South Boston Infill and Small Developments

[singbat]

once again.... its a bridge OVER TRACKS AND NEXT TO A HIGHWAY.. get a grip.

you know how many bridges in the state are in some stage of disrepair? some borderline dangerous? where do you suggest we get money for that? There's nothing wrong with functionality.

you wanna make a "pretty" bridge, i suggest you make a donation.

i suggest we get the focus off the bridge and look at the more doable project at the front of the building. nothing wrong with aspiring to do better, but start with the low hanging fruit.

 

[ablarc]

That's right, let's all get sensible.



Oh, they're already doing that for us.



They just got through sensibly burying a highway.

 

[palindrome]

i love this building!!!

 

[TheBostonBoy]

Ya thank god they buried that highway hahahaha
And I love this building, looking good. A unique design for Boston

 

[statler]

Southie Binges
Gentrification hits a glut

* by Julia Reischel
* Issue 9.22
* Wed, May 30, 2007

Want to live in the greenest building in New England? Now?s the time. As long as you?ve got a million dollars and don?t mind hiking past discarded syringes and under freeways, a brand-spanking-new condo in the hottest new neighborhood in town can be yours. Not interested? You?re not alone.

For years, developers ignored the scruffy area around the Broadway T stop, at the edge of Southie. They were too busy drooling over the South End townhouses just across the Expressway. But today, scores of million-dollar condos with panoramic views of the same railroad ties, industrial parks and highway overpasses that kept developers at bay are sitting on the market.

In their rush to construct the city?s latest hip new neighborhood, the developers of ?up and coming? West Broadway have, for now, overplayed their hand. The neighborhood?s mammoth new developments are disconcertingly empty, while other projects in the area have been stalled for months.

?Yes, there is a glut of properties. A glut of higher-end, newly developed properties in South Boston,? says John Keith, the real estate broker behind the Boston Real Estate Blog (bostonreb.com). ?That?s just a matter of the many buildings that have come on in a short period of time. In that little neighborhood, there are more than 100 units for sale.?

Those units represent the second wave of gentrification to hit the family-oriented working-class neighborhood. The first wave was relatively subtle: Developers bought up two- and three-family homes, chopped them up into condos, and flipped them.

This wave is far more overt?and sudden. In the past four years, at least 348 units have gone up in the two-block radius around the Broadway T station. Blocks away, developers are planning a 585-unit, 690,000-square-foot monster. Just down A Street, in Fort Point, ground is breaking on nearly 300,000 square feet of luxury lofts, with 1.1 million square feet of residential space planned along Fan Pier. Across the street from the pier, John Hynes is dreaming up a 23-acre mixed-use mini-city.

Developers in Southie are building as if there?s an unlimited pool of yuppies waiting to sink $1 million-plus into a starter condo, if only the market would increase supply. The problem for West Broadway is that it?s not up-and-coming enough to compete with Fort Point and the Seaport. When too many units are for sale, neighborhoods that once looked promising suddenly don?t.

Pappas Enterprises, the original developer of the area, is weathering the slowdown by putting on a smile and playing its sales numbers close to its vest. The Pappas family sparked the current boom-turned-glut when they converted the old Court Square Press building into brick-and-beam loft condos. As locals, they understand Southie.

?They don?t want to see it change,? Tim Pappas told the Boston Globe in 2005. ?The fear is, at any moment, someone?s going to build a high-rise at L and Broadway."

At the time, the Pappases were building the Macallen building, a monstrous monolith at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Broadway. Today, it looms above the skyline, an ominous whirr emanating from its ground-level parking garage. Despite receiving loads of free press for being one of the New England?s most environmentally friendly residences, the Macallen?s 144 units haven?t sold out?at least 20 are still for sale.

Across the street, two smaller developments are under construction, hoping that they?ll do better.

?I was a little anxious,? says Beth Dailey, the realtor selling units at The Lofts at 36A. ?Court Square Press isn?t filled up, and we have Macallen ... I?m like, ?Oh my God, how will we set ourselves apart?? ?

Apparently, by avoiding luxury extras and slashing prices. Dailey says the Lofts at 36A are selling well (14 out of 25 are tentatively spoken for) because, without concierges and swimming pools, they?re some of the cheapest condos in the neighborhood, hovering in the half-million range.

Other developers apparently prefer selling to the luxury crowd, so they?re lying low and waiting for the market to get friendly again.

Last fall, Paul Mustone and the Reflex Lighting Group were supposed to bulldoze the Quiet Man Pub to make way for a 93,000-square-foot project, but to date, no one (mercifully) has touched the crotchety joint.

Up the street at the Notre Dame Education Center, a plan to buy out the Sisters of Notre Dame and build 127 units has been stopped dead, even though last year, plans to raze the nuns? school were moving briskly. In their March 2006 newsletter, the NDEC?s executive director, Anne Metrick, wrote that ?the sale of the property ? is progressing satisfactorily.? South Boston Online reported that the nuns would be gone by January 2007. But today, the Sisters of Notre Dame are still there. ?It?s just on hold. We have been delayed. They haven?t purchased it yet,? Metrick says.

Having nuns hold on to your property is one way of riding out a glut-driven market slowdown; plain old denial is another. But why not avoid the whole mess in the first place? A bit of planning and oversight might have kept West Broadway a real neighborhood, rather than turning it into a million-dollar wasteland.

Link

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Word up, JimboJones.

Good piece, thanks for posting.

 

[ablarc]

?They don?t want to see it change,?

Change is the universal fear of all yuppies.

Tim Pappas told the Boston Globe in 2005. ?The fear is, at any moment, someone?s going to build a high-rise at L and Broadway."

...which is worse than having you mother, father and sisters wiped out by a tornado.

At the time, the Pappases were building the Macallen building, a monstrous monolith at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Broadway. Today, it looms above the skyline, an ominous whirr emanating from its ground-level parking garage. Despite receiving loads of free press for being one of the New England?s most environmentally friendly residences, the Macallen?s 144 units haven?t sold out?at least 20 are still for sale.

Whatever we may think of this building, the public doesn't like it or its ilk. Like City Hall, it just doesn't look friendly --and unlike City Hall, it's no architectural masterpiece. Neo-brutalism? It's liked by some mostly because it's new; come back in ten years and give your impressions.

A bit of planning and oversight might have kept West Broadway a real neighborhood, rather than turning it into a million-dollar wasteland.

Wasn't it really a wasteland all along?

 

[TC]

Interesting article with many facts and quotes, unfortunately the author was hell bent on writing a negative article regardless of what her own research indicates.

the Macallen?s 144 units haven?t sold out?at least 20 are still for sale

That is 83% sold and it was only completed within the past year

Dailey says the Lofts at 36A are selling well (14 out of 25 are tentatively spoken for) because, without concierges and swimming pools, they?re some of the cheapest condos in the neighborhood, hovering in the half-million range.

Condo Sales are going very well for a building that is barely weather tight. (not competed yet)

A bit of planning and oversight might have kept West Broadway a real neighborhood, rather than turning it into a million-dollar wasteland.

It was a complete wasteland before. These projects replaced vacant lots, an auto scrap yard and have actually helped clean up this area. This initial (and successful) investment in the area will help spur future development. (Being 1st is always the hardest to get money for) And with more residents will more business will follow to provide services.

And the comments about projects being shelved is only a market correction. This is also a great example of how development will not exceed market demand. Banks know that the Seaport and Fort Point Channel are competition and won't fund projects that they don't think will be successful.

With such flawed conclusions I can only imagine the author must of had personal reasons for writing this article.

 

[kz1000ps]

Today, Macallen

that's it for the macallen, this project is directly across the street from it (not sure of its name)

and right next to that is this project, completed within the past year

 

[palindrome]

Couldn't they have at least tried to match the brick colors? ^
:roll:



god i love mcallen though!

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I was about to say I kinda like that one building but then I saw the two colors of brick. LOL

This intersection seems dead. There needs to be stores and another building across from McAllen (south side) to fill in the street wall.

 

[bosman]

McAllen is not my favorite building. I'm not sure what it is exactly (possibly the facade), but McAllen doesn't really get me excited in any way. Also, I agree with vanshnookenraggen when he says that the area immediately surrounding that is in dire need of shops.

 

[czsz]

I can't get enough of it. The scale is heroic and industrial, the form bold (at least for Boston). The building could be at home among the new architecture on the High Line in New York.

Hooray for the death of cutesy, conservative Boston (at least on this corner).

 

[bosdevelopment]

This building looks like it was built in 1977, not 2007. It's definitely unique and stands out, but will soon become tired, similar to the ICA

 

[czsz]

Every Victorian house in Back Bay looked "tired" to planners in the 1960s. With time, the wheat is separated from the chaff, but all time periods in architectural history go through fairly regular phases falling in and out of favor.

 

[kz1000ps]

This building looks like it was built in 1977, not 2007. It's definitely unique and stands out but will soon become tired, similar to the ICA

Yes, it's like something the set designers for the original "Star Wars" would have dreamed up. However, I'm not so sure it will age poorly, as this one at least looks to be of very high quality. And there's something about that deep brown that I really like -- it sorta grounds the whole composition on earth while it's off pretending to be a Star Detroyer.

 

[czsz]

Apropos:

New edge to South Boston
At a crossroads of old housing and commercial blight, contemporary design takes root in a wave of new projects
By Gail Ravgiala, Globe Staff | June 17, 2007

The view to the north is of commercial lots packed with cranes and heavy equipment, brick and metal warehouses, garages, and workshops. Behind are narrow streets tightly packed with triple deckers, brick row houses, shingled duplexes largely occupied by working-class families.

It is an area in transition. Many of the commercial uses are no longer viable, leaving vacant lots and rundown buildings behind. In this kind of location, said architect Michael LeBlanc, "people are less concerned about a design that is different and are happy to see something happen there."

Couple that with the demand from the new wave of urban pioneers who are drawn to such emerging neighborhoods for hip, modern design and developers see a chance to break away from tradition.

"Bostonians have become much more open to contemporary design," said LeBlanc. "They are reading Dwell magazine and are buying furniture at IKEA and Design Within Reach, but in Boston there is a drought of contemporary spaces to put it in. I think that is why these projects are selling very well."

The three condo complexes that Utile Inc., a Boston architectural and planning firm where LeBlanc is a principal, helped design along the industrial seam between old South Boston and the new Seaport District are at once strikingly contemporary and comfortably in sync with historic buildings around them. Yet, these modern designs might have been challenged elsewhere.

Developer Bob Thomas was early to test the design waters and the market with the ultramodern condo project he built in 2004 at 80 A Street. Near West Broadway in a neighborhood of three- and four-story 19th-century buildings that house a mix of retail, business, and residential occupants, his property is also a gateway to South Boston's industrial zone.

"I wanted to do a modern project that was cutting edge and architecturally interesting," Thomas said, and a parcel straddling two worlds seemed just the place to build it. His firm, Turnstone Properties Inc. of Cohasset, teamed up with Robert Linn of Moskow Architects in Boston to create a building that walks the aesthetic fine line of fitting in and making a statement.

"Bob wanted to push the project architecturally," Linn said , "but it also needed to fit with its diverse context. One way to do that was to keep the building modest." The fourth floor is set back from the building's edge so that the most dramatic element, the overhangs protruding from the roof, whisper rather than shout.

In retrospect, A Street, which is a main thoroughfare and close to the Broadway MBTA station, seems a fairly conventional location compared to 557-559 East Second St. (557-559.com) and 321-323 West Second St. (321westsecondst.com), where Utile helped design two projects.

These sleek new residential buildings teeter on a much harder edge of the gritty industrial landscape in what zoning maps label the St. Vincent Neighborhood District (St. Vincent de Paul church sits in the heart of the neighborhood). Yet, they seem congruous with the site.

With their simple shapes and three- and four-story heights, the two modernist, dark gray buildings on the East Second Street end create a low-key link between the residential and industrial zones. The buildings also embrace green design and have state-of-the-art amenities. Units are priced between $529,000 and $585,000.

Thomas was working for the developers of the E. Second complex, RCG LLC of Somerville, when the plan was initiated, and had a hand in bringing this project to fruition.

One of the first buyers of the new E. Second townhouses was Lawrence Shevick, who is also marketing the units as a broker for Otis & Ahearn. He recently moved into his 1,349-square-foot four-story unit and furnished it with classic 20th-century modern furniture. As with each of the eight townhouses, the ground level has a heated garage, laundry room, and entrance.

Shevick's living room is on the second floor with an outsized corner window overlooking the street. The window, along with the 9-foot ceilings, make the single room feel as open and spacious as a loft. There are two bedrooms on the third floor, and on the fourth, a study, with the room setback from the edge of the building to allow for a roof deck that offers a panoramic view of the Boston skyline.

Down the street, at 321-323 West Second, Utile worked with developer Mike Niskanen and urban designer David Neilson to create a low, but wide building -- it has a 103-by-100-foot perimeter, yet is only four stories high. The units range in price from $429,900 to $739,900 for the 1,400 square-foot penthouse. Eight of the 15 condos are sold, though the building won't be complete until mid-July.

"The idea," said Neilson, "was to have a building with a large footprint with a courtyard in the middle and to keep the height to 35 or 40 feet so that it would work with the larger configuration of old row houses and large warehouses."

The team had successfully applied the same concept next door, to a development called the Trolley House -- so named because it was the site of a garage for trolleys used for sight seeing. Trolley House was completed eight months ago and all 24 units, in the mid-$400,000-to-$600,000 range, are sold.

The buildings are flush with the sidewalk, making them more in keeping with the existing structures than if they had been set back. The facades are dramatic but refined.

"The thesis tends to revolve around the windows," said LeBlanc. "Each project deploys them in different ways."

At the Trolley House, a single large window is repeated in a grid pattern.

"Inside, the 7-foot windows extend to the ceiling to create more light and the illusion of space," said LeBlanc. HardiePlank, a concrete-based siding material that resembles clapboard, was applied in an alternating pattern that accentuates the size of the windows. Expensive materials, such as mahogany, were used in limited but high-profile ways such as on the large sliding doors on the street-level garage.

At 321-323 West Second St., where a demolition contractor once stored his dumpsters, the large windows imported from Germany wrap the living areas, and open to attractive planters, a contemporary take on window boxes.

The courtyard configuration also makes it possible to have windows on the interior walls and eliminates the need for common corridors.

"Each entrance serves a few units so that there is more of a townhouse feel even though the condos are flats," said LeBlanc.

Also, he said it is more efficient and aesthetically and psychologically pleasing to add stairs or elevators than build long lonely corridors.

And how do the neighbors feel about the design?

"The most negative thing I've heard so far," said Neilson, "is, 'It doesn't look like my house.' We didn't want to mimic the past. We are just trying to create honest buildings. We made them neutral, not flashy, but they become significant nonetheless."

Both Neilson and LeBlanc say they took design cues from The Foundry, a brick mercantile building across the street from 321-323 West Second St. that was converted to condos in the mid-1990s.

"It is one of the most beautiful buildings over there," LeBlanc said. "We took the idea of converting a factory building and applied it to new construction. The language is different, but the logic is the same."

Photos:

This 15-unit building is under construction at 321-323 W. 2nd Street in the St. Vincent section of South Boston. Michael Niskanen is the owner/developer. He also developed the Trolley House to the left.

The vacant lot (with vehicles) and the garage to the right of it will be developed.

This view down West 2nd Street from the penthouse is through a sliding hopper door.

Another modernist condo in the St. Vincent section of South Boston is at 559 E. 2nd Street (left building).

A view of South Boston from the condo's balcony.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I'd like to see those container box houses in South Boston. They would be affordable and appropriate.

 

[atlrvr]

Who own the air-rights above the South Boston Bypass?

Any chance those air rights can be sold in the future so it can be capped by development? Obviously, the height will have to be pretty low to appease the neighborhoods, but I would think they wouldn't mind maybe 5-6 stories as opposed to an open roadway. Certainly the narrow width of the SBB would make it much less expensive than say, Columbus Center to build over.

 

[statler]

Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

Southie?s fear: Allston
Condo glut seen creating new ?college town?

By Christine McConville | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Real Estate

South Boston residents and political leaders fear hundreds of new condominiums built during the housing boom could sit empty, or worse, be converted into apartments full of students, changing the very character of their neighborhood.

There?s also growing concern that developers may use the current housing downturn to renege on promises they made to the community in exchange for the right to build condos. Promises include new park benches, street lights, meeting space and money for community groups, and lower-cost housing units.

?The condominiums aren?t selling like they used to, and we are all concerned about what will happen,? said state Sen. Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat.

?What happens if we?ve got a couple thousand units that can?t be sold or rented and they?re made into Section 8?? Hart asked, referring to the government?s subsidized housing program.

South Boston has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, as scores of two-family homes, gas stations and even churches have been converted into upscale condominiums and townhouses.

Some of the most eye-popping changes have taken place on the lower end of West Broadway, near the Broadway MBTA station, as one multistory development after another has popped up.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority reports that 1,270 new condominium units have been created in South Boston in the past five years. And the BRA says 61 percent of the neighborhood?s residents have lived there for less than five years.

But as the demand for housing has softened, locals say the projects went up too fast.

And now that the market has turned, many of the units are empty.

?There?s a plethora of one and two (bedroom units) out there, not moving,? Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty said.

But prices remain high.

In the Macallen Building, which overlooks the highway and the MBTA rail yard, an 800-square-foot studio is selling for $519,900.

?Who are they building these things for?? asked Joyce Gifford Powers, a longtime South Boston resident who predicts that many of the units on West Broadway will sit empty for a long, long time.

The market has already impacted some projects. Not long after the BRA approved plans to build 139 condominiums at 50 West Broadway, home of the former Cardinal Cushing High School, the developers went back to the BRA, seeking permission to build apartments, instead of condos.

To the dismay of South Boston state Rep. Brian Wallace, the BRA approved the change.

?I?ll never support that because we?ll become Allston-Brighton,? Wallace said, adding that he fears other condo developers will also switch to apartments, and his constituents will become transient students from area colleges, instead of homeowners.

?We?ll become a college town,? he said.

Flaherty, however, sees a glimmer of a silver lining in the downturn.

He?s hoping to convince certain developers to abandon their plans for swanky, spacious lofts, and build family-friendly, three-bedroom units instead.

?This could be an opportunity to keep families in the city,? he said.

But Flaherty says he won?t renegotiate the promises that developers made to the community during the building boom.

?All of those things that were on the table when things were good, the park fountains and the benches, we are very firm that these promises need to be honored,? he said.

Of course, not everyone is worried about the aftermath of the building boom.

Kairos Shen, the BRA?s director of planning, said that in a city neighborhood, especially one so close to public transportation, there is no such thing as overdevelopment.

?We need population for the city to work,? he said.

And John Keith, a real estate broker who lived at 9 West Broadway between 2003 and 2006, said he?s watched the area improve.

?When I moved in, the place was pretty empty,? he said. ?A lot of amazing things happened and the neighborhood got a lot better.?

Tim Pappas, chief executive of Pappas Enterprise, the firm that developed two of the largest buildings on lower Broadway, pointed out that more housing generally means lower prices.

?Let guys like me go out there and overbuild,? he said. ?It?s the only thing that will bring prices down.?

Link