Canvas - Mixed Use Tower (old Felt location) | 533 Washington St | Downtown Crossing

[617]

This meeting will most likely set the tone and measure the climate toward further residential development in dtx...hopefully it's welcomed with open arms.

 

[cjbski]

How did it go?

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

Holy shit...typed up this great summary about the meeting and then the site complained about an expired security token when I hit submit.

Anyway... went well, no complaints about height OR parking. Guys behind me seemed to be shocked by the former.

I was wearing my TransitMatters hat at the meeting, both in listening for issues and admittedly having to do a bit of work during the meeting. It seemed to help that the site is too physically constrained to demand parking of it, but it also didn't seem to be a reason to chop it down in height. IAG members seemed to acknowledge that this is the appropriate place for infill development like this.

Only concerns seemed to be around existing curb use, potential congestion due to conflicts from other hi-traffic volume generators nearby, trash removal, and construction vehicle staging.

Unrelated to this project, it was announced by the BRA staffer leading the meeting that apparently BTD is working to designate all or part of this block of Washington Street as a loading zone to address long-standing concerns about congestion before and after theatre. Apparently the property manager/owner of Macy's was sitting behind me and he spoke enthusiastically about the project and also assuaged the IAG members about traffic concerns through his own anecdote - 'I've driven to work here every day for the last few years and I never encounter traffic'.

He also brought up the area's history as the Combat Zone (not by name), how it's changed for the better, but that there's still a need for better policing of drug deals and shady characters. To that, the team responded that security cameras will be placed and that they'd be working with BPD to respond to issues proactively.

One concern brought up by another audience member - someone from the Boston Preservation Alliance - asked a question about the logistics of preserving the facade and whether the Orange Line running underneath almost up to the property line would complicate that. Unfortunately, the ensuing details and discussion went over my head.

I brought up whether the development team had considered offering a transit and/or Hubway and/or car sharing benefits program - not that the residents in a parking-free building in the heart of downtown need any more incentive to use these modes, but there was some sentiment among the older IAG members that while the area is walkable, somehow it's still not a good enough area for transport?... Maybe I'm misremembering or misunderstood the context, but either way - that piqued the interest of the BRA staffer and development team lead, so it sounds like there's opportunity to lead here with a precedent.

 

[BeeLine]

^^^ Thanks for your attendance and update. Sounds positive.

 

[datadyne007]

Wow, genuinely shocked the IAG wasn't filled with NIMBYs like usual. Sounds like this is off to a surprisingly good start. Thanks for your recap.

 

[odurandina]

^^ thanks for the report!! a bevy of projects may be having a desired effect, and should sway the chance we see a repeat of the bedlam after the Garden Garage decision... when 1 Bromfield gets approved.

 

[sm89]

Unrelated to this project, it was announced by the BRA staffer leading the meeting that apparently BTD is working to designate all or part of this block of Washington Street as a loading zone to address long-standing concerns about congestion before and after theatre. Apparently the property manager/owner of Macy's was sitting behind me and he spoke enthusiastically about the project and also assuaged the IAG members about traffic concerns through his own anecdote - 'I've driven to work here every day for the last few years and I never encounter traffic'.

This is as part of the Washington St cycle track project (from Stuart/Kneeland to Ave de Lafayette). It was designed as part of the mitigation package for the Kensington. It also includes a dedicated bus lane for the Silver Line. I believe it was approved already.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

WUT? Do you guys have sources for this at hand or should I just start digging? This makes me really wish the city had a project tracking system that they use on the back-end and drives a map front end like....BRA of all departments...

 

[sm89]

Officially it was part of the mitigation package for 110 Broad actually.

Yes, this makes no sense.

Design money from The Kensington; implementation money from 110 Broad St.

 

[odurandina]

While the search map is helpful in some instances, overall, the BRA website seems very poorly arranged. Unless i whiffed, why not a better search function? The individual project pages are vague. They should include a few short paragraphs that provide a general overview, including the site's recent history. Going through 300 page pda's is a pain in the ass.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

While the search map is helpful in some instances, overall, the BRA website seems very poorly arranged. Unless i whiffed, why not a better search function? The individual project pages are vague. They should include a few short paragraphs that provide a general overview, including the site's recent history. Going through 300 page pda's is a pain in the ass.

Yes, absolutely - a lot left to be desired with the BRA's project pages, but it's one of the few agencies that puts their progress front and center. I'm looking forward to DoIT's progress toward a better City of Boston web site but sooo much of this stuff is all over the place. I look forward to the day when a PDA or any other project form is submitted in an open standard format so BRA staff doesn't have to spend time unpacking all of this stuff to generate project pages like what Bldup and coUrbanize are doing. Where project pages are just front-ends with data driven by the same back-end they use internally rather than an additional thing someone on the web/communications team has to update separately...

 

[DBM]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/05/29/pencil-tower-project-would-threaten-opera-house-owners-say/3tWxisLIPE3ey7pcBPp2EJ/story.html

1.) The headline is both asinine and senselessly sensationalist. Leave that kind of attention-grabbing "lookit me! I'm shit-stirring!" rhetoric to the Herald, this town's actual scandal sheet.

2.) That said, this was so completely obviously a potential PR hit in the offing--if not preordained (after all, the Felt developers might have exacerbated the situation behind closed doors by behaving in an off-putting manner with Opera House execs during preliminary parleys). It's just an immensely challenging proposition in terms of getting it to choreograph (pun intended) sensitively and soundly with the very complex usage logistics of the abutters.

3.) That said, hopefully something happens here soon in a way that is economically viable, respectful to the environmental context, sensitive to abutters' apprehensions. I really don't think you can scream "NIMBY" vs. the Modern and the BOH when they're direct abutters and they have such obviously threatened usages that incidentally catalyzed so much of DTC's overall cultural/economic renaissance.

Where would DTC be without Theater Row? All you have to do is think back to pre-2011. (BOH opened a little earlier but the other two came online in 2010.)

4.) We are already at the five-year anniversary of Felt's closure and this becoming a deactivated storefront (although I've seen signs in the windows attesting to start-up firms as upstairs tenants). Gulp.

 

[odurandina]

The original headline read:

Pencil’ tower project would threaten Opera House, owners say.

 

[whighlander]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/05/29/pencil-tower-project-would-threaten-opera-house-owners-say/3tWxisLIPE3ey7pcBPp2EJ/story.html

1.) The headline is both asinine and senselessly sensationalist. Leave that kind of attention-grabbing "lookit me! I'm shit-stirring!" rhetoric to the Herald, this town's actual scandal sheet.

...Where would DTC be without Theater Row? All you have to do is think back to pre-2011. (BOH opened a little earlier but the other two came online in 2010.)

4.) We are already at the five-year anniversary of Felt's closure and this becoming a deactivated storefront (although I've seen signs in the windows attesting to start-up firms as upstairs tenants). Gulp.

DBM -- I'm not sure I know your perspective as it says Senior Member

However, unless you are harkening back to the days when the Taylors ran the Globe -- today it has a repurtation for relaiabilty -- Not-- and Honesty -- NOT NOT

The absentee ownership by the New York Times -- substatially diminished the Globe -- leaving only the New Media Group as financially viable entity

Now John Henry is left with the same task Pat Purcell had when he picked up the pieces of the Herald -- essentially start from scratch with a real estate deal and hope to build a function-al-ing newpaper -- as they move a whole lot more dead & rotted wood will be jettisoned -- leaving the Sports Section and not much ealse

The old Lion of Morissey Blvd. is dead -- We will have to see how the new Globe sson to be located @ Exchange Place next to Govenment Center either rises-- or -- sinks into oblivion

 

[DBM]

DBM -- I'm not sure I know your perspective as it says Senior Member

My perspective, to reiterate, is that I think the headline that the Globe ended up running is asinine and senselessly sensationalist. Everything else is irrelevant to this discussion of the 533 Washington St. project.

That said, odurandia's assertion two posts above, that the original headline was far more measured and prosaic, is quite interesting, if it's in fact true.

Odurandia, assuming you're not a Globe staffer, how did you catch that original headline--just lucky timing that you happened to land on the Globe page and the online editorial staff had carelessly put the original headline on the live website before deciding they wanted to change--and when you clicked back to the Globe page you then say what the headline had been altered to?

 

[odurandina]

Absolutely true. I raised my objection to the sensationalist headline in my first post, and the Globe staff changed it to another sensationalist headline.

 

[datadyne007]

Absolutely true. I raised my objection to the sensationalist headline in my first post, and the Globe staff changed it to another sensationalist headline.

I'll confirm this. I saw the original headline too and was taken back by the sudden change.

 

[underground]

DBM -- I'm not sure I know your perspective as it says Senior Member

However, unless you are harkening back to the days when the Taylors ran the Globe -- today it has a repurtation for relaiabilty -- Not-- and Honesty -- NOT NOT

The absentee ownership by the New York Times -- substatially diminished the Globe -- leaving only the New Media Group as financially viable entity

Now John Henry is left with the same task Pat Purcell had when he picked up the pieces of the Herald -- essentially start from scratch with a real estate deal and hope to build a function-al-ing newpaper -- as they move a whole lot more dead & rotted wood will be jettisoned -- leaving the Sports Section and not much ealse

The old Lion of Morissey Blvd. is dead -- We will have to see how the new Globe sson to be located @ Exchange Place next to Govenment Center either rises-- or -- sinks into oblivion

And yet they manage to write in complete sentences with proper grammar, punctuation, and formatting. Try using a period.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

Here, have a proper em dash, too: —

 

[tmac9wr]

Oh those comments are so good. So so so so good. My favorite part is that whenever there is a pro-development commenter, people accuse them of being a spy for a developer, or on the take somehow.

Are any of you guys Tosh33? He's very, very popular on that site.