Fort Point Infill and Small Developments
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underground
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It's really distressing to hear that some people got kicked out of their spots, and now the people who did the "kicking-outing" are selling. However, in the grand scheme of things, is it a good or a bad thing that this group is moving on? Surely, it was very interesting and encouraging that someone with a big name was going to redo what was basically half of Fort Point, but after all of the buy up, I kind of had the sinking feeling we were going to get the Disnyfied, Pleasure Island, version of Fort Point. Now that more than one big name will be involved, maybe the chances of having a diverse and dynamic Fort Point are back? Or maybe we'll just have empty warehouses for a few more years, I don't know.
Market realities foil Fort Point community plan
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | December 18, 2007
The collapse of the residential real estate market has stalled ambitious efforts to turn the Fort Point district into a lively, hip neighborhood of homes, offices, shops, and night life.
Instead, with the office leasing market in Boston surging and space scarce, developers are choosing to convert the funky old brick warehouse buildings to office and commercial uses.
The sale last week of two warehouse buildings on Summer Street vividly highlights these abrupt market shifts, and symbolizes disappointment within the community that the old Boston Wharf Co. district will not soon teem with life 24/7.
"That community with lots of residents is going to take a lot longer to achieve than had been anticipated by the planners," said Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association. Li, whose office is on Congress Street, said the area is getting busier, but "it tends to be driven by the office workers and people coming to the restaurants."
Archon/Goldman, the former owners of 316 and 322 Summer St., had initially envisioned converting the two properties into luxury condominiums, launching the area's transformation into a community where people live, work, and play - a local version of the Soho and South Beach neighborhoods in New York and Florida where partner Tony Goldman was a leading developer.
Goldman and partner Archon Group LP had a portfolio of 17 buildings they acquired from the old Boston Wharf Co. in 2005 that they planned to renovate into a mix of residential, office, and retail related space.
Instead, with the residential market weak, the owners took advantage of the healthy market for office and commercial space and sold 316 and 322 Summer St. for $17.8 million to Lincoln Property Co. last week.
"Developers who acquired buildings with the intent to redevelop into residential are often able to achieve the same ultimate return on investment by selling to office developers, because of the large run-up in office rents," said Michael G. Smith, principal of Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate firm that represented Archon/Goldman.
As recently as last year Archon/Goldman and others were promoting a vision of Fort Point in which upscale residential units would replace cheap artists studios. Even families would live there. Young professionals could walk to work. The sidewalks would be crowded at noon and night with pedestrians and shoppers, with restaurants and clubs adding to the draw.
Valerie Burns, a Fort Point resident, said there's some unhappiness about the slow development of residences, but no panic. "I just think there's a sense of reality about how fast the neighborhood is going to grow," she said.
For now office space with ground-floor retail frontage will dominate, and significant new housing will likely wait until that end of the market recovers. Lincoln said it will spend at least $10 million rehabbing the two handsome tan and yellow brick buildings it bought from Archon/Goldman, totaling 121,000 square feet, into offices. The company expects to have a restaurant in one at ground level and may even add additional floors to the buildings.
"We're bringing it back to what it was, in a much higher standard," said John D. Miller, Lincoln Property senior vice president. He expects the renovation to be finished by the first quarter of 2009.
Archon/Goldman has also sold three other buildings to Normandy Real Estate Partners, which is nearly finished fixing them up for office use. Two, at 273 and 281 Summer St., will house Achilles, a boutique clothing store, and a restaurant run by the chef of Lumiere in West Newton, Michael Leviton.
Archon/Goldman sold another of its buildings - 311 Summer St. - to architectural firm ADD Inc. of Cambridge., which will relocate to the building next summer after adding new floors. There will be a large restaurant at street level and additional small retail and office space. Archon/Goldman is proceeding with its plans to redevelop several buildings on Melcher Street.
Another property owner, Commonwealth Ventures LLC of Southport, Conn., is pushing ahead with redevelopment of the office space component of Channel Center, two rows of partially redeveloped buildings along A Street, while holding back on additional residential it had targeted for the center.
On nearby Congress Street, Berkeley Investments recently elected to rehab one building - at 368 Congress - into first-class office space with ground floor retail, while holding off redevelopment of 381 Congress, to see whether the office sector reaches saturation or the condo market recovers.
But Berkeley is testing the residential market with 92 luxury condos at FP3, a multibuilding project at 348-354 Congress St. Prices will range between $350,000 and more than $2 million. It will open in the spring, and will have a large restaurant complex run by chef Barbara Lynch of No. 9 Park fame.
Berkeley has sold about 20 percent of the units, said Richard M. Griffin, vice president of acquisitions.
He said the company decided to stick with its original condo plan for the project because the buildings were better suited for residential uses, and that it would have been too much to make all of its 1 million square feet of property commercial space.
"We're accomplishing what we set out to do in the neighborhood," said Griffin.
If successful, the combination of Berkeley's condos, additional office workers, and new entertainment and dining venues could persuade other developers to revive the residential component in the Fort Point neighborhood.
"Once you make the buildings lively at a ground level and add amenities, more than just a Dunkin' Donut," it will attract both residents and workers, said Miller of Lincoln Properties. "You've got public transportation and parking options, and it's far more affordable than the central business district."
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Link: www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/12/18/market_realities_foil_fort_point_community_plan/
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | December 18, 2007
The collapse of the residential real estate market has stalled ambitious efforts to turn the Fort Point district into a lively, hip neighborhood of homes, offices, shops, and night life.
Instead, with the office leasing market in Boston surging and space scarce, developers are choosing to convert the funky old brick warehouse buildings to office and commercial uses.
The sale last week of two warehouse buildings on Summer Street vividly highlights these abrupt market shifts, and symbolizes disappointment within the community that the old Boston Wharf Co. district will not soon teem with life 24/7.
"That community with lots of residents is going to take a lot longer to achieve than had been anticipated by the planners," said Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association. Li, whose office is on Congress Street, said the area is getting busier, but "it tends to be driven by the office workers and people coming to the restaurants."
Archon/Goldman, the former owners of 316 and 322 Summer St., had initially envisioned converting the two properties into luxury condominiums, launching the area's transformation into a community where people live, work, and play - a local version of the Soho and South Beach neighborhoods in New York and Florida where partner Tony Goldman was a leading developer.
Goldman and partner Archon Group LP had a portfolio of 17 buildings they acquired from the old Boston Wharf Co. in 2005 that they planned to renovate into a mix of residential, office, and retail related space.
Instead, with the residential market weak, the owners took advantage of the healthy market for office and commercial space and sold 316 and 322 Summer St. for $17.8 million to Lincoln Property Co. last week.
"Developers who acquired buildings with the intent to redevelop into residential are often able to achieve the same ultimate return on investment by selling to office developers, because of the large run-up in office rents," said Michael G. Smith, principal of Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate firm that represented Archon/Goldman.
As recently as last year Archon/Goldman and others were promoting a vision of Fort Point in which upscale residential units would replace cheap artists studios. Even families would live there. Young professionals could walk to work. The sidewalks would be crowded at noon and night with pedestrians and shoppers, with restaurants and clubs adding to the draw.
Valerie Burns, a Fort Point resident, said there's some unhappiness about the slow development of residences, but no panic. "I just think there's a sense of reality about how fast the neighborhood is going to grow," she said.
For now office space with ground-floor retail frontage will dominate, and significant new housing will likely wait until that end of the market recovers. Lincoln said it will spend at least $10 million rehabbing the two handsome tan and yellow brick buildings it bought from Archon/Goldman, totaling 121,000 square feet, into offices. The company expects to have a restaurant in one at ground level and may even add additional floors to the buildings.
"We're bringing it back to what it was, in a much higher standard," said John D. Miller, Lincoln Property senior vice president. He expects the renovation to be finished by the first quarter of 2009.
Archon/Goldman has also sold three other buildings to Normandy Real Estate Partners, which is nearly finished fixing them up for office use. Two, at 273 and 281 Summer St., will house Achilles, a boutique clothing store, and a restaurant run by the chef of Lumiere in West Newton, Michael Leviton.
Archon/Goldman sold another of its buildings - 311 Summer St. - to architectural firm ADD Inc. of Cambridge., which will relocate to the building next summer after adding new floors. There will be a large restaurant at street level and additional small retail and office space. Archon/Goldman is proceeding with its plans to redevelop several buildings on Melcher Street.
Another property owner, Commonwealth Ventures LLC of Southport, Conn., is pushing ahead with redevelopment of the office space component of Channel Center, two rows of partially redeveloped buildings along A Street, while holding back on additional residential it had targeted for the center.
On nearby Congress Street, Berkeley Investments recently elected to rehab one building - at 368 Congress - into first-class office space with ground floor retail, while holding off redevelopment of 381 Congress, to see whether the office sector reaches saturation or the condo market recovers.
But Berkeley is testing the residential market with 92 luxury condos at FP3, a multibuilding project at 348-354 Congress St. Prices will range between $350,000 and more than $2 million. It will open in the spring, and will have a large restaurant complex run by chef Barbara Lynch of No. 9 Park fame.
Berkeley has sold about 20 percent of the units, said Richard M. Griffin, vice president of acquisitions.
He said the company decided to stick with its original condo plan for the project because the buildings were better suited for residential uses, and that it would have been too much to make all of its 1 million square feet of property commercial space.
"We're accomplishing what we set out to do in the neighborhood," said Griffin.
If successful, the combination of Berkeley's condos, additional office workers, and new entertainment and dining venues could persuade other developers to revive the residential component in the Fort Point neighborhood.
"Once you make the buildings lively at a ground level and add amenities, more than just a Dunkin' Donut," it will attract both residents and workers, said Miller of Lincoln Properties. "You've got public transportation and parking options, and it's far more affordable than the central business district."
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Link: www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/12/18/market_realities_foil_fort_point_community_plan/
whighlander
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Once again -- not to belabor the point too much -- this is a place in transition and it will continue to change for the next few decades
Look at what happened to Cambridge Center aka Kendall Square in the past 40 years.
For the better part of 20 years there wasn't much and then all of the small things on the edges started to knit together.
Fort Point has several advantages over Kendall Square including that there are a lot of fine buildings just in need of renovation and where one or two is gone and needs to be replaced -- that's an opportunity. Kendall Square was for several decades with just the Volpe Center, Tech Square and a few other peripheral developments surrounding a multi block wasteland a la Seaport Square today.
Similarly there was the MIT owned "Simplex Property" that today houses people {graduate dorms, apartments, townhouses, hotel}, shops, restaurants and mostly biotech R&D and some office with a few small parks thrown in for good measure.
In the meantime, before the Forest City folks did the major development of the ?Simplex Property? it was a mix of empty lots {where Simplex Wire and Cable had once hummed 24x7} some small industrial and low rent commercial -- all of those are long gone and their owners got displaced.
Fort Point, Fan Pier and Seaport Square will similarly rise to significance in the next few decades ? like the Greenway
Remember that development in Boston should be measured in Menino years {equivalent to dog years on the other scale -- i.e. One Menino year = 3 or 4 traditional years on the Gregorian Calendar}
Westy
Look at what happened to Cambridge Center aka Kendall Square in the past 40 years.
For the better part of 20 years there wasn't much and then all of the small things on the edges started to knit together.
Fort Point has several advantages over Kendall Square including that there are a lot of fine buildings just in need of renovation and where one or two is gone and needs to be replaced -- that's an opportunity. Kendall Square was for several decades with just the Volpe Center, Tech Square and a few other peripheral developments surrounding a multi block wasteland a la Seaport Square today.
Similarly there was the MIT owned "Simplex Property" that today houses people {graduate dorms, apartments, townhouses, hotel}, shops, restaurants and mostly biotech R&D and some office with a few small parks thrown in for good measure.
In the meantime, before the Forest City folks did the major development of the ?Simplex Property? it was a mix of empty lots {where Simplex Wire and Cable had once hummed 24x7} some small industrial and low rent commercial -- all of those are long gone and their owners got displaced.
Fort Point, Fan Pier and Seaport Square will similarly rise to significance in the next few decades ? like the Greenway
Remember that development in Boston should be measured in Menino years {equivalent to dog years on the other scale -- i.e. One Menino year = 3 or 4 traditional years on the Gregorian Calendar}
Westy
Hub Oks study of mail site
Development eyed
The city of Boston is pushing ahead with plans to expand the area around the Fort Point Channel neighborhood by the 16 acres now taken up by the giant U.S. Postal Service annex.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority has set aside $100,000 to study the city?s options after the Postal Service, as expected, sells the property and moves its operations to the Reserve Channel area of the South Boston waterfront.
The BRA is considering extending the harborwalk system to the current postal property, reopening nearby Dorchester Avenue, and providing extra space for South Station to be able to handle new commuter-rail lines. After the postal property is freed up, the city also wants to seea mix of condos, hotels, retail stores and office space built on the site, said Rich McGuinness, the BRA?s deputy director for waterfront development.
McGuiness said the current postal service property is ?prime? for development.
But first the Postal Service has to sell the land.
This past fall, it put out requests for bids on the property - and is expected to get purchase offers by early next year.
But it could still take four years before complicated land transactions take place that will free up the current postal site, said McGuinness.
Local politicians - among them Mayor Thomas Menino and South Boston?s Sen. Jack Hart - have been pushing hard to free up the postal property for future other uses.
McGuinness said the new study will help the city establish development guidelines for the area.
Link
Development eyed
The city of Boston is pushing ahead with plans to expand the area around the Fort Point Channel neighborhood by the 16 acres now taken up by the giant U.S. Postal Service annex.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority has set aside $100,000 to study the city?s options after the Postal Service, as expected, sells the property and moves its operations to the Reserve Channel area of the South Boston waterfront.
The BRA is considering extending the harborwalk system to the current postal property, reopening nearby Dorchester Avenue, and providing extra space for South Station to be able to handle new commuter-rail lines. After the postal property is freed up, the city also wants to seea mix of condos, hotels, retail stores and office space built on the site, said Rich McGuinness, the BRA?s deputy director for waterfront development.
McGuiness said the current postal service property is ?prime? for development.
But first the Postal Service has to sell the land.
This past fall, it put out requests for bids on the property - and is expected to get purchase offers by early next year.
But it could still take four years before complicated land transactions take place that will free up the current postal site, said McGuinness.
Local politicians - among them Mayor Thomas Menino and South Boston?s Sen. Jack Hart - have been pushing hard to free up the postal property for future other uses.
McGuinness said the new study will help the city establish development guidelines for the area.
Link
kz1000ps
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So much for that!
whighlander
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This is great news!!
That South Postal Annex Bulldog {except for the 24 hour windows} is the ideal thing for suburbs or at worst -- some industrial district in the city such as the edge of the Marine Industrial Park
To do it right it -- because of the mail flow -- it needs to be low and wide and long -- and have lots of loading docs for trucks moving around all hours of the day and night -- not an urban friendly building at all
On the other hand at 16 acres -- the site is ideal for a cluster of relatively large buildings {unfortunately due to the FAA ? not a good site for one really big and tall building}
In fact -- it might make more sense {since the SST construction design is apparently not yet finished} -- for the BRA to seriously consider how to integrate the whole South Station Complex including the South Station Tower and the huge but relatively low -- former "Stone Webster" building along with the South Postal Annex site into one Prudential-like ?All weather complex?
I'd build a one to two story pedestal of street access ground floor retail along Dot Ave {accessible also from an internal glass roof corridor a la Prudential} with branching glass streets to the lobbies of a bunch of towers of various heights {from Stone and Webster's 10 stories to about 30 stories down at the other end} and connected to South Station Lobby and the lobby of the SST ? connected by all weather {pedestrian tunnels, etc.} to the Red / Silver Lines and Commuter Rail, Intercity buses, and Amtrak.
Then along the Fort Point channel side of re-opened Dot Ave -- a broad Harbor Walk with access to the water {a la the Thames-side near Big Ben in London} and wide sidewalks on the retail side as well
Possibly a small vest-pocket-park could be included close to Fort Point Channel and away from Dewey Square.
Overall a golden opportunity among the many that are now appearing to nock on Boston?s Door ? I hope the mayor invites some of them in
Westy
That South Postal Annex Bulldog {except for the 24 hour windows} is the ideal thing for suburbs or at worst -- some industrial district in the city such as the edge of the Marine Industrial Park
To do it right it -- because of the mail flow -- it needs to be low and wide and long -- and have lots of loading docs for trucks moving around all hours of the day and night -- not an urban friendly building at all
On the other hand at 16 acres -- the site is ideal for a cluster of relatively large buildings {unfortunately due to the FAA ? not a good site for one really big and tall building}
In fact -- it might make more sense {since the SST construction design is apparently not yet finished} -- for the BRA to seriously consider how to integrate the whole South Station Complex including the South Station Tower and the huge but relatively low -- former "Stone Webster" building along with the South Postal Annex site into one Prudential-like ?All weather complex?
I'd build a one to two story pedestal of street access ground floor retail along Dot Ave {accessible also from an internal glass roof corridor a la Prudential} with branching glass streets to the lobbies of a bunch of towers of various heights {from Stone and Webster's 10 stories to about 30 stories down at the other end} and connected to South Station Lobby and the lobby of the SST ? connected by all weather {pedestrian tunnels, etc.} to the Red / Silver Lines and Commuter Rail, Intercity buses, and Amtrak.
Then along the Fort Point channel side of re-opened Dot Ave -- a broad Harbor Walk with access to the water {a la the Thames-side near Big Ben in London} and wide sidewalks on the retail side as well
Possibly a small vest-pocket-park could be included close to Fort Point Channel and away from Dewey Square.
Overall a golden opportunity among the many that are now appearing to nock on Boston?s Door ? I hope the mayor invites some of them in
Westy
No problem. I enjoy going around taking pics. Just wished I lived closer. There'd be a lot more.
T
TGSwimFly
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^^ that first shot looks like a movie set
czsz
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Follow your eyes from bottom to top in that photo: the good, the bad, the ugly.
Does every decent or potentially decent Boston neighborhood need to be offset by a concrete monstrosity akin to Government Center or Charles River Park?
Does every decent or potentially decent Boston neighborhood need to be offset by a concrete monstrosity akin to Government Center or Charles River Park?
whighlander
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If I'm seeing the same path for my eyes as you -- you are referring to the Westin as "Ugly"
No -- just utilitarian -- what else can you expect for a conference center hotel -- maximum windows {i.e. rooms} with constraints on the height from the NIMBYs in the hood {er Southy}
What about the BEC that is between the "Bad" and the "Ugly"
Westy
No -- just utilitarian -- what else can you expect for a conference center hotel -- maximum windows {i.e. rooms} with constraints on the height from the NIMBYs in the hood {er Southy}
What about the BEC that is between the "Bad" and the "Ugly"
Westy