BFIT Redevelopment | 41 Berkeley Street | South End

[curcuas]

.

So Related Beal made it shorter, wider footprint, less detailed facade/window treatments, less sidewalk retail presence and less inviting to humans. Jackasses.

On the plus side, they didn't invade Ukraine.

Thank the neighbors not the developers! Thank our feckless city government and our nimby-deferential counselors.

 

[Equilibria]

Public meeting tonight on this. Earlier this month they showed an updated (shorter) version. Adds sidewalk level separated bike lanes on one side though!
2022-04-12_Presentation_41 Berkeley Street.pdf | Powered by Box

It stayed brick, so it's fine, and they only shortened it a little.

I actually like the flat side better - looks classier and more in keeping with the historic building. They did it to save money, though.

Also, if you look at the PNF design the top floors were in that black steel framing, not brick, subtly hinting that they weren't critical. They were always meant to come off.

 

[stick n move]

This was on the december board meeting yesterday. Some changes have happened, still looks great.

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2022/04/41 Berkeley Street presentation.pdf

http://www.bostonplans.org/about-us/bpda-board/board-meetings

 

[Blackbird]

I thing “great” might be a little too generous. It definitely looks extremely okay.

 

[#bancars]

Looks like the City is eager to speed up the relocation:

City planning $4 million, plus tax breaks, to jumpstart planned Franklin Cummings Tech campus in Roxbury - The Boston Globe

The $75 million project depends on the sale of the existing South End campus, which has been held up by permitting delays and rising interest rates.

www.bostonglobe.com

The city’s aid package consists of at least three elements. First, the BPDA would give Related Beal a tax break for 41 Berkeley — where Related has plans to build roughly 250,000 square feet of housing — that would keep taxes low on the property for 30 years; in return, the BPDA gets a new small minority stake in the parcel. The BPDA would also give $4 million via a “recoverable” grant to Franklin Cummings Tech, to help fund its Nubian Square project. And the agency would waive $745,000 that it would otherwise be owed under a previous agreement because of the change in use proposed for the 41 Berkeley property.

The total value of this package is unclear because neither Related nor the BPDA provided a projection for 41 Berkeley’s post-development tax assessment. The provision essentially sets property taxes for 41 Berkeley at $500,000 annually for 10 years and then would increase by the rate of inflation for 19 years after that. It would still be more than the city gets today, because Franklin Cummings Tech is a nonprofit and pays no property taxes there.

 

[mssrro]

Walked by this morning...no development is ongoing yet, but the site being used to sell Christmas trees.

 

[johnmcboston]

Yeah, Charlie has been selling trees on one of those corners for 20+ years now. Great deals too! But yeah, word on the site has been very quiet - which either means finance issues or back room deals...