Park Square Charter School Building Bought

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Stratouly buys 13-story Park Sq. charter school building
By Scott Van Voorhis Thursday, August 14, 2008

Hub tower developer Dean Stratouly is back with his first downtown deal since he started building 33 Arch St. seven years ago.

Stratouly yesterday confirmed he has wrapped up a deal to buy 100 Arlington St., a 13-story, turn-of-the-century building in Park Square that is home to the Boston Renaissance Charter School.

Under the agreement, the school will have two years to relocate, most likely to Hyde Park.

Meanwhile, Stratouly said he will work with Mayor Thomas M. Menino?s office, as well as the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the neighborhood, on plans for the 240,000-square-foot building.

Stratouly is looking at a number of options, including offices, a hotel or even housing.

But Stratouly , who played a key role overseeing the development of Boston?s $800 million convention center, said he is not deterred by the economy or signs the office market may be weakening.

Any new project is probably five to seven years off.

?You don?t do any of these projects if you only have a one-year time horizon,? Stratouly said. ?Over the next five to seven years the Boston economy will continue to grow. The market today will be much different than five years from now.?

Stratouly wound up paying just under $40 million for the building, sources familar with the deal said. Taylor Smith Realty and CB Richard Ellis brokered the deal.

After the building hit the market two years ago, as many as 100 potential buyers took a look at it, with 10 bidders ultimately competing to buy it, according to one industry executive.
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Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1112926

Now if something can be done with the Transportation Building.
 
This building was formerly UMass-Boston, before they moved out to Columbia Point. Parts of UMass remained there even afterwards, until a few years ago.
 
Renaissance Charter School

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Car Mart, across the street

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Armory

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Tower set for Hub school site

By Thomas Grillo
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A Boston developer is proceeding with plans to transform the Boston Renaissance Charter School in Park Square into office space.

?We?re assembling the team, interviewing architects, talking with brokerage firms and preparing to talk to the Bay Village, Back Bay and Beacon Hill neighborhoods,? said Dean F. Stratouly, president of the Congress Group.

Stratouly agreed to pay more than $40 million for the 177,470-square-foot site at 100 Arlington St. Renaissance bought the 13-story, turn-of-the-century building for nearly $8 million in 1999.

The school recently purchased a 6-acre lot with an 80,000-square-foot facility on Hyde Park Avenue for $5 million. The new $30 million campus could be ready as early as 2010.

William Motley, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, said if the Class A office building were opening today it would be very difficult to get the $65-per-square-foot rents needed to justify construction costs.

?In this current economic climate, I expect rents will slide further,? he said.

If approved, the offices would be the latest project to boost the area. A $200 million W Hotel is under construction in the nearby Theater District. The 26-story tower features 235 hotel rooms, 123 condominiums and 12,000 square feet of retail space.

Brian Boisvert, president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, said residents prefer an office building at the school site, because Renaissance has caused gridlock at the busy section of Stuart and Arlington streets.
 
The headline contradicts the story. Are they reusing this building, or tearing it down to build something new?

Also, does anyone know what this building was originally used for, before it became UMass-Boston?
 
I believe it was the headquaters for Boston Edison. Then it was part of Umass Boston's campus. I also belive the Umass executives stayed here after the students had moved to Clumbia Point untill they were forced to move to the Point also.
 
Sure is a great looking building: Early Christian meets Deco.
 
Park Sq is one of those places that should have more life than it does. It was always one of my favorite places that tourists didn't know about (other than the ones that stayed there).
 
Needs trees. Big trees to go with the big buildings.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Park Sq is one of those places that should have more life than it does. It was always one of my favorite places that tourists didn't know about (other than the ones that stayed there).
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Co-sign.

Oddly, it's looking like things are picking up there just as the economy is taking a dive.

Office building at Renaissance, renovation to the fountain and landscape in Statler Park, new office/retail building being built at 212-222 Stuart (former Jae's building and parking lot), Charles Draghi's Erbaluce opened up right behind that spot... not to mention the W just a block further down Stuart.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
It was always one of my favorite places that tourists didn't know about (other than the ones that stayed there).
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Why is this one of your favorite places and what should interest the tourist?

By the same token I've always thought Kenmore Sq was under appreciated. It has great buildings and a great feel. If the center was turned into a park with a fountain or statue it would be very impressive. When I first stated following development in Boston I read an article saying this should be Boston's Piccadilly Square, ever since then that's what i've imagined.
 
I don't understand the article, either. This is the first I've heard of it potentially being torn down. I don't see the idea of an office building (or, "tower", as Tom Grillo puts it) being approved in any way shape or form.

I was hoping for a hotel. Even with the added street traffic, it would work nicely, a companion to the Jurys hotel, down the street.
 
This is definitely a building to save. I think it's just as good as SC&L --and it's a similar Beaux-Arts/Deco hybrid, to boot.

That apartment building beside it is another story.
 
PaulC said:
Why is this one of your favorite places and what should interest the tourist?
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It was my favorite because it was a crossroads between the Back Bay, South End, Bay Village, and Theatre District/Downtown. It has big buildings that don't dominate the area and are well designed for the pedestrian (even tho one is designed for cars). It was also a place where the traffic wasn't speeding down the street so I could really walk around and enjoy the public space.

The tourists only are there because of the hotels they stay in are there. There isn't a lot to make people go "there".
 
It's a dead space filled with monumental early 20th century commercial architecture...it's always given me eerie reminiscences of downtown Buffalo.
 
I'm 95% sure this building is going nowhere...if anything the article was misleading. Stratouly would be out of his mind to mount a campaign to knock down this building and try to building a bigger one in the back yard of bay village.
 
czsz said:
it's always given me eerie reminiscences of downtown Buffalo.
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Bingo!! Although I do like Park Square: like Buffalo, but without that pervasive sinking feeling.
 
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