1.1 Introduction
Five Hundred Boylston West Venture, an affiliate of Equity Office Properties (the Proponent), proposes to develop the courtyard space of the existing building located at 500 Boylston Street (the Project site) in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The courtyard space of the site will be developed into a six-story, approximately 79,300 square foot (sf) building with up to three floors of retail and office space above, and up to 50,000 sf of office space in the existing building at 500 Boylston Street is anticipated to be converted to retail space (the Project). In connection with the Project, the entrance at 222 Berkeley Street, which is owned by another Proponent affiliate (Two Twenty Two Berkeley Venture), will also be improved with two new vestibules totaling approximately 700 sf of gross floor area. One vestibule will provide access to approximately 8,350 sf of second floor office
space that will be converted to a restaurant, and the other will expand the existing first and second floor Bank of America space.
The Project will improve the pedestrian experience along Boylston Street by filling in an underused courtyard with ground floor retail space that will activate the sidewalks and street edge on Boylston Street, and will improve the retail experience by creating an improved pedestrian connection between Berkeley and Clarendon Streets, through 500 Boylston Street and 222 Berkeley Street. The Project will re-orient the 500 Boylston Street main lobby entrance currently on Boylston Street to Clarendon Street. This new Clarendon Street entrance will create a welcoming lobby with generous seating. In addition, there will be a new retail entrance on Boylston Street as part of the new activated streetwall.
The Project will also provide construction and permanent jobs, and improved tax revenues for the City as well as numerous benefits to the public realm.
The proposed Project exceeds 50,000 square feet of gross floor area, and the Project is therefore subject to the requirements of Large Project Review pursuant to Article 80 of the Boston Zoning Code (the Code). This Expanded Project Notification Form (PNF) is being submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to initiate review of the Project under Article 80B, Large Project Review, of the Boston Zoning Code.
