GrandMarc Residence Hall (YMCA) @ Northeastern U | 291 St. Botolph Street | Fenway

Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

You could blame that lack of retail and street-life as much on the university as you could on the city and the neighbors, I think.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Tombstoner said:
I'm not a student, but I pretty much live on the NU campus. I'm struck by the lack of student-oriented retail (interesting coffeeshops, restaurants, cinemas, etc.) and the poor way that NU/Colleges of the Fenway/MFA/the Fens seem to relate (or not). Ironically, I think it would be more of a community environment if people felt like they were interacting with other academic and residential communities. There is so much potential in this corner of Boston that just isn't being catalyzed into a whole bigger than the sum of its parts.
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I thought NEU had a pretty deliberate objective to make the campus feel like a campus and not a city.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Whereas I, visiting your neighborhood, look at the Huntington Avenue retail strip west of Mass. Ave. and say "this is the student commercial area".

The whole city of Boston is woefully short of movie theatres, as there are only three: one near Simmons College and the other two near Emerson.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Ron Newman said:
Whereas I, visiting your neighborhood, look at the Huntington Avenue retail strip west of Mass. Ave. and say "this is the student commercial area".

The whole city of Boston is woefully short of movie theatres, as there are only three: one near Simmons College and the other two near Emerson.
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Yes, but that Huntington strip is pretty bland and non-collegiate feeling. It could be the business strip in any small town--pizza, real estate offices, tanning salon...nothing edgy. In terms of movie theatres, I think any university that aspires to any stature needs an arts cinema (e.g., the Brattle or Kendall Square). Doesn't have to be big. One could argue that the MFA theatre plays that role, I suppose, but not really...
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Heh, based on the average age of MFA theater audiences, I'd definitely say it doesn't play that role.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

but it could if it promoted itself better (or at all?) at Northeastern, BU, and other nearby campuses. The MFA film program is quite ambitious and extensive.

Emerson College has also started doing some art-cinema programming on weekends at the screening room of the new Paramount.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

bbfen said:
I thought NEU had a pretty deliberate objective to make the campus feel like a campus and not a city.
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It does feel like a campus, but lacks good amenities that are present in some university campuses. In general, the area lacks interesting eateries and entertainment (aside from the MFA). NU's student center, for example, has only bland food options like Wendy's and Pizza Hut. The only "edgy" (as Tombstoner put it) eatery around there I know of is the Espresso Royale Cafe. The rest is Boloco, Au Bon Pain, etc. Coming from a vibrant West Coast campus, it's pretty dull around there.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Maybe a good way of putting it is that, when you're on campus, you know you are on a campus. When you are off-campus, you have no idea a campus is around (apart from the prepondurance of Northeastern sweatshirt-wearers).

And as one of those "mature" :p members of the MFA audience to which blade_bltz refers, I concur, but as Ron Newman says, it has extensive and excellent programming that should do more to target college students. They've recently changed their film person (young guy looks to be about 24 years old; he's introduced a couple premieres) and there's a definite nod to more experimental, sexually explicit and political film (90% of all programming is foreign, though it is rarely always first-run, most of it is 2-6 years old). There is still a lot of stuff for the older MFA patron, but us old folks aren't quite as adverse to experiments, sex and politics as some might think! :cool:
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

We also have Jamba Juice and Pete's coffee.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Chicken Lou still there?
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Yes, as well as Mondo Sub but they stink up Ryder Hall.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Full speed ahead!

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/fenway-kenmore/2011/05/landmarks_commission_oks_hunti.html

Landmarks Commission declines to raise status of Huntington YMCA
E-mail | Print | Comments (0) Posted by Sara Brown May 11, 2011 12:33 PM
By Sara Brown, Town Correspondent

The Boston Landmarks Commission voted Tuesday against upgrading the historical significance of the Huntington Avenue YMCA, paving the way for the construction of a dormitory where the building?s gym now stands.

The commission's vote came after residents filed a petition requesting a "Boston Landmark" designation for the nearly 100-year-old YMCA. Northeastern University plans to build a 17-story, $75 million dorm.

The city's redevelopment authority approved Northeastern's plans in April, though the Landmarks Commission invoked a 90-day demolition delay in March for the building, which was built in 1912 and is on the National Register of Historic Places as a local landmark,

The Huntington Avenue Y was built by the firm Shepley, Ruttan and Coolidge, and President William Howard Taft laid the cornerstone of the building in 1912. The first Boston YMCA--which was the first YMCA in the country--was built in 1851 on Washington Street, and the national register notes that the Boston YMCA played a role in establishing Northeastern University.

Petitioner Calvin Arey, a Symphony Road resident, asked the commission to upgrade the survey rating category from local to state or national significance, citing the Boston YMCA?s role in starting a physical fitness movement, Northeastern's establishment, and the organization's Boston history.

Neighborhood residents and YMCA members spoke about their love of the building and the Y's role in their lives, some noting that they attended a yoga class the previous night, and others saying they could imagine John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald himself, Boston's mayor in 1912, sitting in the lobby.

?This building is under attack right now,? said Andre M. Jones, a Jamaica Plain lawyer and Huntington Avenue YMCA member, citing ?ideas emanating from this building that reverberated around the country.?

Barbara Simons, president of Symphony United Neighbors, said she is concerned about how the new 220,000 square-foot building will impact shade and wind in the neighborhood, arguing that the Y is an "important part of the fabric of the neighborhood.?

The Massachusetts Historical Commission voiced objections to the project, with concerns about how the project will effect nearby landmarks like the New England Conservatory of Music. The commission argued that the new construction would have an "adverse affect" on nearby historic areas, and the 17-story building will be out of scale in the neighborhood.

The commission, which has to approve the project for it to go forward, asked the university to submit alternate sites that could house the dorm, noting vacant areas on the Northeastern campus that could house the building.

However, Leslie Donovan, a historic preservation consultant speaking on behalf of the YMCA, noted the building is not the site of the first YMCA in Boston, or the country, and it is ?not a rare example of a YMCA.?

Northeastern has said construction needs to start this summer for the dormitory to be completed by August 2013. The dorms are part of an effort to reduce the impact of off-campus student housing in the neighborhood.

In the end, commissioners voted 8-0 to deny the petition to upgrade the historic assessment above the current status, saying that though the decision was a close one, there was not historic evidence to back the petition.

The vote was "one of the handful of toughest decisions that this commission has had to take,? said commissioner Thomas Herman. The issue is not whether the YMCA is a national or international instituion, he said, but ?whether this complex of buildings is a complex that does rise above the local leve.?

?On balance, and for me it?s a close balance, I don?t see this building?s signficance as rising above the local level.?

?Taft laid the cornerstone,? said Ellen J. Lipsey, the executive director. ?But he laid many cornerstones.?

Email Sara Brown at yourtownsara@gmail.com
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Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

saying that though the decision was a close one, there was not historic evidence to back the petition.
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This seems counterintuitive. One side presented no evidence whatsoever but it's still a close decision? Even though it was also unanimous? Seems like a no-brainer. In any case, hurray for this going through!
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Also, another article on this (from the NU student paper) has some additional information. In particular, it looks like NU is planning to let YMCA members use Marino Center.

http://huntnewsnu.com/2011/05/?y?-not-a-landmark-says-city/

By Todd Feathers, News Correspondent

The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) met Tuesday and unanimously voted to deny upgrading the significance of the Huntington Avenue YMCA building and making it a historical landmark. By denying the building landmark status, the BLC cleared the way to build a proposed residence hall, that would open in August 2013.

The commission also unanimously voted to deny YMCA members? petition seeking further study of the building?s historical significance.

Tuesday?s vote is the most recent in a line of hurdles Northeastern has overcome in its efforts to build a 17-story dormitory behind the YMCA building on Huntington Avenue.

The dormitory plan received unanimous approval from both the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and Boston Zoning Commission in April. As a response, members of the Huntington Avenue YMCA petitioned the BLC and Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) to designate the building a historic landmark.

?If the board ended up landmarking the YMCA that would be a huge roadblock,? John Tobin, vice president for city and community affairs at Northeastern and former Boston city councilor, said.

Both Northeastern officials and YMCA administrators said they vehemently object to the petitions and plan on fighting them.

?We are very much opposed to that proposal,? Kelley Rice, vice president of development and communications for the YMCA, said. ?This is an issue that has been looked at before, and the city and state had made the determination that this building was not of significance. We believe that ruling should stand.?

Calvin Arey, a YMCA member who has lead the opposition to the dormitory, said the new building would be ?out of scale and out of context? with historic buildings in the area, such as Jordan Hall and the YMCA building itself.

Despite the BLC?s ruling, YMCA members opposed to the dorm said they still have several other options to stop demolition and construction.

A letter from Brona Simon, executive director of the MHC, to Phoenix Property Company, the developers who would build the dormitory and lease it to Northeastern, said the building as it is currently designed would have an ?adverse effect? and ?visually compromise the character of the historic neighborhood.?

The MHC next meets June 8, one day after the BLC?s 90-day demolition delay expires.

YMCA members said they are also considering challenging the BRA?s approval of the plan in court, because it would extend Northeastern?s official footprint to include real estate the university does not own.

?I just don?t see how the footprint of the university can be extended to include land they don?t own and aren?t going to own,? Arey said. ?They?re just simply leasing space there.?

YMCA supporters and Northeastern officials both believe the MHC will rule in their favor, despite their opposing positions.

?I?m hopeful but I?m also fairly confident,? Tobin said. ?We?re addressing the concerns the Massachusetts Historical Commission had, and also having further dialogue with the BLC in order for us to move forward and have this dorm built in time for an opening of August 2013.?

Although they are confident the dorm plan will not be stopped, YMCA administrators are still struggling to appease members who are worried about the quality of the new facility that will be built in place of the old one.

Rice said the YMCA plans on spending about $20 million, out of the $21.5 million they will receive in the sale of the building on renovating the facility. However, in the eyes of some members, a cost estimate is not enough.

?They do not have schematic drawings, what they do have is a rough idea,? Arey said.

If the dorm plan is given the green light, the YMCA and Northeastern have made arrangements for YMCA members to use the Marino Center while construction is underway.

?We have worked a deal with Northeastern so that our members have daily access to the Marino Center and they also have limited pool use during the interim construction period,? Rice said.

Northeastern officials said they are conscious of the fact 2,500 new users could cause problems in Marino, and that YMCA members would not be able to use the facilities during peak hours.

?There are going to be certain safeguards put in there so it?s not going to be overburdened,? Tobin said.

Arey said granting YMCA members access to the Marino Center would not solve the problem, and YMCA members would continue fighting to preserve the YMCA building as it is.

?It?s still very much up in the air whether this will happen or not,? Arey said.
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Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

"?This building is under attack right now,? said Andre M. Jones, a Jamaica Plain lawyer and Huntington Avenue YMCA member, citing ?ideas emanating from this building that reverberated around the country.?

What???

The opponents seem to be grasping at straws.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

TomOfBoston said:
"?This building is under attack right now,? said Andre M. Jones, a Jamaica Plain lawyer and Huntington Avenue YMCA member, citing ?ideas emanating from this building that reverberated around the country.?

What???

The opponents seem to be grasping at straws.
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I think "straws" is giving him way too much credit. It's literal non-sense.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

Correction, only 1/3rd of the building is "attacked." The main structure isn't getting torn down. Drama queen much?
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

A few years from now when Northeastern tries to demolish the Gainsborough St. Garage for a new building the cries will be that it is a classic example of early twentieth century parking garages that influenced the design of parking garages across the country.
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

If current construction/development trends continue apace we probably will look back at that garage wistfully. :/
 
Re: YMCA/ Northeastern Dorm (formerly GrandMarc at St. Botolph)

While I don't support the petition, historical significance can apply to what happened inside the building, not just its architecture.
 
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