Boylston West @ Fenway Triangle (Van Ness) | 1325 Boylston Street | Fenway

Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

Let people build as much and as high as they want of whatever type of housing stock as they want, using whatever labor they want, without making them provide "benefits" (and do a cost-benefit analysis on some of the building code stuff).
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Dood, mostly good points. One problem though is that if you just "let people build as much and as high" you end up with a bunch of "Tremonts on the Common." Cheap looking buildings designed purely for efficient, double-stacked floor plates with very little regard for their environment. There has to be some review process. Some design restrictions.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

If one ever has laid eyes upon a 'Fedders' building in Brooklyn or a Roberto Scarano code twisting lawsuit in progress, the need for design review would immediately be apparent.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

"then developers would not be able to fill their luxury units or get the prices they wanted."

Is this the case in Boston? My understanding is that 45P, The W, (and what other buildings?) are not selling.

[edit] I just realized the discussion was about luxury rentals and not units for sale. What I've been reading on local blogs is that sales for new luxury units are down. The Clarendon may be the exception.
 
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Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

I hope the city will do something to calm traffic on that stretch of Boylston. Will the increased pedestrian activity have that effect?
 
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Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

Boylston's rebuild has been in the works for a very long time.

http://www.cityofboston.gov/transportation/FLK/

In spring 2009, the Boston Transportation Department released the Fenway-Longwood-Kenmore Transportation and Pedestrian Action Plan that identified three priority projects to improve safety and provide an enhanced environment for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and transit riders in the Fenway area:
  • Audubon Circle
  • Boylston Street
  • Fenway-Yawkey Multi-use Path
In summer 2009, BTD hired HDR, Nitsch Engineering, and Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge to develop final designs for these projects. We have been holding public meetings, collecting data, doing surveys and exploring design alternatives since then.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

WTF is it with these reverse vampires in Boston? They fear shadows like they cause Small Pow or something.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

vanshnookenraggen said:
WTF is it with these reverse vampires in Boston? They fear shadows like they cause Small Pow or something.
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Someone needs to sponsor a field trip for NIMBY's down to NYC. Once they see that no one has rickets, their concerns should be allayed (or at least they'll have to invent another red herring to bitch about).
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

I think that would only frighten them more. They have it in their heads that anything over 4 stories is evil. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all for Boston having a look. Just basing your entire urban experience off of negative reactions only begets boring and tame architecture.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

I also love when people complain about things they have no control over and no interest in in the fist place (i.e. that dude going off about granite counters).

Edit: I am glad there are more commenters there with some common sense about height.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

If you don't build new luxury housing, old, middle-class tenements are just converted to luxury housing. New construction is, by definition, "luxury" construction. Look what happened in the South End - no new construction allowed, and all the old tenement buildings were fixed up and the middle class were eradicated.

If you don't build parking spaces, nobody will buy/rent there and the project is a failure.

If parking becomes too expensive in that neighborhood (with poor T service) then only rich people will be able to afford to live/drive there. Eradicated the middle class again.

Also, for the record, Whole Foods and Target are "rumored" to be in every single development, ever, anywhere in the United States.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

The majority of the South End which survived the bulldozers was:

Roughly
1860-1880 Luxury
1880-1900 Middle/Working Class
1910-1930 Working Class/Poor
1930-1950 Poor/Skid Row
1950-1980 Skid Row /abandoned burnt out shells
1990-Present Luxury
it's a vicious cycle.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

^ A cycle ... but not so vicious.
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

Developer Samuels files $250M Fenway building plan
By Thomas Grillo
Monday, December 20, 2010


Steven Samuels has filed his latest plan to complete the transformation of Boylston Street, behind Fenway Park.

The Boston developer, who has won praise from Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the neighborhood for Trilogy and 1330 Boylston, is planning a mix of office, retail, housing and underground parking on a two-acre parcel at 1325 Boylston St. and 132 Brookline Ave.

Under the $250 million plan filed today with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Samuels & Associates has proposed a total of 290 apartments, 195,000 square feet of retail and 225,000 square feet of office space.

?We?ve been bullish on the Fenway neighborhood for a long time and we think this is the right time to move this project forward,? said Peter Sougarides, Samuels? executive vice president. ?We?re looking forward to further discussions with the neighborhood and the city.?

The building on Brookline Avenue will be 17 stories tall and offer 150 apartments and 5,000 square feet of retail space. On nearby Boylston Street, the site of the former Goodyear Tire, the building will include retail on the first three floors and the upper eight floors will house office space and 140 apartments.

If approved by the city, the project will create 800 construction jobs, 1,200 permanent jobs and boost retail and residential vitality along Boylston and Van Ness streets and Brookline Avenue.

The project will continue the revitalization of the Fenway Triangle with the replacement of surface parking lots and gas stations on Boylston Street.


Link
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

It seems to me that this is the type of project that can satisfy NIMBY's. Anchor stores up the ying-yang.

Whereas John Rosenthal's little project draws the ire of certain people in the neighborhood (shadows, traffic, etc). In reality, when Rosenthal acquired the air rights for Fenway Center, it was the best thing for that whole area. Like it or not.

So the lesson is always the same. Anchor stores. Good. Shadows. Bad!



On a side note: We had this conversation in my Housing and Community Development class at Boston University on Anchor stores. There was talk at the time (though I'm sure that the proposal has stalled) about the idea of a new Commuter Rail Stop near the New Balance Factory, with the building of a new Lowes and other High-End Retail Outlets in Allston/Brighton (Near WGBH Studios). Anyways, I made the point that while we shouldn't poo-poo all anchor stores, as the economy can't survive without them, but since Boston and New England has been the leader in thriving on independent businesses, then why can't we turn to smart growth to redevelop that whole area or any area for that matter? Look at Burlington, VT. That whole area has come alive with independent shops and restaurants.


Back on subject. I'm glad that this project is moving forward. But in my opinion, Fenway Triangle is something for pretentious yuppies to jerk themselves off to!
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

And since we can only post snipits...

The Fenway Triangle Mixed-Use Project shows no signs of slowing down, as was evidenced in a recent filing with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) by developer Fenway Enterprises LLC.

The Fenway project originally included the construction of two buildings: 1325 Boylston St. and 132 Brookline Ave., according to the report. The Brookline Street project, known as Trilogy, added 576 residential units, ground floor restaurants and retail to the area. The Boylston Street project, completed in 2008, included 200 residential units and new building for the Fenway Community Health Center.
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http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/news141892.html
 
Re: Developer plans $300M project for Fenway

This is why marketing departments, let alone real-estate developers, should never be trusted with cartography.
 
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