Running Down A Dream (Roxbury's P-3)

http://bostonredevelopmentauthority...01/feldco-development-company-joins-elma.html

FeldCo Development Company Joins Elma Lewis Partners, LLC to Build Ruggles Place
BRA board approved tentative designation to Elma Lewis Partners LLC and development partner, FeldCo Development Company for the development of Ruggles Place. The new team has 18 months to continue to move forward on this $308 million mixed use project. Ruggles Place will transform lower Roxbury bringing vitality and cultural with new retail, museums and educational facilities. The team has proposed to revise the original project to include, 591,398 square feet of vertical retail space, 43,020 square feet of small ground floor retail space, an art and educational space comprised of 58,474 square feet, an office component consisting of 315,122 square feet, and an above ground parking structure containing 616,440 square feet. This project will generate 2,938 permanent post construction jobs.
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With only 58,474 sq ft in 1,624,454 sq ft project this no longer can be considered a cultural project.
 
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oy vei.

Proposed massings:

http://www.slideshare.net/bostonredevelopment/ruggles-place

Developers plan big-store mall on long-vacant site
By Casey Ross
Globe Staff / February 3, 2011

The latest developer to tackle a long-vacant tract near Boston Police Department headquarters proposes to fill it with large stores similar to those at the sprawling South Bay Plaza strip mall, with a key exception: It would not look like South Bay.

Ruggles Place would instead have an urban aesthetic: The buildings would go up, not outward around a massive parking lot. The architecture and signs would be more like what?s found in downtown Boston, rather than at suburban strip malls.

...

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
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Full article: http://www.boston.com/business/arti...pers_plan_big_store_mall_on_long_vacant_site/
 
As a development plan it isn't terrible. Certainly not great but it might be the best proposal yet for this land. It makes sense, with the Orange Line, Commuter Rail, buses, and Columbus Ave (as a highway), that this would be developed as a mall. It certainly will compete with the retail in Longwood/Fenway and will attract consumers from both the South End and Roxbury.

Design wise, given that the area is home to many superblocks, it would really take a top level redesign of the entire area to make this more urban. As it is now, this development is contextual.

But if built this will certainly kill any hope of redeveloping Dudley Sq into a retail center.
 
I think Menino would push to have most of those big box stores locate in downtown crossing. Samuelson's development in the Fenway probably would be the second choice. This location might be better with almost all office - Longwood Medical East.
 
I don't see what's unattractive about this, as long as the retail faces the street (as it appears to).
 
I'm not fond of what appears to be a giant blank wall on the left most side in the renderings, as well as the blank walls above the retail.

I'll wait for some more proper detailed renderings though, as this is just showing the massing.
 
Shepard said:
I don't see what's unattractive about this, as long as the retail faces the street (as it appears to).
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This. And it's been something that the community has been fighting for. Which is strange because it's usually the other way around. Residents usually oppose the BRA and new development in their neighborhood. Now the residents want the Elma Lewis project to brake ground, and the BRA halted (at one point) the project because they had a falling out with the developer.
 
PaulC said:
I think Menino would push to have most of those big box stores locate in downtown crossing.
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This makes sense from a rational utilitarian point of view (DTC is the most transit accessible, least likely to encourage use of cars, most likely to crosspollinate independent retail). But the momentum in the private sector seems to be leaning away from DTC as a big box retail center for now. If DTC still survives (increasingly as a dorm ghetto / nightlife / niche retail district), then it's not terrible if the city's retail base decentralizes, as long as the new nodes don't look or function like South Bay. A hub like this is reminiscent of retail centers built around transit in Tokyo or Berlin. It could even spur more residential density / urbanization away from downtown.
 
Given the proximity to Ruggles Station, all the major bus lines that run in front of it, and the direct access to Columbus Avenue, it looks like many people from Roxbury and Mattapan will be shopping there. This project will probably be another significant blow to Downtown Crossing, however the biggest net loss of current shoppers will likely be to South Bay. The location is just more convenient to more people.

With Target already so close by and one proposed in the Fenway, odds are this is where the rumored Walmart will likely end up. I'm sure Loews is also licking it's chops at this potential location as well.
 
Loews doesn't really exist anymore, though. Do you mean AMC?
 
Considering that all discussion about this spot has been around big box stores and nothing about theaters I'm fairly sure he meant Lowes.
Do you really have that much trouble with context clues, Ron?
 
I thought it possible that big-box stores and a multiplex cinema might coexist (as they do in Landmark Center)
 
They will probably also received a lot of student shoppers seeing how WIT, NU, and RCC are all nearby.
 
Still....
As a set:
Target:Walmart:Lowes
Makes more sense than:
Target:Walmart:Loews

You just got theaters on the brain.

(I say all this in a friendly, teasing way, BTW)
 
A few years ago, Urban Edge was pushing for a K-Mart just down the road at Jackson Square. The neighborhood didn't like that idea and it was dropped. Would K-Mart or Sears (now the same company) be in the running for a store here?
 
I don't think sears/kmart are doing too good currently. I think Kohls would have a better chance.
 
palindrome said:
I don't think sears/kmart are doing too good currently. I think Kohls would have a better chance.
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I love Kohls and am surprised there isn't one closer to Boston than Framingham/Medford.
 
I got off at Roxbury Crossing today and saw cranes in this area, what's going on?
 
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