Plans for Dainty Dot building now daintier
Developer offers to reduce height, enlarge park site
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 23, 2007
Responding to criticism of his plan for a 29-story residential tower near Chinatown, developer Ori Ron has agreed to shrink the building, expand the Greenway park next door, and preserve almost the entire facade of the historic Dainty Dot building on the site.
Ron's revised plans, given to the Boston Redevelopment Authority last week, would shave two floors, lowering the building about 25 feet to 300 feet.
After weeks of meeting with residents of Chinatown and the nearby Leather District, Ron responded with other substantial changes as well: Plans now call for moving all in-and-out traffic away from the park to Kingston Street, incorporating two colors of masonry into what had been designed as a glass tower, reducing the footprint of each floor by about 500 square feet, relocating a floor of parking underground, and adding a 26-by-60-foot decorative glass wall on the exterior to enhance the park.
The Dainty Dot building, which some have sought to save despite its failure to gain Boston landmark status, would be taken down and reconstructed, using the same bricks if possible.
Facades of all nine existing bays of the building - named after a now defunct hosiery company - will be retained. The building at Kingston and Essex streets was also once known as the Auchmuty building and was more than twice its current size before being slashed for the Central Artery highway construction in the 1950s.
"The preservationists will be happy," Ron said of the revised plans.
David Seeley, a Leather District resident and member of the Mayor's Central Artery Completion Task Force, has opposed building a tower on the site. Yesterday, Seeley said he still wasn't happy about the proposed building's height. But he said he was happy to hear that more of the old building would be incorporated into the 180-unit project.
"My fear remains that when you put a building of this stature slammed up right against the park it's very difficult to get way from the impression that it's private property," Seeley said.
On a tour of the area yesterday, Ron said again that he wants the area's residents to like what he builds. Many support the project, in part because Ron is also partnering with the Chinese Economic Development Council Inc. to build 47 low-income housing units two blocks away, on Oxford Street.
Some even like the idea of a genuine tower in Chinatown.
"I love it. A newly designed building like this will attract people," said Tony Yee, president of Chinatown Main Street, a business organization.
The tower, designed and redesigned by Howard Elkus of Elkus/Manfredi Architects, now has a curved facade facing the park, rather than a wavy one. The impact on the park and the rest of the surrounding area has been reduced, Ron said.
Restoration of the six-story building will include removing marble, glass, and steel that was tacked on in 1946 and emphasizing the reddish brick and stone Romanesque revival exterior.
While Ron said the revised plans address many neighborhood concerns, he acknowledged that the building's height remains an issue for some. But he also pointed out the plans now call for taking up less space on the 14,500-square-foot lot.
"What I'm hearing is small-footprint buildings are preferred," he said.
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