Garage Owners Seek Citizens? Opinions on Replacement First
By Thomas Grillo
Reporter
Owners of a downtown parking garage they want demolished are first asking residents what they want to see in its place.
Last week, a team from the Raymond Property Co. met with more than four dozen residents of the North End, Beacon Hill and the West End to get their take on replacing the Government Center Garage. The Boston-based company paid $243 million for the 11-story facility adjacent to the Haymarket MBTA Station, and is considering replacing its 2,310 parking spaces with a mix of hotel, office, condominiums and retail.
?We?re here to listen to you,? said Ted Raymond, the firm?s chairman, told the crowd. ?I hope you will tell us your opinion about what you?d like to see here. There are no curve balls. We really want to be straight up with everyone about what we?re trying to do. If we develop this property, we want to make it the best project in the city with your help.?
The two-hour session that took place in an office above the parking garage signals a growing trend among big developers: find out what the neighborhood wants before asking for city approval. The concept could end contentious public hearings that often result in a turnout of angry neighbors who oppose a project?s height, density and use.
?We encourage developers to have meetings before they file with us,? said Heather Campisano, the Boston Redevelopment Authority?s deputy director for development review. ?It gives people an opportunity to comment before anything is officially filed with us. Residents really appreciate it, especially a project of this scale, size and location.?
Raymond is not the only builder listening to neighborhoods before a project is filed.
John Rosenthal, whose proposed $450 million One Kenmore development near Fenway Park is in the planning stages, held several meetings and reduced the project in response to neighbors? concerns about height.
John B. Hynes III, seeking approval for Seaport Square, a 6.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development in South Boston, held a series of public sessions where he heard repeated calls to build housing.
But the idea of meeting the public with a clean slate, as Raymond has done, is new and appeared to take some residents by surprise at last week?s meeting. Louise Thomas, a member of the West End Civic Assoication, said, ?I?m sure you have some kind of plan in mind.?
But Stephen G. Kasnet, Raymond?s chief executive officer, insisted that nothing has been decided, and the company is genuinely seeking feedback from the neighborhoods. ?We have lots of ideas,? he said. ?We paid a substantial amount of money for the property, so whatever we do will have to get a financial return and if not, we will keep this as a parking garage for awhile.?
Ironically, none of the residents offered up any ideas on what Raymond should build. Jane Forrestall, a member of the West End Council, said she was not surprised at the lack of sugges-tions.
?It will be so nice to get rid of the garage, but we haven?t had much time to consider what ought to go there instead,? she said.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he was briefed on several iterations of the project that included two or three towers at the site.
?I?d like to see a new building because the garage is a barrier between Government Center and the North End,? Menino said. ?But the question is, what height is appropriate for that location? What do you do with the 2,000 cars that depend on the garage for parking while construction is under way? I?m not going to put my stamp of approval on any project that fails to deal with the parking issue because the loss of spaces would be a detriment to businesses in our city.?
