Kenmore Square North (WHOOP) | 533-541 Commonwealth Ave | Fenway

[DZH22]

Everybody involved with the development and approval of this project should resign, effective immediately. Pack up your shit, get out of Boston, and go slowly ruin some other city.

 

[tangent]

now i get to live, in real-time, a contemporary example of the nonsense that prompts me and others to, whenever going through 'dirty old boston' or reading 'lost boston' etc., say, "wow, why did they tear that down? people are so stupid."

In this case, I think there is a bit of both sides going on here. Why are they tearing down the building with the cool facade? And why are they forcing the landowner to keep a gas station sign that is really just a few decades old?

Best that can be said is that people can be so whimsically destructive and creative at the same time. Why painters will preserve some paintings and paint over other old paintings... just because.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

I dunno, replacing this building will be less of an impact on the vibe of Kenmore Square than the Hotel Commonwealth. That erased "old Kenmore".

It is almost impossible for people to envision a block of divey pizza places (Nemo's), used record stores, a rock club (Rat) and a punk rock diner (Delihaus).

I have walked that south side of Comm Ave hundreds of times, whereas I have walked by this site only a few times. Just less of a big deal in my uneducated opinion if this building goes.

 

[type001]

I am almost always for preservation, but I just couldn't get worked up about this one. I went to BU and had been in that building back in the day a few times. There are other similar buildings, if it is any consolation.

 

[nm88]

We continue to nibble away at our city. Not everything needs to be historically or architecturally meaningful to be saved. History itself has some merit. Our memories have merit. A city block without a history is like a person without a biography.

True, it's hard to save everything when a city is growing the way our city is. But the rich details of this building - whatever your taste might be - will never be replaced. We all know this. And in its place we will get a generic piece of development that could easily sit in any nameless city - on any nameless block. Boston should demand better.

It is time for the Boston community to worry aloud about what is happening. It is past time for the people in city government, who broker deals like this, to be held to account and fired.

 

[commuter guy]

I dunno, replacing this building will be less of an impact on the vibe of Kenmore Square than the Hotel Commonwealth. That erased "old Kenmore".

It is almost impossible for people to envision a block of divey pizza places (Nemo's), used record stores, a rock club (Rat) and a punk rock diner (Delihaus).

I have walked that south side of Comm Ave hundreds of times, whereas I have walked by this site only a few times. Just less of a big deal in my uneducated opinion if this building goes.

I agree that the Hotel Commonwealth had/will have more of an impact since it replaced a large number of Back Bay Newbury Street style commercial row buildings. However, this building is quite significant given it sits at the apex of Kenmore Sq which is a really high profile location. It's a shame to both to lose the corner building and the fact that the new construction is so bland.

 

[shmessy]

I agree that the Hotel Commonwealth had/will have more of an impact since it replaced a large number of Back Bay Newbury Street style commercial row buildings. However, this building is quite significant given it sits at the apex of Kenmore Sq which is a really high profile location. It's a shame to both to lose the corner building and the fact that the new construction is so bland.

+1.

The replacement building is bland. That's a very spotlight type, visible location. The particular location deserves better than that. Doesn't anyone in position give a crap about the city?

.

 

[jass]

The mayor should be impeached

 

[odurandina]

now i get to live, in real-time, a contemporary example of the nonsense that prompts me and others to, whenever going through 'dirty old boston' or reading 'lost boston' etc., say, "wow, why did they tear that down? people are so stupid."

This one ranks near the top.

 

[stick n move]

Update: BCDC gave its approval on November 6, and the BDPA is set to vote tomorrow (15th).

Revised renderings: http://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/b0011523-ff90-410f-a09b-8efb4b5d441c

Sux the corner building is going but luckily the scale, massing, and ground floor are pretty good. When the tower across the street goes up and the road is realigned I think its a net gain as far as making Kenmore a much more lively and functional square with these additions and plus fenway ctr as well.

 

[bigpicture7]

Sux the corner building is going but luckily the scale, massing, and ground floor are pretty good. When the tower across the street goes up and the road is realigned I think its a net gain as far as making Kenmore a much more lively and functional square with these additions and plus fenway ctr as well.

Yeah, but it's really not just about that. Rather: people profoundly miss the vibrancy of all the small businesses and social venues that used to line Kenmore. The buildings themselves are one thing, but the inevitable bank branches and chipotles that will soullessly fill this thing, to me, are the even worse end of the stick.

Kenmore sq. is a lesson on why Boston should institute a local business requirement for 1 out of ever 5 (or 1 out of ever 3) retail slots. Capitalism isn't going to provide that on its own; it would simply be the analog of affordable housing %-required, except applied to retail slots.

And, honestly, if the developers respond saying "oh but if we did that, we'd have to make the quality of the construction really shitty for those retail slots," I'd say good. We don't need the street level of all these buildings to have a uniform glass curtain wall sheen all the way down to the street...board it up with plywood and let the local business tenants do their own thing. For decades in the 20th century, great businesses arose from much less than that.

 

[odurandina]

Sux the corner building is going but luckily the scale, massing, and ground floor are pretty good. When the tower across the street goes up and the road is realigned I think its a net gain as far as making Kenmore a much more lively and functional square with these additions and plus fenway ctr as well.

This project is absolutely dreadful.

6 horrors of this cycle in you-decide order of offenses:

1. BU Science Bldg (utter/complete garbage)
2. Kenmore North (an unnecessary loss of a historically significant, beautiful corner facade)
3. 888 Boylston (the massing is ridiculous)
4. 110 Broad (in not preserving the complete low level facade/s)
5. Radian (should have preserved the original building facade as a podium and gone taller).
6. One Greenway: the squat grey sludge next to the main bldg/s is cheap and awful.

 

[DZH22]

Sux the corner building is going but luckily the scale, massing, and ground floor are pretty good......

Why is it good, because everything is about the exact same height as each other? Why do we consider that good around here? They should have saved the corner building with a facadectomy, went 25 stories to afford it, and if the Citco sign is a little less visible from certain angles it's the price we pay for (actual) progress.

 

[odurandina]

^^which is *what likely happens here in less than 50 years anyway (50 years because it's Boston).

*the only redeeming facet of a squat building in the middle of the 21st Century High Spine (expansion).

Why is it good, because everything is about the exact same height as each other?

**Rationale of an overly sensitive, purported-to-be-sophisticated, provincial outlook. Certainly good for many historic blocks/steady as she goes ideal. But not appropriate everywhere for Boston's micro-metropolis. These blocks well represent the organic expansion of the core High Spine.

 

[cjbski]

I think overall this project is solid. It's going to clean up the area a ton. These buildings were generally a disaster and in need of work.

I am really sad we're losing that corner facade, though. It is beautiful.

New buildings + the tall flatiron looking one could make this a renewal for Kenmore.

 

[chrisbrat]

New buildings + the tall flatiron looking one could make this a renewal for Kenmore.

im a fan of the flatiron-ish proposal, but none of this signals a "renewal" for kenmore -- unless somehow you have the inside scoop on how these new developments will lead to a rebirth of the independent record stores, restaurants, music venues, retailers, affordable apartments, and bars that made kenmore square the vibrant spot that it once was.

new buildings with additional chain restaurants and ATMs on the ground floors of office and residential isn't a "renewal" -- it's a continued death knell.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Maybe less of a death knell and more of an evolution and a continued departure from what many of us liked about certain parts of town ("old" Kenmore, Central and Harvard Squares). I opined about this in the Harvard Square thread as well. The reality is that all the parts of the city that have changed in ways I don't like are just because they don't look anything like they did (architecture, bars, restaurants, shops, etc.) when I was making my memories of the place.

However, if this is what the people want and what will bring / keep people in Boston - people who will be educated, work, live and raise families here, i.e., the future growth of the city.... maybe this is what is needed.

All of this said, that corner building with it's 1980's Kendall Square look is really lazy.

 

[bigpicture7]

...The reality is that all the parts of the city that have changed in ways I don't like are just because they don't look anything like they did (architecture, bars, restaurants, shops, etc.) when I was making my memories of the place...

^Due respect, but that's a bit of a self-centered perspective that downplays a larger reality:
These types of changes aren't just about our nostalgia, they also threaten to reduce the amount of accessible/affordable vibrancy that help keep young people excited about the city.

Granted, it's not all gone. There are parts of Allston and Brighton (etc) that continue to provide that. But there's a net reduction.

I stand by my suggestion for mild policy nudges as guideposts during such redevelopment. Developers can still get rich whilst giving up a few storefronts here and there.

 

[chrisbrat]

if such nudges might effectively save some of what's being lost, i'd be all for it.

allston does still have some of what made kenmore and harvard fun (as does central), but in both cases there's ever-encroaching development that's eroding at the fabric of what makes those areas interesting -- not just to young people, but artistic folks of all ages, and to any who would rather eat at a random ethiopian restaurant than a chipotle (or whatever analogy works for you).

with two condo developments in the works, i have it on very good authority that o'brien's will be gone in a matter of years (hopefully later, rather than sooner), denby rehearsal space is gone, as is all the artist space on rugg road, galaxy park studios had to move to the north shore. over in central, condo development booted new alliance, wemf, and a ton of rehearsal and studio space. and so on and so on.

heck, over in charlestown they're trying to convert the CRS rehearsal/art studios -- one of only two sizable such spaces -- into condos.

i know stuff changes and that's normal and fine (plenty of my musician/artist friends have the same complaints about the village, brooklyn, and LES, so i get that it's not exclusive to boston), but when you make it so that everything and everyone quirky and creative has to LEAVE the city in order to do what they do then a lot of the unique appeal of an area leaves, as well.

anyway... back on topic: this new building sucks donkey dick.

 

[itchy]

I had lost track of the latest iteration of the corner building that is replacing the historic structure.

What a bait and switch. The current version looks like it crawled in off of the I-95 shoulder in Waltham.

This is why we can't have nice things (or our history).