Lyra (née The Huntington) | 252/258/264 Huntington Avenue | Fenway

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Construction fencing, but only on the Theatre portion of the building.

The permit from ISD states: "Huntington Theatre Renovation and Expansion to theatre building to modernize the front and back of house spaces. Work to include; involves restoring the facade of the building demo MEP's structural and architectural upgrades.; Expansion to include arcade area.eplan --> BOA" Valued at $1,007,275.00
 
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HelloBostonHi said:
View attachment 9976
Construction fencing, but only on the Theatre portion of the building.

The permit from ISD states: "Huntington Theatre Renovation and Expansion to theatre building to modernize the front and back of house spaces. Work to include; involves restoring the facade of the building demo MEP's structural and architectural upgrades.; Expansion to include arcade area.eplan --> BOA" Valued at $1,007,275.00
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If I remember correctly the theater lobby was to extend into the lower floors of the condo building.
 
TomOfBoston said:
If I remember correctly the theater lobby was to extend into the lower floors of the condo building.
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Yes, there was a major expansion of the lobby space into the base of the tower. The current Huntington Theatre lobby is very tight.
 
Hum..so based on HelloBoston's post above and on the previous page it looks like this might be a separate project or at least phase from the tower?

HelloBostonHi said:
Yes it is, but the PIC approval was for the Theatre entrance renovations not the tower, they specifically mentioned it in the meeting that this is only for the Theatre portion of the project and they have no connections to that other portion beyond designing the changes to work with it.
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This one has a Neil Armstrong feel to it: "One giant leap for one developer's P&L ... five steps back for Boston's architecture and charm"...
 
itchy said:
This one has a Neil Armstrong feel to it: "One giant leap for one developer's P&L ... five steps back for Boston's architecture and charm"...
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Itchy -- I think you are going a bit far on that criticism -- I doubt that when its done that the outside of the Theatre itself will be substantially different from today
 
Massachoicetts said:
So just to confirm. COnstruction has indeed officially commenced?
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From the last filing with the BPDA -- NPC

June 4, 2019
Via Article 80 Developer Portal
Brian P. Golden, Director
Boston Planning & Development Agency
One City Hall Square, 9th Flr.
Boston, MA 02201
Re: 252-264 Huntington Avenue -- Notice of Project Change
Our File No.: 11057.03
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THE PROJECT TO DATE
In 2017, QMG’s affiliate QMG Huntington, LLC, and HTC applied together to the BPDA to undertake a two-phased project (the “Article 80 Project”) at the Project Site.
The Project received a Scoping Determination Waiving Further Review from the BPDA Director, dated May 7, 2018 (“2018 Determination”). A copy of the 2018 Determination is attached as EXHIBIT A.
As described in the 2018 Determination, the two phases entail:

• Chapter 121A Project: The demolition of the two buildings at 252-258 Huntington Avenue, and construction in their place of an approximately 405,500 square foot, 32- story (362 feet tall) mixed-use building (the “Tower”) with up to 426 residential units,
approximately 7,500 square feet of retail/restaurant/services space on the first two levels, approximately 14,000 square feet of cultural space for use by HTC; and approximately 114 parking spaces in an underground garage (the “Chapter 121A Project”); and

• Huntington Theatre Project: The renovation of the existing Huntington Avenue Theatre and the replacement of the existing annex building behind it (the “West Wing”) with an approximately 37,000 square-foot, five- (5-) story (70 foot-tall) building with two stories
below grade (the "Huntington Theatre Project").

Each phase is to be undertaken by separate entities, QMG and HTC, respectively
.
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So what we are witnessing is [based on the NPC filing of 11/2 years ago]:

The renovation of the existing Huntington Avenue Theatre and the replacement of the existing annex building behind it (the “West Wing”) with an approximately 37,000 square-foot, five- (5-) story (70 foot-tall) building with two stories
below grade (the "Huntington Theatre Project") -- undertaken by HTC --- presumably with money arranged by the developer of the other project
 
I wish the city had strong armed a facadectomy of the whole block here, but excited for this one regardless.

I wonder if this development precludes redevelopment of the 250 Huntington parcel directly north. It would be fun to see a super skinny residential project snake up the side of this larger development.
 
Fun Easter Egg, if you look at the street view for the site you can see them doing test borings for the tower in 2019, complete with a label saying Huntington Residential Tower...
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But no, I see no indications that the current construction is related to the tower, although the projects definitely have overlap so I'm interested to see where this one ends.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
View attachment 9976
Construction fencing, but only on the Theatre portion of the building.

The permit from ISD states: "Huntington Theatre Renovation and Expansion to theatre building to modernize the front and back of house spaces. Work to include; involves restoring the facade of the building demo MEP's structural and architectural upgrades.; Expansion to include arcade area.eplan --> BOA" Valued at $1,007,275.00
Click to expand...


What does "BOA valued at $1,007,250" mean? I would imagine the contruction of even this particular pece would cost far more than that. Also, that the current property value is more than that also.
 
shmessy said:
What does "BOA valued at $1,007,250" mean? I would imagine the contruction of even this particular pece would cost far more than that. Also, that the current property value is more than that also.
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Hazarding a guess, I think BOA refers to Build Out Allowance. It is the allocation for the arcade area expansion into the lower level of the new residential tower. The interior buildout of that space (new lobby arcade in the tower only, shell being built by the developer), is estimated at a little over $1 million.
 
shmessy said:
What does "BOA valued at $1,007,250" mean? I would imagine the contruction of even this particular pece would cost far more than that. Also, that the current property value is more than that also.
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I read that to mean that the work outlined was approved by the (Zoning?) Board of Appeals and the work valued at $1,007,275 though the permit data shows a project value of ~$20m with a fee of $1,007,275.
 
Bad news: I wrote to the architecture firm responsible for the lobby work (Bruner/Cott) to ask about the tower portion. The head's response:

"The residential tower was never part of our work for HT. Our understanding is that it is on hold indefinitely."

Given that the theatre's web site had previously listed that demo for the tower work was to begin early in 2020, with no subsequent updates, I guess this isn't much of a surprise.
 
rjacobs said:
Bad news: I wrote to the architecture firm responsible for the lobby work (Bruner/Cott) to ask about the tower portion. The head's response:

"The residential tower was never part of our work for HT. Our understanding is that it is on hold indefinitely."

Given that the theatre's web site had previously listed that demo for the tower work was to begin early in 2020, with no subsequent updates, I guess this isn't much of a surprise.
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RaJacobs:

Not to belabor the point -- but the 2019 NPC stated:

THE PROJECT TO DATE
In 2017, QMG’s affiliate QMG Huntington, LLC, and HTC applied together to the BPDA to undertake a two-phased project (the “Article 80 Project”) at the Project Site.
The Project received a Scoping Determination Waiving Further Review from the BPDA Director, dated May 7, 2018 (“2018 Determination”). A copy of the 2018 Determination is attached as EXHIBIT A.
As described in the 2018 Determination, the two phases entail:

• Chapter 121A Project: The demolition of the two buildings at 252-258 Huntington Avenue, and construction in their place of an approximately 405,500 square foot, 32- story (362 feet tall) mixed-use building (the “Tower”) with up to 426 residential units,
approximately 7,500 square feet of retail/restaurant/services space on the first two levels, approximately 14,000 square feet of cultural space for use by HTC; and approximately 114 parking spaces in an underground garage (the “Chapter 121A Project”); and

• Huntington Theatre Project: The renovation of the existing Huntington Avenue Theatre and the replacement of the existing annex building behind it (the “West Wing”) with an approximately 37,000 square-foot, five- (5-) story (70 foot-tall) building with two stories
below grade (the "Huntington Theatre Project").

Each phase is to be undertaken by separate entities, QMG and HTC, respectively
Click to expand...

Obviously -- the HTC portion is being financed some shape or form on the basis of the tower -- Not-for-profit Theatres don't pay for themselves
 
ccole said:
Exciting news - this project has secured a loan. Hope to see it rise soon!

https://www.bldup.com/posts/44-4-million-loan-secured-for-huntington-theatre?utm_campaign=Social media&utm_content=156845389&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-1464701603775368&fbclid=IwAR32I135RcGYS2gzFofX7PDU9RCyhdORuo22QarBYLJc7t7AAiDmsrKr4zs
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" Huntington Theatre Company has secured a mortgage for $44,460,000 from Century Bank and Trust Company for The Huntington. " Wait, so the theater is the developer???
 
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