Great Scott Redevelopment | 1 Harvard Ave | Allston

[BeansTheCat]

An LOI for building a Great Scott successor has been filed. We'll have to wait for the PNF, but some key points below:

The proponent team will pair this renewed 300-capacity music performance venue (Great Scott) with the retention and reconstruction of the 75-capacity O'Brien's Pub performance venue... Above the actively-programmed ground floor, and separated from that level by an acoustical barrier, will be 139 residential units.

The proposed new building will have a building height of approximately 105 feet and will contain approximately 95,000 square feet of gross floor area. The project will not include any off-street automobile parking...

BPD Project:
https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/1-harvard-avenue

For more context:
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/202...usic-venue-great-scott-will-return-to-allston
https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2024-0...sic-venue-great-scott-will-be-back-and-better
https://www.universalhub.com/2024/developers-will-soon-file-plans-300-seat

 

[millerm277]

Glad to see it and hope it's approved quickly, especially with the Middle East venues probably having their days numbered.

 

[Banker & Tradesman]

A tidbit of how they'll make it work that we got from one of the developers for our story yesterday: https://bankerandtradesman.com/legendary-music-halls-second-act-seeks-housing-harmony-in-allston/

The building design will isolate sound from the music venue from the apartments above with installation of a “floating floor” that essentially separates the building into two separate structures, Warshaw said. It will include a green awning replicating Great Scott’s signature entrance.

 

[FK4]

Glad to see it and hope it's approved quickly, especially with the Middle East venues probably having their days numbered.

Really?

 

[millerm277]

Really?

The Saters listed it for sale in 2020 but pulled it off the market when no buyers showed up (or at least at their price).

In 2022, they proposed to demolish the whole complex and build a 6-story hotel on the site, albeit with 2 music venue spaces on the ground + basement levels - but the net result if that got built would be much less than is there today for performance spaces, especially small performance spaces like some of the ones it currently hosts.

Between the two attempts and I think a previous one a few years further back, I don't have a whole lot of confidence that something isn't going to eventually happen to redevelop the site, and I expect the final product will result in a net loss of venues/performance spaces, even if something remains.