Compromise on Height at the Dainty Dot

The Boston Globe
May 7, 20008
By Thomas Palmer

A compromise reached between City Hall and developers of a planned 299-foot-tall residential tower in Chinatown will reduce the height by 34 feet, but means elimination of the revered Dainty Dot building on the site.

more stories like thisThe planned glass tower near Essex Street and Surface Artery, proposed by developer Ori Ron, has split the Chinatown and neighboring Leather District communities.

Some residents object to having a building that tall in a neighborhood outside the Financial District and in close proximity to a new park on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Others wanted all or part of the remaining portions of the 119-year-old Dainty Dot structure preserved.

And some, including influential Chinatown organizations, vigorously supported Ron's proposed building because it would bring life to the community and provide much-needed housing - including funding for 48 units of affordable residences to be built elsewhere in Chinatown.

The compromise, described last night to the Boston Design Review Commission, includes reducing the building's height to 265 feet, or about 4 1/2 floors, paring the number of residential condominiums from 180 to 147, and adding a new park on Oxford Street. But it also includes demolishing the Dainty Dot, once headquarters of a hosiery company and formerly known as the Auchmuty Building.

A portion of the ornate building was lopped off in the 1950s, when the elevated Central Artery was constructed, but Ron had originally planned to save all or most of the remaining structure.

David Seeley, a leading critic of the new building's proposed height and defender of the old Dainty Dot building, acknowledged that the height reduction is "a significant drop."

But, he said of the loss of the old building, "I think it's tragic. It's a beautiful building and by all rights would be a landmark if it hadn't already been previously damaged."

A spokesman for Ron said Mayor Thomas M. Menino helped to broker the compromise.

"We're happy," said Boston Redevelopment Authority director John Palmieri. "There may be a few critics, but overall we've improved the design program considerably and satisfied some of the more significant neighborhood issues."

Palmieri said parking floors will not be as prominent in the tower, and the number of spaces was reduced from 156 to 95.

Ron maintained he could not afford to pay the cost of saving the facade and also reduce the number of units in the building. "Our design team agrees," said Palmieri. "It was a 'facade-ectomy' anyway, an awkward looking development program."

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.