BU Development Thread

bosdevelopment

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From the monthly alumni publication forward-

At 19 and 26 stories this is a substantial project. There are still plans to build two more towers inbetween the ones in this photo.

Student Village 2 Will Add Almost 1,000 Beds to Campus
By Jessica Ullian
An architectural rendering of the Student Village 2 apartments.

An architectural rendering of the Student Village 2 apartments.

The Student Village 2 apartment complex, which will add 962 beds to Boston University's on-campus housing stock, is nearing the end of the city approvals process. The Boston Zoning Commission signed off on the project in early September, and final approvals were expected to follow. Construction is scheduled to begin in early December, and the project should be finished in 2009.

"The city wants us to house a higher percentage of our undergraduate population, and we believe that living on campus is best for the students and the University," says Marc Robillard, director of the Office of Housing. "There's a very strong demand for housing." This semester, nearly 600 students are living in the Hyatt Regency and Holiday Inn, hotels BU uses to accommodate overflow of first-year students.

The new building, designed by the architectural firm Cannon Design, will be located behind Agganis Arena and is intended to offset the increasing need for apartment-style housing that appeals to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The building consists of two towers ? one of nineteen stories with eight-person suites and one of twenty-six stories with four-person apartments. The suites will have four single and two double bedrooms, with a shared living room/kitchen and two bathrooms; the apartments will be similar to some of those at 10 Buick Street, with four single bedrooms and two baths.

Campus housing currently includes Warren Towers and other large, traditional dorms and the small residence halls in Bay State Road rowhouses. "We need to give students some variety," says Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore. "It's helpful for us to add several types of housing."

Approximately 11,200 BU undergraduates, some 76 percent of the undergraduate population, live in campus housing. With the new building, that number will rise to 80 percent. Ultimately, Robillard says, the University would like to be able to house 85 percent of its undergraduates, and both University President Robert A. Brown and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (Hon.'01) support the effort.

"Living on campus improves the educational experience for everyone," says Robillard. "I think as the campus has developed, especially with the Fitness and Recreation Center, students want to be part of the action. There's much more gravitational pull."

"For a university to have its scholars nearby adds to our reputation," adds Elmore. "It's one of those subtle things that enriches us."


dorms.jpg
 
Nice to see BU adding more housing though Cannon Design is responsible for BU's other monotomous modern buildings (SMG, Photonics, the Village). One can hope they elect to ditch the red brick in favor of more glass.
 
BU need to get rid of that parking lot by the post office and also that ugly former hotel (what chain was it?). I wish they would do something with these parcels....
 
You mean the former Howard Johnson's, now a dormitory?

Years ago, Loews Theatres wanted to build a multiplex cinema there, to replace the Nickelodeon. Unfortunately Loews went bankrupt, which ended that plan and prematurely closed the Nickelodeon, too.
 
DowntownDave said:
BU need to get rid of that parking lot by the post office and also that ugly former hotel (what chain was it?). I wish they would do something with these parcels....

I think the only plot with a plan is where the Burger King was. Although the plan is essentially "thats a site we're looking to develop"
 
BU plots

I believe the Burger King site is to become home to a new computer sciences building eventually.

The Kenmore Square plot should become a mixed-use, dorm-retail-hotel development to complete the urban room of kenmore square, while that ugly grey concrete brutalist structure at the intersection of comm ave and beacon would make a great site for a tall, slender, glass, landmark tower.... :lol:
 
Re: BU plots

JS38 said:
I believe the Burger King site is to become home to a new computer sciences building eventually.

The Kenmore Square plot should become a mixed-use, dorm-retail-hotel development to complete the urban room of kenmore square, while that ugly grey concrete brutalist structure at the intersection of comm ave and beacon would make a great site for a tall, slender, glass, landmark tower.... :lol:


The Kenmore parking lot will eventually become an apartment midrise. The exterior will look like a drab cannon design, all in an effort to bring a uniformity to the campus. Don't count on them tearing down the hojos just yet. BU's only building on equity they've established through discounted property aquisitions. God forbid they tap into that near billion dollar endowment.
 
Did the Kenmore parking lot ever contain buildings, or has it been vacant ever since this part of the Back Bay was filled?
 
Ron Newman said:
You mean the former Howard Johnson's, now a dormitory?

Years ago, Loews Theatres wanted to build a multiplex cinema there, to replace the Nickelodeon. Unfortunately Loews went bankrupt, which ended that plan and prematurely closed the Nickelodeon, too.

Wow I was totally unaware that the Nickelodeon is gone.
 
I'm not sure that's the one. I saw that on front page of the globe this morning and it didn't indicate as to which University it was for. It looks overwhelmingly large.
 
Well, if you look at the little rendering at the top of the page, you can see the new towers, at 19 and 26 stories, are taller than the tallest existing one, which is 18 floors. Plus the floor count in the above rendering looks about right.

But this bodes well for us height enthusiasts, as it will be taller than anything in the area, with the only thing coming close being that tower at the corner of Gardner and Babcock Streets.
 
kz1000ps said:
Well, if you look at the little rendering at the top of the page, you can see the new towers, at 19 and 26 stories, are taller than the tallest existing one, which is 18 floors. Plus the floor count in the above rendering looks about right.

uh huh. Tha'ts some good sleuthing there.
 
Mike said:

This is a big improvement over the first Student Village tower, even if they still insist on using brick in every new building.

The two parcels BU must develop to bring some unity to the campus are the Kenmore parcel and the vacant lot directly across from Warren tower beside the Sargent school. I thought they had plans to build a computer science school there.
 
Replacing the former Howard Johnson's hotel with something that looks like a real dorm would help, too.
 
I can't get over the size in these renderings. BU is making its own skyline along comm ave.
 
kz1000ps said:
...you can see the new towers, at 19 and 26 stories, are taller than the tallest existing one...

...this bodes well for us height enthusiasts, as it will be taller than anything in the area...
Yeah, tall like Refrigerator Perry.
 

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