315 on A | 315 A Street | Fort Point

Re: 319 A Street Rear

Is the rear building a good place for retail? The current building that's being replaced was always hidden back there and is not very visible from the street. Also, there's no easy pedestrian access to the three sides that aren't facing A street -- those sides face an alley/neighboring building, an enclosed parking lot on the other side, and a fenced service road in the back.

I'm assuming that they'll keep the retail spaces in the front building.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

If you look at plans for the full build-out, it looks like West Surface Road will become a full neighborhood street, and it seems like this building would face it (unless a new building is slated for between this new construction and the road, although I doubt there is room for that). I wonder if the floorplans for this new construction take the full buildout plans into account.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

^joebos

In the 100 Acre Plan, the alley is widened and the building abuts a "Melcher Street Extension," facing substantial development on the USPS parcel. As Shepard points out, the rear of the building will also a abut a neighborhood street, not an alley.

Multiple levels of parking in this building will directly face new buildings with office/condo occupants on three sides.

Ground level has no doors on Melcher Street extension or West Service Road. Stairwells in floorplan are internal to building. Pastene Alley has car ramp entrance/exit. A Street facing floor has building entrance (lobby).

From http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/DevelopmentProjects/PipeDocs/319%20A%20Street%20Rear/DPIR/319%20A%20Street%20Rear_DPIR.pdf

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First Floor

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Parking Levels

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Re: 319 A Street Rear

ahh, I wasn't sure if Melcher was to be extended or if that was part of the parking lot. That's probably going to be a dead end street (I doubt that Melcher will continue through to the service road) and that blank/unused facade on the new building will make that a dead zone.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

^joebos

It isn't going to be a dead end street, according to the 100-Acre Plan (see location A).

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The BRA has a long and sordid history of walling off entire city blocks with dead zones of doorless new construction. They've already succeeded in doing so at location B (300 A Street), where they approved an infill which moved the builiding's main entrance off of A Street on to a side street. The former main door on A Street says "Fire Access Only."

The most egregious example of BRA "no doors on the street" urban design is at the former Stone and Webster, now Fidelity, recently redesigned on Summer Street near the USPS facility and South Station. Here's another recent BRA approval without a single available door for an entire city block. The large entrance on Summer Street says "Use Side Entrance." The fast food restaurants in the lobby are available if you feel like going through security - the tables are nearly always empty.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

Ideally of course we'd have entrances everywhere and certainly not cordon off lobby retail behind security. But at least the BRA is avoiding "alleyfying" side streets by relegating them to service entrances.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

I thought the base was more reminiscent of this:

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Re: 319 A Street Rear

I used to be against this project because it seems absurd to demo an existing warehouse when there is a sea of surface lost surround it, but a friend of mine who has a studio in the 319 front building said that the rear property is beyond repair and been almost entirely vacant for a while.

Is this project going forward? The renderings attached to the pdf are dated 2010. Sicilian, do you have an update on what's happening?

The design is nothing inspiring, but this can afford to be a background building given the existing warehouses that surround it. The one corner to get right is the one that is visible from the Summer St bridge headed towards the city.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

<OPINION>

The condition of the rear building is no worse than others currently being rehabilitated in the district, and certainly in better condition than the front building at 319 A Street. That said, the front building is more clearly representative of the top notch architecture of Morton Safford (BWCo.). And it's all moot since the demolition permits and landmark commission review is ancient history.

As far as I can tell, the property owner is roundly despised in the neighborhood by residents, business owners and other developers. By comparison, they arrived roughly at the same time and purchased a portfolio roughly as large as Berkeley Investments. While Berkeley has moved forward with a veritable empire on Congress St., I don't believe this property owner has developed a single square foot in any building, nor have they invested significantly in rehabbing the wharf buildings they already own. They have spent the past 5 years rolling tenants in wharf buildings without significantly investing in the interiors or exteriors, and they've sold off a number of buildings and parcels at a handsome profit after securing variances from the BRA.

If history is a guide, I expect this property owner to sell the appproved project at 319 A Street Rear instead of investing a single dime in its development. And frankly, it would make me happy to see them leave.

As for the recent Notice of Project Change, I attended a meeting on it and the change was not significant. The architect is Add Inc. and I feel sorry for them having this client.

</OPINION>
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

From the Boston Globe:

The West Coast development firm Gerding Edlen is bringing its urban development vision to Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood, where it plans to begin construction next spring on a 20-story tower at 319 A St. that will be the former industrial enclave’s largest residential building. The firm purchased the property and an adjacent building on Melcher Street recently from Archon/Goldman, which had spent years getting permits for a large apartment project on those properties.
Click to expand...

<opinion>Project aside, this is outstanding news in terms of a new development team tackling this project. The former owner can't leave town soon enough IMHO. I think they still retain ownership of a few remaining Fort Point properties.</opinion>
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

City approves 20-story housing project on A Street in South Boston

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has approved a 20-story rental development at the 319 A St. Rear in South Boston.

The $100 million project will raze the current five-story warehouse and replace it with a 20-story 257,000 square-foot residential structure.

Developers, Archon Group and Gerding Edlen Development, had originally proposed a 21-story structure with 184 units and four stories devoted to parking.
Earlier this month Kelly Saito, president of Gerding Edlen, told Boston.com that the floor was removed to allow the group to add higher ceilings to make the apartments more attractive to customers, but the height of the building would remain the same.

The structure will now hold 202 residential units, including 22 affordable units, and 96 parking spaces.

Units will range from studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms.

Archon Group and Gerding Edlen Development will create 27 so-called innovation units at 63 Melcher St. The units will include flexible layouts and share a common area.

The idevelopers will also add five affordable artist live/work spaces and six market-rate residences on the top floor.

The two projects are estimated by the BRA to create 150 – 200 construction jobs and 20 permanent jobs
Click to expand...

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/south_boston/2011/11/319_a_st_project_in_south_bost.html
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

I like it. I hope this project moves quickly.. it will be great to add some density to the area, and hopefully will jump start more development along A.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

Looks handsome. Hope the materials and finishes are worthy of the design. Would love to see something of this quality and scale at Pier One in East Boston.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

It's handsome if you like renderings over reality.

Maybe you didn't read the thread.

The building is dead on four sides. No interior retail on the gound floor, just 100% private uses and ramp. The developer stated during approvals they have no intention of opening the amenity room as retail. A small exterior door providing access (and possible retail potential) to the amenity room was added only after they took heat for walling off the entire side.

The building is dead for 3-4 floors above the ground floor -- indoor above grade parking.

They are doing the same thing at 63 Melcher (corner of A and Melcher). The groundfloor, perhaps one of the best potential retail spaces in Fort Point, will be walled off for use as private live/work studios.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

It can be handsome and not ideal at the same time.

There absolutely should be retail at the bottom levels, but given the time it takes to build and the state of retail development in Boston, I don't think anyone should be surprised. I personally would love A street to become a bustling residential/retail connection between southie proper and the waterfront (as with D street), and I think in time it still very well could be.

My opinion on this now though is that there are a lot of undeveloped and underdeveloped buildings on both Summer and Congress for retail, and my hope here is that with a couple more "handsome" residential buildings such as this one, retail on those streets will flourish and eventually spill onto the connector streets.

Above ground parking is silly, but if that's what it takes to build this thing why complain?
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

Expecting the developer to put ground floor retail here is putting the cart before the horse. Until the 100 Acres plan is realized and West Service Road becomes an actual city street, this building (note "A Street Rear" is a dead end for both car and pedestrian traffic. What retail could survive there? I believe that building up the A Street corridor is a first priority - street connectvity, and as a byproduct, streetlife, will follow.

Some things the BRA does, e.g. Melcher street, I agree are unforgivable.
 
Re: 319 A Street Rear

ParkerChris said:
Above ground parking is silly, but if that's what it takes to build this thing why complain?
Click to expand...

Why complain? Because I'm aware of the years that went into 100 Acre Plan of which this property owner was a signator, the density awarded to this property owner through rezoning, and the assurances that upzoning was necessary in order to produce world-class projects.

As for your point about retail, I'd direct you to the properties being developed by Berkeley Investments on Congress Street. Their latest project proposes a restaurant with outdoor seating on Boston Wharf Road -- a dead zone. They have invested heavily in their projects instead of wringing every dime out of approvals and flipping every project.
 
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