Fort Point Infill and Small Developments

^ I've stood on and looked down Congress St a couple of times now and I don't think that hotel will block much of anything of the ventilation stacks.

The hotel parcel is the teardrop-shaped grass plot at left-center, whereas the Congress Street axis is more in line with where the truck is.

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and here's the view down Congress from the northern side of the street, where I don't think the hotel will have any impact whatsoever (what's that guy taking a picture of??)

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Meanwhile, steel erection is nearing completion at FP3.. sorry about the crookedness

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Well, at least the vent stack has a heroic, industrial aspect...which will be heightened after a few decades of weathered decay. Too bad about that striped "artistic element" forcibly tacked onto it, which dilutes that effect.
 
I'm sure something will eventually be built on the parking lot in front of the vent stack.
 
$67M Construction Loan Buoys Channel Center Plan
By Joe Clements
Last updated: August 15, 2007 09:30am


BOSTON - Hoping to capture a rising tide of demand for office space, the developers of Channel Center in the city?s Seaport District are moving ahead on renovations to the mixed-use complex after receiving a $67-million construction loan from Apollo Real Estate Finance Corp. The client, Commonwealth Center Holdings VAF, is taking on the second phase of a 1.6-million-sf project conceived by Beacon Capital Partners to rehab a strip of gritty industrial buildings and supplement those structures with new housing, office and retail.

?From Day One, we have been excited about the location of Channel Center, as well as the explosion of interest in the Seaport area,? developer Richard Galvin says in a release announcing the financing, which was arranged through the Boston office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. Work will ?commence immediately? on renovating three brick buildings lining A Street known as 10, 20 and 30 Channel Center, says Galvin, whose Commonwealth Ventures LLC is teaming with an arm of GE Asset Management to undertake the project.

There are five existing buildings at Channel Center totaling 290,000 sf of space, while there are rights to construct another 800,000 sf of office and residential product. There are also plans for a garage accommodating more than 900 vehicles, a valued element in a property bordering space-starved South Boston?s residential area.

While the split between office and residential space was not provided, Galvin indicates that the firm is intent on chasing office deals at a time when downtown rents are rebounding to record levels. ?This is a unique opportunity for us to?take advantage of strong market dynamics,? says Galvin, who pledges to have space available by next spring.

Besides an anticipated discount to the Financial District, Galvin says Channel Center tenants will also benefit from the rapid maturation of the Seaport District and the smaller Fort Point Channel area where Channel Center is situated. Not only is the first entrance to the Third Harbor Tunnel connecting to Logan International Airport located in the Seaport District, the gleaming new Boston Convention Center was erected just steps behind Channel Center, while city and state transit officials have sunk billions of dollars into new buildings, transit ways and public parks. According to HFF director Anthony Cutone, the investments ?are reshaping the face of the Fort Point Channel neighborhood,? and Channel Center ?will further enhance the vibrant atmosphere? emerging in the district. HFF was also involved in financing the initial phase of Channel Center in 2003.

In the loan arrangement, Apollo provided an acquisition/predevelopment loan that will be replaced with $67 million of first mortgage and mezzanine financing to pay for renovation and leasing of the buildings. Arefin is the lending and debt investment vehicle for Apollo Real Estate Advisors. HFF?s Boston operation is one of 18 national offices providing capital markets services to the US CRE industry, including debt placement, investment sales, structured finance and loan servicing.



Link
 
The Congress Street bridge

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On to FP3, yesterday was the official topping out from what I could gather. I say this not based on any concrete info, but I went by in the morning and there was a beam on a flatbed with an American flag and a tree on it, which means it's the final beam to go up. Plus, I went by later on in the day and I didn't see it in the staging area.

I was in a hurry early on, so no picture of the last beam.

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Ya i know! it is so unreal, but i have come to love that building. It would look even more amazing if it was a skyscraper, but still that is one of the nicer looking buildings in Boston, IMO.
 
Yea, I like it a lot too. A lot of people seemed to dislike it on this board if I remember correctly. The inside of it is amazing, I was really impressed with the interior.
 
I'm not crazy about the massing, but I think that glass is top-notch. It looks great under almost any lighting condition, and I always give it at least a glance when passing by, which is more than can be said for a lot of buildings.

Of course I was going to share a photo of IC with you guys, but it's somehow not on my hard drive anywhere even though it shows up in iPhoto with no problem (??)
 
This should probably have its own thread when things get moving, but for now we'll put it here.

The Globe said:
Postal Service prepares to move
City seeks to develop waterfront property

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | September 22, 2007

After a decade of discussion and delay, the US Postal Service is finally preparing to move out of its Fort Point Channel hub, freeing a large chunk of valuable land near the emerging South Boston waterfront district for new development.

The Postal Service will ask developers in about six weeks to submit proposals for redeveloping its 16 acres along the channel and Dorchester Avenue at Summer Street, according to Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has been pushing the project forward. The Postal Service is also expected to make available another 24 acres along A Street, which it now uses for parking, for redevelopment.

Moving the huge postal annex, where mail is sorted, could also make available more land for South Station, which officials say is critically short of space for new commuter-rail tracks to accommodate expansions in service to the south and west of Boston.

"This has been a project that's been out there for a long while," Menino said yesterday. "Every six weeks we are going to have a meeting on this, and we'll continue to meet till we get this project off the ground."

Moving the agency out of the two large sites could lead to the replacement of the industrial-type uses and vacant land with the kind of vibrant 24-hour neighborhoods of residences, work, entertainment, and shopping that City Hall has encouraged downtown and along the South Boston water front.

The Postal Service is negotiating with the Massachusetts Port Authority about relocating to a 25-acre parcel farther down Summer Street, past the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The post office would have to build a new complex there, so a move could take three to four years. Massport owns most of that land; the US Department of Defense owns the remainder.

Numerous new permits and land exchanges must be completed before a Postal Service move takes place.

But Massport chief executive Thomas J. Kinton Jr. said the authority has a "nonbinding" agreement with the Postal Service essentially giving the service an exclusive option on the land.

Menino added that staffers are expected to present Massport's board of directors in November with an agreement involving the lease of land to the Postal Service.

Postal Service officials did not return calls seeking comment. But local planners, in the course of mapping out a new "100 acres" neighborhood in the Fort Point Channel area, said they've been told previously by postal executives that the service would be selling the land it now occupies when it relocates.

The Postal Service has long been crowded into its facility on Dorchester Avenue, and has looked to build a state-of-the-art facility.

Its departure from the annex would open up a sizable area for office, residential, commercial, or mixed-use development near South Station. Already a 40-story office tower is planned for over the rail tracks and a portion of South Station, while the neighborhood across the channel from the annex, and near its parking facilities, also is undergoing major redevelopment.

Spaced freed up by the move could also allow construction of between two and six new railroad tracks into South Station, which now has 13 tracks.

But redevelopment hinges on a complex series of moves involving other properties, much of it to accommodate the post office's relocation.

About 8 acres of the South Boston site where the new post office would built is owned by the Department of Defense, officials said. US Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of South Boston, has proposed legislation in Congress that would transfer that land.

Another piece of the puzzle that would need to fall into place is Massport's acquisition of the privately owned Coastal Oil site in South Boston, which is next to the Conley freight terminal. Freight equipment is now stored on the land that the Postal Service wants - and could be relocated to the Coastal Oil site.

Also, the terminal is crowded and in need of more berths for ships, Kinton said yesterday.

Kinton said Massport officials are in negotiations with the owners of Coastal Oil to obtain that property.

"It's a Rubik's Cube, there are so many moving pieces," said state Senator Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat.

Hart was among a dozen city and state officials and private executives who met yesterday morning at the Parkman House to discuss the move and other significant changes to the South Boston Waterfront.

Hart said the meeting was called as a means of "stressing the sense of urgency of about it, that we have to kind of kick start this thing."

Both Menino and Hart said South Boston residents would be involved in planning for the changes, which would bring more traffic but also more jobs to the neighborhood.

Postal Service officials have had their eye on the South Boston property for years, but negotiations over terms dragged on. Also, without the Washington legislation, the Department of Defense property that completes the site has been unavailable.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
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Link

I thought this was a good thing till I saw this graphic:
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Ugh. :evil:
 
DarkFenX said:
statler said:
This should probably have its own thread when things get moving, but for now we'll put it here.
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I don't think you have a choice in the matter anymore lol

http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=982
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:!:
I was too slow to post my new topic and statler beat me, so I deleted the new topic for this.

Isn't there a proposal to move the FBI to near the proposed location for the new post office facility?
 
Postal Annex move bravo!

I've been suggesting that move for nearly 20 years

I once walked through Dorchester Avenue to see where some of the Big Dig work was going to occur

Even before 9/11/01 -- the Postal Service guards blocking private automobile access to the piece of Dorchester Avenue near the facility were not very friendly.

I realized that without the Postal Annex that stretch of Dorchester Avenue could become a new mini Esplanade.

In addition to removing the building the plan should move the road to allow a green belt of the width of the Esplanade near to the Mass Ave Bridge along the water with some floating docking and ramps to allow access to he water -- much like the Thames near Big Ben in London

From that point on the Fort Point Channel -- large fast boats could go out to points in Boston Harbor, while small boats could go back under the bridges to the remnants of the old South Bay that still exists

The Postal Annex property would make a spectacular location for a World-Class Hotel and residence complex with several narrow towers sitting on a low rise base connecting into the South Station transportation lobby

This will take some time -- but it could be very interesting development location

Westy
 
This is a great opportunity, that Post Office annex is a huge site, especially in that area. With all that room gone, Boston should be able to add some new buildings right there, and make Fort Point nicer, and more of a desirable location to visit. Another couple of skyscrapers would be amazing there too. Boston is gonna be soooo different in 20 years.
 
This would be really good. First, opening up Dorchester Ave will help the area in terms of access, etc. Second that parking lot can finally be developed (though sadly probably just a mirror of Fan Pier type large development). My only thing is, does the new Annex really need that much land?
 
I wonder if the T will want some of that land for additional South Station tracks (which used to be there before the Postal Annex was built)
 
chris said:
This would be really good. First, opening up Dorchester Ave will help the area in terms of access, etc. Second that parking lot can finally be developed (though sadly probably just a mirror of Fan Pier type large development). My only thing is, does the new Annex really need that much land?
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I was wondering the same thing. I had always hoped the city would have stepped in here and extended the residential street grid through this industrial area.
 
Ron, I believe that plans are already in place to add, at least, 1 more track for the New Bedford/Fall River Commuter Rail line. I think I've also heard in the past that the Postal Annex was one of the hindrances to the North/South Rail link. It would be nice if, in the planning for whatever goes there, they'd at least leave room for the possibility of the Rail Link in the future, but then again, it would be nice if they'd do a lot of things!
 
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