Nuba ( Parcel 8) | 429 Melnea Cass Blvd | Nubian Sq | Roxbury

This area has such a history of unsuccessful RFPs (Parcel P3!) I would like to see something happen here in a few years. Any of these would be fine. Pick one that can actually happen and make it so.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
View attachment 6493View attachment 6494

The closest I've personally seen to actual roof top trees was this in London, I think about 20 storeys up, completely free and open to the public like a park, really awesome place but even then no real trees just shrubbery and plantings. Wish Boston had something like this though...
Click to expand...

I'll second this from personal experience. The company I work for is HQ'd in London in a complex called Central Saint Giles. Two separate roof gardens are open to all workers, if I remember right 12 and 14 floors up. It looks just like the above pic, and it's fantastic. Everyone eats lunch out there or has drinks out there after work. No real trees, but plenty of healthy shrubbery and tall decorative grasses. We could absolutely do that in Boston. And it doesn't have to be confined to Renzo Piano starchitecture either.
 
shawn said:
I'll second this from personal experience. The company I work for is HQ'd in London in a complex called Central Saint Giles. Two separate roof gardens are open to all workers, if I remember right 12 and 14 floors up. It looks just like the above pic, and it's fantastic. Everyone eats lunch out there or has drinks out there after work. No real trees, but plenty of healthy shrubbery and tall decorative grasses. We could absolutely do that in Boston. And it doesn't have to be confined to Renzo Piano starchitecture either.
Click to expand...
Boston does have quite a nice example of this at the MGH museum of medical innovation
MGH_RoofDeck_resized-1563x1250.jpg
 
reverend_paco said:
Bumping because there was a presentation yesterday

http://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/307759af-e989-4fc2-8047-cff9e70e4777
Click to expand...

For the most part, I love the 1st one. Great design, excellent looking materials, sculpture on the grounds, exceeds affordability requirements, the food emporium will be a wonderful gathering place. I'm ambivalent about the dramatic outdoor staircase. First, I like that it makes the place even more interesting/quirky to the pedestrian. However, it seems to act as a barrier for ~25% to the street level retail and the windows. I kinda dislike cutting off the street level and windows, etc. in that way.

Overall, one of the best potential projects in Boston for a ton of reasons.

The 2nd one???? Yikes. What part of Rodeo Drive are they planning THAT one for?

The 3rd one isn't even trying to compete. My guess is that it is a stitch together, last minute entry because the planning dept said "We need a third".

This "competition" is a pretty easy one to decide.
 
Last edited:
The street presence on the timber one is awful, but it has the strongest massing and material use imo. Certainly looks expensive though...

I'm fine with the brick/stone one. As long as we don't get that third option... Can easily see that being V/E'd even further into a heaping Developer-Special
 
Bananarama said:
The street presence on the timber one is awful, but it has the strongest massing and material use imo. Certainly looks expensive though...

I'm fine with the brick/stone one. As long as we don't get that third option... Can easily see that being V/E'd even further into a heaping Developer-Special
Click to expand...

The one thing I keep thinking is that Urbanica has a good track record of getting things that are pretty good built. I don't love the scallops, but those can go away pretty easily. Height seems okay on Melnea Cass (it's also proposed at Parcel 10) so if one of the higher ones seems like it could actually happen that would be great. This parcel is also next to the site where Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology is supposed to be moving and it would be interesting to see if the two projects could work together.
 
Any idea on number and mix of units in the first proposal?
 
curcuas said:
Any idea on number and mix of units in the first proposal?
Click to expand...

Good question. In that above presentation portfolio, it wasn't addressed.

So I did some quick digging and found this from September 30th in the Baystate Banner:


".... The NuGateway Team is led by the Groma development firm. The proposal includes 103 units in 64,000 square feet of residential space. The units will also be two-thirds affordable. NuGateway has placed an emphasis on retail — proposing 15,000 square feet of retail space, including a “Nubian Public Market” that is modeled after the Boston Public Market. The gallery space would be called the “NuArts Center,” with a park that features an art piece acting as a gateway to Nubian Square......"
 
And the winner is: Urbanica
www.bostonglobe.com

BPDA OKs re-do of Jamaica Plain’s Mildred Hailey complex - The Boston Globe

The Boston Planning & Development Agency board approved plans to replace 253 low-income apartments at the complex and add 425 new units geared at a variety of income levels, as well as a new community center.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Boston Globe said:
In another vote Thursday, the development agency’s board also picked a developer for a key city-owned parcel in Nubian Square.

A group led by real estate firm Urbanica will develop a roughly one-acre site along Melnea Cass Blvd., between Harrison Ave. and Washington Street. Their plans call for a 102-unit housing development there — 88 of them income-restricted — with a satellite museum for the National Center for Afro American Arts. The proposal was picked from among three that bid on the site last year, and will now move forward through BPDA project review.
Click to expand...

As everyone expected, it looks like we're getting the most boring of the proposals. But it's something (way better than the empty lot) and will provide housing, museum space, and life along Melnea Cass.


Mods, time for a thread name update?
NUBA at Roxbury Gateway | Parcel 8 | Melnea Cass between Washington and Harrison | Nubian Square
 
Last edited:
Wish I could've been a fly on the wall during that conversation. The Urbanica one was the worst in terms of look imo and in terms of added density iirc.
 
I agree it lacks muchness, but in a neighborhood that is such a tough sell, and in this urban development market, the perfect is definitely the enemy of the good. I'll take it.
 
I like the small format retail arcade. I can think of 100 better places to put it than M Cass, but it’s the kind of thing I wish we saw in the Seaport or North Station. Everywhere really.
 
So is the NCAAA that was supposed to be in the cancelled Tremont Crossing moving over to this project? It appears so. Thats some good news as that was a pretty big hit along with the obvious residential/office/retail loss due to the cancellation. The more cultural spaces like this there are in the city the better, you cant have too much.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
View attachment 6493View attachment 6494

The closest I've personally seen to actual roof top trees was this in London, I think about 20 storeys up, completely free and open to the public like a park, really awesome place but even then no real trees just shrubbery and plantings. Wish Boston had something like this though...
Click to expand...

What about this? Granted, it's not 20 stories up and people will probably never know they're on a roof because there are no views looking down to make you aware you're above street level. Should have been designed to include that.

69mc307.jpg


ptUmAyk.jpg


indH0A9.jpg


x7909cG.jpg


NpVukTr.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top