins and American Legion highways in May 2006 and opened one day after Thanksgiving in 2007.
Vega proudly spoke about repairing the restaurant, which he said was rundown with broken windows and falling apart because the building had been vacant for several years.
But while no one seems to be against the café being open, many residents, including the Canterbury Manning Neighborhood Association, are against the café being open until 9 p.m. and would like to see it close at 2 p.m., similar to what the Muffin House used to do.
“First of all, it poses a parking issue,” said Paula Butler, who lives three doors down from the eatery on Cummins Highway. “They’re parking in front of my house … The man deserves to make a living, but first the hours are way too long for our neighborhood situation.”
A snowstorm stopped the café’s owners from being able to meet with the neighborhood association late last month. The owners and association had met previous to the scheduled meeting, in which the association recommended the restaurant be closed at 2 p.m.
Butler said that she feels as though the café did things behind the neighbors’ backs by opening for dinner without a proper license.
But Dan Pokaski, chairman of the licensing board for Boston, said that is a common mistake among restaurant owners. The café currently has a license to operate from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It happens from time to time. People forget to get common victualler’s licenses. They get the ISD, the fire and the health permit and forget they need a permit to sell food. We don’t want to put them out of business; we want to make sure they comply with the law.”
But the Canterbury association urged the owners to be open only until 2 p.m., which their license was granted for. For a while, the eatery was open until 9 p.m., and they advertise that they are open for dinner. But as of this past Monday, there was a sign on entrance that said they would be closing at 2 p.m.
“Mainly our problem is the same problem we’ve been having since 2006,” said Vega. “It’s that the neighborhood association is not being reasonable with us.”
The main issue is the available parking at the site, which Vega said is more than ample. The restaurant seats 18 people with six tables, and there are 13 parking spots that Vega said is deeded to the restaurant. Some residents contend that the parking is not deeded to the restaurant, but Vega has provided paperwork to the state proving that they do own the lot.
Vega is waiting for springtime so he can draw in better parking lines so the parking lot is more defined. Pokaski himself said he would be going to the location to see the parking situation.
Pokaski said he expects the licensing board to rule today (Thursday, Jan. 10), after the Transcript goes to print, on whether the restaurant may be open until 9 p.m.
But Vega said that most neighbors have received him well. He said that as soon as he put up his signage, residents came over to welcome him to the neighborhood and, of course, get some food.
“This neighborhood is not against us. People came right away. Whites, blacks, Spanish, everybody,” said Vega.
He added that most of his customers come after 6 p.m. for traditional Spanish dinners or Cuban sub sandwiches.
To prove that he has the support of the neighborhood, Vega and Ortiz have been circulating a petition to be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.
Vega said he thought there were some ulterior motives for neighbors being against the eatery.
“It’s creating a lot of friction right now, especially for the Spanish community. Why us? Our interpretation is that it is racism,” he said.
Vega added other points that make him a good neighbor such as the fact that while even it is a liability against him, he allows parents to park their cars in his lot while they wait for the children to be dropped off by school buses. He also patrols the property twice a day picking up every bit of trash he can find.
City Councilor Rob Consalvo said that he would “wait to hear what residents have to say.”
He added that if the restaurant were to take off, there could be a major traffic problem considering the site is already a busy road.
“These are issues that have to be addressed and make the community feel at ease. Everyone has their day in court,” said Consalvo.
Wants Harvard to "Dazzle" Community
Allston Brighton Tab
Neighbors ‘completely dissatisfied’ with Harvard benefits plan
By Richard Cherecwich, Staff Writer
Thu Jan 10, 2008, 11:31 AM EST
Allston, Mass. - The Harvard-Allston Task Force is “completely dissatisfied” with the $21 million community benefits package proposed by Harvard, and will meet separately with both the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the university to discuss possible last-minute changes.
The package is part of a cooperation agreement that must be signed by both the city and Harvard before the school begins work on a $1 billion science complex on Western Avenue. The agreement will be signed in the next two weeks, BRA officials said.
The task force met in an executive session on Monday, Jan. 7, to discuss the package.
“Until Monday night, we didn’t know we were completely dissatisfied with this because we hadn’t talked about it,” Chairman Ray Mellone said at a task force meeting on Wednesday.
The meetings with the BRA and school are tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan. 14. Although they will be executive sessions with discussion between the task force, they will be open to the public, Mellone said.
Mellone acknowledged that the agreement would likely be signed whether or not the task force agrees on the benefits package, but both the BRA and Harvard agreed to meet to discuss possible changes.
“Let’s see if we can do anything to improve the way the package is put together,” Mellone said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be futile or not.”
The package includes $9.3 million for construction of new parks and improvements to sidewalks and streets in Allston, and $4.2 million for education projects, including an education portal offering math and science tutoring to Allston-Brighton children.
“This list that you have does represent what we believe to be a full program of benefits and we plan to move forward with Harvard. We have not moved forward yet,” said Michael Glavin, the BRA’s deputy director for institutional development.
Allston residents have sought larger-scale benefits from the project, including a university-sponsored community school. The BRA supports projects such as this, but they can’t be agreed to within the timeline for the science project, said BRA planner Gerald Autler.
The $21 million is only related to the 589,000-square-foot science complex, and more benefits will come as the school continues to expand into Allston in the next 50 years.
As the task force and community begin discussions for benefits associated with that long-term plan, Mellone wanted to make sure what he felt were past mistakes were not repeated. Other task force members agreed they were disappointed.
“I think what we wanted was to be able to dazzle our community,” said task force member Millie McGlaughlin. “Now we’re at a point where people don’t feel they did a good enough job for the community, and that’s difficult to hear, as a member of the community.”
Harvard officials said a benefits matrix drafted by the community influenced the package, and they want to build a partnership to continue into the future.
“We did not create and get to this place in the benefits agreement by calculating dollars associated with a building and an investment,” said Kathy Spiegelman, chief planner for Harvard’s Allston Development Group. “The expectation of 10 years past and 10 years forward is the university will continue to make investments in what the task force and community think are community benefits.”
Neighbors ‘completely dissatisfied’ with Harvard benefits plan
By Richard Cherecwich, Staff Writer
Thu Jan 10, 2008, 11:31 AM EST
Allston, Mass. - The Harvard-Allston Task Force is “completely dissatisfied” with the $21 million community benefits package proposed by Harvard, and will meet separately with both the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the university to discuss possible last-minute changes.
The package is part of a cooperation agreement that must be signed by both the city and Harvard before the school begins work on a $1 billion science complex on Western Avenue. The agreement will be signed in the next two weeks, BRA officials said.
The task force met in an executive session on Monday, Jan. 7, to discuss the package.
“Until Monday night, we didn’t know we were completely dissatisfied with this because we hadn’t talked about it,” Chairman Ray Mellone said at a task force meeting on Wednesday.
The meetings with the BRA and school are tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan. 14. Although they will be executive sessions with discussion between the task force, they will be open to the public, Mellone said.
Mellone acknowledged that the agreement would likely be signed whether or not the task force agrees on the benefits package, but both the BRA and Harvard agreed to meet to discuss possible changes.
“Let’s see if we can do anything to improve the way the package is put together,” Mellone said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be futile or not.”
The package includes $9.3 million for construction of new parks and improvements to sidewalks and streets in Allston, and $4.2 million for education projects, including an education portal offering math and science tutoring to Allston-Brighton children.
“This list that you have does represent what we believe to be a full program of benefits and we plan to move forward with Harvard. We have not moved forward yet,” said Michael Glavin, the BRA’s deputy director for institutional development.
Allston residents have sought larger-scale benefits from the project, including a university-sponsored community school. The BRA supports projects such as this, but they can’t be agreed to within the timeline for the science project, said BRA planner Gerald Autler.
The $21 million is only related to the 589,000-square-foot science complex, and more benefits will come as the school continues to expand into Allston in the next 50 years.
As the task force and community begin discussions for benefits associated with that long-term plan, Mellone wanted to make sure what he felt were past mistakes were not repeated. Other task force members agreed they were disappointed.
“I think what we wanted was to be able to dazzle our community,” said task force member Millie McGlaughlin. “Now we’re at a point where people don’t feel they did a good enough job for the community, and that’s difficult to hear, as a member of the community.”
Harvard officials said a benefits matrix drafted by the community influenced the package, and they want to build a partnership to continue into the future.
“We did not create and get to this place in the benefits agreement by calculating dollars associated with a building and an investment,” said Kathy Spiegelman, chief planner for Harvard’s Allston Development Group. “The expectation of 10 years past and 10 years forward is the university will continue to make investments in what the task force and community think are community benefits.”
Dorms for UMass Boston?
Dorchester Reporter
UMass defends dorms at Columbia-Savin Hill
January10, 2008
By Gintautas DumciusReporter Correspondent
In sharp exchanges with some local neighborhood activists, UMass Boston officials defended their plans to build dorms to house some 1,000 on-campus beds in the next ten years as part of the school's overhaul.
"We are a commuter school. We are going to continue to be a commuter school," Ellen O'Connor, the campus's vice chancellor for administration and finance, said to roughly 40 people assembled at Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association's Monday night meeting at the Little House.
The plan for on-campus housing, which will ultimately result in 2,000 beds by the end of the university's 25-year master plan, is coupled with hopes to build three new academic buildings and two 1,000-car parking garages, open up the campus by bringing down the plaza and relocate the university's utilities.
The civic association, which once had a UMass Committee to handle its opposition to dorms, did not take a vote after the brief presentation, saying they needed time to mull it over.
"I commend them for coming out," said Deirdre Habershaw, head of the association, who has voiced opposition to dorms in the past. "But I think I still have the same feelings as before."
Don Walsh, a member of the association, peppered O'Connor with questions, noting that little had changed since the university's first attempt at building dorms nearly four years ago.
Former Chancellor Michael Collins restarted the conversation during his tenure, with aides attempting reach out to community leaders and salve over the wounds inflicted by the previous administration. The current chancellor, Keith Motley, is also pushing for dorms.
Walsh pressed O'Connor, who acknowledged the UMass Board of Trustees had seen the plan, but had not signed off on any specific construction.
She stressed the current master plan is a "living document," subject to change.
"We have looked at what's been done in the past and we know this is a difficult topic," she said of dorms. "I don't have a construction plan on anything here."
O'Connor also said that while the school doesn't have much power in controlling who gets a shot at the construction jobs, having Dorchester residents work is "a reasonable thing for us to support."
Others had concerns over increased traffic. UMass officials hope to revamp the roadways, shifting the current "racetrack" structure deeper inland and creating roads going through the campus.
"Your plan perseveres over our well-being," said Roger Ramie, who also pointed to other development projects on Columbia Point. "That's going to add to [the traffic], too," he said.
O'Connor said the university is working with two agencies, the state's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the city's Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), to ensure traffic doesn't increase. O'Connor said 52 percent of students come by public transportation.
While Mayor Thomas Menino has voiced support for dorms and the overall plan, other local politicians have been more cautious. Some note dorms remain far down the road, with old buildings coming down and new buildings going up a higher priority for the campus.
"I'm going to wait and see what happens," said state Rep. Martin Walsh. "Dorms is a question for another day."
Rep. Walsh also voiced support for one of the new UMass administration officials, Arthur Bernard. Bernard joined UMass Boston as its vice chancellor for government relations and public affairs in November after six months as general counsel to the UMass Building Authority. Bernard is also former chief of staff to Senate President Robert Travaglini, and knows the district and area.
"He does understand all that stuff," Walsh said.
UMass defends dorms at Columbia-Savin Hill
January10, 2008
By Gintautas DumciusReporter Correspondent
In sharp exchanges with some local neighborhood activists, UMass Boston officials defended their plans to build dorms to house some 1,000 on-campus beds in the next ten years as part of the school's overhaul.
"We are a commuter school. We are going to continue to be a commuter school," Ellen O'Connor, the campus's vice chancellor for administration and finance, said to roughly 40 people assembled at Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association's Monday night meeting at the Little House.
The plan for on-campus housing, which will ultimately result in 2,000 beds by the end of the university's 25-year master plan, is coupled with hopes to build three new academic buildings and two 1,000-car parking garages, open up the campus by bringing down the plaza and relocate the university's utilities.
The civic association, which once had a UMass Committee to handle its opposition to dorms, did not take a vote after the brief presentation, saying they needed time to mull it over.
"I commend them for coming out," said Deirdre Habershaw, head of the association, who has voiced opposition to dorms in the past. "But I think I still have the same feelings as before."
Don Walsh, a member of the association, peppered O'Connor with questions, noting that little had changed since the university's first attempt at building dorms nearly four years ago.
Former Chancellor Michael Collins restarted the conversation during his tenure, with aides attempting reach out to community leaders and salve over the wounds inflicted by the previous administration. The current chancellor, Keith Motley, is also pushing for dorms.
Walsh pressed O'Connor, who acknowledged the UMass Board of Trustees had seen the plan, but had not signed off on any specific construction.
She stressed the current master plan is a "living document," subject to change.
"We have looked at what's been done in the past and we know this is a difficult topic," she said of dorms. "I don't have a construction plan on anything here."
O'Connor also said that while the school doesn't have much power in controlling who gets a shot at the construction jobs, having Dorchester residents work is "a reasonable thing for us to support."
Others had concerns over increased traffic. UMass officials hope to revamp the roadways, shifting the current "racetrack" structure deeper inland and creating roads going through the campus.
"Your plan perseveres over our well-being," said Roger Ramie, who also pointed to other development projects on Columbia Point. "That's going to add to [the traffic], too," he said.
O'Connor said the university is working with two agencies, the state's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the city's Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), to ensure traffic doesn't increase. O'Connor said 52 percent of students come by public transportation.
While Mayor Thomas Menino has voiced support for dorms and the overall plan, other local politicians have been more cautious. Some note dorms remain far down the road, with old buildings coming down and new buildings going up a higher priority for the campus.
"I'm going to wait and see what happens," said state Rep. Martin Walsh. "Dorms is a question for another day."
Rep. Walsh also voiced support for one of the new UMass administration officials, Arthur Bernard. Bernard joined UMass Boston as its vice chancellor for government relations and public affairs in November after six months as general counsel to the UMass Building Authority. Bernard is also former chief of staff to Senate President Robert Travaglini, and knows the district and area.
"He does understand all that stuff," Walsh said.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
More on Dorms - 2
Developers of Student Housing Hope Less Ends Up Being More
By Thomas GrilloReporter
In response to strong opposition, the Phoenix Property Co. and Lincoln Property Co. will file revised plans for GrandMarc, a private, $170 million residence hall for students. Banker & Tradesman first reported the story Wednesday on its Web site, www.bankerandtradesman.com. The Texas-based developers proposed a pair of towers, totaling 34 stories and 12 stories, to be built near the YMCA on Huntington Avenue. The complex would have featured 1,140 beds as well as a café, recreation room and lounge on the ground floor.
But neighbors said the multiplex was too big and that the concentration of more than a 1,000 additional students would overwhelm the close-knit neighborhood. Residents said the skyscraper would rise above the Fenway and be out of scale with the neighborhood’s 5- and 6-story walkup apartment buildings. In addition, neighbors worried that GrandMarc, coupled with Northeastern University’s plans to build more than 2,000 dorms nearby, would concentrate too many students in one section of the city.
“We heard the [Boston Redevelopment Authority] and the neighborhood’s concerns, and devised a plan that is significantly less than what we proposed,” said Jason P. Runnels, Phoenix’s executive vice president. “We were happy to build more than 1,000 beds in that location to meet the demand, but the community and BRA said it was way too much.”
In a series of public hearings last spring, the developers faced questions about the number of dorm rooms, security, parking and traffic. In a letter to the developers from the BRA, questions also were raised about how alcohol use and underage drinking would be controlled, whether the dorm would provide police details on weekends, what consequences would result for students who misbehaved and how the building would handle disposal of party-related trash. The developer’s history of selling its properties after a few years also was flagged as a concern.
In response, Runnels said he would reduce the size of the tallest tower to about 24 stories and increase the other building to about 15 stories. He also has hired a security company and promised to resolve questions about how to keep the students and the area safe. While Runnels acknowledged that his company keeps its buildings for seven years before selling them, a development partner, Behringer Harvard Real Estate Investment Trust, typically keeps properties for the long term.
“We can’t promise that the building will never be sold, but we can say that it will be institutionally owned and professional managed like all the other institutional assets in Boston,” Runnels said.
‘Too Many Students’
Jane Hartmann, a member of the Impact Advisory Group, an eight-member panel appointed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino to advise the city on the development, said she has not heard from the developer about the revised plans.
“Aside from the building’s height, many of the concerns centered around governance and security,” she said. “We didn’t like the idea that this is a firm that wants to build something and sell it in five years. The neighborhood has spent two years negotiating with Northeastern University and we already offered to support student housing on two sites. Neighbors are concerned that this new project would put too many students in a small section of the Fenway,”
If approved, GrandMarc would offer a first-of-a-kind private student housing, complete with resident assistants. While colleges and universities typically operate dorms, the project would be novel in Boston, where the for-profit company would lease the one- to four-bedroom units directly to students.
The developers have entered into an agreement to purchase an acre of land from the YMCA, along with the Y building’s Hastings Wing, for an undisclosed price. Under the terms of the deal, the Y would keep about 25,000 square feet of land and maintain the branch. The developers have agreed to incorporate the portion of the Hastings Wing that faces Huntington Avenue into the design. Plans also include a renovated front portion of the building. Phoenix would raze the rear portion of Hastings.
Phoenix has built nearly 8,000 dorm beds on a several campuses nationwide, including the University of Virginia and Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C.
William Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association, said the neighborhood made it clear to the developers last year that the project was too big considering the fact that the firm lacked a track record in Boston.
“There has never been a private dorm developed in the Boston area, as far as I know, and so we told them we couldn’t be comfortable with any kind of a project on this scale as a first project,” he said. “From a residents’ perspective, we are worried about a critical mass of students in East Fenway. We told the developers: ‘If you want to start discussion, you need to talk about a project of about half the size.’ ”
Runnels told Banker &Tradesman that his company is planning a presentation for the city and the neighborhood that would address the request for a smaller building, as well as explain how management and security will be handled.
In a prepared statement, BRA spokeswoman Jessica Shumaker said, “We’re happy to hear that the developers are responding to our concerns and the concerns from the community. Ultimately, the public review process results in a better project, and we look forward to reviewing their new submission with the community soon.”
By Thomas GrilloReporter
In response to strong opposition, the Phoenix Property Co. and Lincoln Property Co. will file revised plans for GrandMarc, a private, $170 million residence hall for students. Banker & Tradesman first reported the story Wednesday on its Web site, www.bankerandtradesman.com. The Texas-based developers proposed a pair of towers, totaling 34 stories and 12 stories, to be built near the YMCA on Huntington Avenue. The complex would have featured 1,140 beds as well as a café, recreation room and lounge on the ground floor.
But neighbors said the multiplex was too big and that the concentration of more than a 1,000 additional students would overwhelm the close-knit neighborhood. Residents said the skyscraper would rise above the Fenway and be out of scale with the neighborhood’s 5- and 6-story walkup apartment buildings. In addition, neighbors worried that GrandMarc, coupled with Northeastern University’s plans to build more than 2,000 dorms nearby, would concentrate too many students in one section of the city.
“We heard the [Boston Redevelopment Authority] and the neighborhood’s concerns, and devised a plan that is significantly less than what we proposed,” said Jason P. Runnels, Phoenix’s executive vice president. “We were happy to build more than 1,000 beds in that location to meet the demand, but the community and BRA said it was way too much.”
In a series of public hearings last spring, the developers faced questions about the number of dorm rooms, security, parking and traffic. In a letter to the developers from the BRA, questions also were raised about how alcohol use and underage drinking would be controlled, whether the dorm would provide police details on weekends, what consequences would result for students who misbehaved and how the building would handle disposal of party-related trash. The developer’s history of selling its properties after a few years also was flagged as a concern.
In response, Runnels said he would reduce the size of the tallest tower to about 24 stories and increase the other building to about 15 stories. He also has hired a security company and promised to resolve questions about how to keep the students and the area safe. While Runnels acknowledged that his company keeps its buildings for seven years before selling them, a development partner, Behringer Harvard Real Estate Investment Trust, typically keeps properties for the long term.
“We can’t promise that the building will never be sold, but we can say that it will be institutionally owned and professional managed like all the other institutional assets in Boston,” Runnels said.
‘Too Many Students’
Jane Hartmann, a member of the Impact Advisory Group, an eight-member panel appointed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino to advise the city on the development, said she has not heard from the developer about the revised plans.
“Aside from the building’s height, many of the concerns centered around governance and security,” she said. “We didn’t like the idea that this is a firm that wants to build something and sell it in five years. The neighborhood has spent two years negotiating with Northeastern University and we already offered to support student housing on two sites. Neighbors are concerned that this new project would put too many students in a small section of the Fenway,”
If approved, GrandMarc would offer a first-of-a-kind private student housing, complete with resident assistants. While colleges and universities typically operate dorms, the project would be novel in Boston, where the for-profit company would lease the one- to four-bedroom units directly to students.
The developers have entered into an agreement to purchase an acre of land from the YMCA, along with the Y building’s Hastings Wing, for an undisclosed price. Under the terms of the deal, the Y would keep about 25,000 square feet of land and maintain the branch. The developers have agreed to incorporate the portion of the Hastings Wing that faces Huntington Avenue into the design. Plans also include a renovated front portion of the building. Phoenix would raze the rear portion of Hastings.
Phoenix has built nearly 8,000 dorm beds on a several campuses nationwide, including the University of Virginia and Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C.
William Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association, said the neighborhood made it clear to the developers last year that the project was too big considering the fact that the firm lacked a track record in Boston.
“There has never been a private dorm developed in the Boston area, as far as I know, and so we told them we couldn’t be comfortable with any kind of a project on this scale as a first project,” he said. “From a residents’ perspective, we are worried about a critical mass of students in East Fenway. We told the developers: ‘If you want to start discussion, you need to talk about a project of about half the size.’ ”
Runnels told Banker &Tradesman that his company is planning a presentation for the city and the neighborhood that would address the request for a smaller building, as well as explain how management and security will be handled.
In a prepared statement, BRA spokeswoman Jessica Shumaker said, “We’re happy to hear that the developers are responding to our concerns and the concerns from the community. Ultimately, the public review process results in a better project, and we look forward to reviewing their new submission with the community soon.”
On Campus Housing vs. Off Campus Housing
Academic sprawl
Boston Globe
January 7, 2008
LIKE OLD dance partners, Boston planners and university officials pride themselves on anticipating each other's next move. And right now the city's higher-education scene is whirling with 2,901 dormitory beds under construction and roughly 2,000 more under review or proposed. Residents of neighborhoods where colleges are expanding are understandably dizzy from all of the activity.
An influx of institutional master plans will soon land on the desks of city planners at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The documents, which colleges are required to file, project development goals from five to 20 years into the future. With city approval for a new science complex in hand, Harvard University is expected to file its long-range plan in the fall for a campus expansion in Allston that could exceed 5 million square feet. Suffolk University, which hungers for dorm space, is expected to deliver its plan this month. BRA officials, who are examining the latest Boston College master plan, are also anticipating an offering from Berklee College of Music.
It's unlikely that these and other colleges will reach deep consensus with neighbors who are wary of disruption from construction, traffic, and student behavior. But at the least, colleges will need to reach a state of detente with neighbors if they hope to see building and occupancy permits from the city.
The city's 36 institutions of higher education are indisputable leaders of the local economy. In 2004, Boston's colleges added $5.4 billion to the state's economy, according to the BRA. Higher ed in Boston directly employs 44,000 people. But that kind of clout can also breed a sense of entitlement.
Whether they mean to be or not, colleges are the most powerful development force in Boston. As Harvard, for instance, pushes forward with its science center in Allston, neighbors worry about Barry's Corner, an area whose fate is almost entirely in the university's hands. For city officials, the greatest challenge is to find the right balance when the needs of universities conflict with those of their neighbors.
Wrangling over dorms
Colleges could fill tomes with their volunteer and community service efforts. But the quality of town-gown relations usually depends upon student behavior.
Loud, late-night parties do not make for good student ambassadors. And families often resent even the best behaved students, because their presence often drives up housing costs, especially in modest neighborhoods such as Allston and Mission Hill. The Boston City Council recently passed a zoning change that would cap at four the number of students who could live in a single apartment.
The Menino administration has pushed consistently for colleges to house their students in residence halls on campus. The policy is succeeding. According to the BRA, about 46,000 undergraduates at private colleges live in Boston, of whom more than 70 percent call a dorm room home. (The agency does not compile data on public colleges, which do not fall under its planning authority.) But while the policy of getting students out of the neighborhoods is sound and clear, the implementation is inconsistent from college to college and neighborhood to neighborhood. "It's an art, not a science," says BRA planner Linda Kowalcky, who specializes in town-gown relations.
Boston College is a case in point. As part of an ambitious 10-year, $1.6 billion master plan, BC is proposing to house 500 students on land formerly owned by the Archdiocese of Boston north of Commonwealth Avenue.
But while BC leads the city in its success at housing undergraduates, its expansion plans are tricky in a way that 1,000 dorm beds proposed for the University of Massachusetts at Boston are not. Located on a peninsula, UMass-Boston is largely isolated from residential areas. But the proposed BC dorms are meeting with stiff resistance from neighbors in the Lake Street area, who want to see the student housing built on the main campus - further from their own homes.
Last week, opponents of the BC plan appeared to pick up an ally in Mayor Menino, who also said he wants to see the new dorms "all on one location" south of Commonwealth Avenue. BC is eager to build new academic centers, an arts district, recreation center, and other keys to a great future. But it must also build political support.
No rules apply
In general, more dorms are the right answer for Boston. College officials are skilled at using resident advisers, alcohol policies, and campus police to control student behavior. But no hard and fast rules for dorm construction apply. Neighbors of Berklee College of Music in the Back Bay, for example, recently resisted a high-rise dormitory proposal at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street. But they seem more open to a subsequent plan for two smaller Berklee buildings on a nearby parcel. At BC, however, neighbors would prefer taller dorms, provided they remain set back on the traditional campus. The path of least resistance would seem to be the one that houses students, whenever possible, on the existing campus.
But some universities, like Suffolk, don't have traditional campuses. In 2006, Suffolk officials found themselves at war with the neighborhood when they purchased a building on the edge of Beacon Hill to build a high-rise dorm. The Menino administration initially blessed the project. But it walked away as neighborhood opposition escalated. Happy endings, however, are still possible. Suffolk is now housing students in less thickly settled sections of Downtown Crossing, bringing new energy to the area.
Mayor Menino, meanwhile, is using the colleges' desire to expand as his leverage to increase their civic commitments. He wants colleges to create major initiatives in public education, sports, and job training - initiatives far broader than the limited community programs that universities now offer. "I'm out of the pilot program business," Menino says.
Since Boston has long been a center of higher education, neighborhood residents need to have realistic expectations. But universities in turn need to recognize that their planning decisions don't just affect their students - and that, to neighbors, accommodation means more than a comfortable dorm room.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
Boston Globe
January 7, 2008
LIKE OLD dance partners, Boston planners and university officials pride themselves on anticipating each other's next move. And right now the city's higher-education scene is whirling with 2,901 dormitory beds under construction and roughly 2,000 more under review or proposed. Residents of neighborhoods where colleges are expanding are understandably dizzy from all of the activity.
An influx of institutional master plans will soon land on the desks of city planners at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The documents, which colleges are required to file, project development goals from five to 20 years into the future. With city approval for a new science complex in hand, Harvard University is expected to file its long-range plan in the fall for a campus expansion in Allston that could exceed 5 million square feet. Suffolk University, which hungers for dorm space, is expected to deliver its plan this month. BRA officials, who are examining the latest Boston College master plan, are also anticipating an offering from Berklee College of Music.
It's unlikely that these and other colleges will reach deep consensus with neighbors who are wary of disruption from construction, traffic, and student behavior. But at the least, colleges will need to reach a state of detente with neighbors if they hope to see building and occupancy permits from the city.
The city's 36 institutions of higher education are indisputable leaders of the local economy. In 2004, Boston's colleges added $5.4 billion to the state's economy, according to the BRA. Higher ed in Boston directly employs 44,000 people. But that kind of clout can also breed a sense of entitlement.
Whether they mean to be or not, colleges are the most powerful development force in Boston. As Harvard, for instance, pushes forward with its science center in Allston, neighbors worry about Barry's Corner, an area whose fate is almost entirely in the university's hands. For city officials, the greatest challenge is to find the right balance when the needs of universities conflict with those of their neighbors.
Wrangling over dorms
Colleges could fill tomes with their volunteer and community service efforts. But the quality of town-gown relations usually depends upon student behavior.
Loud, late-night parties do not make for good student ambassadors. And families often resent even the best behaved students, because their presence often drives up housing costs, especially in modest neighborhoods such as Allston and Mission Hill. The Boston City Council recently passed a zoning change that would cap at four the number of students who could live in a single apartment.
The Menino administration has pushed consistently for colleges to house their students in residence halls on campus. The policy is succeeding. According to the BRA, about 46,000 undergraduates at private colleges live in Boston, of whom more than 70 percent call a dorm room home. (The agency does not compile data on public colleges, which do not fall under its planning authority.) But while the policy of getting students out of the neighborhoods is sound and clear, the implementation is inconsistent from college to college and neighborhood to neighborhood. "It's an art, not a science," says BRA planner Linda Kowalcky, who specializes in town-gown relations.
Boston College is a case in point. As part of an ambitious 10-year, $1.6 billion master plan, BC is proposing to house 500 students on land formerly owned by the Archdiocese of Boston north of Commonwealth Avenue.
But while BC leads the city in its success at housing undergraduates, its expansion plans are tricky in a way that 1,000 dorm beds proposed for the University of Massachusetts at Boston are not. Located on a peninsula, UMass-Boston is largely isolated from residential areas. But the proposed BC dorms are meeting with stiff resistance from neighbors in the Lake Street area, who want to see the student housing built on the main campus - further from their own homes.
Last week, opponents of the BC plan appeared to pick up an ally in Mayor Menino, who also said he wants to see the new dorms "all on one location" south of Commonwealth Avenue. BC is eager to build new academic centers, an arts district, recreation center, and other keys to a great future. But it must also build political support.
No rules apply
In general, more dorms are the right answer for Boston. College officials are skilled at using resident advisers, alcohol policies, and campus police to control student behavior. But no hard and fast rules for dorm construction apply. Neighbors of Berklee College of Music in the Back Bay, for example, recently resisted a high-rise dormitory proposal at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street. But they seem more open to a subsequent plan for two smaller Berklee buildings on a nearby parcel. At BC, however, neighbors would prefer taller dorms, provided they remain set back on the traditional campus. The path of least resistance would seem to be the one that houses students, whenever possible, on the existing campus.
But some universities, like Suffolk, don't have traditional campuses. In 2006, Suffolk officials found themselves at war with the neighborhood when they purchased a building on the edge of Beacon Hill to build a high-rise dorm. The Menino administration initially blessed the project. But it walked away as neighborhood opposition escalated. Happy endings, however, are still possible. Suffolk is now housing students in less thickly settled sections of Downtown Crossing, bringing new energy to the area.
Mayor Menino, meanwhile, is using the colleges' desire to expand as his leverage to increase their civic commitments. He wants colleges to create major initiatives in public education, sports, and job training - initiatives far broader than the limited community programs that universities now offer. "I'm out of the pilot program business," Menino says.
Since Boston has long been a center of higher education, neighborhood residents need to have realistic expectations. But universities in turn need to recognize that their planning decisions don't just affect their students - and that, to neighbors, accommodation means more than a comfortable dorm room.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
Going green=tall buildings!
Boston Globe Sunday Magazine
Tall Order
Boston Globe
Tom Keane
January 6, 2008
PERSPECTIVE
If Boston is serious about going green, it needs to join other major cities and embrace the skyscraper.
Sixteen Boston buildings rise 500 feet or more above the city. These are our skyscrapers - a respectable number, but we haven't been keeping pace. All but three were built in the 1980s or earlier. The tallest, the John Hancock, no longer impresses; it now ranks just 46th in the country. Meanwhile, the destruction of the World Trade Center notwithstanding, other cities race ahead. San Francisco has 14 skyscrapers either approved or in planning. New York has 39, Chicago has 30, and Toronto (Toronto!) 19.
Boston is looking to build - maybe - two. That's right: two.
Carol Willis, executive director of the Skyscraper Museum in (where else?) New York, theorizes that skyscrapers are potentially about three things: sex, power, and money. I think this a profound observation until it occurs to me that pretty much everything is about sex, power, and money. Still, stay with her formulation and one can begin to understand why we lag. A lot of us New Englanders are embarrassed about sex, don't like to brag about power, and cringe at ostentatious displays of wealth. Add to that our never-ending love affair with five-story 19th-century town houses and brownstones and a near pathological fear about the "Manhattanization" of Boston (all a consequence, argues Northeastern architecture dean George Thrush, of the way we have made a fetish of our Colonial origins), and one can begin to understand why Boston is so averse to making its skyline bigger and taller. I know. It sounds as if I have some sort of edifice complex myself. Boston's beauty is its small scale, its human-sized buildings. Real cities don't have to have skyscrapers, do they?
Yes, they do. It's not that I don't like those cute town houses - I live in one. But density is what cities are all about, skyscrapers are the ultimate form of density, and - here's the kicker - they are flat-out the greenest way to build. If we care about Boston, if we care about the environment, we should build up and build tall. A skyline is nothing to be ashamed of. Indeed, it may save us all.
Smirking analogies aside, skyscrapers aren't really about sex or power, says the museum's Willis. What they are about is money. The first skyscrapers were built because they were an extraordinarily efficient way to add square footage to a parcel of land. When land is expensive, it is far cheaper to build upward. The taller you go (at least until you hit 80 stories), the less the cost per square foot.
Yet today, the most compelling argument for skyscrapers is ecological. Newer skyscrapers are being designed in ways that dramatically minimize their impact on the environment, allowing them to achieve the highest rank possible ("platinum") under the LEED Green Building rating system. Water and heat are recycled. Solar panels reduce the need for outside energy. The entire life cycle of the building is managed, from construction to obsolescence, with some of the original materials getting reused to build other structures. This is all possible because of the building's size, which makes it economically feasible to do things that in a smaller structure would be far too costly.
But even if a skyscraper isn't LEED certified, it is the way the building is used that makes it so profoundly green. When people are packed together, the services needed to support those people are easier and cheaper to provide. Less travel is required. Everything can be provided in bulk. That's why, as David Owen argued in a seminal New Yorker piece in 2004, Manhattan on a per-capita basis may well be the most energy-efficient place in the country. The reason largely boils down to the fact that it is also the densest.
Building tall is building smart. Yet here in Boston, we're unmoved. Catcalls greeted Mayor Tom Menino's push to build a 1,000-foot tower at 115 Winthrop Square. Scorned for its hubris, it was mockingly dubbed "Tommy's Tower," making for an amusing but wrongheaded cheap shot. The very thing that makes cities vital - the proximity of everyone and everything - is what skyscrapers do best. In a world where environmental issues loom ever larger, "the heart of the question is how we build sustainably," says Diane Georgopulos, president-elect of the Boston Society of Architects. Skyscrapers are the answer.
Plus, they do look cool.
Tom Keane, a Boston-based freelance writer, contributes regularly to the Globe Magazine. E-mail him at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.
©
Tall Order
Boston Globe
Tom Keane
January 6, 2008
PERSPECTIVE
If Boston is serious about going green, it needs to join other major cities and embrace the skyscraper.
Sixteen Boston buildings rise 500 feet or more above the city. These are our skyscrapers - a respectable number, but we haven't been keeping pace. All but three were built in the 1980s or earlier. The tallest, the John Hancock, no longer impresses; it now ranks just 46th in the country. Meanwhile, the destruction of the World Trade Center notwithstanding, other cities race ahead. San Francisco has 14 skyscrapers either approved or in planning. New York has 39, Chicago has 30, and Toronto (Toronto!) 19.
Boston is looking to build - maybe - two. That's right: two.
Carol Willis, executive director of the Skyscraper Museum in (where else?) New York, theorizes that skyscrapers are potentially about three things: sex, power, and money. I think this a profound observation until it occurs to me that pretty much everything is about sex, power, and money. Still, stay with her formulation and one can begin to understand why we lag. A lot of us New Englanders are embarrassed about sex, don't like to brag about power, and cringe at ostentatious displays of wealth. Add to that our never-ending love affair with five-story 19th-century town houses and brownstones and a near pathological fear about the "Manhattanization" of Boston (all a consequence, argues Northeastern architecture dean George Thrush, of the way we have made a fetish of our Colonial origins), and one can begin to understand why Boston is so averse to making its skyline bigger and taller. I know. It sounds as if I have some sort of edifice complex myself. Boston's beauty is its small scale, its human-sized buildings. Real cities don't have to have skyscrapers, do they?
Yes, they do. It's not that I don't like those cute town houses - I live in one. But density is what cities are all about, skyscrapers are the ultimate form of density, and - here's the kicker - they are flat-out the greenest way to build. If we care about Boston, if we care about the environment, we should build up and build tall. A skyline is nothing to be ashamed of. Indeed, it may save us all.
Smirking analogies aside, skyscrapers aren't really about sex or power, says the museum's Willis. What they are about is money. The first skyscrapers were built because they were an extraordinarily efficient way to add square footage to a parcel of land. When land is expensive, it is far cheaper to build upward. The taller you go (at least until you hit 80 stories), the less the cost per square foot.
Yet today, the most compelling argument for skyscrapers is ecological. Newer skyscrapers are being designed in ways that dramatically minimize their impact on the environment, allowing them to achieve the highest rank possible ("platinum") under the LEED Green Building rating system. Water and heat are recycled. Solar panels reduce the need for outside energy. The entire life cycle of the building is managed, from construction to obsolescence, with some of the original materials getting reused to build other structures. This is all possible because of the building's size, which makes it economically feasible to do things that in a smaller structure would be far too costly.
But even if a skyscraper isn't LEED certified, it is the way the building is used that makes it so profoundly green. When people are packed together, the services needed to support those people are easier and cheaper to provide. Less travel is required. Everything can be provided in bulk. That's why, as David Owen argued in a seminal New Yorker piece in 2004, Manhattan on a per-capita basis may well be the most energy-efficient place in the country. The reason largely boils down to the fact that it is also the densest.
Building tall is building smart. Yet here in Boston, we're unmoved. Catcalls greeted Mayor Tom Menino's push to build a 1,000-foot tower at 115 Winthrop Square. Scorned for its hubris, it was mockingly dubbed "Tommy's Tower," making for an amusing but wrongheaded cheap shot. The very thing that makes cities vital - the proximity of everyone and everything - is what skyscrapers do best. In a world where environmental issues loom ever larger, "the heart of the question is how we build sustainably," says Diane Georgopulos, president-elect of the Boston Society of Architects. Skyscrapers are the answer.
Plus, they do look cool.
Tom Keane, a Boston-based freelance writer, contributes regularly to the Globe Magazine. E-mail him at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.
©
Friday, January 4, 2008
Complaints About 9-stories Too?
Banker & Tradesman
BRA Gets Chance to Consider Druker’s Plan for Shreve SiteBy Thomas GrilloReporter
As Back Bay residents battle construction of a pair of towers at the Prudential Center, a developer has filed plans to replace a former jewelry store overlooking the Boston Public Garden with a 9-story building.
Ronald Druker, president of The Druker Co., hopes to build a 221,230-square-foot building at Boylston and Arlington streets. If approved, it would include eight floors of Class A offices, 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a 6,000-square-foot health spa and below-grade parking. Banker & Tradesman was the first to report the proposal last fall.
According to a filing with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city planning agency that must approve the mixed-use development, Druker would raze the former Shreve Crump & Low building at 330 Boylston St. and three other structures – his company owns all four – to make way for the new block.
“The project will improve retail vitality and provide first-class office space in a highly visible and accessible location,” states the document filed with the BRA. “The area will be enhanced by the urban design and architectural character provided by a new signature building designed by world-class architects who are sensitive to its architectural neighbors, including the Arlington Street Church and the Public Garden.”
In addition, the project summary said the building’s proposed design will “capitalize” on the unique site. “A corner location provides a unique opportunity … With diagonal views and frontage on the Public Garden is a singular opportunity that the design addresses by placing a unique, rounded glazed bay, which emphasizes and reinforces the importance of this prime location,” the document states.
The ground level will feature a granite facade with wooden storefronts and a lobby entry. Sidewalk improvements along Boylston Street will be consistent with the city’s standards for the neighborhood, the document said. The new development is expected to generate $1.8 million in annual property taxes and $1.1 million in linkage funds to the city.
The BRA has established an Impact Advisory Group to review the proposal. The 13-member panel appointed by officials will consider mitigation impacts caused by the development. A public meeting on the plan is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 17, at 6 p.m. at the Boston Public Library.
Mark Slater, an IAG member, said he was not impressed by the rendering of the proposed building. “It looks like a rectangular brick building and I have no idea whether the project has
merit or not,” he said. Slater, a former president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, said he also is concerned about the construction of another large building on Boylston Street.
“We are worried that the BRA is effectively allowing the larger boulevards in Boston to be turned into concrete canyons,” he said. “I worry that’s what the Druker building will do to lower Boylston Street. I am not opposed to new construction and I realize that some will have to be tall. But the scale and intimacy in Boston are being thrown out the window for the sake of real estate taxes.”
Jessica Shumaker, a BRA spokeswoman, declined to answer Slater’s charges. Instead she said, “We look forward to meeting with the community and hearing their thoughts and concerns on the project.”
‘A Real Plus’
John Shope, another IAG member, noted that the former jewelry store is vacant and he favors active retail on the ground floor at the site.
“This will be a prominent building in a prominent location,” he said. “I like the idea of having an attractive building with lots of people coming and going, and lots of retail. It could be a real plus for the city.”
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he likes what he’s seen so far, but like any project it will require community review.
“It has a ways to go before the BRA approves it, but it certainly looks like something that will meet the muster of the neighborhoods,” Menino said.
Druker’s Boston-based real estate company is best known for its large, urban mixed-use developments. One of its most recent projects is Atelier505, a mixed-use development adjacent to the Boston Center for the Arts, at Tremont and Berkeley streets. It opened two years ago with 103 units of luxury condominiums, shops and restaurants.
In addition, the company has completed the Heritage on the Garden, an upscale complex on Boylston Street that features residential, retail and office suites across from the Public Garden. In 1971, the firm built the Colonnade Hotel on Huntington Avenue.
Druker’s proposal comes as several projects are in the works for the Back Bay and the Prudential Center. The Clarendon, a luxury condominium and apartment tower, is under construction near the John Hancock Tower. In addition, the 13-story Mandarin Oriental Boston hotel is scheduled to open this summer next to Lord & Taylor on Boylston Street. The $230 million project will add 168 guestrooms and the property will be part of a mixed-use complex with first-floor retail and condominiums on the upper floors.
Another proposal that has not yet been filed with the BRA is a new tower at Copley Place. The Simon Property Group is considering a mix of condominiums and retail uses in front of the Neiman Marcus store at the corner of Stuart and Dartmouth streets. At the other end of the Back Bay, Berklee College of Music is considering plans for a dormitory.
Earlier this year, Boston Properties and Avalon Bay Communities filed plans for a $192 million proposal that calls for a 35-story residential high-rise on Exeter Street across from the Boston Public Library and construction of a 19-story office building at 888 Boylston St., adjacent to the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention. The plan has faced fierce opposition from neighbors who say the buildings are out of scale in the historic neighborhood.
BRA Gets Chance to Consider Druker’s Plan for Shreve SiteBy Thomas GrilloReporter
As Back Bay residents battle construction of a pair of towers at the Prudential Center, a developer has filed plans to replace a former jewelry store overlooking the Boston Public Garden with a 9-story building.
Ronald Druker, president of The Druker Co., hopes to build a 221,230-square-foot building at Boylston and Arlington streets. If approved, it would include eight floors of Class A offices, 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a 6,000-square-foot health spa and below-grade parking. Banker & Tradesman was the first to report the proposal last fall.
According to a filing with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city planning agency that must approve the mixed-use development, Druker would raze the former Shreve Crump & Low building at 330 Boylston St. and three other structures – his company owns all four – to make way for the new block.
“The project will improve retail vitality and provide first-class office space in a highly visible and accessible location,” states the document filed with the BRA. “The area will be enhanced by the urban design and architectural character provided by a new signature building designed by world-class architects who are sensitive to its architectural neighbors, including the Arlington Street Church and the Public Garden.”
In addition, the project summary said the building’s proposed design will “capitalize” on the unique site. “A corner location provides a unique opportunity … With diagonal views and frontage on the Public Garden is a singular opportunity that the design addresses by placing a unique, rounded glazed bay, which emphasizes and reinforces the importance of this prime location,” the document states.
The ground level will feature a granite facade with wooden storefronts and a lobby entry. Sidewalk improvements along Boylston Street will be consistent with the city’s standards for the neighborhood, the document said. The new development is expected to generate $1.8 million in annual property taxes and $1.1 million in linkage funds to the city.
The BRA has established an Impact Advisory Group to review the proposal. The 13-member panel appointed by officials will consider mitigation impacts caused by the development. A public meeting on the plan is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 17, at 6 p.m. at the Boston Public Library.
Mark Slater, an IAG member, said he was not impressed by the rendering of the proposed building. “It looks like a rectangular brick building and I have no idea whether the project has
merit or not,” he said. Slater, a former president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, said he also is concerned about the construction of another large building on Boylston Street.
“We are worried that the BRA is effectively allowing the larger boulevards in Boston to be turned into concrete canyons,” he said. “I worry that’s what the Druker building will do to lower Boylston Street. I am not opposed to new construction and I realize that some will have to be tall. But the scale and intimacy in Boston are being thrown out the window for the sake of real estate taxes.”
Jessica Shumaker, a BRA spokeswoman, declined to answer Slater’s charges. Instead she said, “We look forward to meeting with the community and hearing their thoughts and concerns on the project.”
‘A Real Plus’
John Shope, another IAG member, noted that the former jewelry store is vacant and he favors active retail on the ground floor at the site.
“This will be a prominent building in a prominent location,” he said. “I like the idea of having an attractive building with lots of people coming and going, and lots of retail. It could be a real plus for the city.”
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he likes what he’s seen so far, but like any project it will require community review.
“It has a ways to go before the BRA approves it, but it certainly looks like something that will meet the muster of the neighborhoods,” Menino said.
Druker’s Boston-based real estate company is best known for its large, urban mixed-use developments. One of its most recent projects is Atelier505, a mixed-use development adjacent to the Boston Center for the Arts, at Tremont and Berkeley streets. It opened two years ago with 103 units of luxury condominiums, shops and restaurants.
In addition, the company has completed the Heritage on the Garden, an upscale complex on Boylston Street that features residential, retail and office suites across from the Public Garden. In 1971, the firm built the Colonnade Hotel on Huntington Avenue.
Druker’s proposal comes as several projects are in the works for the Back Bay and the Prudential Center. The Clarendon, a luxury condominium and apartment tower, is under construction near the John Hancock Tower. In addition, the 13-story Mandarin Oriental Boston hotel is scheduled to open this summer next to Lord & Taylor on Boylston Street. The $230 million project will add 168 guestrooms and the property will be part of a mixed-use complex with first-floor retail and condominiums on the upper floors.
Another proposal that has not yet been filed with the BRA is a new tower at Copley Place. The Simon Property Group is considering a mix of condominiums and retail uses in front of the Neiman Marcus store at the corner of Stuart and Dartmouth streets. At the other end of the Back Bay, Berklee College of Music is considering plans for a dormitory.
Earlier this year, Boston Properties and Avalon Bay Communities filed plans for a $192 million proposal that calls for a 35-story residential high-rise on Exeter Street across from the Boston Public Library and construction of a 19-story office building at 888 Boylston St., adjacent to the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention. The plan has faced fierce opposition from neighbors who say the buildings are out of scale in the historic neighborhood.
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