Fenway Infill and Small Developments

This looks like a parking garage expansion with a hotel room component.

BTW, check out Table 2-4. They finally come out and admit that traffic levels have been declining by 0.3 to 0.5% per year. But they still assume the standard "0.5%" increase going forward! They even have the chutzpah to call that a "conservative" estimate. Sigh.

I guess it's progress to see them admit the contradiction. I've gotten consultants to admit in meetings to declining traffic levels, but never in print.
 
So this wholesale blows the main opportunity to activate Newbury St, gives us an underheight, ugly building, and adds more parking then hotel rooms. Yay?


Everything to do with the Hotel Commonwealth is such an ungodly disaster its unbelievable. Anyone else notice the continuing degradation of their retail tenant mix, as well as outright vacancies? I assume the rooms must be nice...
 
This is hideous... both in look and in urbanism...
 
This block is already mangled by the pike extension and on-ramp... this section of street is a highway frontage road that acts as a trash collection alley. At least this salvages some value from it.
 
I love dumping on the Hotel Commonwealth as much as the next person, but:

1) The rendering makes it hard to tell what the final product will look like. Material choices could be anything.

2) This is an ally crammed between backs of buildings and a highway. We're really worried about activation?
 
If fenway center as originally planned had gone through...maybe?
 
I'm less worried about activation (though Boston does not appreciate its back streets enough sometimes...) and more about dumping a parking lot on Kenmore which does not need more traffic, and has a nice downward trend that would be nice to sustain.
 
Hutchison said:
If fenway center as originally planned had gone through...maybe?
Click to expand...

That, and the stretch of Boylston overlooking the Pike canyon is easily one of the most activated spaces in the area. From the BOA ATM at Mass Ave to the Symphony Mart at Ipswitch is about 390'. There are something like 14 businesses, mostly restaurants, in the stretch that do amazingly well, despite facing the pike and being on a street that is mostly residential. This parcel is almost exactly the same, but has the added benefit of being only a block off Kenmore Square and right on the way to Fenway Park. You would be able to see it crossing the Brookline Ave bridge after games.

This expansion for ever will cement this part of Newbury as a backwater alley. If something more visionary had been proposed, it could have easially bridged the gap between Fenway and Kenmore, and also hopefully lead the AI to open their boarded up first floor retail, and redevelopment of that godawful Sovereign Bank building.
 
davem said:
If something more visionary had been proposed, it could have easially bridged the gap between Fenway and Kenmore
Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm not buying this. The Bowker Overpass says hello. As does the convent at the corner of Newbury and Charlesgate.
 
Looks like a highway motel.

Doesnt it also destroy the values of the original rooms? Now your "view of Fenway park" is a dark 12 foot alley with views into other rooms.
 
Man if you think that's ugly, look at the hotel that was approved this week for South Boston.

1390604_522339907850839_1173277541_n-thumb-520x335-115813.jpg


Are they the same architects?
 
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