[ARCHIVED] Harbor Garage Redevelopment | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

[kz1000ps]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

If it weren't for the dollar figure, I would've glazed over this news item. But $1 billion on a site no more than 60,000 square feet? This is going to be something big.

 

[justin]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

By the time this gets built, inflation will cut that figure to size.

 

[ChunkyMonkey]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

New life awaiting garage on Greenway
Developer will pay $155m for the site; offices, condos likely

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | November 20, 2007

Donald J. Chiofaro, who developed International Place, has agreed to buy the Harbor Garage, between the New England Aquarium and the new Greenway on Boston's waterfront, for about $155 million and will probably replace it with a large complex of offices, residences, and a hotel.

"We've been looking for a big deal, and this is the deal we've been looking for," an ebullient Chiofaro said yesterday. "We love this site. It's on the Greenway and on the water."

Sometimes referred to as the Aquarium garage, the seven-story block of concrete, with parking for 1,380 cars, went on the market in June. It was designed by the firm of I.M. Pei and built in the 1960s, and has been owned since 2002 by InterPark.

Chiofaro, who is not expected to close on the property for several weeks, said it's too early to say what shape his redevelopment of the project will take. But, he said, "To build a significant nice project there you're going to have to build something that has some scale."

Whatever he does replace the garage with would probably include office, residential, hotel, and retail space. The site is next to the two 40-story Harbor Towers condo buildings.

"It's a billion-dollar project on the water," said Rob Griffin, president of Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., which represented the seller. There were about a dozen bidders initially, Griffin said, but it came down to three at the end.

The dollar bids among finalists were similar, but Chiofaro prevailed because of "flexibility and creativity in dealing with issues surrounding the management and ownership of the parking garage," Griffin said.

Under the agreement, InterPark will manage the parking now and when a new garage is built.

Parking is an issue because Harbor Towers residents lease several hundred spaces in the garage. Also, mechanical equipment for Harbor Towers is located in the garage building.

In addition, the aquarium relies on the garage for many of its visitors, despite its stiff downtown-size hourly rates.

Chiofaro acknowledged that whatever he builds there, "It will have to have a lot of parking. We're going to replace in some fashion a lot of it."

Chiofaro called himself "a friend of the aquarium" and said he has spoken to executives there about getting through what could be two to three years of construction.

Until a few years ago, the hulking garage sat next to a rusting elevated Central Artery highway through downtown that carried more than 150,000 vehicles a day.

Now it overlooks the Wharf District blocks of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which replaced the highway. The garage also faces a small but elaborate new park funded by Fidelity Investments, along Milk Street adjacent to the aquarium.

"If Rowes Wharf commands the highest rents, this is comparable," Griffin said. "It's one of the best sites, if not the best site in the city."

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/11/20/new_life_awaiting_garage_on_greenway/

 

[stellarfun]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

$1B complex planned for Greenway site
By Scott Van Voorhis | Tuesday, November 20, 2007

International Place builder Don Chiofaro plans to construct a $1 billion office, hotel and residential complex along the new Greenway.

Chiofaro, who emerged victorious yesterday after a bidding war for the hulking Harbor Garage next door to the New England Aquarium, said he is now turning his attention to plans for developing the site.

Several firms competed for the seven-story, 1,380-car garage, valued at over $130 million.

The victory is a big one for Chiofaro, giving him the chance to put his mark on Boston?s cityscape with a second landmark project. It also comes after struggles in recent years, including an attempt by a New York real estate firm to wrest control of International Place from Chiofaro.

?We have been looking for a big deal and it is the big deal we wanted,? he said.

Chiofaro estimated the size of the complex at roughly 1 million square feet, with 700,000 square feet of office space, and roughly 100 condos and 200 hotel rooms. The project will be aimed at the luxury end of the market, including the office space.

While Chiofaro declined to discuss the height of his proposed complex, it is likely to be significant given the size of the plans he is discussing, said Vivien Li, head of the Boston Harbor Assocation.

?He is probably hoping for something like International Place, but he will never get something that high,? Li said. But, she added, ?there is nothing at this point that will be downtown that will be lower than 10 stories.?

To go higher than 10 stories, however, Chiofaro will have to put the project through the extensive, state Chapter 91 review process.

Chiofaro said he expects it could take more than three years to line up all the permits to build his next big project. And it?s a timetable that suits him fine.

While uncertainty now hangs over key parts of the real estate market and economy, it will be a new market by the time the project is approved and is ready to start construction.

?It?s the perfect time to go through an approval process,? Chiofaro said. ?I would much rather be going through the approval process today than to be coming out of the ground.?

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1045918

 

[KentXie]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Wow three years. By then the office and condo/hotel market could cool. It's ridiculous.

 

[stellarfun]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

I think Tommy's Tower will be built before this ever gets started. Chiofaro doesn't have deep pockets, although Prudential does. Whomever finally develops the site -- and I sort of wonder whether Chiofaro might do a Pritzker and sell a fully permitted site some years down the road.

There is the issue of the 400 parking spaces that are under long-term lease to Harbor Toweers. Building an underground garage -- lets say for 1200 spaces -- plus the building utilities means they are going to have to go depp into the harbor muck to build the underground part of this. That's not going to be cheap.

 

[statler]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Oddly enough this building could end up being less urban than the garage.

The garage currently has a pretty good selection of ground floor retail. Hopefully they will replace or add to that retail space in the new building.

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Other than the 7-Eleven, is there any ground floor retail? The bank closed, and the water-side is all offices and auxiliary exhibits for the Aquarium.

 

[Cojapo]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

?He is probably hoping for something like International Place, but he will never get something that high,? Li said. But, she added, ?there is nothing at this point that will be downtown that will be lower than 10 stories.?

Why not? It is downtown, plenty of public transportation options, and not in Logan's flight path? So, why not?
Has anyone seen the development going on in other cities in the northeast? Boston is lagging behind badly. If MA wants businesses to take up shop here, then they need to become more welcoming and allow quick, but thorough, review processes.
"Massachusetts, It's all here" might be their marketing slogan, just don't expect to take up shop in their backyard.

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Not in Logan's flight path? Are you sure? This site is damn close to the airport.

 

[Cojapo]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Not in Logan's flight path? Are you sure? This site is damn close to the airport.

My thought was if they approved the Nashua St residences, which if I remember correctly, would be around 400 feet and One International, which is aprox 550 ft, then something between that certainly wouldn't be, right?

 

[statler]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

?He is probably hoping for something like International Place, but he will never get something that high,? Li said. But, she added, ?there is nothing at this point that will be downtown that will be lower than 10 stories.?

Hell, I'm just surprised that she isn't calling for the garage to be torn down and the lot converted into a park.

 

[stellarfun]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

If the parcel is 55,000 sq ft, and the building footprint is 50,000 sq ft, and the leasable sq ft per floor is 40,000 sq ft, then you have a building of 25 stories, no more than 30 stories with whatever hat is put on it.

 

[Cojapo]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

If the parcel is 55,000 sq ft, and the building footprint is 50,000 sq ft, and the leasable sq ft per floor is 40,000 sq ft, then you have a building of 25 stories, no more than 30 stories with whatever hat is put on it.

Why so short?

 

[castevens]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

because 40,000 x 25 stories = 1,000,000 square feet

 

[Beton Brut]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Not in Logan's flight path? Are you sure? This site is damn close to the airport.

Absolutely certain:

We know it can't be an extremely tall building (The FAA forbids that, right?)

This site is distant enough from the path of Runway 9/27 that you could likely build a building of the scale of Belkin's proposal for Winthrop Square without too much problem. Outbound flights on 9/27 bank South and would never overfly this location (or anything else north of State Street).

The same case should be made for developing Delaware-North's site at the Garden, and the westernmost portion of the Government Center Garage - slim, 70-80 stories, > 900'. The vig would be an annual contribution to the upkeep of the Greenway.

The neighbors will have different ideas, I'm sure.

Don't believe me? Look at this satellite image.

Runway 9/27 is on an east-west axis, and departing flights often take off west, over the South Boston Waterfront, Bay Village, the South End, and Jamaica Plain; they often bank south immediately after taking off. 15/33 offers over-water approaches/departures toward Hull, or landside over East Boston (Day Sq.), Chelsea, Everett, and Somerville (they're at 3000 feet over Davis Sq., Ron). 4L/22R & 4R/22L overfly Revere (Beachmont) and Orient Heights, or Castle Island. 14/32 is short, mono-directional, and over-water only.

None of Logan's five active runways faces this site, or any of the others in the above-quoted post. From an FAA standpoint, Chiofaro can build as high as he wants here. Conversely, Belkin may yet have issues with the FAA on Winthrop Square, and the Hines project at South Station has had a well-documented history of issues.

 

[TC]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

because 40,000 x 25 stories = 1,000,000 square feet

I sure hope the floorplate isn't 40,000sf. That would make for one fat looking tower.

 

[stellarfun]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Absolutely certain:





Don't believe me? Look at this satellite image.

Runway 9/27 is on an east-west axis, and departing flights often take off west, over the South Boston Waterfront, Bay Village, the South End, and Jamaica Plain; they often bank south immediately after taking off. 15/33 offers over-water approaches/departures toward Hull, or landside over East Boston (Day Sq.), Chelsea, Everett, and Somerville (they're at 3000 feet over Davis Sq., Ron). 4L/22R & 4R/22L overfly Revere (Beachmont) and Orient Heights, or Castle Island. 14/32 is short, mono-directional, and over-water only.

None of Logan's five active runways faces this site, or any of the others in the above-quoted post. From an FAA standpoint, Chiofaro can build as high as he wants here. Conversely, Belkin may yet have issues with the FAA on Winthrop Square, and the Hines project at South Station has had a well-documented history of issues.

The FAA has very recently raised an issue with regard to massing high rises near airports where the mass may interfere with radar line of sight. The FAA allowed a 385 foot tower in Rosslyn (Arlington) Virginia but said that was it. (The FAA chopped three feet off the tower height.) Anything more built there would have to be of lesser height to avoid creating a radar blind spot. The aquarium site is closer to the Logan tower than Rosslyn is to the tower at Reagan National airport. Have no idea whether the FAA would raise this with with respect to Boston. I think Boston, San Diego, and Reagan National are the only U.S. airports with high-rises that close to the airport.

 

[bdurden]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Orlando Executive Airport is about 3 miles from downtown Orlando; the FAA cuts all their proposals to less that 440 feet. Now that downtown Orlando is booming with highrise development, its created a stubby, linear effect.

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: New tower at Aquarium parking lot.

Does "executive airport" mean it's not a real airport, it's just for private planes?