Parcel 25 | Kneeland St | Chinatown

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goldenretrievers said:
it would be nice if they could deck 93 with a park and go tall on the solid ground

(anything that buries the highways would be great, as opposed to the trellis design)
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I'd love to see a column of basketball / volleyball courts decked over the currently-open-to-below space, and a playground put up on the currently-decked land over 93. This could become a bigger and better Reggie Wong Memorial Park, freeing up the current terra firma site of the park across Lincoln Street for (affordable Chinatown housing) development.
 
I'm guessing about 15 stories of lab on Kneeland Street and a mid-rise residential tower on Lincoln, with a plaza (or nothing at all) covering the highway.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1385289628891160585

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Cannot believe Peebles is daring to be involved in Boston after their Parcel 14 nonsense. Trinity and Brookfield look great.
 
curcuas said:
Cannot believe Peebles is daring to be involved in Boston after their Parcel 14 nonsense. Trinity and Brookfield look great.
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peebles won't get it, that guy is a joke. This deal goes to Biomed or NatDev. Brookfield has cash but Hudson doesn't have the track record the others do. Guess it comes down to whether the city awards to Blackstone or Alexandria but think alexandria has the leg up with NatDev as the local partner (and ACDC) but i guess density ends up being the driving factor?
 
Given the criteria outlined in the Globe, unclear how responsive several of the proposals are to the criteria.
Proposals will be judged on several criteria, including the financial return to the state, but also the diversity of the project teams and their financial partners. That approach — dubbed the “Massport Model” after its use by the Massachusetts Port Authority to sell off sites such as the new Omni Hotel in the Seaport — prompted several of the development teams to include nonprofits that serve nearby Chinatown or builders from among the city’s ranks of Black-owned construction firms.

Whatever proposal is chosen will also have to contend with the site’s engineering complexities and with the needs of adjacent neighborhoods — Chinatown and the Leather District — that have argued for more affordable housing and open space, particularly on publicly owned land. Some in those neighborhoods have also pushed back against recent lab proposals that they worry will do little for current residents. Some of those residents’ needs — such as a rule that 20 percent of housing on Parcel 25 be set at affordable prices — have been written into MassDOT’s bid requirements. Others will likely be hashed out as the project moves through review with the Boston Planning & Development Agency..
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www.bostonglobe.com

Big-name developers vying to build on parcel just south of downtown - The Boston Globe

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said Thursday that it received six bids for a 1.3-acre property on Kneeland Street known as Parcel 25.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 
DBM said:
Not to be stumping for Hudson or acting like a paid spokesperson by any means, but, this strikes me as an extremely odd claim given this and this and this. Literally all they've done are large-scale redevelopments in this exact neighborhood.

Do any of the competing developers have that track record, in Chinatown/Leather District? I'm skeptical, given what a microscopic neighborhood we're talking about...
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National Development with ACDC, et al. has the track record. ACDC has 3 major housing developments in the hood, including MassDOT Parcel 24 (One Greenway) right next door. National Development did the Ink Block, just across the Turnpike.
 
JeffDowntown said:
National Development with ACDC, et al. has the track record. ACDC has 3 major housing developments in the hood, including MassDOT Parcel 24 (One Greenway) right next door. National Development did the Ink Block, just across the Turnpike.
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That might raise the question of whether this gets the ND A team, though. We see what kind of a difference that can make with Related Beal.
 
Equilibria said:
That might raise the question of whether this gets the ND A team, though. We see what kind of a difference that can make with Related Beal.
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I also find it an odd proposal mix with so much lab space. I know Alexandria does lab space, but that is not the history for ND or ACDC. I am speculating, though, that lab is one of the few commercial property types that can get funded right now.

This would help expand the cluster of lab space developing around Tufts Medical Center/Medical School (including 125 Lincoln and the conversion of 1000 Washington / 321 Harrison).
 
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JeffDowntown said:
I also find it an odd proposal mix with so much lab space. I know Alexandria does lab space, but that is not the history for ND or ACDC. I am speculating, though, that lab is one of the few commercial property types that can get funded right now.

This would help expand the cluster of lab space developing around Tufts Medical Center/Medical School (including 125 Lincoln and the conversion of 1000 Washington / 321 Harrison).
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ND is doing a massive amount of lab on Dorchester Ave right now
 
DBM said:
Not to be stumping for Hudson or acting like a paid spokesperson by any means, but, this strikes me as an extremely odd claim given this and this and this. Literally all they've done are large-scale redevelopments in this exact neighborhood.

Do any of the competing developers have that track record, in Chinatown/Leather District? I'm skeptical, given what a microscopic neighborhood we're talking about...
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The radian is the only project of scale and 150 kneeland isn’t even built yet. ND has a 40 year track record in New England of building stuff, built that tower on Washington and Lagrange, ink block, and has a massive development underway on for ave
 
stellarfun said:
Proposals will be judged on several criteria, including the financial return to the state, but also the diversity of the project teams and their financial partners. That approach — dubbed the “Massport Model” after its use by the Massachusetts Port Authority to sell off sites such as the new Omni Hotel in the Seaport — prompted several of the development teams to include nonprofits that serve nearby Chinatown or builders from among the city’s ranks of Black-owned construction firms.
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WTF is that? So you get penalized for being white? Makes me want to become a contractor to sue the living daylights out of the state for their reverse Jim Crow.
 
itchy said:
WTF is that? So you get penalized for being white? Makes me want to become a contractor to sue the living daylights out of the state for their reverse Jim Crow.
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Most state contracts in Massachusetts have a DBE minimum (disadvantaged business entity). You can find them in most contract bids for engineering and construction too. Usually like 10-15% for MBTA contracts. So most larger firms that aren't DBEs will bring on smaller DBE subs and give them at least X% of the contract value or make JVs. The idea is to let the smaller companies have a chance. "Disadvantaged" businesses can be minority owned, women owned, economically disadvantaged, etc. Seems fair to me that developers should reflect the neighborhood they're developing in, all the money flowing from the state to white businesses when a large percent of Boston and a larger percent of Chinatown isn't white...

You might also be surprised to hear that in the City of Boston all construction projects must use 50% Boston residents, 25% people of color, and 10% women. (https://www.boston.gov/departments/...n-residents-jobs-policy-construction-projects)
 
itchy said:
WTF is that? So you get penalized for being white? Makes me want to become a contractor to sue the living daylights out of the state for their reverse Jim Crow.
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You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

Boston's policies exist for the express purpose of trying to actively REMEDY centuries of systemic oppression -- systems fostered by both the private and public sectors.

Jim Crow existed in order to actively PERPETUATE systems of oppression (often through physical violence, including mass murder, in additional to constitutional disenfranchisement and the deprivation of access to equal education, healthcare, and the public sphere.

By victimizing yourself and white dudes like me - by claiming that we are experiencing "reverse-Jim Crow" - is as inaccurate as it is embarrassing.
 
rjacobs said:
Boston's policies exist for the express purpose of trying to actively REMEDY centuries of systemic oppression -- systems fostered by both the private and public sectors.
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I've never had any interest in car racing, horse racing, dog racing, etc. but it's fun to follow word racing as words compete with one another to become the magic term that excuses any and all minority shortcomings by blaming them on majority oppression. A while back it looked like "legacy" would be the winner, as all minority problems involved some sort of legacy: The legacy of slavery, the legacy of redlining, the legacy of Jim Crow, and so on. But now it looks like "legacy" has fallen to third place, if not dropped out of the race altogether, and "systemic" and "structural" are in a neck and neck race to become the magic buzzword. I can't make up my mind which one I want to root for.
 
itchy said:
WTF is that? So you get penalized for being white? Makes me want to become a contractor to sue the living daylights out of the state for their reverse Jim Crow.
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Wtf are you talking about? The fact that so few construction contracts go to companies owned by PoC shows that in the current environment, you get penalized for NOT BEING WHITE. Take your ignorance elsewhere. Jesus Christ, the moment the government tries to level the playing the field for other people, there are always some people who immediately start screaming "oppression". Educate yourself:
www.wgbh.org

Black-Owned Businesses Have Been Largely Shut Out Of Boston Contracts, City Study Shows

Draft study obtained by GBH News shows there are plenty of Black-owned businesses available for city contracts, but they don't get the work.
www.wgbh.org www.wgbh.org
 
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I'll only add that City and State projects *routinely* fall below these minimum standards and it's a huge issue.

Noted liberal democrat Charlie Baker has also noted that increased minority contracting is a way to improve free market mechanisms and reduce corruption. When only a handful of white, status quo firms get picked for contracts, do you think we're choosing the best? Of course not.
 
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