One Canal (formerly Greenway Center) | Bullfinch Triangle | West End
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pelhamhall
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
Obviously the building is just another lowest-common-denominator piece-of-garbage Menino Stump, but what's bothering me is the name. If you're going to call this "Greenway Center" then shouldn't it at least be near this so-called "Greenway"?
Look at the aerial from the first page of this thread. The so-called "Greenway" is blocks away. Is Raymond trying to call the new Bulfinch Triangle part of some mythical "Greenway"?
Obviously the building is just another lowest-common-denominator piece-of-garbage Menino Stump, but what's bothering me is the name. If you're going to call this "Greenway Center" then shouldn't it at least be near this so-called "Greenway"?
Look at the aerial from the first page of this thread. The so-called "Greenway" is blocks away. Is Raymond trying to call the new Bulfinch Triangle part of some mythical "Greenway"?
underground
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
You're really splitting hairs over the distance here. Plus, isn't the Gate Way Park an official part of the Greenway as well?
You're really splitting hairs over the distance here. Plus, isn't the Gate Way Park an official part of the Greenway as well?
pelhamhall
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
I'm talking about the aerial from page 1 of this thread.
What is (and where is) this "greenway" we keep hearing about?
The half acre of ramps to the Interstate highway system at this project's doorstep? Is that tangle of ramps part of some mythical "Greenway"?
And what about the development plots next to, and behind this project in the old Bulfinch Triangle- are these development sites part of a "Greenway"?
Even when they will be covered with Menino Stumps in ten years with nary a patchy field of grass or landscaped park in site? Is that grass/curbing thing next to the Zakim Bridge part of some "Greenway"? Forgive the sarcasm, but I am honestly confused.
I thought the "greenway" starts with two little parklettes in the North End and stretched to South Station.
Even so, calling this real estate development "Greenway Edge" would be a stretch due to the highway ramps, and calling it "Greenway Center" would be silly.
I'm talking about the aerial from page 1 of this thread.
What is (and where is) this "greenway" we keep hearing about?
The half acre of ramps to the Interstate highway system at this project's doorstep? Is that tangle of ramps part of some mythical "Greenway"?
And what about the development plots next to, and behind this project in the old Bulfinch Triangle- are these development sites part of a "Greenway"?
Even when they will be covered with Menino Stumps in ten years with nary a patchy field of grass or landscaped park in site? Is that grass/curbing thing next to the Zakim Bridge part of some "Greenway"? Forgive the sarcasm, but I am honestly confused.
I thought the "greenway" starts with two little parklettes in the North End and stretched to South Station.
Even so, calling this real estate development "Greenway Edge" would be a stretch due to the highway ramps, and calling it "Greenway Center" would be silly.
Joe_Schmoe
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
I know I am preaching to the converted but sometimes it helps to be reminded what a city street is supposed to look like. It is supposed to have streetwalls, not be a suburban office building plopped into the city. Imagine if CBT would just modestly create a series of streetwalls around this parcel instead of this bland stump.
I know I am preaching to the converted but sometimes it helps to be reminded what a city street is supposed to look like. It is supposed to have streetwalls, not be a suburban office building plopped into the city. Imagine if CBT would just modestly create a series of streetwalls around this parcel instead of this bland stump.
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
@joe_schmoe Those are my favorite buildings in all of Boston. The last place I walked around before I left was Ft Point.
@joe_schmoe Those are my favorite buildings in all of Boston. The last place I walked around before I left was Ft Point.
Joe_Schmoe
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
From those Fort Point streetscapes you can understand what Kallman and McKinnell were doing with this building:
It a larger version of the Fort Point buildings, but keeps all the essentials-- including the orange brick--while being clearly modern. Of course I'd much prefer smaller footprints, even if you have to fake it by making a larger building seem like a series of smaller ones. But it can be done and still be modern.
From those Fort Point streetscapes you can understand what Kallman and McKinnell were doing with this building:
It a larger version of the Fort Point buildings, but keeps all the essentials-- including the orange brick--while being clearly modern. Of course I'd much prefer smaller footprints, even if you have to fake it by making a larger building seem like a series of smaller ones. But it can be done and still be modern.
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kennedy
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
The dark brick, narrow, modern-looking one, plus the two others going down the street combine to make up FP3 (the Fort Point 3, made up of 3 buildings.) The dark modern one is the only new construction, apart from the roof terrace. The other two are renovated Boston Wharf Co. buildings.
EDIT: Here's the picture outlined.
Damn, I have bad MS Paint handwriting.
The dark brick, narrow, modern-looking one, plus the two others going down the street combine to make up FP3 (the Fort Point 3, made up of 3 buildings.) The dark modern one is the only new construction, apart from the roof terrace. The other two are renovated Boston Wharf Co. buildings.
EDIT: Here's the picture outlined.
Damn, I have bad MS Paint handwriting.
kz1000ps
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
I too love FP3. It just works on so many different levels.
On a similar note, I think of this newish hotel in NYC's TriBeCa neighborhood - the Greenwich Hotel - as being of the same caliber. And it has some serious star wattage, thanks to one of its principal investors/owners being the one and only Robert De Niro.
And to make it even better, those ^ are cherry trees they planted.
Image courtesy of Wired New York
I too love FP3. It just works on so many different levels.
On a similar note, I think of this newish hotel in NYC's TriBeCa neighborhood - the Greenwich Hotel - as being of the same caliber. And it has some serious star wattage, thanks to one of its principal investors/owners being the one and only Robert De Niro.
And to make it even better, those ^ are cherry trees they planted.
Image courtesy of Wired New York
TheRifleman
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Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway
Developer default stalls $200m Greenway project
State now seeks new firm to build
By Casey Ross
Globe Staff / June 4, 2010
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Sending your articleYour article has been sent. E-mail| Print| Reprints| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThisText size ? + Another major development planned for downtown Boston is in trouble, as Massachusetts officials try to remove the designated developer of a stalled $200 million office and retail complex on state land at the edge of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
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Last month, the Massachusetts Transportation Department issued a default notice to the development team of Hines Raymond LP, which failed to start construction of Greenway Center after winning approval to build a 360,000-square-foot development two years ago. State officials had grown increasingly inpatient with the developer for repeatedly delaying the project because of financial difficulties.
The default notice states that Hines Raymond is violating its lease with the state by failing to pay $450,000 in rent as well as not proceeding with construction.
The notice triggers a legal process to remove the developer and find a new company to build on the property, at the northern tip of the Greenway in the historic Bulfinch Triangle.
The Greenway Center was to be the centerpiece of a revitalized neighborhood outside TD Garden, where the surrounding streets remain pockmarked with empty storefronts, despite new apartments and other projects.
Hines Raymond proposed to build a 10-story glass and brick building, with 300,000 square feet of offices and 60,000 square feet of retail space. Most of the retail would have been filled by a supermarket for the North End and West End neighborhoods, where residents had long complained of a lack of affordable food shopping within walking distance.
Government officials familiar with the situation said the state wants to replace Hines Raymond with Trinity Financial Inc., which built the Avenir apartments there last year, and finished second in the initial bidding for the Greenway Center site, in which it proposed housing and a supermarket.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which owns one-third of the property, indicated in legal documents that Trinity would automatically get building rights if Hines Raymond were to fail.
The Massachusetts Transportation Department, which owns the remaining property, still must vote to transfer the designation to Trinity. The agency?s board may vote on the switch Aug. 11, said the officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
A spokesman for the agency, Colin Durrant, said in a statement: ?MassDOT is taking steps to expedite development on the site to ensure that it occurs in the near term. There are ongoing legal negotiations continuing, so we have no further details at this time.??
A representative of Hines Interest LP of Houston, the lead partner on Greenway Center, said it is still trying to work with the state to advance the development.
?We have made a proposal to MassDOT and the MBTA to move the project forward, and we remain hopeful that we can achieve an outcome favorable to all parties involved,?? David Perry, a Hines vice president, said in a statement.
Ted Raymond, chief executive of Raymond Property Co., of Boston, now a minority investor in the project, declined to discuss the default notice, but said he hopes to see the property developed, regardless of whether he is involved.
?This is a chance for everybody to put their heads together to really think of ways to get something done,?? Raymond said.
The default notice indicates Massachusetts officials are intent on removing Hines Raymond.
Trinity Financial declined to comment. In 2008, it proposed retail stores at ground level, with a supermarket on the second floor and several dozen housing units above.
The Greenway Center site has remained vacant for two years, and Hines Raymond recently sought an eight-year extension that would not have required them to build anything on the property, one of the government officials said.
Hines and Raymond have each struggled with other projects in Boston during the recent economic turmoil.
Earlier this year, for example, Raymond was removed as lead developer of a massive two-skyscraper project by the owner of the nearby Government Center Garage.
And Hines has been unable to start construction of a 2.1 million-square foot office, residential, and hotel project on state air rights above South Station.
The state transportation department has faced setbacks on other properties.
This spring, it issued a default notice to the developers of Columbus Center, an $800 million complex over the Massachusetts Turnpike that failed to move forward, and it has had to restart searches for development of two other parcels near the Greenway, in the North End.
State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, whose district includes the Greenway Center site, said yesterday that he was ?extremely disappointed?? to learn of the default notice and would continue to push for a supermarket at the property.
?I would like to have the community take another look at Trinity?s proposal, but if they are building a supermarket, that is a large part of what the community was expecting as part of this development,?? he said.
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
? Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
Developer default stalls $200m Greenway project
State now seeks new firm to build
By Casey Ross
Globe Staff / June 4, 2010
E-mail this article To: Invalid E-mail address Add a personal message
80 character limit) Your E-mail: Invalid E-mail address Sending your articleYour article has been sent. E-mail| Print| Reprints| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThisText size ? + Another major development planned for downtown Boston is in trouble, as Massachusetts officials try to remove the designated developer of a stalled $200 million office and retail complex on state land at the edge of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
Discuss
COMMENTS (0)
Last month, the Massachusetts Transportation Department issued a default notice to the development team of Hines Raymond LP, which failed to start construction of Greenway Center after winning approval to build a 360,000-square-foot development two years ago. State officials had grown increasingly inpatient with the developer for repeatedly delaying the project because of financial difficulties.
The default notice states that Hines Raymond is violating its lease with the state by failing to pay $450,000 in rent as well as not proceeding with construction.
The notice triggers a legal process to remove the developer and find a new company to build on the property, at the northern tip of the Greenway in the historic Bulfinch Triangle.
The Greenway Center was to be the centerpiece of a revitalized neighborhood outside TD Garden, where the surrounding streets remain pockmarked with empty storefronts, despite new apartments and other projects.
Hines Raymond proposed to build a 10-story glass and brick building, with 300,000 square feet of offices and 60,000 square feet of retail space. Most of the retail would have been filled by a supermarket for the North End and West End neighborhoods, where residents had long complained of a lack of affordable food shopping within walking distance.
Government officials familiar with the situation said the state wants to replace Hines Raymond with Trinity Financial Inc., which built the Avenir apartments there last year, and finished second in the initial bidding for the Greenway Center site, in which it proposed housing and a supermarket.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which owns one-third of the property, indicated in legal documents that Trinity would automatically get building rights if Hines Raymond were to fail.
The Massachusetts Transportation Department, which owns the remaining property, still must vote to transfer the designation to Trinity. The agency?s board may vote on the switch Aug. 11, said the officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
A spokesman for the agency, Colin Durrant, said in a statement: ?MassDOT is taking steps to expedite development on the site to ensure that it occurs in the near term. There are ongoing legal negotiations continuing, so we have no further details at this time.??
A representative of Hines Interest LP of Houston, the lead partner on Greenway Center, said it is still trying to work with the state to advance the development.
?We have made a proposal to MassDOT and the MBTA to move the project forward, and we remain hopeful that we can achieve an outcome favorable to all parties involved,?? David Perry, a Hines vice president, said in a statement.
Ted Raymond, chief executive of Raymond Property Co., of Boston, now a minority investor in the project, declined to discuss the default notice, but said he hopes to see the property developed, regardless of whether he is involved.
?This is a chance for everybody to put their heads together to really think of ways to get something done,?? Raymond said.
The default notice indicates Massachusetts officials are intent on removing Hines Raymond.
Trinity Financial declined to comment. In 2008, it proposed retail stores at ground level, with a supermarket on the second floor and several dozen housing units above.
The Greenway Center site has remained vacant for two years, and Hines Raymond recently sought an eight-year extension that would not have required them to build anything on the property, one of the government officials said.
Hines and Raymond have each struggled with other projects in Boston during the recent economic turmoil.
Earlier this year, for example, Raymond was removed as lead developer of a massive two-skyscraper project by the owner of the nearby Government Center Garage.
And Hines has been unable to start construction of a 2.1 million-square foot office, residential, and hotel project on state air rights above South Station.
The state transportation department has faced setbacks on other properties.
This spring, it issued a default notice to the developers of Columbus Center, an $800 million complex over the Massachusetts Turnpike that failed to move forward, and it has had to restart searches for development of two other parcels near the Greenway, in the North End.
State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, whose district includes the Greenway Center site, said yesterday that he was ?extremely disappointed?? to learn of the default notice and would continue to push for a supermarket at the property.
?I would like to have the community take another look at Trinity?s proposal, but if they are building a supermarket, that is a large part of what the community was expecting as part of this development,?? he said.
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
? Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
blade_bltz
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Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway
heh. Good news as far as I'm concerned...this was one of the worst proposals I've ever seen.
heh. Good news as far as I'm concerned...this was one of the worst proposals I've ever seen.
kennedy
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Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway
I'm not disappointed by this, the Greenway Center proposal was trash. Absolutely hated it, and usually, I'm optimistic enough to say, "well, at least it fills in the streetwall." I'd be pretty happy if Trinity gets involved, they've demonstrated a high caliber of urban projects. Hopefully they can still get financing and manage this project while they continue to work on that Lowell development. I assume the financing of individual projects are kept isolated from one another?
I'm not disappointed by this, the Greenway Center proposal was trash. Absolutely hated it, and usually, I'm optimistic enough to say, "well, at least it fills in the streetwall." I'd be pretty happy if Trinity gets involved, they've demonstrated a high caliber of urban projects. Hopefully they can still get financing and manage this project while they continue to work on that Lowell development. I assume the financing of individual projects are kept isolated from one another?
TheRifleman
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Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway
I would love to see Squatters start claiming the Greenway as their home.
LOL..........What would Shen say then. It still looks good.
I think it's pretty clear that there should be many people fired in the BRA. The Greenway Conservancy should be dissolved for lack of NO PRODUCTION.
What do these city employees actually add to society besides stupidity?
I would love to see Squatters start claiming the Greenway as their home.
LOL..........What would Shen say then. It still looks good.
I think it's pretty clear that there should be many people fired in the BRA. The Greenway Conservancy should be dissolved for lack of NO PRODUCTION.
What do these city employees actually add to society besides stupidity?
palindrome
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Re: Greenway Center (Bulfinch Triangle)
bump.
As noted in the greenway thread, this project just entered default.
bump.
As noted in the greenway thread, this project just entered default.
palindrome
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Re: Rose Kennedy Greenway
Good riddens.
Good riddens.