Mission Hill Parcel 25 | Tremont St @ Roxbury Crossing

Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

Trinity please.
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

I'm not sure what the latest is with the trinity/archstone proposals, but according to the globe BPS is looking at this site for the construction of a shared school building for the Boston Arts Academy and the Upper Quincy School(s).

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...school-ever/DHJjix9VwiDV5me05isMeO/story.html

school-side.jpg
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

New school estimated cost >$250 million.
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

I can't think of a worse place for a school. First, the driving conditions are full on Mad Max at the time the kids would be going to school in the morning. Then the giant smoke stacks next door. "How about some precipitates with that ketchup vegetable on your lunch plate, young man?" And the money the article talks about to ameliorate the traffic exhaust? Wouldn't that money be better be better spent on amenities of direct benefit to the students at a different site?

Any time the precious precious of Newton North is the financial measure, you are in big trouble.
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

The thing I find most interesting is that it is a MassDot parcel that has already been put out to bid...
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

aaaaaa said:
This is a bit off topic, but what is the plan for parcel 27 (the island parcel that can be seen in the Sampan article JeffDowntown posted)?

It seems like such an undesirable piece of land.
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At this point, there are no real plans for any of the parcels south of the South Station Connector Road. Only the parcels with Kneeland frontage are in consideration. The island parcel (27) would require complete decking to make it viable.
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

I'd argue that few Bostonians (at least, those who are involved / care about neighborhood issues) know as much as Shirley Kressel does.

If she was able to articulate her points better (she has a tin ear, for one thing), she would have been a bigger force in downtown Boston development.

From the Comments section of the Boston Globe article above.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...school-ever/DHJjix9VwiDV5me05isMeO/story.html

Shirley Kressel: Why is City-owned land so scarce? Because the mayor has given it away to his developer buddies for private use. In this ideal Chinatown/Theater District location, a large City parcel of land, called Hayward Place, was slated for the Quincy Upper School. But Menino gave it to his friend Tony Pangaro (Millennium Partners) ten years ago, in a rigged bid. See http://skyscraperguy.yuku.com/topic/417/Hayward-Place-Maybe-A-Decade-Off#.UkxCKRZU4qs.

Pangaro just had to put in a $13 million deposit, and that entitled him to run the parking lot for ten years, making tens of millions of dollars without paying property taxes; and he got to buy it ten years later for the 2003 price, for the residential building going up now. And he was seeking a tax exemption based on "blight," which he will certainly get.

So, that $13 million was supposedly earmarked for...yup, the Quincy Upper School. But Menino recently used it to bail out Cross Harbor Partners, a North End developer who got stuck with a building he couldn't develop as he hoped, at 585 Commercial St., a bulding that CHP paid $10 million for expecting an over-development permit, and that the City assessed at $5.7 million.

Menino claimed credit for buying it for a "downtown school," although it's off on the edge of the city far from the downtown neighborhoods deprived of public schools, in an unwalkable spot, and would need a very costly retrofit. So now, he's pushing for a school in this ridiculous location, a state property, a highway hole that's wildly expensive to build on, again in a highway area at the edge of town, not exactly walkable neighborhood fabric. How many students even live walking distance from that spot?

Menino keeps claiming, and getting, praise for these "downtown schools," raising hopes that they are part of a bigger plan for real downtown schools, but they are not. They are just more of his numberless scams serving development interests (I wonder what construction company is in line for this doozy? Which is the one Menino, Jr. works for?).

The scam train is picking up speed as Menino's term is drawing to an end. But with his last-minute deals for projects and tax breaks and land give-aways (see: Red Sox), Menino is propping open the doors to the City treasury, so the looting can continue long after he is gone.
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Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

JohnKeith said:
I'd argue that few Bostonians (at least, those who are involved / care about neighborhood issues) know as much as Shirley Kressel does.

If she was able to articulate her points better (she has a tin ear, for one thing), she would have been a bigger force in downtown Boston development.

From the Comments section of the Boston Globe article above.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...school-ever/DHJjix9VwiDV5me05isMeO/story.html
Click to expand...

Without debating the politics of the Millennium getting that parking lot site, does anybody here think that a school would have been a better use for Hayward Place than Millennium Place? I'm not saying that we shouldn't have schools downtown, but from an urbanity perspective, MP seems like a bigger win.
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

The sweetheart deals aside, I can't follow Shirley's logic on her other points.

585 is hardly unwalkable and isolated from the downtown neighborhoods that need schools since, a) the North End really needs more seats, and b) it's the best location in the North End to be close to kids in the West End and Beacon Hill (and you can throw Charlestown in too, although they don't have the same seat issues as the others). It doesn't hurt that this was an expansion of one of the best elementary schools in the city rather than a completely new operation. Commercial Street is four lanes, but it's not a wild street and it's hardly the Berlin Wall.

And she's worried about cost of construction on Parcel 25, but not at all worried about cost of construction at Hayward Place? I mean, do you ever wonder why you don't see a ton of schools in prime downtown commercial real estate?
 
Re: Parcel 25 (South Bay)

jdrinboston said:
Without debating the politics of the Millennium getting that parking lot site, does anybody here think that a school would have been a better use for Hayward Place than Millennium Place? I'm not saying that we shouldn't have schools downtown, but from an urbanity perspective, MP seems like a bigger win.
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I live in the Chinatown neighborhood, and am a big proponent of finding a permanent home for the Josiah Quincy Upper School. That said, I really do believe that Millennium Place is a much better use of the Washington Street parcel at Hayward Place.
 
Re: Tremont Crossing in Roxbury

Digging a three level underground parking garage is just completely perverse in this location. It's nearly ON TOP of Roxbury Crossing station.

Otherwise, good, and about time they did something here.
 
Re: Tremont Crossing in Roxbury

Agreed. Would also like to see something happen with the two parking lots directly north of this. Looks like at least one of them is owned by Wentworth, so they may be holding off on any development until they need to expand, but with its proximity to the T stop I hate seeing a parking lot.
 
Re: Tremont Crossing in Roxbury

^^ WIT will be building a new athletic field over the parking lot (see BU field) once they start their new complex on the site of the current field on Huntington. Not sure if they own one our both lots, but one of them will become their new field.
 
Re: Tremont Crossing in Roxbury

BeeLine said:
^^ WIT will be building a new athletic field over the parking lot (see BU field) once they start their new complex on the site of the current field on Huntington. Not sure if they own one our both lots, but one of them will become their new field.
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That is incorrect. Sweeney Field must be entirely moved to the Parker Lot before the Huntington Ave/Innovation Center is started. Also, Wentworth owns the adjacent abandoned lot as well as the old brewery building.
 
Goody Clancy does great work and this is just what Boston needs more of.
 
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