Portside at Pier One | 29 Marginal Street (Pier 1, Pier 5) | East Boston

[Mike]

$150M Mixed-Use Project To Rise for Waterfront


BOSTON - A New Jersey developer will break ground this fall on a $150-million mixed-use project that will bring 550 residential units along with retail and office space to a 28 acre site along the East Boston waterfront.

Developed by Roseland Property Co., the project, known as Portside at Pier One, is one of the first planned for the area and could transform the neighborhood into the city?s newest development hotspot.

A spokeswoman for the Short Hills, NJ-based Roseland says the multiphase project will revitalize a portion of a nearby shipyard and marina, turning that area into the centerpiece of the seven building development that will sit near the water?s edge. Roseland also plans to create a single-story marine services building to house a restaurant along with offices for marine-related industries. The site currently contains a large warehouse and a 5.2-acre pier.

The seven-building residential complex, one of three planned for the neighborhood, will include 177 apartment units and 373 condominiums, with retail space on the ground floor and public green space that will link the property to the Boston Harborwalk.

Portside at Pier One is one of four projects planned or already under construction by Roseland. The firm also is building 412 apartment homes in Malden called Overlook Ridge and a second Malden project known as Quarry Point that will contain 193 condominium units. It?s most ambitious undertaking, however, may be in Hingham, where Roseland has partnered with Avalon Bay Communities and Samuels and Associates to redevelop the Hingham Shipyards. That project, which broke ground earlier this month, will bring a mix of several thousand sf of retail and restaurant space to a 130-acre waterfront site along with nearly 400 luxury homes and condominiums.


Link

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

If the developer was smart he would talk to the T about adding a water ferry. Those apartments actually look really nice.

 

[belmont square]

I'm not sure how recent the information from this article is. I was at a meeting for this project two months ago where Roseland announced that it was being rechristened as "East Pier". They already have a website up under that name, although at this point its just to build a contacts list for the condos to be built: http://www.eastpierboston.com/

This probably isn't a good location for MBTA ferry service. At its closest point, this development will be within one block of Maverick Station's new south headhouse opening next spring on the Lewis Mall. And even the farthest reaches of the project are within a 5 or 6 minute walk to Maverick. It would be pretty difficult for regularly scheduled ferry service to approach the frequencies needed to compete with the Blue Line (every 4 minutes during rush hour). However, the project is supposed to have a docking facility for the water taxi, which provides on call service to downtown, albeit at a premium ($17 round trip).

 

[Ron Newman]

The last time the T tried running a ferry here it was not a great success, probably for the reasons cited above.

 

[jboston]

wow... another uninspired piece of architectural boredom. if i see one more motherfucking cantilevered metal awning I'm going to shit.

 

[atlantaden]

The rendering in the 2nd picture looks pretty cool to me; triangular bay windows, floor to ceiling glass, interesting angles; looks pretty decent to me.

 

[Mike]

seems like a number of big projects that have been on hold for a long time are finally getting off the ground.



Change of scenery in East Boston
Building starts on luxe housing development as waterfront shows signs of renewal

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | January 16, 2007


For decades, maritime crews had perhaps the best waterfront view of Boston -- a spectacular downtown skyline seen from Pier One in East Boston. Soon that view will be available from living rooms.

Six years after winning rights to build there, Roseland Property Co. has begun construction on East Pier, a seven-building, 550-unit luxury condominium and apartment complex.

Four of the buildings will replace a huge warehouse on the pier, which juts out the length of two football fields into Boston Harbor, while the remaining three will go on the landside portion of the 13-acre site.

Roseland is working with Lennar Urban Northeast on the project, and a few weeks ago the developers began driving the first of 1,500 square concrete pilings some 140 feet deep along Marginal Street.

"This hasn't been prime space," said Jed Lowry, director of asset management for Lennar, during a tour of the muddy, debris-strewn harbor's edge. "It will be a place where people can really come out."

Historically a center of shipbuilding and other maritime uses, the East Boston waterfront fell into disuse in the latter part of the 20th century, with some properties becoming derelict and others still part of a working waterfront worn at the edges.

But the weedy lots, underused warehouses, decaying wood pilings, and broken piers are beginning to give way to residential life and leisure. Piers Park, for example, increasingly draws visitors from the neighborhood and beyond, and is slated to be expanded right up to East Pier's edge.

WinnDevelopment plans another luxury condo project on the water just to the north, and some area residents have concerns about the newfound popularity of a neighborhood known for its working class and immigrant populations.

The additional traffic on Eastie's narrow streets is one. "The other," said Mary Ellen Welch, a lifelong resident of Jeffries Point "is -- although we do welcome everybody who comes here, no matter what their economic status -- some of us are afraid it's going to be prohibitive for people of ordinary means to live in East Boston much longer." She cited increasing rents, high selling prices, and increases in real estate taxes.

Roseland specializes in rental apartments, and Lennar Urban Northeast is a division of big homebuilder Lennar Corp.

The two are constructing a $275 million array of 5- and 7-story glass, metal, and masonry buildings. The three landside buildings will be completed first, in about two years; the four pier buildings are scheduled to open in early 2010. The great, white industrial structure on the pier will be demolished.

"There really isn't anything like it because the view is so good," said Joseph G. Shea, senior vice president for Roseland. "It's the best view of the city in the city."

The landside buildings will be staggered on the property to maximize views of downtown. In addition to the views, the property will have proximity to transportation -- a two-minute walk to the Blue Line, and a developer-subsidized water shuttle at the end of nearby Lewis Street.

More than half of the pier property will be reserved as parks and other public space. The developers are obligated to build and maintain 1,800 additional feet of the Boston Harborwalk.

About 65,000 square feet of the development on the ground floor will house restaurants, retail establishments, and meeting areas accessible to everyone, and much of that will face the water.

As part of their 95-year lease with the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns the property, East Pier's developers have committed to building a commercial marina, as well as constructing a dock for transportation, and arranging for a permanent water shuttle. They have already begun expanding and, with a partner, operating Boston Shipyard, a major marine repair and manufacturing facility nearby.

East Pier was originally known as Portside at Pier One and planned as apartments. As the condo market got red hot several years ago, Lennar joined the team, and the project was converted to salable units.

However, the developers now face a softer real estate market, with condo prices in particular in retreat. Residences are expected to start in the mid-$300,000s, for one-bedrooms and go over $2 million for two-level, two-bedroom units on the water's edge.

One building, still called Portside, will have 177 rental apartments.

The architect is ADD Inc. of Cambridge. The Boston office of the construction firm Skanska is not only driving piles on land but also will brace the concrete slab over the water by driving additional supporting piles diagonally into the harbor bottom.

About 160 parking spaces will be located at ground level in buildings on the pier; the remaining 640 will be mostly underground.

Shea said the project would have been completed a couple of years ago -- about the peak of the condo market -- but for a lengthy permitting process and negotiations with government agencies over changing the waterfront use from industrial to residential.

Except for that, "You'd be sitting in your living room looking at the view," Shea said.



Link

 

[kz1000ps]

Neighborhood watch: East Boston

Developments Stand to give Eastie a High-Gloss Finish

Boston Business Journal - January 12, 2007
by Denise Magnell - Special to the Journal

The Urban Land Institute recently ran a program about East Boston that called it the city's "last development frontier."

That frontier might be pushed back in a few years. The neighborhood is seeing three major projects with more than 1,000 luxury condominiums and rental apartments planned at the water's edge in the next few years, as well as overhauls of the Maverick Square MBTA station and a public housing complex near the waterfront.

The biggest of the luxury projects, East Pier -- formerly Portside at Pier One -- is expected to break ground in late February for the initial three buildings of the 550-unit complex, said Nancy Sterling, spokeswoman for developer Roseland Property Co.

Following in the footsteps of once hardscrabble neighborhoods in Charlestown, Jamaica Plain and the South End, developers and realtors believe East Boston is the newest place in town for upscale housing and, beyond that, a luxury market for more affluent buyers.

Many point to Porter 156, a loft-style condominium complex on Porter Street -- adjacent to Logan International Airport -- as proof.

"Porter helped pave the way. It was a good model for success," said David Costello, a senior sales associate at ERA Boston Real Estate Group who bought a unit for $229,000 when Porter 156 opened in 2004. "It answered the question, 'Will people move to East Boston?' and the answer was a resounding yes."

Of the 215 units there, only a dozen are available.

Across the street from Porter 156, Winn Development has just announced plans to build 147 condominiums -- ranging from mid-$200,000 studios to $400,000 for top-floor penthouses -- at 175 Orleans St.

Costello, whose real estate firm is the exclusive broker for the project, said Winn has begun the approval process with the Boston Redevelopment Authority to renovate an old manufacturing plant and build an addition on the site to create 100,000 square feet of living space.

"Where else can you get 800 square feet (for a small unit) and garage parking two stops from State Street in downtown Boston for that price?" said Costello.

The revival of East Boston's wharf district was preceded by major improvements in the Maverick Square community. The most far-reaching is the Boston Housing Authority's replacement of dilapidated, barracks-style public housing at Maverick Gardens, with mixed-income, townhouse apartments in the new Maverick Landing. The $145 million project was developed by the BHA, Trinity Financial Inc. and the East Boston Community Development Corp.

In the heart of the square, the Maverick subway station is undergoing a $62.7 million modernization. On nearby Bremen Street, a new YMCA occupies a long-vacant railroad building, surrounded by a $20 million transformation of parking lots into neighborhood parkland.

Published reports show housing prices have climbed as much as 200 percent in some parts of East Boston in the past five years. Increased interest here, in fact, led the Listing Information Network -- which tracks Boston real estate -- to start recording East Boston price trends for the first time in 2006.

LINK figures show the median price of condominiums in East Boston was $269,000 and the median cost of single-family and multifamily homes was $430,000.

What remains to be seen is the effect of the uber-luxury projects on this ethnically diverse community, connected to downtown Boston by tunnels and ferries, and anchored by its mammoth neighbor, Logan International Airport, which takes up more than half of the East Boston peninsula.

"There is a real sense of place and diversity in East Boston, and I like to think it will stay that way," said Kathleen Born, head of the Urban Land Institute committee that set up the program on East Boston development last fall. "The impetus for our program was that there are three major waterfront developments in planning. Everyone on the harbor looks out at East Boston."

Of those projects, East Pier is closest to getting under way, with a Coldwell Banker sales office opening at the site later this winter.

No prices are available yet, said Sterling, "but they will be at market rate, and we believe there is a strong market for top-of-the-line luxury condos and rentals."

Some site work also has been reported at the Sumner Street location of the former Hodge Boiler Works, where Boston developer Philip DeNormandie plans 119 luxury condos, a small bed-and-breakfast inn and a 100-slip marina.

The third project, a joint venture between Boston's Winn Development and Miami-based Lennar Corp., is Clippership Wharf. Planned on 13 acres of state-owned tidal land, the 400 luxury units will be built with guidelines from the East Boston Municipal Harbor Plan in mind.

The project calls for a setback with public access to parkland, a cove for water taxi service to downtown Boston, and an outdoor exhibition space to coincide with several units of "artist housing" at the site.

Roseland spokeswoman Sterling said the developers of East Pier aren't worried about the current downturn in the state's housing market.

"Don't forget, these units won't be ready for 20 months from now," she said. "There could be a big market differential by that point."

? 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

 

[bowesst]

I think it looks pretty good too, although it looks like there may be some excessive park space.

 

[DudeUrSistersHot]

There may be some new condo projects, but East Boston is still a bit of a shithole. My stepdad keeps his office on Maverick Street solely because the rent is about half what he could find in a newer building or one that is better located.

 

[Ron Newman]

Airplane noise is not going to disappear, no matter how many luxury condos are built. But beyond that, what makes it a 'shithole' ?

 

[Beton Brut]

There may be some new condo projects, but East Boston is still a bit of a shithole. My stepdad keeps his office on Maverick Street solely because the rent is about half what he could find in a newer building or one that is better located.

My neighbors and I would like you and your stepdad to know that you both have an open invitation to take your suburban sentiments about our community and stick them up your ass.

 

[bowesst]

There may be some new condo projects, but East Boston is still a bit of a shithole. My stepdad keeps his office on Maverick Street solely because the rent is about half what he could find in a newer building or one that is better located.

So you must think South Boston is a shithole too then right?

 

[kmp1284]

Amusing remarks from a guy who made his college decision based largely on a dead end retail job. Kind of elitist for someone who works at best buy, don't you think?

 

[jass]

Id hope theyd be built out of reinforced concrete to help prevent airplane noise indoors.

 

[DudeUrSistersHot]

There may be some new condo projects, but East Boston is still a bit of a shithole. My stepdad keeps his office on Maverick Street solely because the rent is about half what he could find in a newer building or one that is better located.

My neighbors and I would like you and your stepdad to know that you both have an open invitation to take your suburban sentiments about our community and stick them up your ass.

Whoa there, calm down... In reality you know what I'm saying is true. I'm not saying it's worse than some other parts of Boston (Dorchester, Roxbury, etc), or that it's a bad place, I'm just saying that it's a kind of a dumpy area. Whenever I walk around all I see is lots of obviously illegal immigrants, ugly, morbidly obese chain smoking white women sitting on their doorsteps with huge ashtrays, run down triple deckers, etc. The kind of stuff you don't see quite as much in, say, the Back Bay or the South End. All I'm, saying is that it has a ways to go and there's a lot of trash that needs to be cleaned out.

Now, given that , there's a lot of things I like about the area. It's urban, there's a lot of good places to eat, and I don't feel unsafe walking around there during the day.

I'm not saying I want it to become the Back Bay. I think it should stay somewhat true to its roots and be an all-around middle class neighborhood. But it certainly could use a bit of gentrification.

 

[Beton Brut]

Airplane noise is not going to disappear, no matter how many luxury condos are built. But beyond that, what makes it a 'shithole' ?

Ron, answers to questions like this one require that you delve into the story of the neighborhood, a story that dates back further than you've lived in Greater Boston (and further, indeed, than I've lived)...

Port activities like shipbuilding, warehousing, petrochemical manufacture and storage, and other industrial activities has been both the lifeblood and bane of East Boston (and its neighbors) since the 1830's...Donald McKay built his mighty clipper ships steps away from where these condos will rise, the first Cabot Stains were made across the Creek in Chelsea, huge underground oil storage tanks were built in Orient Heights during WWII...People have always lived here, but the decisions about the way land is used have rarely been centered around the needs of those who live in East Boston (we'll get to my thoughts on 'Why' a little later)...

Like may other communities in Greater Boston, the cultural face of East Boston has changed at least three times since I was born in the twilight of the 1960's...Looking further back, East Boston was home to some of the city's first Jewish immigrants (mostly from Eastern Europe)...Later, the Irish, then the Italians and Portuguese made homes here...In the 1960's the first Latinos arrived in the neighborhood, in the 1970's families from Southeast Asia took up residence in Maverick Square and on Eagle Hill...And now we are in the second wave of Latin American immigrants, many from Columbia, El Salvador, and Brazil...Each group brings its unique strengths and human weaknesses -- there are (and will likely continue to be) social problems, and the attendant crime and violence, but that's not what this post is about...

From a historical standpoint, Logan Airport represents the continuing of Donald McKay's legacy, and it provides thousands of jobs to residents of its satellite communities (East Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop)...It also undermines the livability of the neighborhood, with noise and air pollution, traffic, and the perpetuation of unfavorable land-uses by industries directly tied to the airport's presence in the community...These are very real problems that have driven many longtime residents to the northern 'burbs, and have kept housing costs accessible (until the cresting of the real estate market about two years ago)...The low(er) cost of housing (to rent or purchase) has made East Boston attractive to the lowest wage-earners for many years...This does not create the best environment for long-term community investment by individuals by way of home ownership...

I think it looks pretty good too, although it looks like there may be some excessive park space.

In considering this site's proximity to Pier's Park, your observation isn't far off the mark, but in consideration of Massport's grab of Wood Island Park in the late 1960's, the community's value (and demand) for open space is to be expected...

For those of you not familiar with Wood Island Park, it was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead and was the largest "active" park (as opposed to a "passive" park or "urban wild") in Boston until it met it's end beneath the bulldozer's blade...In it's heyday, it featured athletic fields, tennis courts, beaches with full amenities, and a large band shell...Here's a letter to the editor by a fellow Bostonian in the NYT: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...Times Topics/People/O/Olmsted, Frederick Law I find the MBTA's decision to display reproductions of archival photos of Wood Island park on the platform of the new Airport Station highly disingenuous...

So how did all of this happen? How was an historic 70-acre park taken in the age of "power to the people?" And, ignorance and a devotion to conservative talk radio aside, where do folks like our pal dudeyoursistershot get their ideas about East Boston?

Working class neighborhoods are, by their very nature, family-focused (rather than community-focused); when things look bad, head for the (Saugus & Lynnfield) hills and better schools for the kids...Social activism was a new concept to my parents' generation -- their well meaning efforts were brash but ineffectual gestures (i.e. blocking the tunnels with baby strollers to prevent the flow of traffic to and from Logan)...In the 1960's laborers in East Boston outnumbered lawyers 10/1...And the politicians back then were as inept and crooked as they are today...

The struggle continues today in the barely published fight against the proposed centerfield taxiway...As I've said before on this forum, I live in a home that's been in my family since FDR was in office, and I take great umbrage that its future is in the hands of bureaucrats...

 

[DudeUrSistersHot]

Amusing remarks from a guy who made his college decision based largely on a dead end retail job. Kind of elitist for someone who works at best buy, don't you think?

I have no idea where you got this from. I'm tempted to just leave it as it is, but I'll have a go...

First off, my college decision had nothing to do with my job and that's kind of a stupid and bizarre connection.

Second, though I don't plan on continuing my job because I don't like retail, it is by no means "dead end". I could easily be making six figures by the time I'm in my mid twenties here (many of my mangers do). And regardless, try finding a job that you can make in the mid teens per hour as a 17 year old. I'll bet it'll be hard to find, yet I have that job...

 

[kmp1284]

Being in the city for college would be way too inconvenient for me, I wouldn't be able to get to my job or anything.

Right

By seventeen I had been trading stock for three years and had average yearly returns of 87%. My ability to make money is not the point, nor is debating the merits of hard work in the retail biz. The point is, if this is such a shithole, then why would a developer build million dollar condos there?

 

[budman3]

Amusing remarks from a guy who made his college decision based largely on a dead end retail job. Kind of elitist for someone who works at best buy, don't you think?

I have no idea where you got this from. I'm tempted to just leave it as it is, but I'll have a go...

First off, my college decision had nothing to do with my job and that's kind of a stupid and bizarre connection.

Second, though I don't plan on continuing my job because I don't like retail, it is by no means "dead end". I could easily be making six figures by the time I'm in my mid twenties here (many of my mangers do). And regardless, try finding a job that you can make in the mid teens per hour as a 17 year old. I'll bet it'll be hard to find, yet I have that job...

What are you talking about? I can't for the life of me piece together your point in the second paragraph.

For the record, Bentley is a fine school if that's your thing so I have no right to criticize you for choosing a school that you can get into and you can afford. I'm 17 and I'm satisfied with (and excited for) Bridgewater State College or UMass Amherst, and those are my choices not fall back schools or affordable alternatives (I get good grades, 1900 SAT's, and the MCAS state resident scholarship for scoring advanced in Math & English), yet I feel as though from your comments you'd poo-poo those choices. Bridgewater would be a "shit hole" in your opinion because, I'm assuming with all expectations of being correct, like Eastie, you've heard that from other people it has its highs but is generally not worth your time.

I see nothing noble about your assumptions or actions, dudeursistershot. Your 17 and you have a part time job? Bravo, buddy! I want a poll of who else on this board had an after school job! I worked at the same employer starting at the age of 14 to pay for a trip to Italy, kept it for 2 and a half years, now work someplace else, and am ready to go onto college without baggage and matured from my experiences. I'm proud of myself.

But this isn't about how awesome we all are for contributing to society by stopping at the mall for a 6 hour shift on the weekends and conversing with those who aren't looking at Bentley in the fall (thus making us experts on lower class, middle class, and immigrant society). This is about how unfounded your arguments and comments are, and how ridiculous you come off for talking out of your ass half the time on this board.

I don't know everything and am an observer on this board. If I wanted to I could talk and make comments on every hot topic regarding a cliche I've heard through word of mouth about a neighborhood, a culture, or a system. But I don't. I reserve myself. I'm not a role model, but take a page from my book and sit back and get some perspective on things.

How does this massive digression tie into Eastie? Eastie's Boston. Eastie is made up of actual communities (or more appropriately families) and I don't see whats shitty about that. And when I say that, I don't say it thinking "oh, how cute, REAL people with REAL families in a REAL urban environment! so genuine!" This is the Boston where Bostonians live, and the Boston that makes it the city it is besides the tourist destinations and landmarks of Downtown and Back Bay.

Dude, don't read this thinking some low brow kid is trying to teach you something, just read it, let it sit, and lay low for a while PLEASE.