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

Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

BeeLine said:
Parcel 13 proposal rejected. (8 Months?????)
Why is the DOT allowed to do this??? If it was a private company they would be driven out of business or brought to court for this kind of behavior.

http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/04/state_rejects_pike_plan
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There's no way I'm reading this right- they seriously took 8 months to tell them they were rejected because their proposal arrived 2 hours late?!
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

^^ Your right. Someone at DOT should have been fired, but most likely were put on paid administrative leave.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

They got quite a bit of shit for this at the recent CAC meeting. And also for blowing more money to have Parsons do a study. Smells very fishy.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

Not that I don't agree with folks about the shady nature of this progression, but I have to say I'm relieved this thing won't be getting built. It was terrible. Furthermore, as a student of the BAC I'm shocked that a school that has tried to push itself to the fore of architectural education by consistently reinventing its educational models would even want to occupy any space in that building.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

It's 2013 - - not 1953. There should be a full investigation of the MassDOT about this. This is completely unacceptable on every level.

Whoever is responsible for this should lose their job immediately.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

All I can figure is that the low density of this proposal (supported by the neighborhood) didn't provide enough in air right rents (not supported by DOT).
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

IMO, there is much more here than meets the eye.

Legally, no bids were received by the specified time and date. MassDOT has no legal authority to accept a late bid; Mass DOT would need officially to extend the bidding period, and Trinity would need to re-submit.

And as it was submitted late, its not a legally binding bid by Trinity; they could walk away from it without consequence.

A major developer simply doesn't make those kind of mistakes when it comes to submitting a proposal/bid on a project costing nine figures. And why would Trinity rely on a courier service? Isn't there someone at Trinity who could have hand-carried it over, if it was the 11th hour and 59th minute?
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

Wow... the MassDOT is fucking retarded.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

stellarfun said:
IMO, there is much more here than meets the eye.

Legally, no bids were received by the specified time and date. MassDOT has no legal authority to accept a late bid; Mass DOT would need officially to extend the bidding period, and Trinity would need to re-submit.

And as it was submitted late, its not a legally binding bid by Trinity; they could walk away from it without consequence.

A major developer simply doesn't make those kind of mistakes when it comes to submitting a proposal/bid on a project costing nine figures. And why would Trinity rely on a courier service? Isn't there someone at Trinity who could have hand-carried it over, if it was the 11th hour and 59th minute?
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No arguments there.

However, it took MassDot -8- (EIGHT) months to inform the developer and the community. Did you read what the community thought of the development??? That doesn't come around very often. So they were 2 hours late. OK, fine, be a stickler - tell them they didn't make it - I'm ok with following the letter of the law. But to wait 8 months - - that is a slap in the face to the community. Last time I checked the DOT salaries are paid by the constituents.

Trinity was 2 hours late and got kicked to the curb. Fine.

MassDOT was 8 months late. What happens to them?
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

“A study is planned in order to best inform a future development process,” Lavoie said. “MassDOT wants to increase its understanding on the development constraints at the parcel.”

MassDOT needs Parsons Brinkerhoff to buy them a mirror?
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

“A study is planned in order to best inform a future development process,” Lavoie said. “MassDOT wants to increase its understanding on the development constraints at the parcel.”

If the only problem was the timing of the submission then why plan a study on the "development constraints"? Sounds like a lot of ass-covering to me...
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

shmessy, I find it impossible to believe that Trinity and MassDOT did not have a conversation, or two, or three, or four, etc. about the bid before the actual letter of disqualification.

No developer worthy of the name is just going to sit there in ignorance and silence for weeks, even months on a project of this scale.

Trinity chose not to say anything about this to the Herald, refusing to answer repeated requests from the Herald for a comment.

This is Trinity's revised proposal dated March 2012, so there was a subsequent submission required, if the Herald dates are correct.
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/port.../realEstate_assetDev/airRights_Trinity_13.pdf

This revised submission ^^^ indicates a cost of about $20 million to deck the Pike, and is unclear who would pay for that, and own it.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

stellarfun said:
shmessy, I find it impossible to believe that Trinity and MassDOT did not have a conversation, or two, or three, or four, etc. about the bid before the actual letter of disqualification.

No developer worthy of the name is just going to sit there in ignorance and silence for weeks, even months on a project of this scale.

Trinity chose not to say anything about this to the Herald, refusing to answer repeated requests from the Herald for a comment.

This is Trinity's revised proposal dated March 2012, so there was a subsequent submission required, if the Herald dates are correct.
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/port.../realEstate_assetDev/airRights_Trinity_13.pdf

This revised submission ^^^ indicates a cost of about $20 million to deck the Pike, and is unclear who would pay for that, and own it.
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Not sure why you are defending MassDOT so strongly here.

Please answer this : Why didn't MassDOT inform the community groups who worked hard on this for years within 8 months? Does this state agency NOT owe the minimal standard of operations to it's tax paying constituency?

Did you read the last part of the article?:
__________

.......Trinity’s proposal had widespread community support, according to Dharmena Downey, executive director of the Fenway Community Development Corp., which has two representatives on the Citizens Advisory Council for the turnpike parcels.

“It was fully vetted in the community ... and was really appropriate to the site,” she said. “They were very responsive to what they heard from people in the neighborhood, and we were hopeful they would be the recipient of (the air rights) given they were the only proposal for the site.”

Downey questions why MassDOT, which also had requested proposals for Parcel 13 back in 2008 that it tabled due to the recession, decided additional study is needed.

“Why didn’t (they) do this in the beginning?” she asked. “Why are they going back now? I would surmise they wanted some more healthy competition (or) perhaps more money for the site. It really is an outrage that the DOT would claim that a process has to have integrity and yet wait eight months to let a decision as important as this go.”
__________

It sure sounds like Ms. Downey knows there is one party to blame.

Just beautifully ironic, that the one time a neighborhood committee enthusiastically endorses a developer's project, a bureaucratic flustercluck sidelines it.

No one is asking for a brain surgeon. Just for the government flacks to do their freaking job. This isn't Rwanda.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

A CDC isn't a neighborhood committee or community group. They are just publicly subsidized development corporations trying to sponge additional money out of private developers to keep themselves employed. The second it is no longer profitable to operate subsidized housing in an area, the properties go up for sale, the tenants get the boot and the CDCs take the money and run. States generally don't give a shit about their opinions as typically CDCs are pawns of local city councilors.

I bet NABB or one of the connected assholes that live in 360 Newbury called in a favor to spike Trinity's proposal. There's no way that all the other sites move through the process while the most difficult to develop parcel gets full fledged interference without someone having a beef.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

shmessy,

I do not know the terms of the bid(s) that were due on June 25th, and what was asked for in June above what was submitted in March 2012.

Starting from my general state of ignorance, I am quite certain that Trinity's bid was not legally binding on either Trinity or MassDOT. IMO, and its strictly that, Trinity was late on purpose, and MassDOT intentionally still accepted a late bid from the sole party submitting a bid in June. Again IMO, there were then subsequent discussions between Trinity and MassDOT, using the tardy bid submission as a basis. Those discussions were not productive from the standpoint of resolving one or more serious issues associated with building on that parcel.

I will not hazard a guess on what the specific issues might be, but you don't bring in Parsons because there are issues about type of use, the number of subsidized units, the amount of retail on the first floor, etc.

Hypothetically, suppose Trinity claimed their engineers said it would cost $30 million to build the deck. MassDOT counters that its engineers estimate it will cost $10 million. Trinity replies that if it winds up costing $30 million, we want the air rights payments to MassDOT to be reduced by x percent for every $1 million in cost above $10 million. MassDot says, 'no deal', and tells Trinity that it will hire Parsons to prepare a cost estimate for the decking, and after that is done, solicit a re-bid, or new bids.
________

Government bodies often treat civic associations like mushrooms.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

Well, I suppose this goes a ways towards answering the question from the "why does it cost so much to build in Boston?" thread...
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

Project approved by MassDOT: http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/news157133.html?Type=search

The 99-year lease agreement between MassDOT and ADG Scotia covering two plots of land, known as Parcels 12 and 15, will provide the Commonwealth project value of $18.5 million for the two parcels in the form of fixed payments early in the lease period combined with annual rent payments.

The proposed two-parcel development will include the following, with all numbers approximate:
Parcel 12:
• 111 residential condominium units;
• 41,200 square feet of retail space; and
• 98 garage parking spaces.
Parcel 15:
• 270-room hotel;
• 120 residential condominium units;
• 9,100 square feet of retail space; and
• 240 garage parking spaces.
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Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

YES!!!!!!!!! This is fantastic.
 
Re: MassDOT Pike Parcels 12 - 15 | Boylston St. + Mass. Ave

What is the story of the grey massing in front of it? Is that part of Berklee's expansion plan? I thought there was going to be a second tower, is that it?
 
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