Marriott Moxy Hotel | 240 Tremont Street (Parcel P-7A) | Theater District

and then from today's Herald article:


Temporary ad signage is planned for the site until developers get the final OK to build a permanent 14-story glass-covered structure, with huge outdoor signs.


what Rick posted is the updated proposal.
 
The smaller building was originally approved. The larger building was approved later and represents the current plan for the site. From the January 27, 2006 Boston Globe:

Condos, eatery to replace ticket-agency trailer
BRA votes to sign development pact
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | January 27, 2006

The Boston Redevelopment Authority board voted yesterday to remove a trailer housing the Hub Ticket Agency in the Theater District and sign an agreement with a developer to build a colorful gateway structure with nine floors of housing over a restaurant.

The unanimous vote fulfills a promise of City Hall dating back at least to 1997 to get rid of an eyesore that was supposed to be temporary but endured, along with commercial signs, for 30 years.

The location, at Tremont and Stuart streets and across Tremont from a parking lot, is considered an entry point to Boston's Theater District. City officials envision a Boston version of Times Square in New York.

Yesterday's decision also capped a years-long competitive process to lease the property to a developer. Companies jockeyed through several bidding periods, and the authority alternately delayed and changed its mind about what it would accept.

In August, the BRA put what seemed like an end to the process, choosing Amherst Media Investors LLC of Summit, N.J., which had proposed a 3 1/2-story glass building of commercial space with a video billboard on the exterior. The agency turned down a proposal by a team including Abbott Real Estate Development LLC of Boston to put up a 90-foot building that would include housing.

But it wasn't over.

Since August, the BRA has vigorously encouraged Amherst to find a partner that could add housing to its commercial space, even though Amherst had concluded the site was too small. Eventually, Amherst and Abbott, the two competitors for the 58,000-square-foot block, teamed up. Now they plan to go through the permitting process and start construction next year.

Robert T. Kenney, former BRA director and now a developer, who did not compete for the site, analyzed it for Amherst last year and told the BRA in a letter that housing -- however much City Hall wanted it -- could not be built there.

''Maybe somebody thinks I'm wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time," Kenney said yesterday. ''I was just worried about the cost, the small number of units, the lack of parking."

Christine McMahon, a spokeswoman for the Amherst-Abbott team, said it now plans 54 studio and one-bedroom units, with a two-level restaurant below.

Amherst has made several changes in the plan since getting the designation and a new partner. Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston is no longer on board, replaced by lesser-known Sheskey Architects of Quincy, which had worked for the earlier Abbott team. That could change again, McMahon said, and she did not rule out Elkus/Manfredi being involved again.

Also, the owner of the Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub, a popular Central Square spot in Cambridge, had expressed interest in locating in the new building. But that plan is dead, McMahon said. The commercial space will house a single restaurant of about 15,000 square feet.

Robert S. Merowitz, owner of the neighboring Wilbur Theatre, had been a partner of Abbott Real Estate in its proposal to build both on the trailer location and over his theater. Tufts-New England Medical Center was also part of that group, and a lawyer for one of the partners had threatened to sue the BRA if it precluded upward development of the Wilbur Theatre.

Merowitz could not be reached for comment yesterday, but McMahon said he supports the Amherst-Abbott plan.

Angelo Sena, who owns Hub Ticket Agency, said, ''I don't know anything about it." He said his lawyer would be calling city officials about yesterday's vote. Asked when he would vacate the corner, Sena said, ''I have no idea. I don't intend to leave for a year or so."

Kenney, the former BRA director, said he was responsible for putting what he thought would be a temporary trailer on the site in 1975. ''Every time I look at it I cringe," he said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Click to expand...
 
Was in a moving car when I took this, so that's why it's not well-composed, but there's now a billboard up on the site:

 
As the Green Line Boylston Station makes reference to the Theater District, the Orange Line NEMC Station should do so as well (maybe it already does "underneath" - I haven't been down in that stop for quite a while).
 
Sorry for the confusion here, so this is the most up to date rendering?
wilbursquarenightshotapz8.jpg
 
Jakes

There was opposition from the typical parties...but there were a myriad of other issues involved. Not the least of which is whether such a project is financially viable in the existing marketplace given construction costs.
 
Ron, to give visual proof to a question you posed a while back. Those poorly wrapped plastic bags look oh-so tacky.. :

img0838wa2.jpg
 
And a better picture than what I posted before:

 
The Shubert sign doesn't even say "Shubert" on it, anywhere.
 
Boston's Theatre District is podunk. Shouldn't be, but is.

Decrepit, barely breathing. It's been on the operating table since I can remember, and there have been changes and improvements, but on the whole it's MUCH less vital than when Ben Sack operated all those barely-breathing historic theatres as multi-screen movie houses and the Combat Zone could be relied upon to attract a lively and plentiful clientele.

Now it's got "moribund" written all over it.

I'm sorry about it, but it's so. Good intentions: pshaw.
 
^Which is why a project such as this will go a long way in this location.
 
So does the Target ad mean they're starting construction on the wavy building?

justin
 
If Boston is podunk are the biggest shows on Broadway like Wicked, Grease or Tarzan what the Theater District should aspire to?

Bostons theater seen may not be great but let's not pretend that New Yorks is so much better anymore.
 
^ Scott, with that last statement you've reached a delusional level of boosterism. You can't improve things by declaring them to be the equal of their betters. If you love Boston you have to be prepared to recognize where it falls short. Then you can harness your enthusiasm to actually help improve things.
 
Of the former Sack Theatres, the Music Hall is now the Wang Theatre (I refuse to call it Citi Wang), the Saxon is now the Majestic, the Savoy is now the Opera House, and the Gary was demolished. All except the Gary are in much better condition than when Sack ran them, and they are now devoted to live performance rather than movies. I count that as an improvement.
 
Of course in your world of concrete monstrosities as high art maybe you would enjoy Legally Blond: The Musical at 200 bucks a seat.

This isn't 1955 and NYC is no longer "The Capitol of the World". South Park has more effect on our culture than anything on Broadway making the latter as irrelevent as our Theater District and judging by the top 10 shows, just as creative.
 
Ron Newman said:
Of the former Sack Theatres, the Music Hall is now the Wang Theatre (I refuse to call it Citi Wang), the Saxon is now the Majestic, the Savoy is now the Opera House, and the Gary was demolished. All except the Gary are in much better condition than when Sack ran them, and they are now devoted to live performance rather than movies. I count that as an improvement.
Click to expand...

Yes and the new theaters at the BCA have added quite a bit. That is down the street from the TD but most major theaters in NY are not specifically in Times Sq either.
 
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