North End Piazza on The Greenway | 198 Hanover Street | North End

datadyne007 said:
I think it steps up from the Greenway to North End nicely. It's a nice transition building.

Greenway +0.0
Greenway Pergola +15.0
This building +30.0
North End +40.0-60.0
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Agree.

There is not a lot one can do with a footprint of 1068 feet (the Urban Exchange parcel), Fork which probably has a footprint of 1400-1500 square feet, and Wedge, with a footprint similar to Fork.

And there is the matter of current building codes and rear egress for both this set of buildings and the abutting apartments. A residential unit atop Urban would be so close to the abutting apartment that one could go window to window between the two.
 
The North End is supposed to be inspired by Italian cities, right? You know what cities in Italy have? Places for people! Plazas, pedestrian streets, parks, etc. The North End is a joke when it comes to this.

Cars should not be allowed in front of these buildings. A "piazza" is a public square, not a parking lot. North Square should also be closed to cars. This is all so obvious. There sure as hell weren't cars there when Paul Revere lived there, right? The poor teachers in the neighborhood have to cone off blocks of street themselves so kids can have recess without being hit by cars. Cars get 4 lanes(including parking) on Hanover Street while pedestrians trip over each other on the pathetically narrow and crowded sidewalks.
 
Kinopio said:
The North End is supposed to be inspired by Italian cities, right? You know what cities in Italy have? Places for people! Plazas, pedestrian streets, parks, etc. The North End is a joke when it comes to this.
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Well, the North End is one of the oldest areas of Boston, it was almost completely built out prior to the Italian immigration wave.
 
Yeah in a better world we'd be talking about pedestrianizing Salem St and making hanover a one-way Woonerf, rather than just preventing sidewalks from becoming parking lots
 
datadyne007 said:
I think it steps up from the Greenway to North End nicely. It's a nice transition building.

Greenway +0.0
Greenway Pergola +15.0
This building +30.0
North End +40.0-60.0
Click to expand...

I guess I just don't see why we need to "step up" into the North End. It's not a high rise or mid rise neighborhood. Many of the edge buildings along RKG/Cross Street/N.Washington are 3-5+ stories already. And while I wouldn't call this particular proposal ugly, it's not inspiring as a gateway and the sides/walls of the buildings behind it aren't really anything special to look at, so you're not preserving some sort of great view or sightline. So why not a 3-5 story building here with a hotel/residential component as a gateway between downtown/the RKG before stepping down into the historic neighborhood (or remaining consistent with the height? Just seems like kind of a missed opportunity for such a prime spot.
 
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CSTH said:
Yeah in a better world we'd be talking about pedestrianizing Salem St and making hanover a one-way Woonerf, rather than just preventing sidewalks from becoming parking lots
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I'm probably an extremist here, but if it's up to me I'm pedestrianizing the entire North End less Hanover and Commercial.

(I know this will never happen.)
 
Lrfox said:
I guess I just don't see why we need to "step up" into the North End. It's not a high rise or mid rise neighborhood....
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Precisely. The very tiny building behind it should have been taken by Bostonplans' eminent domain authority with possibly it's minute facade preserved w/out whining, crying, bitching, lawsuits or postponement/s. Just the correct step that would have allowed the proper, "stfu" outcome.
 
CSTH said:
Yeah in a better world we'd be talking about pedestrianizing Salem St and making hanover a one-way Woonerf, rather than just preventing sidewalks from becoming parking lots
Click to expand...

I wish we could do this right anywhere in the city. Washington Street is embarrassing as a pedestrian way. You can't walk in the middle of the street without having to constantly be on the lookout for trucks and other "official" vehicles. Then, of course, the vehicles parked along the curb don't do anything to lend to an environment that says "walk here!" I lump this in with the "official" cars parked on sidewalks all over the city too.

A nice example of how the city values pedestrians vs. cars - one day every week there is a truck parked on the sidewalk at rush hour in front of the Granary Burying Ground (maintenance) forcing pedestrians to either squeeze by between the wall and the truck (not always easy), or step around on the street side and squeeze between the truck and traffic rushing by. There are three lanes on Tremont - no reason he can't park there and have cars use the other two. It wouldn't disrupt cars nearly as much as it does pedestrians.
 
Does anybody else consistently read this thread title as "North End Pizza on The Greenway"?
 
Lrfox said:
I guess I just don't see why we need to "step up" into the North End. It's not a high rise or mid rise neighborhood. Many of the edge buildings along RKG/Cross Street/N.Washington are 3-5+ stories already. And while I wouldn't call this particular proposal ugly, it's not inspiring as a gateway and the sides/walls of the buildings behind it aren't really anything special to look at, so you're not preserving some sort of great view or sightline. So why not a 3-5 story building here with a hotel/residential component as a gateway between downtown/the RKG before stepping down into the historic neighborhood (or remaining consistent with the height? Just seems like kind of a missed opportunity for such a prime spot.
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I agree and also think it's a missed opportunity mostly because a larger building could have somewhat visually hemmed in the greenway in this neck of the woods. In this part of Boston the greenway can often seem like a yawning chasm. It is a reminder that the promise to knit the city back together with the big dig was imperfectly executed. The low rise buildings along cross street are a legacy of the negative impact of the elevated expressway. The city should have vanquished the old cross street "driveway/parking lanes" as soon as the central artery came down and earmarked sites like this for well designed buildings which complement not only the scale of the nearby north end buildings but also the large greenspace directly across the street.
 
I agree. That's why I thought a building that comes a bit closer to Cross Street would help close the Big Dig chasm. There is already a park and plaza across the street, so why widen the open corridor even more with a plaza in front of this building?
 
Appears as though Starbucks has been squashed. Marty told them to withdraw -- but that happened in Southie and they still opened.

However Eater is reporting that late Friday the developer pulled Starbucks.
 
I haven't walked around here in quite awhile. Is the 198 Hanover Project under construction? This press release seems to be the parcels next door between Endicott and Salem.
www.nbcboston.com

New Boutique Hotel, Restaurants Pitched for Boston's North End

A six-story hotel with two restaurants would overlook the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston’s North End, under a redevelopment proposal that has been submitted to city planning officials. Boston-based Fort Point Associates Inc., an urban planning and project permitting firm, on Tuesday filed a...
www.nbcboston.com www.nbcboston.com

1604531022906.png
 
Sorry to bump this thread, but the Boutique Hotel across the street made me think of this project. Did it get sidelined? This image from Google looks like some new storefronts, but it's not the two story proposal in earlier posts from this thread.

Does anybody have the current story? What's going on?

1647039170994.png


1647039530162.png
 
Frank Depasquale has purchased this property and is now looking to develop this parcel into a sort of mall. Very similar to the 2016 proposal. But goes up an additional story and doesn't include any (new) housing.
northend.page

"Santa lives at the north pole, not in the North End" - Neighborhood Council defers vote on Cross St development at 9pm

At 9pm, the Neighborhood Council President called on board members to Support, Oppose, or Defer Discussion on Frank Depasquale's development at 60-70 Cross Street. The Council voted to defer.
northend.page northend.page
 
balsama said:
Frank Depasquale has purchased this property and is now looking to develop this parcel into a sort of mall. Very similar to the 2016 proposal. But goes up an additional story and doesn't include any (new) housing.
northend.page

"Santa lives at the north pole, not in the North End" - Neighborhood Council defers vote on Cross St development at 9pm

At 9pm, the Neighborhood Council President called on board members to Support, Oppose, or Defer Discussion on Frank Depasquale's development at 60-70 Cross Street. The Council voted to defer.
northend.page northend.page
Click to expand...

From the article
"......The owners of the building at 206 Hanover (Romano Florist building) which, similar to 57-59 Salem, would have ten windows blocked by a brick wall a few feet away spoke next. The conversation turned contentious. Mr. Romano stated that "Santa lives at the North Pole, not in the North End", presumably in response to Mr. Depasquale's altruistic tone when describing the project......"

Evidently, SCROOGE lives at 206 Hanover Street. You are who your own words say you are Mr. Romano. You have no birthright to your unimpeded view over an undeveloped (or underdeveloped) urban downtown lot.
 
When you purchase a property with windows a few feet from the lot line, you ought to anticipate that the owner of the property on the other side of that line might have a greater use in mind for his land than providing a view to someone else. I know the tenants would likely prefer to retain a nice view of the Greenway, but they will still have full use of their apartments for their intended purpose, and on the bright side, if the windows are facing a brick wall they won't have to waste any money on curtains.
 
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