[CANCELED] 1000 Boylston Street | MassDOT Parcel 15 | Back Bay

SlothofDespond said:
Will they be doing the decking for all three projects at the same time, or at least consecutively?
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900 feet from the western mouth of the Pru tunnel brings us almost exactly to the western boundary of Parcel 12, per Google Maps, so I would think so.
 
Suffolk 83 said:
So much red tape ugh
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Jonathan Gulliver said:
“Adding on this length of the tunnel triggers a change in the compliance of the fire code,” Gulliver said. “The tunnel in its current state is code compliant, but every time you modify a tunnel, you have to take a look at it.”
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What I find most puzzling about this is that there doesn't seem to be a MassDOT specification and procedural document that can be handed to the developer(s) as a how-to on developing these parcels. I'm neither an engineer not an attorney, but shouldn't the full requirement from geotechnical analysis to traffic planning to construction staging to a variety of contingencies (in the event of mishaps or bad weather) be disclosed and agreed upon as a condition of the 198-year lease? Maybe it's in a file cabinet in the State Transportation Building...
 
...they had the center lane here closed for months and months just a couple years ago to completely rebuild the median...
 
Beton Brut said:
What I find most puzzling about this is that there doesn't seem to be a MassDOT specification and procedural document that can be handed to the developer(s) as a how-to on developing these parcels. I'm neither an engineer not an attorney, but shouldn't the full requirement from geotechnical analysis to traffic planning to construction staging to a variety of contingencies (in the event of mishaps or bad weather) be disclosed and agreed upon as a condition of the 198-year lease? Maybe it's in a file cabinet in the State Transportation Building...
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There seem to be a couple of documents including a MassDOT/MBTA TOD policies and guidelines doc from 2017 and this more recent MBTA TOD guidelines from 2018, both derivative from the TOD policy update initiated in 2016. Most of it was policy shaping TOD, but the 2018 guide is considerably more substantive, but it seems to suggest that a lot of the staging and geotechnical analysis falls on the developer's suite of transportation and engineering contractors, which is pretty typical for most other developments. However, I do get where you're coming from.

Alas, the MassDOT/MBTA real estate department is relatively small and the majority of the property management happens within the Massachusetts Realty Group. It helps the state staff are within MBTA's Capital Delivery group, but as I understand that group alone is sorely understaffed and they can't hire people fast enough to fill the roles, let alone proactively offer this baseline engineering work, but maybe that's a thing they should be doing given the advent of shared services across MassDOT and MBTA and the creation of MassDOT in 2009 having been done explicitly to enable this.
 
More soil rig work this AM in a slightly different spot than BeeLine saw. Also two large dumpsters put there to clean up the site.
 
Here's a cell phone grab of the same scene yesterday from inside the Hynes. How different this view will be!

eNENa33.jpg
 
That picture perfectly shows how badly 1000 Boylston, The Viola, and parcel 12 are needed. That part of Mass ave and Boylston is going to go from disconnected mess to a well connected, shining example of reconnecting the grid, and adding very high quality new architecture to a spot that was a disaster. As great as Boylston st is, the beginning of it in the back bay is a mess right now, but if these come to fruition it could be one of the nicer parts and a great entrance to Boylston one of Bostons most important streets.
 
They turned on the livestream toward the end of the discussion, but the the MassDOT Board approved a change to the February agreement on construction impacts today. Not 100% sure what it was, but they aren't building anything until they've locked that up.
 
Equilibria said:
They turned on the livestream toward the end of the discussion, but the the MassDOT Board approved a change to the February agreement on construction impacts today. Not 100% sure what it was, but they aren't building anything until they've locked that up.
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Stupid (but sincere) question: is it safe to say that they HAVE (now) "locked that up" in light of the Board approval, or does this approval set in motion the need for subsequent approvals from other sources?
 
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rjacobs said:
Stupid (but sincere question): is it safe to say that they HAVE (now) "locked that up" in light of the Board approval, or does this approval set in motion the need for subsequent approvals from other sources?
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I don't actually know if the Board acted today to ratify the construction management plan - once it does that's the last approval they need AFAIK. They approved an amendment to something, but the livestream cut off any description of what it was.

I'm not sure exactly what it is the Board needs to approve... the project plans, the air rights/lease agreement, just the management plan... but the part that matters is construction management. There may be a lengthy delay at this point, though, since from MassDOT's perspective (and the commuter's) it makes much more sense to have impacts to the Turnpike once for 1000 Boylston, the Viola, and Parcel 12, which means doing them either all at once (unlikely) or in immediate succession with some overlap (much more likely).

In other words, the schedule for 1000 Boylston may be heavily dependent on Peebles, which is building the Viola across the street and which has been hibernating over the past 2 years. That may have been for exactly this reason: they have their approval and drawings but can't build until Weiner and Samuels are ready. Hopefully that's what it is, and not some financing issue or other delay that will slow down the whole package.
 
Story in the Globe about impact of construction on traffic and commuter rail:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/05/30/the-mass-pike-for-some-massive-disruption-are-ready/ZCvDo2pSERUVUREJEizIUN/story.html?p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery

"Beginning this summer, commuters are in for longer rides as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation prepares to extend the Prudential tunnel under parts of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street to make way for an air-rights real estate development.

Extending the tunnel involves upgrading and expanding ventilation systems — fans, controls and other electrical components — as well as installing piles and set beams to support a deck. These activities require Massachusetts Turnpike lane closures, both temporary and long-term, to create work areas. And with work areas come speed reductions to ensure worker safety over the estimated 16-month project."

I'm assuming that 16-moth timeline is for DOT work only and that they are building supports for not just 1000 Boylston. Anybody knows if these are good assumptions?
 
Smartiro said:
Story in the Globe about impact of construction on traffic and commuter rail:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/05/30/the-mass-pike-for-some-massive-disruption-are-ready/ZCvDo2pSERUVUREJEizIUN/story.html?p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery

"Beginning this summer, commuters are in for longer rides as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation prepares to extend the Prudential tunnel under parts of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street to make way for an air-rights real estate development.

Extending the tunnel involves upgrading and expanding ventilation systems — fans, controls and other electrical components — as well as installing piles and set beams to support a deck. These activities require Massachusetts Turnpike lane closures, both temporary and long-term, to create work areas. And with work areas come speed reductions to ensure worker safety over the estimated 16-month project."

I'm assuming that 16-moth timeline is for DOT work only and that they are building supports for not just 1000 Boylston. Anybody knows if these are good assumptions?
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I think that's true, yes. I'm not sure if that means the tower doesn't start actually rising until next fall, but it seems likely.

Not what you posted about, but that letter is disingenuous as hell. It strongly implies that construction on both projects will be either directly sequential or even simultaneous, when in fact there will be a 4-5 year gap between the two (long enough that the Newton/Weston viaducts may happen in between) - they advocate constructing a temporary ramp at Kenmore (why temporary? It's a good permanent idea!) to relieve traffic on the Pru section during the Allston project, as if both will be happening at the same time. Also, it advocates improving rail service to compensate for the carmegaddon that (a) never happens, in part because construction planners aren't incompetent morons and (b) MassDOT is trying to avoid by maintaining 3 lanes in each direction at the expense of the Worcester double-track. In effect they're advocating that MassDOT create the problem by maintaining the double track so they can try to solve it by buying new equipment to increase frequencies (F-Line probably has something to say about the idea that the only thing holding back increased frequencies on the Worcester Line is that there aren't enough trainsets).

Bringing up GLX is also a reach because that's a transit project in a transit-only ROW and it's still currently shut down half of Somerville's crosstown connections, while the Allston project is closing nothing but the Grand Junction.
 
Smartiro said:
Story in the Globe about impact of construction on traffic and commuter rail:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/05/30/the-mass-pike-for-some-massive-disruption-are-ready/ZCvDo2pSERUVUREJEizIUN/story.html?p1=HP_Feed_ContentQuery

"Beginning this summer, commuters are in for longer rides as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation prepares to extend the Prudential tunnel under parts of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street to make way for an air-rights real estate development.

Extending the tunnel involves upgrading and expanding ventilation systems — fans, controls and other electrical components — as well as installing piles and set beams to support a deck. These activities require Massachusetts Turnpike lane closures, both temporary and long-term, to create work areas. And with work areas come speed reductions to ensure worker safety over the estimated 16-month project."

I'm assuming that 16-moth timeline is for DOT work only and that they are building supports for not just 1000 Boylston. Anybody knows if these are good assumptions?
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Probably for the viola as well across the street from 1000 boylston.
 
Many pickup trucks, etc. parked on the site this morning. Dumpster put next to it with signs for a month's permit. Excavator parked next to the site.

Things might be starting....
 
Possibly some prep work happening on the bridge tonight. Jackhammers and bobcat doing stuff on Boylston overpass.

Edit 12:18pm: Work happening underneath now too.
 
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nepatz11 said:
Is this one officially under construction yet?
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Another one in the same place

Just BUILD IT -- build it NOW!!

Things are starting to get fluky in the financial sector -- the time and place for new construction is Now -- especially residential

And in this case along with the two other projects at the Boylston / Mass Ave -- new place making in a couple of years -- a whole new walk-able block of street with the Turnpike banished to further west
 
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