Quaker Lane + Congress Square | Downtown

Re: Fidelity's HQ may go high

I was hoping for some residential conversions, but looks pretty good.
 
Re: Fidelity's HQ may go high

Suggestions for new thread title?
 
Re: Fidelity's HQ may go high

Some updates on this from the Herald -

1) 54 Devonshire (currently a surface lot) would be developed
2) Potential "tumor" addition of 4-5 stories to 15 Congress (a beautiful old building of ~5-6 stories)

Boston Herald said:
Developer out to ‘breathe new life’ into area near Faneuil Hall

090814congress04.jpg


By: Donna Goodison

A Boston real estate developer plans to liven up some Financial District buildings currently used as Fidelity Investments office space by adding restaurants, retail and a possible boutique hotel and residences.

Related Beal’s Congress Square would be a mixed-use project designed to inject 24-hour life into the district and connect it with Faneuil Hall Marketplace by activating the Quaker Lane alley into a pedestrian zone with stores, restaurants and nightlife options.

Plans call for adding 50,000-plus square feet of restaurant and retail space to the ground floors of five buildings on Congress, Devonshire and Water streets to bring the “retail and market activity that is currently blossoming on Washington Street and State Street … to the Post Office Square area,” executive vice president Stephen Faber said.

Related bought what’s now about 343,000 square feet of primarily office space from Fidelity in December for 
$87.25 million. Fidelity will move out of three of the buildings by year’s end and the others by the end of October 2015.

Related plans to modernize the nine-story 40 Water St. into Class A office space.

It also plans to seek city approval within weeks for a new building at 54 Devonshire St. as an extension to 86 Devonshire, and possibly expand 15 Congress St. by four or five stories.

It will market those buildings — and 19 Congress St. — to specialized developers for conversion into possible residences and a hotel.

“This historic portion of downtown Boston is prime for revitalization, and we look forward to reviewing Related Beal’s proposal to reactivate the streetscape and breathe new life into the area,” Boston Redevelopment Authority spokesman Nick Martin said.

http://bostonherald.com/business/re..._breathe_new_life_into_area_near_faneuil_hall
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Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

I think this is a fantastic proposal. Anyone else might have tried to blow the block up and build a massive tower. This will build out nicely and if it works should be a way to bridge Faneuil Hall with DTX.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

It'd be great if it spured some more ground floor commercial around PO Square too. That park not being surrounded by restaurants and cafes is a waste.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

50,000 square feet of street level retail and restaurant space in alleyway's and narrow streets at the base of some very lovely midrise buildings in the heart of the city? Sounds like something you'd find in European cities! How absolutely perfect for this spot of downtown.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

Who wants to guess at how long this will take?
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

atlantaden said:
50,000 square feet of street level retail and restaurant space in alleyway's and narrow streets at the base of some very lovely midrise buildings in the heart of the city? Sounds like something you'd find in European cities! How absolutely perfect for this spot of downtown.
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Could't agree more! I was thinking the same thing!
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

"...50,000-plus square feet of restaurant and retail space to the ground floors of five buildings on Congress."
...........................................

Hmmm...let's just hope "restaurant" doesn't mean yet another Dunkin', Starbucks (or anything that closes at 5), and "retail" doesn't mean "retail bank branch" (TD Bank, BoA, etc.) or yet another CVS or Walgreens.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

underground said:
That park not being surrounded by restaurants and cafes is a waste.
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This! It is starting to happen a bit at Franklin St. where Pret is and another sandwich place is going in. But yeah, there should definitely be more food options in or around Post Office Square park.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

BosDevelop said:
This! It is starting to happen a bit at Franklin St. where Pret is and another sandwich place is going in. But yeah, there should definitely be more food options in or around Post Office Square park.
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I think the issue is still that Post Office Square is really only activated during the workweek, especially around lunchtime. (although, more restaurants for lunch please!)

This is the first area I shoot for if I'm driving in early Sunday to walk around. There's usually plenty of spots around Pearl Street or Milk Street, because there really isn't anything to do in the area outside of work hours. It's not exactly a destination area for pedestrians the way the common or (parts of) the greenway are.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

617 said:
Who wants to guess at how long this will take?
Click to expand...

A post on Curbed said they plan to have the retail ready to go by the end of 2015.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

I work across the street from here and I'm really excited about this project.

Did some digging in their partially-built website and found some leasing brochures:

Project: http://congress-square.com/documents/congress-square_brochure.pdf

Low-rise office: http://congress-square.com/documents/congress-square_low-rise.pdf

Mid-rise office: http://congress-square.com/documents/congress-square_mid-rise.pdf

Ratail: http://congress-square.com/documents/congress-square_retail.pdf

Usage details from the documents:

40 Water Street: Retail on Level 1 & Lower Levels, Office on Upper Levels
15 & 19 Congress: Retail on Level 1, Mezz. & Lower Levels, Multi-family Residential on Upper Levels
54 & 68 Devonshire: Retail on Level 1, Mezz. & Lower Levels, Multi-family Residential or Boutique Hotel or Hotel Rooftop Restaurant/Bar

I don't seem to have the option to upload pictures, but there are floor plans in the pdfs.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

Nice find. Thanks!
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

So is 54 Devonshire the building that they will.be proposing to add?
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

type001 said:
So is 54 Devonshire the building that they will.be proposing to add?
Click to expand...

I know that this development appears to be generally looking to activate quiet spaces and alleys on the ground-- which is incredible-- but how tall could a building be if it starts on this empty lot? I'm not looking necessarily for its maximum allowable height, but for how tall you guys think is reasonable in this location while perhaps still adding a little modern architecture to the mix.
 
Re: Quaker Lane/Congress Square | Downtown

timsox6 said:
I know that this development appears to be generally looking to activate quiet spaces and alleys on the ground-- which is incredible-- but how tall could a building be if it starts on this empty lot? I'm not looking necessarily for its maximum allowable height, but for how tall you guys think is reasonable in this location while perhaps still adding a little modern architecture to the mix.
Click to expand...

The footprint available at 54 Devonshire appears quite small. But that block is bookended by the Devonshire and Exchange Place. The Devonshire is almost 400 ft.; Exchange Place is 500 ft. Hard to tell what they will try for.
 
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