MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. and Mass. Ave | Back Bay

Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

^ Indeed, I'd rather my urban fabric be rebuilt than see another alucobond box rise to half the height of the Pru. Trinity has this virtue, at least.

Also, the Carpenter turns Cambria St. into a parking garage ramp, seriously. Blegh.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

ya, if the samuels one could build over the newbury side of the pike instead of leaving the gap, that would be ideal. It's the glaring shortfall that Trinity doesn't skip. Maybe there is a way to reconcile the two.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

I don't understand why these proposals group non-contiguous parcels together. Each parcel should be done independently.

Weiner's proposal for 12 had to be an afterthought. I hope it's not taken seriously.

Ideally Weiner would take the south side of Boylston and Trinity would take the North.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

czsz said:
^ Indeed, I'd rather my urban fabric be rebuilt than see another alucobond box rise to half the height of the Pru. Trinity has this virtue, at least.

Also, the Carpenter turns Cambria St. into a parking garage ramp, seriously. Blegh.
Click to expand...

Cz -- there never was an urban fabric in that location -- it was railroads
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Justin, I think they're grouped under the recognition that to account for the costs of decking the trench, developers will need to scale across parcels. Still, this seems clumsy. 12 and 13 (both sides of Mass Ave at the north side of Boylston) should have been detached from the others (Scotia, Cambria, Boylston). In this case, Trinity probably has the most transformative proposal for 12 and 13, and Samuels, owning the terra-firma homeless garden, is well-placed for the Scotia/Boylston parcels. Between those two, you'd fill in all the gaps (except for the Prudential air rights corner at Dalton).

In fact, that would be my ideal vision for this area: solid mid-rise infill along Mass Ave and the major Boylston trench on its north side; angular high-rise tower on the Scotia/Cambria/Boylston parcel.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Shepard said:
Justin, I think they're grouped under the recognition that to account for the costs of decking the trench, developers will need to scale across parcels. Still, this seems clumsy. 12 and 13 (both sides of Mass Ave at the north side of Boylston) should have been detached from the others (Scotia, Cambria, Boylston). In this case, Trinity probably has the most transformative proposal for 12 and 13, and Samuels, owning the terra-firma homeless garden, is well-placed for the Scotia/Boylston parcels. Between those two, you'd fill in all the gaps (except for the Prudential air rights corner at Dalton).
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Yeah, I edited my last post: Ideally Weiner would take the south side of Boylston and Trinity would take the North. This would amount to a very substantial change.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Agreed, Justin.

Also, for the record, I don't get the snobbish antipathy to Trinity's proposal. These type of long mid-rise buildings are working great on Boylston Street in Fenway, and I think this is a perfect place to build on the success of that model. Also, Trinity has other major benefits including opening up the Boylston entrance of Hynes. It covers the most highway and becomes a perfect sound barrier over the noisiest offending segment (high decibel highway noise, actually, is my major complaint in that area, even more than a gap in the built environment)
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

whighlander said:
Cz -- there never was an urban fabric in that location -- it was railroads
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Parts of these parcels were exposed, but, for the most part, the railyards were further east. Look at this photo from 1957; you can clearly see buildings on all four corners of Boylston and Mass. Ave.:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3382796488/

Ed: Other shots from different angles to illustrate this even better:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3385113032/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3382003429/

And a street level shot of the corner looking east:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3401974950/
 
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Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

The Trinity's proposal looks like the development that ruined the Kenmore area near Fenway Park. I think it was the www.hotelcommonwealth.com

Talk about taking the character out of Kenmore Square area..... building this type of hotel absolutely killed the character of the KENMORE area.

I would have to say after that development that the Kenmore Square area got rebranded to Fenway Park area or Fenway.

Nobody says I'm hanging out in Kenmore Square?
 
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Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Except Trinity's buildings aren't attempting to be cheaply neohistorical nor are they replacing buildings of character, but covering lots of highway that's been doing much worse things for this area for forty years?
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Yes. Frank Keefe, who now heads up the Boston Museum Project, was the principal of Keefe Company. Jim Keefe, his brother, is one of the principals at Trinity.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Justin7 said:
I don't understand why these proposals group non-contiguous parcels together. Each parcel should be done independently.

Weiner's proposal for 12 had to be an afterthought. I hope it's not taken seriously.

Ideally Weiner would take the south side of Boylston and Trinity would take the North.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd like to see a combination of Trinity (for the west side) and Weiner.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

czsz said:
Parts of these parcels were exposed, but, for the most part, the railyards were further east. Look at this photo from 1957; you can clearly see buildings on all four corners of Boylston and Mass. Ave.:
Click to expand...

CZ -- there was a building where there is a building on the corners of Mass Ave and Boylston on the Southern side of Boylston -- but once you cross Mass Ave there is a large-ish arch bridge carrying Boylston across the tracks which fully cover the Hynes & Pru footprint

Aerial View Looking East, Back Bay from Massachusetts Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, to Public Gardens and Boston Inner Harbor

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3382004143/in/photostream/
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Your photo proves my point. There were buildings on nearly all the discussed parcels, and even on the parcels where there were rails, buildings took up much of the space that's now highway. The area where the yards were (as you acknowledge, the Hynes and Pru sites) are generally not the area where the urban fabric will be reconstituted in this case.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

czsz said:
Your photo proves my point. There were buildings on nearly all the discussed parcels, and even on the parcels where there were rails, buildings took up much of the space that's now highway. The area where the yards were (as you acknowledge, the Hynes and Pru sites) are generally not the area where the urban fabric will be reconstituted in this case.
Click to expand...

CZ -- I think I'm coming around to your view on this one

Unfortunately, none of the photos which I reviewed really show the south side of Boylston St. between Mass Ave and the Dalton St. corner of the Hynes where St. Cecelia, Cambria St and the ramp down to the Hynes loading dock is located
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

Too much talk of wieners in this thread for me.
 
Re: Mandarin developers eye Pike parcels for project

czsz said:
Parts of these parcels were exposed, but, for the most part, the railyards were further east. Look at this photo from 1957; you can clearly see buildings on all four corners of Boylston and Mass. Ave.:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3382796488/

Ed: Other shots from different angles to illustrate this even better:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3385113032/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3382003429/

And a street level shot of the corner looking east:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3401974950/
Click to expand...
I love this shot. What is the rounded thing on Boylston (just to the left of the No Left Turns sign)?

John Hancock Building, from Corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Bolyston Street by MIT-Libraries, on Flickr
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

I'm going to guess it's some kind of news stand. There's still no left turn at that intersection, and it's interesting just how well the modern beehive street lamps match what was there back in the day.

Also, quite amazing how open the space is just beyond the corner, presumably due to the rail yard. If the line of brownstones had continued, we would only see the weather beacon on the Hancock, rather than the entire building.
 
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