Limited-service Hotel Project | 73 Essex St | Chinatown

[BeeLine]

I'm looking again at Beeline's two pictures - - WHAT street interaction are you seeing there? I'm squinting real hard and I see very little on 3 of the 4 sides.

The first photo is of the building at the corner of Essex and Oxford Streets.
The second photo is of the building at the corner of Essex and Ping On Streets. Ping On is more of an alley than a street between the building and the parking lot. The dark green shack in the lower left corner, of the second photo, is the ticket office for the parking lot

 

[shmessy]

I'm looking again at Beeline's two pictures - - WHAT street interaction are you seeing there? I'm squinting real hard and I see very little on 3 of the 4 sides.

The first photo is of the building at the corner of Essex and Oxford Streets.
The second photo is of the building at the corner of Essex and Ping On Streets. Ping On is more of an alley than a street between the building and the parking lot. The dark green shack in the lower left corner, of the second photo, is the ticket office for the parking lot

Exactly - -see my Post #20.

Some creativity could turn this spot into something enlivening, yet respectful of history and the Chinatown neighborhood.

Right now this spot is dead and soul crushing.

 

[whighlander]

Also, put in underground parking in the new hotel and turn the two small surface parklots next to it on Ping On and across the street (little triangular one) into pocket parks.

Then accentuate that Oxford Street alley into a great place for ground level/basement hole-in-the-wall type clubs or bars.

Do that, and this dreary street becomes pretty nice and lively without affecting the funky character of Chinatown.

Shmessy -- we are talking a project by the private sector =-- not a pipe dream by some planner at the BRA

They -- the developer -- seem to have purchased or have an option to purchase the 73 /79 Essex street property currently Ho Toy Noodle Co.-- they don't have any claim to any of the rest that you mention

Looking at the satellite image on Google Map the existing building, and presumably the buildable lot doesn't even come close to Pingon St. -- there is another entire building [housing the Chau Cow City] between Ho Toy Noodle and the next corner on Essex. The parking lot on Pingon is on the other side of Pingon St.

However, a hotel with 225 rooms is not an insignificant project and they did file for a major project review -- so I'm sure that Boston [and possibly even the Chinatown community] can exert some influence on what gets built

 

[whighlander]

I'm looking again at Beeline's two pictures - - WHAT street interaction are you seeing there? I'm squinting real hard and I see very little on 3 of the 4 sides.

The first photo is of the building at the corner of Essex and Oxford Streets.
The second photo is of the building at the corner of Essex and Ping On Streets. Ping On is more of an alley than a street between the building and the parking lot. The dark green shack in the lower left corner, of the second photo, is the ticket office for the parking lot

Beeline when you went behind off Oxford did you see any construction?

When you look at the Google Map Street View [circa June 2014] it looks as if someone already demolished a nice probably early 19th C building [might have even been Bulfinch era?] to make an entrance to the Parking for Chau Chow as [indicated by a sign attached to the back of Ho Toy Noodle]

You can see the shaddow of the lower gable end of a much smaller building against the blank party back wall of Ho Toy Noodle. There is also a piece of excavating machinery in the driveway that seems to have sprouted in place of 33 Oxford St.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.352...4!1sbnyHkAX_TyN5tfnkz0hCfg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

So if that is recent as it seems -- then the real damage has already been done -- Ho Toy looks to be somewhat hacked-up late 19th C early 20th C warehouse / industrial building [place where you might have had people sewing cloth or leather goods?] -- there a whole lot of that type of building left in Boston

 

[JeffDowntown]

Beeline when you went behind off Oxford did you see any construction?

When you look at the Google Map Street View [circa June 2014] it looks as if someone already demolished a nice probably early 19th C building [might have even been Bulfinch era?] to make an entrance to the Parking for Chau Chow as [indicated by a sign attached to the back of Ho Toy Noodle]

You can see the shaddow of the lower gable end of a much smaller building against the blank party back wall of Ho Toy Noodle. There is also a piece of excavating machinery in the driveway that seems to have sprouted in place of 33 Oxford St.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.352...4!1sbnyHkAX_TyN5tfnkz0hCfg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

So if that is recent as it seems -- then the real damage has already been done -- Ho Toy looks to be somewhat hacked-up late 19th C early 20th C warehouse / industrial building [place where you might have had people sewing cloth or leather goods?] -- there a whole lot of that type of building left in Boston

Whigh, that demolition happened a long time ago. The construction equipment you see in Google was the excavation for the Oxford-PingOn House (affordable housing) that is nearing completion on the former empty lot.

http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=1787

FYI -- there are lots of those row house ghosts scattered all over Chinatown, particularly on Harrison, Tyler and Hudson (both north and south of Kneeland Street).

 

[Justin7]

This is a great building. Just needs the street level fixed.

 

[Hutchison]

Here's the PNF: http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/42055bed-3b9c-48e6-8e37-8bdae60738d2

 

[JumboBuc]

^ No thanks, I'd rather see the current building rehabbed than this thing built.

I also love how ridiculously tiny those "Existing Conditions Photographs" are in the PNF. Each photo is 1/8 of a page, while every other graphic in the document is full-page.

 

[tmac9wr]

^ No thanks, I'd rather see the current building rehabbed than this thing built.

I thought that same exact thing. This project isn't good enough to warrant destroying the building that's already there.

 

[datadyne007]

73-79 Essex St

PNF filed 04/21/2016: http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/42055bed-3b9c-48e6-8e37-8bdae60738d2

 

[Suffolk 83]

I thought that same exact thing. This project isn't good enough to warrant destroying the building that's already there.

This is invading Chinatown and I'm against it, we need to better protect the character of the neighborhood and not allow any more sterile developments that destroy Chinatown.

 

[JeffDowntown]

This is invading Chinatown and I'm against it, we need to better protect the character of the neighborhood and not allow any more sterile developments that destroy Chinatown.

Agreed.

 

[SlothofDespond]

This is invading Chinatown and I'm against it, we need to better protect the character of the neighborhood and not allow any more sterile developments that destroy Chinatown.

Character? Much of it is in squalor. There is trash everywhere, it smells (seriously, the streets stink, especially Harrison/Tyler/Hudson between Kneeland and Beach), many buildings are in rough shape, and few are actually worth saving. Chinatown needs a serious shove in the right direction.

As for the building itself: I would rather it be built on the empty lot next door and this facade being saved (even if it's not great) but if it gets built and helps drive investment in the Essex/Chauncy/Harrison intersection around the corner that's a big win.

 

[FortPointGuy]

+1.

Chinatown is mostly a dump and it is largely the fault of those folks and companies who own it's real estate. If it were not a Chinatown and in the same rough shape it would have been bulldozed and built up already. It's downtown Boston, what do people expect? Absent strong efforts from its stakeholders and a preservation law it will shrink to a few blocks in a generation.

 

[KentXie]

+1.

Chinatown is mostly a dump and it is largely the fault of those folks and companies who own it's real estate. If it were not a Chinatown and in the same rough shape it would have been bulldozed and built up already. It's downtown Boston, what do people expect? Absent strong efforts from its stakeholders and a preservation law it will shrink to a few blocks in a generation.

I would like to say that I agree on most points, dumpy largely due to the fault of those own the area (surprisingly I know the person who's family own half of Chinatown). However there has been improvement in areas. There are a few new restaurants that popped up Chinatown that resulted in a renovation of the street level facade and the large parking garage also received a full renovation. That being said, I am happy that "if it were not a Chinatown and in the same rough shape it would have been bulldozed and built up already", because this could also apply to the North End. We need to ensure that Chinatown doesn't disappear like we ensure that the North End doesn't disappear.

 

[JumboBuc]

Jeez, some of these comments sound like they were written by the Urban Renewal BRA of the 1960s.

Yeah, Chinatown may be a bit "dumpy", but that doesn't mean we should replace quality pre-war buildings there with cheap pre-cast crap. If the streets are dirty, clean them. If buildings are in disrepair, push owners to fix them. Don't accept bad architecture in place of good just because it smells a little on the corner.

 

[GW]

Character? Much of it is in squalor. There is trash everywhere, it smells (seriously, the streets stink, especially Harrison/Tyler/Hudson between Kneeland and Beach), many buildings are in rough shape, and few are actually worth saving. Chinatown needs a serious shove in the right direction.

As for the building itself: I would rather it be built on the empty lot next door and this facade being saved (even if it's not great) but if it gets built and helps drive investment in the Essex/Chauncy/Harrison intersection around the corner that's a big win.

There are real problems with ownership in Chinatown, but this is infuriating. You do realize that "Harrison/Tyler/Hudson between Kneeland and Beach" is the heart of Chinatown? That actual, real people live and work there? That they don't want to move out so people like you can enjoy more boring upmarket chain garbage? Pull your head out of your you-know-what.

 

[393b40]

Boston's Chinatown isn't really anything worth preserving at this point IMO. It's tiny and decrepit.

 

[KentXie]

Boston's Chinatown isn't really anything worth preserving at this point IMO. It's tiny and decrepit.

That's what they said about the West End too

 

[tobyjug]

Chinatown is one of the most interesting parts of the city. Absolutely, more can be done on the maintenance side of the issue. But to bulldoze it (as if that could really happen) just makes us more like Indianapolis.