Middlesex County Courthouse Redevelopment | 40 Thorndike St | East Cambridge

Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

Of course, the neighbors are complaining and will likely file an appeal:

Courthouse redevelopment approved 6-0 by Planning Board, residents vowing suit

By John Hawkinson
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The Planning Board voted Tuesday to approve the redevelopment of the former Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse site in East Cambridge. After deliberating extensively during a four-hour meeting, the board voted 6-0 to grant special permits to Leggat McCall Properties to redevelop the courthouse site into a mixed-use commercial and residential building. About 75 people were in attendance at a slow and technical meeting at the Kennedy-Longfellow School.

But the process may still be arduous. Local residents, led by the James Green Condominium Association, have vowed to appeal the decision in court. Michael Hawley, who represents that group, did not attend the meeting and could not be reached Tuesday.

City officials have until Oct. 30 to formally write up and file the decision. After that, there are 20 calendar days during which an appeal may be filed.

The special permits granted included many conditions, some standard and some specific to this case. Leggat must fund an independent expert that the city will hire to evaluate its wind study and mitigation issues – residents have long complained about the wind from the courthouse tower, and Leggat’s past presentation to the board had indicated that wind conditions would be about the same, but might even worsen in some spots. The board also felt that the lighting plan for the building required additional staff review, as did a plan for retail.

The board asked, and Leggat seemed agreeable, for the 24 residential units to be divided equally into eight affordable units, eight middle-income units and eight market-rate units – a substantial change from the four affordable units proposed originally, but a small financial impact on the project because the commercial part of the building will bring the bulk of its revenues.

The board also granted Leggat’s request for a special permit to allow parking within 1,000 feet of the site, which would allow the building to use the parking garage at the CambridgeSide Galleria mall if the City Council is unwilling to grant Leggat permission to lease the First Street Garage.

Rob Dickey, Leggat’s executive vice president in charge of this project, was jubilant but tired after the meeting, and deferred comments until business hours Wednesday.

Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly represented the position of the Neighborhood Association of East Cambridge with respect to appealing the decision. Michael Hawley does not represent the NAEC, which has not vowed to appeal. Hawley represents only the smaller James Green Condominium Association.
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Cambridge Day
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

You would think these people would be a little more gracious towards the developer...that building is hideous.

It's almost as if they think east cambridge=brattle street
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

617 said:
You would think these people would be a little more gracious towards the developer...that building is hideous.

It's almost as if they think east cambridge=brattle street
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I live in the area, but I'm not involved in this battle.

I think the neighbors have a point. This building could never go up today, the zoning is very clear on 80-foot maximum in this part of Cambridge. The only reason this monstrosity exists is because it was built by the state skirting all local zoning. So I think it reasonable for them to contest the building going into private hands with no adaptation to meet zoning requirements for the area.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

^ How about we rezone Cambridge instead...
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

abdinoor said:
I live in the area, but I'm not involved in this battle.

I think the neighbors have a point. This building could never go up today, the zoning is very clear on 80-foot maximum in this part of Cambridge. The only reason this monstrosity exists is because it was built by the state skirting all local zoning. So I think it reasonable for them to contest the building going into private hands with no adaptation to meet zoning requirements for the area.
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Just nitpicking here, but it's not really skirting local zoning when Towns derive the right to zone from the State. There is a pretty good public policy argument for the State to retain its zoning exemptions.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

abdinoor said:
I think the neighbors have a point. This building could never go up today, the zoning is very clear on 80-foot maximum in this part of Cambridge. The only reason this monstrosity exists is because it was built by the state skirting all local zoning. So I think it reasonable for them to contest the building going into private hands with no adaptation to meet zoning requirements for the area.
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I don't find the zoning argument that compelling. I wonder if the building was indeed exempted from local zoning when constructed. I wouldn't make any assumptions given it has been common for entire neighborhoods to be downzoned and perhaps this area was downzoned subsequent to building's construction.

Older residential and commercial neighborhoods all over the Boston area have been downzoned over the years and are comprised of homes and buildings that are non-conforming but grandfathered as permitted uses. The homes and buildings could never be built as new construction under current zoning with more restrictive height limits, setbacks and minimum lot size etc. For example, often if an older home burns down the owner has a limited time, say 2 years to rebuild (with the same footprint) as a grandfathered use. If the owner lets the time period lapse, they may not be able to rebuild the home at all given the entire neighborhood was downzoned 40 years ago.

Lastly, I wouldn't expect the change of use to be concerning for nearby neighbors given the building is going from a house of correction/courthouses/offices to a residential/commercial building.
 
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Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

Anybody have any thoughts on potential traffic effects from this development? That area already gets pretty messed up at rush hour.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

commuter guy said:
Lastly, I wouldn't expect the change of use to be concerning for nearby neighbors given the building is going from a house of correction/courthouses/offices to a residential/commercial building.
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Thanks for sharing the points about downzoning, not sure if that is what has happened here.

Regarding the use, I think the neighbors are a little concerned about having half a million square feet of office space as an island surrounded by low-rise residential. I'm not sure what the impact has been in other areas where the same sort of thing has happened. But the locals seem to take issue with the large number of commuters this will bring to the neighborhood. Personally, I find that argument less compelling than the zoning argument.

I'd be pleased to see the site redeveloped in any way, because it is such a dead zone right now. But I think the developers could be doing more with street activation and housing.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

Judge rejects challenge to renovation of former Middlesex Courthouse

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...tml?s_campaign=bostonglobe:socialflow:twitter

A $250 million redevelopment plan for the former Middlesex Courthouse in Cambridge cleared a major legal hurdle when a judge rejected claims by neighborhood opponents of the project.

Massachusetts Land Court Judge Robert Foster ruled late Tuesday that developer Leggat McCall Properties has the right to preserve the building’s 280-foot height as part of a renovation that would add office space, retail stores, and residences.

A group of neighboring property owners, including architect Graham Gund, had argued that the state’s sale of the building to a private owner extinguished an exemption that allowed the building to be significantly taller than surrounding properties. They want to see the building demolished or substantially reduced in size.
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Of course, there are still appeals ahead.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

great, hopefully they'll resolve this thing before the next bubble bursts
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

FK4 said:
great, hopefully they'll resolve this thing before the next bubble bursts
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Back in an earlier era the court deciding the building's fate would be in session inside the very building -- just as some of the thieves involved with the original construction malfeasance [I think that the final cost was about 7X the original estimate] were tried in the courtrooms that they "built"
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

I could understand if this was to be new construction but the damn building is already there! You'd think the neighbors would want this eyesore to be redone into something the community could be proud of. Glad the court ruled the way it did.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

What a crock this whole thing has been. Maybe Leggatt can extend an olive branch (non-genetically modified of course) by installing a warning system so that the moonbats' beloved flying unicorns will be diverted away instead of crashing into the tower. Poor loser mbats! So sads :(
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

atlantaden said:
Glad the court ruled the way it did.
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Sooner would have been better. Courts just seem to like to give their lawyer pals billable hours to the detriment of the rest of society.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

tangent said:
Sooner would have been better. Courts just seem to like to give their lawyer pals billable hours to the detriment of the rest of society.
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Man, check out this hot take.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

tangent said:
Courts just seem to like to give their lawyer pals billable hours to the detriment of the rest of society.
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Believe me the last thing on earth Massachusetts state court employees would do is create additional work for the courts. Judges, Clerks etc. don't get paid by the hour and make the same whether they put in 40 hours a week or 80.
 
Re: New Design for Middlesex Courthouse

BosDevelop said:
Believe me the last thing on earth Massachusetts state court employees would do is create additional work for the courts. Judges, Clerks etc. don't get paid by the hour and make the same whether they put in 40 hours a week or 80.
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Con-tin-you-ance!! Everybody gets paid mufuggah!!
Sorry. Vulgar but true.
 
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