AvalonBay Tower (Jacob Wirth's) | 45 Stuart Street | Downtown

Re: Jacob Wirth's

The parking lot on Arlington next to the armory has to be in someone's crosshairs.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

Beton Brut said:
A good model for the Jacob Wirth's site?

(Tiny "ancient" building @ left)

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Given the current state of architectural statements in most developments in the city, we'll probably get a squat box and only the yellow grafitti truck in the picture.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

Doesn't the Ritz Carlton Towers and Hotel on Avery do sort of the same thing where it is on Avery...sorta wrap itself around some of the existing buildings?
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

Paul C, that's a different building. And it's not in Chinatown/Leather District, no matter what the BRA website says. (And sadly, the BRA seems to be paying as little attention to the detailing on this building as it is to classifying it's location)
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

tobyjug said:
The parking lot on Arlington next to the armory has to be in someone's crosshairs.
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That parking lot was there when i went to school at UMass Boston in the late 60's....i fear it may outlive me.....
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

oops, you are right. You would think a building that plans to start construction in 12 months and completion in 2011 would be on the BRA's web site.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

BTW, where is Scott Van Voorhis' article, "It's Wirth It"? Or, "What It's Wirth" ... or, whatever.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

JimboJones said:
BTW, where is Scott Van Voorhis' article, "It's Wirth It"? Or, "What It's Wirth" ... or, whatever.
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It will probably read "Soaring Sunscraper Not Wirth It" or "Soaring Bohemoth: Not Wirth the Shadows".

Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

Bos_Mia said:
That parking lot was there when i went to school at UMass Boston in the late 60's....i fear it may outlive me.....
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Wow. Has the lot been vacant that long? First time I noticed it was one sweltering August morning, 3 am. I had wrecked an alloy rim on my first brand new car (83 Alfa GTV) on a pothole on Stuart, and limped into that lot for repairs. My otherwise agreeable companion was not impressed when, as I changed the tire, the air conditioner started puking water out of the vents all over her very attractive very white very low cut dress. Well, I thought the incongruity was funny: Daytona Beach in Bay Village.

Anyway, the lot was (is?) part of the Sawyer Parking Lot empire. Not much ever got built on Sawyer properties.

This proposal sounds like it will do less to mess with Jakes. Good. I didn't like it when they stuccoed the exterior. And put up neon signs in the window. Before that, they modernized the wait staff's attire somewhat. And stopped buying their dark beer locally (Narragansett porter) for something from PA.

Just leave it alone. Case study of how to wreck a good bar? Brandy Pete's was the real deal when it was down by Broad Street: tin ceilings, lead paint, cheap booze, some guys still lying where they fell at the repeal of Prohibition party. Then it moved to Franklin St. into the ground floor of a marble and granite "towerette". Updated. With ferns. And poseurs. You know, the "urban sophisticated" kind, who, six years earlier, posed in the mall food court next to Orange Julius in "Hot Topic" Goth gear.

I suppose BP is still there, but if so I can't see it. Let JW alone! It is great and real enough as it is!
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

tobyjug said:
I didn't like it when they stuccoed the exterior. And put up neon signs in the window. Before that, they modernized the wait staff's attire somewhat. And stopped buying their dark beer locally (Narragansett porter) for something from PA.

Just leave it alone... Let JW alone! It is great and real enough as it is!
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And they took pig's knuckles off the menu, together with the little dry sandwiches that used to be available at the bar (a slice of deli meat between two of rye bread, mustard optional). The process of blandification will end when "suum cuique" disappears from over the bar.

Can any place be truly German if it serves a Buffalo Bacon Chicken Wrap?
 
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Re: Jacob Wirth's

JimboJones said:
BTW, where is Scott Van Voorhis' article, "It's Wirth It"? Or, "What It's Wirth" ... or, whatever.
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Ask and you shall receive:

Boston Herald - July 29, 2008
Plan: Bar is Wirth keeping
No demo of historic building
By Jay Fitzgerald | Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets

Part of the historic Jacob Wirth building on Stuart Street won?t be torn down after all.

A second developer has stepped in with a new proposal to build a 24-story, 252,000-square-foot retail and office tower on what is now a parking lot next to the famed German restaurant and bar.

The head of Eastat Realty Capital LLC, which hopes to start construction on the $140 million project by next year, said community opposition to an earlier plan to demolish portions of the 140-year-old Jacob Wirth building convinced him to avoid changes at the adjoining 31-37 Stuart Street site.

?We didn?t want to deal with the resistance,? said Eastat?s Eamon O?Marah. ?We think we have a great project now.?

In 2006, Weston Associates proposed building a 108-room hotel, 181 residential units and 219 parking spaces at the two-parcel site. The plan would have knocked down the back side of Jacob Wirth and eventually replaced its kitchen.

Weston later backed out of the plan, citing market woes.

But many critics made it clear they didn?t want to see the Jacob Wirth building touched, O?Marah said.

Though Eastat will ?control the site? of Jacob Wirth under the current development agreement, Kevin Fitzgerald will continue to own and operate the restaurant, O?Marah said.

Plans for the new complex include 170 parking places and retail space and a cafe on the first two floors. Entrances would be on Stuart Street in the front and LaGrange Street, which is also home to strip club Centerfolds, in the back, O?Marah said.

Financing has not yet been secured.

There will also be a public ?winter garden? on the first two floors and six roof gardens for drainage, environmental and aesthetic purposes, O?Marah said.

The city needs to approve the proposal.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1109914
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With a rendering no less:
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Look! A squat box! Yaa! :rolleyes:
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

At least it fills the street wall.



Now what can be done at that two-story corner?
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

^It really doesn't look terrible. A "gem?" By no means, but it's not bad. and it does fill the street wall. I think developers know that the only way they'll get anything built in a timely manner in Boston is if it's not too daring (read: tall and/or unique); and this, while not terrible, is certainly not daring.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

With the W Hotel going in on one corner and the other new building going in on the other corner (the one that used to have the trailor), I'm perfectly fine with this not being Versailles.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

It's a terrible place for office - I wonder if there is a tenant the developer has up his sleeve - perhaps Suffolk, or Tufts Medical Center, or Emerson? Some kind of institutional use.

I can't imagine that being a very good office location, I think the hotel/residence plan would have been stronger here. Leads me to believe they have a plan - and therefore, they didn't even have to put much thought/money into the architecture.

It seems to me like this squat, gray, 'contextual' box has Kairos Shen's fingerprints all over it.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

Perhaps the developer has one of the aforementioned tenants in hand, but I wouldn't bet on it. As for the buildings that wrap around the corner: they are owned by about seven different owners who have an unshakable belief that their 1,200 square foot parcel is worth about $5 million bucks each...I wouldn't expect anything to happen there for quite a long time.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

Seems to me like there's a ton of office space around this area, the Transportation Building of course being the largest, but hardly the only one.
 
Re: Jacob Wirth's

I walked by these blocks at lunch - there's one of the area's last porno shops there - I wonder if that's what the Chinese Progressive Mob wants saved?

It's nice to see Chinatown pecked away at, parcel by parcel, blighted block by block, porno shop by porno shop.
 
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