Radian (Dainty Dot) | 120 Kingston Street | Chinatown

Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

"Lie" maybe isn't the correct word, but it's definitely a horrible misrepresentation designed to garner support for the project by claiming it's infill when in fact the lot was of their creation.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

As far as urban design goes, a "lot" can be a patch of grass or the land which a 100-story building sits on.

The lot was abandoned in the sense that no activity was happening on it, which meant that it was detracting from the urban environment and is the point he was trying to make:
Wuest says that the development will bring pedestrian traffic and vibrant activity to the area.
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I'd argue that it is a valid point. While beautiful in character, the abandoned Dainty Dot Building was doing nothing for the urban environment. That's a fact. This by no means means that the building couldn't have been rehabbed though.

In the end, it's stupid semantics.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

From a legal perspective there is a clear distinction between "lots" and "structures" and an assigned meaning to "abandoned," the application of which has numerous consequences on both "lots" and "structures". However non-use generally /= abandonment. Whether these definitions are applicable is another story and basically depends on what the ownership situation was previously.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

The developer does not say it was an abandoned lot. The reporter does.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

stellarfun said:
The developer does not say it was an abandoned lot. The reporter does.
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Fair enough. That actually is evident from the way the article was written. Thanks for the clarification.

I think a clarification about a building once standing there might be in order in that sense because the reporter is writing misleading information.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

The reporter is wrong. Datadyne is also wrong.

An abandoned building is not an abandoned lot. No building is an abandoned lot.

And let's not praise the developer for "returning to human use" an "abandoned, hated building" - this building was abandoned because the developer didn't want to have a tenant. The developer didn't want to have a tenant because he wanted to destroy it.

This really is a pretty revolting distortion of the truth. You can like the proposed building (if you're Kairos Shen) or not (if you're a sentient being). However, you can't pretend, as this "reporter" does, that this was some horrible piece of urban blight that would never have improved were it not for the valiant developer. What a joke.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

Side effect of Dainty Dot going down--the view down Avenue de Lafayette is now wide open:

8089492544_f9a6f87c8a_b.jpg
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

czsz said:
"Lie" maybe isn't the correct word, but it's definitely a horrible misrepresentation designed to garner support for the project by claiming it's infill when in fact the lot was of their creation.
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The correct expression is that it was "a Druckerism".
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

Walked by this site on Sunday (12/2). Looks like work on the core is getting underway.

picture.php
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

aaaaaa said:
Terrible. Look at that value engineered rebar, it is so tacky. And, the placement of that jersey barrier is completely uninspired.

Just getting ahead of the game.
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LMAO! I really just laughed out loud reading that!

:D
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

aaaaaa said:
Terrible. Look at that value engineered rebar, it is so tacky. And, the placement of that jersey barrier is completely uninspired.

Just getting ahead of the game.
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Hahaha, spot on.

Wait for it, wait for it
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

BostonUrbEx said:
In today's Metro paper, copied from online:

Forest City Boston brings the city together
CHRISTINA WALLACE
BOSTON
Published: October 16, 2012 5:05 p.m.
Last modified: October 16, 2012 5:08 p.m.

Construction has begun on a 26-story residential tower on the border of Chinatown and the Leather District, eventually adding 240 additional rental units to the blossoming Boston residential market.
The project, at 120 Kingston Street, is located on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and will also include a restaurant with outdoor seating, according to Frank Wuest, president of Forest City Boston, which is developing the project along with Hudson Group North America.

The current site is an abandoned lot, and Wuest says that the development will bring pedestrian traffic and vibrant activity to the area.

"It will bring together three adjacent neighborhoods: the Financial District, Chinatown and the Leather District," says Wuest. "We hope it will bring a lot of life to the street."

The rental units will include 18 studios, 175 one-bedroom units, 43 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units. The building will also include garage parking and boutique-hotel amenities, Wuest says.

As part of the deal, the developers deeded four parcels of land to the Chinese Economic Development Council for the construction of 48 affordable housing units at Oxford Ping On in Chinatown.

The tower, which will be constructed of granite, concrete and convex radius glass, is expected to be complete in two years.




My letter (which will hopefully be published):

letters@metro.us
CC: christina.wallace@metro.us

Letter to the Editor -- Re: Bringing the city together

Re: Bringing the city together (Wednesday, 10/17 edition)

I'd like to note the blatant lie in the article in regards to the new 120 Kingston St project. The developer supposedly went on record saying the construction site was a vacant lot. This could not be further from the truth: the site is where the former Dainty Dot building stood until just weeks ago. Erected in the late 1800s, Dainty Dot and its beautifully detailed facade was not allowed to be saved and incorporated into the project per order of the incompetent Boston Redevelopment Authority. While it is great to see this new development, it came at the expense of an amazing building. Lets not forget that!

Sincerely,
A.P. Blake
Boston, MA


You guys should probably send letters, too, just to add some validity to it. It takes two seconds to make sure the building didn't go down without acknowledgement. I just found it appalling that the developer would go on record with such a blatant lie. I'd rather he not acknowledge the site than claim it was an empty lot.
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Just ran across this.

A quick word of thanks. Words matter.

Similarly, in my neighborhood, a real estate speculator purchased and emptied an entire portfolio of historic buildings. They spent 5 subsequent years pocketing approvals from the BRA while the buildings sat neglected, rain and snow pouring in open windows.

All the while during those 5 years, as the buildings sat mothballed, the BRA lined the speculators pockets with new development rights -- including demolition. Characterizing the buildings, the speculator claimed in each project filing that the buildings were an abandoned blight on the evolving neighborhood.

Far from the truth regarding blighted buildings, blight was brought upon the neighborhood with the arrival of the speculator, who proceeding to mothball properties with the tacit support of the BRA.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

Sicilian said:
Words matter.
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They do, so I'd like to point out that nowhere does the article say that
Originally Posted by BostonUrbEx.
The developer supposedly went on record saying the construction site was a vacant lot.
Click to expand...
Rather, the reporter says that
The current site is an abandoned lot, and Wuest says that the development will bring pedestrian traffic and vibrant activity to the area.
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This is probably a case of bad reporting rather than developer dishonesty. Perhaps the letter would have been published if it had set the record straight by taking the reporter to task rather than the developer.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

^dirtywater

The project proponent has presented two alternatives to demolition of portions of the historic structure. The no-build alternative would leave an underutilized building and vacant parking lots on a highly visible site adjacent to an important new community park.
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— from the Boston Landmark Commission Study Report (PDF format)

Underutilized, because the property owner elected to underutilize it. That was essentially my point in thanking BosUrbEx for the gist of his letter.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

pdoc816 said:
So it's just not me?
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No no, you're not alone. I thought this was a forum for discussing architecture, my mistake.

Are the pilings in yet?
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

Pretty sure they are, they used to be stacked alongside the road and no longer are. Plus the pile driver is gone...
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

Based strictly on my un-trained eyes, it appears that pile driving is complete. There is a portable, telescoping crane on site working on the core, plus two earth movers.

There seems to be some trenching going on at the rear of the site, around the piles that have been driven into the ground over there. I still haven't figured out where the tower crane is going to go on this one.

Also, because this site is fairly compact, I'm anticipating that this will rise fairly quickly.
 
Re: 120 Kingston, 29 Story Tower in Chinatown

Does anyone know the exact height of this tower? I'm actually excited about the placement of this building when your in the downtown area sure there are plenty of highrises and scrapers but there are relatively far apart. Nice to get some clutter in there.
 
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