No need to take a personal cheap shot. I'm trying to take the high road, but if I were you, I'd stay away from using the word "clear".
Downtown/Financial district infill and small developments
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No need to take a personal cheap shot. I'm trying to take the high road, but if I were you, I'd stay away from using the word "clear".
I put it in all caps in the prior message. By the way you take plenty of cheap shots. In this case you didn't respond to anything I said and instead took shots at my preferences, which have nothing to do with what I wrote in this thread. I see you do it in other threads too. No high roads here.
In case anybody else gets confused, my entire argument revolves around the name of the thread itself, not its right to exist.
"Downtown/Financial district infill and small developments"
I think that the word "renovations" belongs in the thread name for the following 2 reasons:
1. It isn't likely we see a new build downtown that doesn't warrant its own thread. We aren't putting 5-over-1's or other tiny structures there. Anything new in the heart of the city is typically going to get its own thread.
2. Everything that does qualify for this thread is probably going to be a renovation of an existing building. A prime example is the initial post, and all discussion so far aside from my naming tangents.
"Downtown/Financial district infill and small developments"
I think that the word "renovations" belongs in the thread name for the following 2 reasons:
1. It isn't likely we see a new build downtown that doesn't warrant its own thread. We aren't putting 5-over-1's or other tiny structures there. Anything new in the heart of the city is typically going to get its own thread.
2. Everything that does qualify for this thread is probably going to be a renovation of an existing building. A prime example is the initial post, and all discussion so far aside from my naming tangents.
Something something... pedantic.
Thread name is fine and I think this is a good topic as well. Take the naming debate to Board Issues if you think it's worth litigating. The rest of us would like to get on with discussing actual (re-)development and not the meaning of words.
Thread name is fine and I think this is a good topic as well. Take the naming debate to Board Issues if you think it's worth litigating. The rest of us would like to get on with discussing actual (re-)development and not the meaning of words.
citydweller
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This IS the hobby.
Justbuildit
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Sidestepping whatever's happening up there, I'm going to consider renovations as infill, and it looks like another one just hit the BPDA! Link and some screenshots below. 85 Devonshire will combine 3 buildings and create 95 rental units. Would love more condos downtown, but units are units and I'm glad the incentives are causing some movement (we'll see if it's progress).
Units are pretty small, averaging 640sf. Cost of the conversion is $36,000,000 (~$380,000 per unit)
www.bostonplans.org
Units are pretty small, averaging 640sf. Cost of the conversion is $36,000,000 (~$380,000 per unit)
85 Devonshire Street | Boston Planning & Development Agency
Learn about the BPDA's development review process, view information about development projects in the BPDA approval pipeline, and learn how you can get involved.
www.bostonplans.org
Thanks for sharing, this looks like a great project!Sidestepping whatever's happening up there, I'm going to consider renovations as infill, and it looks like another one just hit the BPDA! Link and some screenshots below. 85 Devonshire will combine 3 buildings and create 95 rental units. Would love more condos downtown, but units are units and I'm glad the incentives are causing some movement (we'll see if it's progress).
Units are pretty small, averaging 640sf. Cost of the conversion is $36,000,000 (~$380,000 per unit)
85 Devonshire Street | Boston Planning & Development Agency
Learn about the BPDA's development review process, view information about development projects in the BPDA approval pipeline, and learn how you can get involved.
My two cents, adaptive re-use is development and does merit its own thread, especially in the context of the glut of vacate commercial space and incentives to encourage this sort of investment. Isn't there a thread kicking around on leases? TI work is arguably not development but we still talk about it because it is investment and says something about demand for space in the built environment which is largely why we are all here.
stick n move
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281 Franklin is another recently proposed conversion.
“The proposed project at 281 Franklin Street is part of the BPDA's Office to Residential Conversion Program. The project proposes the renovation and change in use for the existing 11,119 sq ft mixed-use building from Ground-Floor Restaurant and Offices above to Ground-Floor Restaurant and 15 residential apartment units above. Including 10 studio units and 5 one-bedroom units. With 3 IDP units (20% of proposed units).”
https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/281-franklin-street
“The proposed project at 281 Franklin Street is part of the BPDA's Office to Residential Conversion Program. The project proposes the renovation and change in use for the existing 11,119 sq ft mixed-use building from Ground-Floor Restaurant and Offices above to Ground-Floor Restaurant and 15 residential apartment units above. Including 10 studio units and 5 one-bedroom units. With 3 IDP units (20% of proposed units).”
https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/281-franklin-street
This looks really good. These buildings have had a few proposals over the years, so I'm hopeful this actually happens.Sidestepping whatever's happening up there, I'm going to consider renovations as infill, and it looks like another one just hit the BPDA! Link and some screenshots below. 85 Devonshire will combine 3 buildings and create 95 rental units. Would love more condos downtown, but units are units and I'm glad the incentives are causing some movement (we'll see if it's progress).
Units are pretty small, averaging 640sf. Cost of the conversion is $36,000,000 (~$380,000 per unit)
85 Devonshire Street | Boston Planning & Development Agency
Learn about the BPDA's development review process, view information about development projects in the BPDA approval pipeline, and learn how you can get involved.
View attachment 47820
View attachment 47821
I am a little worried about the 1 bed that only looks out on a light shaft--wonder combining with the neighbor for a larger unit wouldn't be better. But, presumably, the developer thinks the market is for smaller units.
Honestly, I thought pretty much all of these buildings were already residential. I think I, and perhaps most people?, underestimated how much small office remains downtown.
I just read through the BDPA filings for both, hoping for some financial numbers. The 85 Devonshire one is apparently costing 36 mil, converting 3 buildings of into 95 units of a total of 86,656 sq ft on residential floors.
281 Franklin (floorplans below) is a simpler project not involving level changes between buildings, of 15 units at 11,119 residential sq ft, including lobby upgrades, at $1.599m. (the building transacted at 2.8m)
85 Devonshire will cost $415/sq ft to convert, 379k per unit (on average) or 336k per bedroom (counting studios as 1)
281 Franklin, on the other hand, will cost just $144/sq ft, 106k per unit and bedroom.
If we take these as separate endpoints on a complexity curve and assume that the average is somewhere in the middle, I honestly don't think financing will play a huge role in this; the costs are reasonable and far from being prohibitive in an urban core. I'd contend a project on the scale of the 281 Franklin one can be completed without it, and with huge potential upside.
281 Franklin (floorplans below) is a simpler project not involving level changes between buildings, of 15 units at 11,119 residential sq ft, including lobby upgrades, at $1.599m. (the building transacted at 2.8m)
85 Devonshire will cost $415/sq ft to convert, 379k per unit (on average) or 336k per bedroom (counting studios as 1)
281 Franklin, on the other hand, will cost just $144/sq ft, 106k per unit and bedroom.
If we take these as separate endpoints on a complexity curve and assume that the average is somewhere in the middle, I honestly don't think financing will play a huge role in this; the costs are reasonable and far from being prohibitive in an urban core. I'd contend a project on the scale of the 281 Franklin one can be completed without it, and with huge potential upside.
Justbuildit
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Dispensaries aren’t bars. There isn’t space to consume on the premises and it’s against the law to do so, at least for now. They’re much more similar to liquor stores that close early. Since people live above bars and restaurants all over the city, I’m curious what the drawback would be for a dispensary.
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As office market slump continues, more downtown property owners are seeking tax breaks - The Boston Globe
While abatement requests were down citywide, they were up in the core of downtown, where office towers help power the city’s tax base, and thus its $4.28 billion operating budget.
www.bostonglobe.com
stick n move
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The buildings in this article are scattered across different parts of “downtown” so just throwing this in here.
“A developer plans two office-to-residential conversions in Boston, with help from a rarely used tax break.
Greg McCarthy, a developer who also owns brokerage Riverfront Realtors, submitted a pair of applications to the Boston Planning and Development Agency, the Boston Business Journal reported. He seeks a tax break that the city is promoting to spur conversions of little-used office space.
In the South End, McCarthy is planning to convert the former Boston Medical Center offices at 615 Albany Street into 24 apartments. He purchased the site from BMC and Boston University last year for $3.4 million and estimates converting and adding a floor to the empty 20,000-square-foot property will cost $4.4 million.
At 129 Portland Street in the Bulfinch Triangle district, McCarthy aims to turn a 31,000-square-foot building into as many as 25 apartments. McCarthy doesn’t own the building yet, but has an agreement in place and the lone remaining tenant will vacate once McCarthy closes. The project is expected to cost $5.6 million.
The applications are just the fifth and sixth for the tax break launched by Mayor Michelle Wu last year. The deadline to apply is in two months.”
From apple maps:
129 portland
615 Albany
https://therealdeal.com/national/bo...hes-two-office-to-resi-conversions-in-boston/
These are going to make beautiful apartment buildings!
Developer pitches two office-to-resi conversions in Boston
City tax-break program has fielded just six applications
“A developer plans two office-to-residential conversions in Boston, with help from a rarely used tax break.
Greg McCarthy, a developer who also owns brokerage Riverfront Realtors, submitted a pair of applications to the Boston Planning and Development Agency, the Boston Business Journal reported. He seeks a tax break that the city is promoting to spur conversions of little-used office space.
In the South End, McCarthy is planning to convert the former Boston Medical Center offices at 615 Albany Street into 24 apartments. He purchased the site from BMC and Boston University last year for $3.4 million and estimates converting and adding a floor to the empty 20,000-square-foot property will cost $4.4 million.
At 129 Portland Street in the Bulfinch Triangle district, McCarthy aims to turn a 31,000-square-foot building into as many as 25 apartments. McCarthy doesn’t own the building yet, but has an agreement in place and the lone remaining tenant will vacate once McCarthy closes. The project is expected to cost $5.6 million.
The applications are just the fifth and sixth for the tax break launched by Mayor Michelle Wu last year. The deadline to apply is in two months.”
From apple maps:
129 portland
615 Albany
https://therealdeal.com/national/bo...hes-two-office-to-resi-conversions-in-boston/
These are going to make beautiful apartment buildings!
stick n move
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Board OKs office-to-apartments conversion on Franklin Street downtown
“The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved a developer's plans to convert a six-story office building at 281 Franklin St. into 15 apartments, 3 to be rented as affordable.
Developer Adam Burns needed zoning-board approval because the 1878 building sits in a groundwater-protection district. The board approved the project after Burns's attorney submitted documentation to the city Groundwater Protection Trust that the building would not change the amount of rainwater and melting snow that would "recharge" the ground underneath, rather than flowing into storm sewers. The project did not require any variances.
The $1.6-million conversion project is one of the first under a city pilot that grants tax breaks in an attempt to turn empty downtown office space into residences. Burns is eligible for a 29-year break on property tax for the building, through an abatement of up to 75% of the building's assessed value.”
https://www.universalhub.com/2024/board-oks-office-apartments-conversion-franklin