Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

Two unrelated articles from the Cambridge Chronical:

Forest City downsizes proposed Cambridge development
By Erin Baldassari

Cambridge —
Responding to feedback from the Ordinance Committee and residents, representatives from Forest City presented a downsized development proposal at the Central Square advisory committee meeting July 11.

The newest iteration of their proposal to build a life sciences office and lab building at 300 Massachusetts Ave. would reduce the height of the tallest portion of the building from 115’ to 95’ while maintaining roughly the same square footage.

“We think that at the end of the day, all of the conversations around this building probably have resulted in a better proposal and we’re pleased by that,” said Peter Calkins, the Chief Operating Officer for Forest City.

Calkins presented the modifications after the Ordinance Committed adjourned their June 27 without voting on whether or not approve zoning changes that would allow Forest City the 246,716 square foot building that the developers are requesting, an increase of 108,000 square feet currently allowed under the zoning regulations.

The building is broken into three different heights, with two-thirds of the building reaching 65 feet in height and the rest of the building reaching 95 feet. The maximum height totals 128 feet where a mechanical penthouse creates a third section of the building, which Calkins said was intended to give the building a sense of dimensionality. Building heights in Cambridge are measured by the height of the top floor.

Planning Board member Ahmed Nur, who also sits on the Central Square advisory committee, said he liked the variations in the building’s height, which he said allowed the building to blend in better with the surrounding structures.

“We tend to use proportionality in buildings and the height just seemed to soar up a little too high when it was at 115 feet,” Nur said.

City Councilor David Maher, who also chairs the Ordinance Committee, asked the developers at the June 27 meeting to provide a clearer commitment to ground floor retail at the site. At the Central Square meeting, Calkins reassured the advisory committee that they would maintain active retail along the portion of the building that abuts Massachusetts Avenue.

“Back from the days when the Red Ribbon Commission was having it’s discussions about the importance of retail, and we have very much felt that it was important,” Calkins said. “We have never had very much Mass Ave frontage in order to be able to put some good strong retail in, so we’re excited about doing 1,300 – 1,500 square feet of retail along the Mass Ave frontage of this building.”

Calkins said he would work with the Ordinance Committee to draft language into the proposal that would elucidate their commitment to maintaining that retail, and Forest City property manager John Kiely told the Chronicle in a recent interview that they would target “non-chain” stores to move in.

Robin Lapidus, Executive Director of the Central Square Business Association, said she was more concerned with adding retail to Central Square and following the ideals laid out in the Red Ribbon Commission report, which was published in Dec. 2011.

“I’m really concerned about a dilapidated block that has no retail and no action and no shopping and…none of the things that we said we really want,” Lapidus said. “I think it would be helpful to refer back to some of the Red Ribbon Commission ideals that we had when we were discussing what we wanted, because this is really close to what we had spoken about in multiple groups and in multiple settings, so I’m glad we’re at this point.”

Still, residents at the meeting maintained many of the complaints they had expressed at Planning Board and Ordinance Committee meetings that the petition to change zoning would come before the Central Square study had a chance to run its course.

As part of the contract signed by planning consultants Goody Clancy, the firm agreed to review several petitions that were already in the review process while the study was being drafted. Citing a minimal shadow impact, an appropriate building scale, transportation impact, Goody Clancy principal-in-charge David Dixon said the firm recommended passage of the petition.

The Ordinance Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, July 25 at 4 p.m. in the Sullivan Chambers at City Hall to review Forest City’s changes to the proposal. The City Council are scheduled to hold a mid-summer meeting on July 30 and are expected to vote on whether or not to approve the petition.
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Google’s garden build-out in Cambridge to move forward without approval
By Erin Baldassari

Cambridge-

Construction will continue despite several Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) board members asking that more questions be answered before giving Boston Properties the final approval to build Google’s complex on a rooftop garden in Kendall Square.

CRA chair Kathleen Born told the developers at the July 18 meeting she was most concerned that the eventual product matches the schematic designs.

“I’m sort of a believer in truth in advertising,” Born said. “The renderings show these glimmery, glassy transparent buildings. My concern is that between the design rendering process and the actual construction, we’ll lose that transparency.”

The Cambridge City Council approved Google’s expansion into Kendall Square in March even though the CRA had not yet weighed in on the plans. City Manager Bob Healy appointed four new members to the five-member board in April, and they now will have to give the final approval of Boston Properties’ plans for that site.

The agreement transfers a bit of fenced-in CRA land on Binney Street to the city, along with $2 million from Boston Properties to turn that land into a park. Boston Properties will also give the city $250,000 for improvements to a small park before the Longfellow Bridge; the developers have agreed to submit conceptual design plans for housing one year after Google’s expansion is completed; and the developers agreed to build an indoor arcade along Main Street.

Boston Properties project manager Kevin Sheehan first told the CRA that they needed to maintain the width of the building connector, which would reduce the rooftop garden from 43,000 square-feet to 25,000 square feet, because Google planned to use the space for offices. They later revised that to say Google had not yet submitted formal plans but wanted to use the connector as a communal space for employees, which might include food service and a large auditorium or conference space.

“My anticipation is that most levels (of the connector) will be used for some sort of communal functions such as meeting areas, cafes, or some sort of other Google function that I probably can’t image, but you know, different, creative gathering spaces,” Sheehan said.

State-appointed board member Barry Zevin said it was important to know what Google planned for the space because it would affect how visitors experience the public garden, which will remain open until 2050.

Zevin said he was afraid Google would block out the windows if it was a meeting space and turn the transparent glass into something opaque.

“The reason it’s important is because it makes a difference in what it does to the public realm,” Zevin said. “It seems to me somewhat deceptive to claim you need this enormous space because it’s contiguous open space when it’s not open. You need it for a meeting room.”

Sheehan told the CRA that Boston Properties would ultimately have control over the window finishing and had the authority to dictate how the windows looked from the outside, but not how a tenant configures the interior and reiterated the need for “contiguous” open space.

“Google and other office users [have] expressed a desire to have large, contiguous, connected floor areas,” Sheehan said. “We feel strongly it’s a great plan and a creative way to deliver that product to our clients and continue the economic vitality of our assets here and in the neighborhood of Kendall Square in general.”

CRA board member Christopher Bator said he wanted Boston Properties to come back with technical, rather than anecdotal, responses as to why they couldn’t modify the designs after fellow board member Margaret Drury said it seemed like they were not listening to the board’s comments.

“It sort of gives the feeling that you really think the design is really good and that’s how it’s going to be because you’ve got what works,” Drury said. “The question is only whether there are some modifications to that design that might work better for the public…It doesn’t sound like you’ve really considered that.”

Sheehan told the board that waiting for them to approve their designs at the next meeting in September would delay construction, and that they would begin fencing off the areas slated for construction, including the garden, in mid-August, but assured the board that they would still be able to make changes to the design.

“We typically start construction on an initial level of design review approval just for the fact that as the design documents further evolve, the final approvals are typically more focused on finished materials, which can be specified later in the process,” Sheehan said. “The redevelopment area and the development agreements are set up to facilitate construction projects that are tied to a construction schedule, such as this one.”

Born asked that Boston Properties come back with a point-by-point written response to all of the comments made by board and staff members. The CRA typically meets on the third Wednesday in the month, although they will not be meeting Aug. 15. The August meeting has not yet been scheduled.
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The Forest City planned project at 300 Mass Ave may need it's own thread soon...

Cambridge’s Millennium Pharmaceuticals to occupy Forest City building

By Erin Baldassari
Cambridge Chronical
Jul 23, 2012
Cambridge —

Cambridge-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals would be the sole tenant of the office and lab space at 300 Massachusetts Ave., if Forest City wins approval from the City Council at its July 30 meeting.

Forest City will present the newest iteration of their proposal to build a life sciences office and lab building as an extension of University Park at the Ordinance Committee meeting on July 25. They presented a downscaled version of the building to the Central Square advisory committee on July 11, which included a reduction of the building’s height, from 115 feet to 95 feet, while maintaining roughly the same square footage.

The Cambridge born and bred Millennium Pharmaceuticals was established in 1993 as a genomics company, which studies genetic materials in the chromosomes, to create and develop new therapies to treat a broad spectrum of diseases. Since then, the company has expanded in Cambridge and now has two office buildings at 40 and 35 Landsdowne St., and space in both 75 Sydney St. and at 350 Massachusetts Ave.

“The great news is that we continue to grow as a company,” said Manisha Pai, director of corporate communications at Millennium. “We’re starting to outgrow the space we’re in now.”

The company houses roughly 1,200 employees throughout its offices in Cambridge, Pai said, and they are looking to add more. Pai said that much of the growth could be attributed to the Japan-based Takeda Oncology Company’s acquisition of Millennium in 2008.

“We’ve grown almost 50 percent since acquired in 2008,” Pai said. “Part of it was when Takeda acquired us in 2008, they concentrated their oncology research here, making us their oncology center for excellence.”

Pai said the company loves being located in Cambridge and didn’t have any plans to leave. She did not say whether the company had thought about leaving Cambridge if the zoning amendment didn’t pass at the July 30 City Council meeting.

“We’re committed to staying in Cambridge and to staying in close proximity to the facilities we already have at 40 Landsdowne St.,” Pai said. “It’s such a great area for biotech; there’s so much happening here.”

In May 2005, the company’s founder Mark Levin turned the company over to Dr. Deborah Dunsire, the current CEO. Dunsire was named the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association 2009 woman of the year, and featured in a New York Times business article about leadership and management styles.

Forbes ranked Millennium Pharmaceuticals no. 35 in the top 100 places to work in 2012, and the Boston Globe ranked them no. 32 in the top 100 places to work in 2008, citing high-than-average compensation rates for the company’s scientists.
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From the Forest City zoning petition:

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Thailand Cafe, I will miss the strange peppers in your food that make water taste funky.
 
I'll miss All Asia, its a stepping stone almost every Boston musician has played at. Once we played a tuesday show there at 11:00 in from of like 15 people (10 were the fellow musicians) and after our show came a very talented musician blowing in from out of town. His name Drew De Four (check him outhttp://www.drewdefour.com) He was playing in front of 15 people but he could have entertained 50,000. I thought it was so cool that great talent like his could walk in the door at any time. Along with BCN, FNX, Harper's Ferry (though it still kind of lives on), Rugg Road rehearsal spot, and now All Asia I'm feeling like part of my music experience of this city is gone.
 
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These ratty old venues will be missed, but will essentially be recreated elsewhere in the area (probably in Somerville) where their presence will be a catalyst to greater activity and urbanism. And while the new building will be a cold and sterile replacement for some time, it will eventually settle in and service the neighborhood well, while adding density and proportion to the streetwall.
 
I've never played there, but All Asia is pretty notorious in musician circles for double booking and generally weird management. They do let absolutely anyone play though... as long as they don't double book your slot.
 
A proposed 130-apartment tower (rising to 165 feet) was taken off the table June 11 when residents protested it would take away too much of a developer-owned park on Massachusetts Avenue. That left just plans to remake the so-called All Asia block (named for the music club, which hopes to be reborn on nearby Prospect Street). But several residents continued to complain that Central Square needed housing, not biotech, and that development was
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Ah, the nimby rationale. We want more housing in the densely populated busy street but this apartment building is too tall! the housing is to expensive! If you want cheaper housing, build more of it. In one of the most dense city's in the country, this means building up. Even the 95 foot lab was too tall?
 
Well, that's a shame (re. the Forest City development / Millennium Pharmaceuticals HQ). This project would bring needed density to an area that can clearly support it (not to mention high-paying jobs, corporate and income taxes, and potential groundbreaking research). Architecturally we wouldn't be gaining much ... but we wouldn't be losing anything either.

With all due respect to the opponents of the lab, the picture makes me think the crowd at the City Council meeting could have had significant overlap with the audience at a Grateful Dead show: it looked like a group comprised exclusively of aging hippies. I hope not all of Cambridge's economic-development decisionmaking is easily swayed by this NIMBYish segment of the population that is probably less concerned about economic growth than any other demographic in the city.
 
itchy said:
Well, that's a shame (re. the Forest City development / Millennium Pharmaceuticals HQ). This project would bring needed density to an area that can clearly support it (not to mention high-paying jobs, corporate and income taxes, and potential groundbreaking research). Architecturally we wouldn't be gaining much ... but we wouldn't be losing anything either.

With all due respect to the opponents of the lab, the picture makes me think the crowd at the City Council meeting could have had significant overlap with the audience at a Grateful Dead show: it looked like a group comprised exclusively of aging hippies. I hope not all of Cambridge's economic-development decisionmaking is easily swayed by this NIMBYish segment of the population that is probably less concerned about economic growth than any other demographic in the city.
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I live in that neighborhood and one of my NIMBY neighbors brought this up at a block party. She seemed to be stretching the truth about the size and scope of the lab. She also claimed to want more housing along that block, which I agree with. However, I'm sure she's one of those NIMBYs who tried to block the housing that was originally planned.

On the other hand, I was in Central Square last week and they had members of city government talking about their plans for the area. I had a chance to speak to one government worker about the future of the area. What I found ironic was that they were saying that they cared about what we thought about the future of the area, but every time I asked a question or gave my opinion I was interrupted by the city employee.

The moral of the story: If the people in the neighborhood and city hall learned to communicate, shit might get done.
 
If I worked for a city government I wouldn't want to have to entertain the thoughts of each and every one of these people either.

Even if you were asking sensible questions or had legitimate critiques, you can see how their patience would be tested to the breaking point with the others, leading them to try and cut people off before their questions or comments drifted on endlessly.

In local government, money talks, but more importantly, it doesn't drone on as long as an aging hippie at a planning meeting.
 
czsz said:
If I worked for a city government I wouldn't want to have to entertain the thoughts of each and every one of these people either.

Even if you were asking sensible questions or had legitimate critiques, you can see how their patience would be tested to the breaking point with the others, leading them to try and cut people off before their questions or comments drifted on endlessly.

In local government, money talks, but more importantly, it doesn't drone on as long as an aging hippie at a planning meeting.
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This wasn't a meeting. This was a booth set up near Central Square. They claimed, "We want to hear from you!"
 
Faces/Fresh Pond
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Ugh...why is that thing abutting the highway so closely. They're never going to be able to fix that P.O.S. 1920's parkway segment if they don't have more breathing room and space to graft on a traffic-calmed frontage road separated from the expressway by a jersey barrier to handle the curb cuts. This will make it worse, not better.
 
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