Harvard Club of Boston Redevelopment | 415 Newbury Street | Back Bay

bbfen said:
The NIMBY’s who have “garden level” condos on Comm Avenue bullied them into less height, cause “teh views and sun lite”
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Can't say I blame them. This isn't like a complaint about shadows on the Common. It's between seeing the sky out your back window or a wall.
 
king_vibe said:
It’s the definition of NIMBYism. The need to claim property rights on property you do not own.
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But there is something being built in their "backyard" and it was modified in response to their complaints, although I don't know anything about the supposed "bullying" that happened. In my humble opinion, it's sufficiently urban and appropriate for the site given the number of floors and similarity of scale to other streets in the vicinity.

I'm not clear on how negative feedback on a design and demands for modifications in response is claiming property rights on property that's not yours. If they proposed a couple vinyl clad raised ranch houses and aB came out with pitchforks, wouldn't it be a similar case? The argument would be for design mods to be made to achieve something believed to be a better design.
 
Plen-T-Pak said:
But there is something being built in their "backyard" and it was modified in response to their complaints, although I don't know anything about the supposed "bullying" that happened. In my humble opinion, it's sufficiently urban and appropriate for the site given the number of floors and similarity of scale to other streets in the vicinity.

I'm not clear on how negative feedback on a design and demands for modifications in response is claiming property rights on property that's not yours. If they proposed a couple vinyl clad raised ranch houses and aB came out with pitchforks, wouldn't it be a similar case? The argument would be for design mods to be made to achieve something believed to be a better design.
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I'm just speaking generally, but a piece of land you do not own cannot be "your" backyard. "Your" backyard is your property, not somebody else's. (This kind of puts the lie to the whole NIMBY movement, because in 99.99% of cases, their actual property rights, i.e. the "my" in NIMBY, are not at all being violated. NIMBYs just feel entitled to the property rights of others.)

You said:

It's between seeing the sky out your back window or a wall.

And all I'm saying is that you have no right to that sky unless you own the land beneath it. If I live on the property line next to a vacant lot, the owner of that vacant lot doesn't owe me a scrap of the sky if he or she wants to build something there.

All that being said, this proposal looks fine and it actually doesn't even look all that much different from the original proposal.
 
In this instance, one of the so-called NIMBYs could very well be the Harvard Club of Boston.

The rear of a Harvard Club property on Comm Ave (Residences at the Harvard Club) will overlook the townhouses. The Harvard Club of Boston owns the site being developed for the townhouses component, so they aren't strictly NIMBYs. AFAIK, the Harvard Club has no property interest in the residential portion of the mid-rise that will be built on top of their mew athletic facilities. I believe all the affordable units will be located in the townhouses.
 
The Harvard Club is the owner of the site, so I doubt they’re NIMBYing their own development. It’s abutters, especially rowdy at the last two meetings.

By the way, the BPDA public meetings are filmed and online, as is the project filing.

415 Newbury Street | Boston Planning & Development Agency

Learn about the BPDA's development review process, view information about development projects in the BPDA approval pipeline, and learn how you can get involved.
www.bostonplans.org www.bostonplans.org
 
-Approved

“The proposed project is located at 415 Newbury Street, 374 Commonwealth Avenue, and a portion of 380 Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, which are presently occupied by the Harvard Club of Boston and a surface parking lot. The project consists of two buildings containing approximately 133 residential units, residential amenities, and Harvard Club replacement facilities within approximately 221,000 square feet (sf) of building space, together with up to 125 off-street parking spaces, and related site and public realm improvements.”

https://bpda.app.box.com/s/yd1ur8ikdcgbh2l2xejlhjnujgatlfkl

Facade has changed.


















https://bpda.app.box.com/s/724tuuhnwxxwbzlf3lazmc2zbf31iza9
 
This looks GREAT. Now if we could only do something about the garage next door fronting the pike. Maybe decorative panels?
 
Who owns the neighboring garage? If that gets redeveloped, there would be a whole block reborn...
 
BronsonShore said:
Why would a row house be as tall as a parking garage. . .
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In the Back Bay they're almost all 5-6 stories, and 5 stories would match the lowrise portion to the garage. I too wonder why they are wasting so much coveted space on the 3 story portion.
 
The answer to why they are only three stories may be life safety. Between 384 Comm Ave (condos) and the new town houses is a narrow alley, which will be accessible only from Newbury St. once the townhouses are built. It may be that the only way to get an aerial ladder to reach a fire in the upper floors of 384 Comm Ave is to back in from Newbury St. a rear-mount aerial truck, and then swing the aerial over the roofline of these new townhouses. From Google maps, there are no exterior fire escapes on the rear facades of the Comm Ave buildings.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VZY2uK65fVR3QRYt9
 
curcuas said:
Who owns the neighboring garage? If that gets redeveloped, there would be a whole block reborn...
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From Google maps, there is an elevated, covered walkway between the big condo building on Comm Ave., and the parking garage.
 
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