ACC/NU Residence Hall | 840 Columbus Ave | Northeastern University

The Douglass Park and 1065 Tremont buildings are relatively new and well maintained. The rest are dumps.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
And let me tell you as someone who has been in several of those "Leased Properties", they are the absolute roughest of Northeasterns housing stock, no students will be missing them. They are dark, dingy, and several of them are directly above restaurants which means smelling bad and rats. Thankfully never lived in them but go through them regularly, not a great pic but here's a hallway in 313 Huntington, it's not terrible but it's still crazy expensive and far below the standards students expect from University housing.

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Didn’t the ceiling recently collapse in one of the LPs on Huntington Avenue?
 
The fins motif along Melnea Cass remind me of a taller Millennium Place. I mostly dig the project *except* for how it interacts with Tremont Street (i.e. it doesn't).

For 10 years, Roxbury residents have said time and again how International Village's entire Tremont Street facade at ground level--a block-long window with no permeability to enter (even the old Pete's Coffee/Jamba Juice couldn't be entered from Tremont)--looked like a physical barrier to the community that said, "You're not welcome here." I mentioned that critique to Elkus-Manfredi when they were designing American Campus Communities' Lightview Residence Hall at Columbus & Burke Streets because--along Burke--it did the exact same thing. At the time (and to their credit), they noted the criticism and changed their design to reflect more permeability. But 2+ years later, any semblance of a ground level that improved the street experience was lost/forgotten.

The intersection of Tremont Street & Melnea Cass is a gateway for thousands to the University. As such, there's an opportunity to integrate community needs with the built space at this property. Developers and University officials should really take a walk among some other urban campuses to see how much more productive real estate assets can become when you integrate smaller ground-level restaurants and boutiques into residence halls. The Little Building at Emerson will become a great example; the 'Berklee Block' along Boylston between Mass Ave. & Hemenway/Ipswich is a great one, too. Even Northeastern's own White Hall and Marino Center do a great job with activating the street wall commercially. They can (and should) strive to do the same thing here.
 
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dshoost88 said:
The fins motif along Melnea Cass remind me of a taller Millennium Place. I mostly dig the project *except* for how it interacts with Tremont Street (i.e. it doesn't).

For 10 years, Roxbury residents have said time and again how International Village's entire Tremont Street facade at ground level--a block-long window with no permeability to enter (even the old Pete's Coffee/Jamba Juice couldn't be entered from Tremont)--looked like a physical barrier to the community that said, "You're not welcome here." I mentioned that critique to Elkus-Manfredi when they were designing American Campus Communities' Lightview Residence Hall at Columbus & Burke Streets because--along Burke--it did the exact same thing. At the time (and to their credit), they noted the criticism and changed their design to reflect more permeability. But 2+ years later, any semblance of a ground level that improved the street experience was lost/forgotten.

The intersection of Tremont Street & Melnea Cass is a gateway for thousands to the University. As such, there's an opportunity to integrate community needs with the built space at this property. Developers and University officials should really take a walk among some other urban campuses to see how much more productive real estate assets can become when you integrate smaller ground-level restaurants and boutiques into residence halls. The Little Building at Emerson will become a great example; the 'Berklee Block' along Boylston between Mass Ave. & Hemenway/Ipswich is a great one, too. Even Northeastern's own White Hall and Marino Center do a great job with activating the street wall commercially. They can (and should) strive to do the same thing here.
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The whole building literally fronts onto Tremont? The corner of Melnea/Tremont is the primary entrance? What more could you ask for? The side facing Columbus is literally dead streetwall? The corner of Melnea/Tremont is literally a small retail store surrounded by community space? Did you even look at the screenshots? I'm confused by your entire comment here... Note Tremont at the bottom of this screenshot

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As for Burke St/LightView, the ground floor retail is still yet to open so I'm holding judgment just yet. And international Village does have entrances to the community space from Tremont, it's not a pure wall.
 
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HelloBostonHi said:
The whole building literally fronts onto Tremont? The corner of Melnea/Tremont is the primary entrance? What more could you ask for? The side facing Columbus is literally dead streetwall? The corner of Melnea/Tremont is literally a small retail store surrounded by community space? Did you even look at the screenshots? I'm confused by your entire comment here... Note Tremont at the bottom of this screenshot

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As for Burke St/LightView, the ground floor retail is still yet to open so I'm holding judgment just yet. And international Village does have entrances to the community space from Tremont, it's not a pure wall.
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Look at the blue carrots on the below image. THOSE are your main entrances: one at Columbus Avenue, and one at Melnea Cass. It's clear from the design schematics and proposed uses for the ground level facing Tremont Street that the designer's imagination at present is merely a glass wall. The same is true of International Village: the Northeastern Crossing community space has 1 door along Tremont Street, and it's secondary to the entrance along Columbus Avenue. That's 1 door to a space used by appointment/event only, over a stretch of nearly 250 linear feet of block.

As proposed, this is not an active street wall. "Food & Beverage" space and "Community Space" should be oriented outwardly to the whole community, not inwardly at exclusively the university community. I'm not just being aspiration-based for equity's sake; it's just smarter business and more economically sustainable to build a space that is welcoming to more people.

stick n move said:
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Based on the presentation I believe your assumption about no real entrances on Tremont is wrong
 
dshoost88 said:
I hope you're right!
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Sorry I may have come on a bit strong earlier, I'm also hopeful they do this one right especially as that area of Tremont becomes more of a pedestrian filled area over the next 10 years or so, and I certainly think the layout they're showing at this point is an improvement over something like the previous Burke St/LightView where the only entrance was tucked away deep on Columbus Ave with just a blank wall facing the outside community.
 
dshoost88 said:
The fins motif along Melnea Cass remind me of a taller Millennium Place. I mostly dig the project *except* for how it interacts with Tremont Street (i.e. it doesn't).

For 10 years, Roxbury residents have said time and again how International Village's entire Tremont Street facade at ground level--a block-long window with no permeability to enter (even the old Pete's Coffee/Jamba Juice couldn't be entered from Tremont)--looked like a physical barrier to the community that said, "You're not welcome here." I mentioned that critique to Elkus-Manfredi when they were designing American Campus Communities' Lightview Residence Hall at Columbus & Burke Streets because--along Burke--it did the exact same thing. At the time (and to their credit), they noted the criticism and changed their design to reflect more permeability. But 2+ years later, any semblance of a ground level that improved the street experience was lost/forgotten.

The intersection of Tremont Street & Melnea Cass is a gateway for thousands to the University. As such, there's an opportunity to integrate community needs with the built space at this property. Developers and University officials should really take a walk among some other urban campuses to see how much more productive real estate assets can become when you integrate smaller ground-level restaurants and boutiques into residence halls. The Little Building at Emerson will become a great example; the 'Berklee Block' along Boylston between Mass Ave. & Hemenway/Ipswich is a great one, too. Even Northeastern's own White Hall and Marino Center do a great job with activating the street wall commercially. They can (and should) strive to do the same thing here.
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I agree in principle with you, but as most everyone else has said on here, it seems as these claims are fairly unfounded. Others have shown some plans to better illustrate their point, but I think the building's interaction with Tremont Street is best seen in this concept art photo.

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Quite literally, the most inviting and welcoming part of the building is on the corner of Tremont and Melnea Cass. Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I think this particular picture demonstrates that the university isn't trying to brick up their campus to the neighboring communities.

I will say its interesting that they're connecting this building directly to the Renaissance Park complex. Northeastern obviously owns the building, but I feel like its very underutilized in its current state giving how half the floors are leased out to external companies. Wonder if this new dorm will revitalize it in a sense.
 
Hopefully, COVID hasn't delayed this project too much. wonder if we will get any updates on other projects in the pipeline such as the punter's pub reuse and Ryder hall development, both were labeled being high priority way back in the Dec 2018 task force meeting.
 
If I remember correctly there was talk of replacing the Punter's triangle with a "temporary" building. Its use not stated. Longer term plans I suspect would involve the replacement of the two Northeastern owned brownstones (Rubenstein and Burstein) along with the Punter's site with a much larger building.
 

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I think the massing models are telling. Not sure its a huge improvement. It feels more like the other new buildings along this stretch which I guess is good.
 
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