Quaker Lane + Congress Square | Downtown

BosDevelop said:
But none of the ground floor space was ever filled. It's been 20 years now. I think they converted it to offices? At point, they had community art displayed there.
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I think you're confused; there haven't been any retail vacancies on Avery St. for some time now, once Emerson College decided to fill in the last one (which admittedly, was quite large!) with its rather avant-garde (said objectively, not smirkingly) art gallery:

http://www2.emerson.edu/urban-arts/media-art-gallery

The gallery went into the street-level condo of the Mason Pl. affordable apts, which isn't even owned by Millennium, for what it's worth.

Do a virtual walk down Avery St. and you'll note no vacancies...

All that said, there really aren't many retail condos on Avery to begin with: the Roche Bobois, the Ritz restaurant, Emerson arts gallery, the handicapped ramp to the cinema--realistically, only 3... (I don't count the cinema as "retail")
 
DBM said:
I think you're confused; there haven't been any retail vacancies on Avery St. for some time now, once Emerson College decided to fill in the last one (which admittedly, was quite large!) with its rather avant-garde (said objectively, not smirkingly) art gallery:

http://www2.emerson.edu/urban-arts/media-art-gallery

The gallery went into the street-level condo of the Mason Pl. affordable apts, which isn't even owned by Millennium, for what it's worth.

Do a virtual walk down Avery St. and you'll note no vacancies...

All that said, there really aren't many retail condos on Avery to begin with: the Roche Bobois, the Ritz restaurant, Emerson arts gallery, the handicapped ramp to the cinema--realistically, only 3... (I don't count the cinema as "retail")
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That street level condo on Mason Place is one location, in particular, that is only an art gallery, because that is the only kind of use that could get approved. The Ritz Towers don't control that condo, but boy their residents made a huge NIMBY stink about a restaurant proposal there.
 
DBM said:
I think you're confused; there haven't been any retail vacancies on Avery St. for some time now, once Emerson College decided to fill in the last one (which admittedly, was quite large!) with its rather avant-garde (said objectively, not smirkingly) art gallery:

http://www2.emerson.edu/urban-arts/media-art-gallery

The gallery went into the street-level condo of the Mason Pl. affordable apts, which isn't even owned by Millennium, for what it's worth.

Do a virtual walk down Avery St. and you'll note no vacancies...

All that said, there really aren't many retail condos on Avery to begin with: the Roche Bobois, the Ritz restaurant, Emerson arts gallery, the handicapped ramp to the cinema--realistically, only 3... (I don't count the cinema as "retail")
Click to expand...

I think you may be confused by my post. The ground floors all along Avery were supposed to be all retail. I remember this well because I lived in the neighborhood from 1997 to 20003 when the Ritz towers were approved and constructed. I attended several community meetings where Millennium officials gave presentations on the project. Millennium proposed active retail all along Avery street. Stores, restaurants etc. The towers were built. The movie theater opened along with the restaurant Blue and that's it. No other retail for years despite Millennium's promises. For lease signs stayed up for years. Nothing except a failed attempt at an asian/sushi restaurant and the furntiture store at the Washintgon St. end. Eventually, once it was painfully obvious they were not going to find any other tenants, they converted it to office/gallery. I walk by there at least a few times a month. It's pretty dead after hours. Perhaps, as someone mentioned, the residents killed all the retail proposals but the developer should have been able to avoid that otherwise every new building would have severe issues with owners rejecting retail tenants.
 
BosDevelop said:
I think you may be confused by my post. The ground floors all along Avery were supposed to be all retail. I remember this well because I lived in the neighborhood from 1997 to 20003 when the Ritz towers were approved and constructed. I attended several community meetings where Millennium officials gave presentations on the project. Millennium proposed active retail all along Avery street. Stores, restaurants etc. The towers were built. The movie theater opened along with the restaurant Blue and that's it. No other retail for years despite Millennium's promises. For lease signs stayed up for years. Nothing except a failed attempt at an asian/sushi restaurant and the furntiture store at the Washintgon St. end. Eventually, once it was painfully obvious they were not going to find any other tenants, they converted it to office/gallery. I walk by there at least a few times a month. It's pretty dead after hours. Perhaps, as someone mentioned, the residents killed all the retail proposals but the developer should have been able to avoid that otherwise every new building would have severe issues with owners rejecting retail tenants.
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Yes, I was confused--thanks for the clarification. I arrived to the DTX area significantly later than the time you're talking about, which is really when Avery St. was still undergoing its dramatic "morph" from the remnants of the Combat Zone...
 
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BeeLine said:
Sorry for the paywall, but we may have some hope for progress.

www.bizjournals.com

Harbinger Development buys property in Boston's Financial District - Boston Business Journal

One of Boston’s most active hotel developers has acquired two connected buildings off Post Office Square that have been slated for residential and hotel projects at different points over the past decade.
www.bizjournals.com www.bizjournals.com
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In addition to the possible hotel, I believe this is the location that Stantec is consolidating their Boston offices. More people and the inclusion of nice retail, may indeed provide the original renderings of the pedestrian streets lined with cafes and people!

1651000584194.png
 
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Me, too -- but how is this in any way still in the "Development Projects" forum? I walk by it often, I know people who've done business in there; What "remaining work" is still ongoing, either inside or out?
 
chrisbrat said:
Me, too -- but how is this in any way still in the "Development Projects" forum? I walk by it often, I know people who've done business in there; What "remaining work" is still ongoing, either inside or out?
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The remaining work is substantial, in the sense that 15-19 Congress, forming part of Quaker Lane's northeastern wall, is remaining to be redeveloped into a hotel per the BPDA green-light that was already granted... and as we know upthread, a veteran Boston hotel developer (folks behind Haymarket parcel hotel) actually just picked up those development rights in April.

Now--does 15-19 Congress already have a thread in Developments on this forum?

Candidly, I'm abysmal at doing searches on AB, so I can't answer that question with any kind of efficiency.

That said, perhaps a moderator needs to consider doing some reclassifying work to make sure posts about 15-19 Congress don't get muddled-up with the portions of the Quaker Lane-area redevelopment that already finished?
 
DBM said:
The remaining work is substantial, in the sense that 15-19 Congress, forming part of Quaker Lane's northeastern wall, is remaining to be redeveloped into a hotel per the BPDA green-light that was already granted... and as we know upthread, a veteran Boston hotel developer (folks behind Haymarket parcel hotel) actually just picked up those development rights in April.

Now--does 15-19 Congress already have a thread in Developments on this forum?

Candidly, I'm abysmal at doing searches on AB, so I can't answer that question with any kind of efficiency.

That said, perhaps a moderator needs to consider doing some reclassifying work to make sure posts about 15-19 Congress don't get muddled-up with the portions of the Quaker Lane-area redevelopment that already finished?
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Appreciate the explaination!
 
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