South Boston Infill and Small Developments

Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

a $500,000 800sqft studio? Looks like i will never be living in MacAllen like i want too. :(
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

B and 2nd - A paper company was on the top floor, sign company on the bottom. They've been working on it forever, with a lot of stop and go action, but things seem to be picking up
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Kick ass alley
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Directly across the street, these went up like nothing - seemed like it was less than two months -
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Diagonally across the street - somebody started something months ago, but that lasted less than a week -
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D St., between 1st and 2nd
I don't know if something is about to start here or the scaffolding is just there to catch the chunks of building that has been coming down, replacing the caution tape. It's been vacant for a while
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side
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back
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C St. again between 1st and 2nd - (it's all one big empty lot)
I don't know what's going on with the building on the left, but the company that was in the blue/grey building just recently moved out
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and fenced it all in
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Now, as much as I have some weird nostalgic attraction to the barrenness of this area, so close to downtown yet seemingly so far away from anything, the drug use has gotten a lot worse down there over the past year - year and a half (I'm constantly getting rid of syringes and crushing the occasional crack pipe - I don't care about the drunks - it's the crack heads I can't stand). So I'm finally hoping (albeit somewhat reluctantly) that somebody will just demolish the all these unused and falling apart buildings and put up some more housing.

This is what's across the street - fairly new - more of these wouldn't be so bad.
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Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

Don't bother with cheap mansard roofs; they should just let Boston's beleaguered artists go on a homesteading free-for-all in this area.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

"Bottles and Cans/Just Clap Your Hands" Anyone, anyone....? Sorry, me and 1996 were just leaving.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

czsz said:
Don't bother with cheap mansard roofs;
Click to expand...

Thank you. I can't think of a single recent project where the mansard roof was done properly, e.g. it sets back from the mass and cuts into net rentable area. Sheesh, if you're going to do a mansard, do it right or don't do it at all.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

Most of that stuff around 1st and 2nd streets will be replaced by the future Emerald Court.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

I was looking at the BRA map and noticed that a mixed use project is going in at 11 W Broadway in Southie which is the Broadway T stop. Anyone have any details on this? I?m curious as to how they will fit 69 underground parking spots with the T right there.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

The rumor I've heard is that the original developer-- that of the Macallen-- and his team of innovative designers, are out. Its now going to be done bargain-basement style with a grocery-store designer from Needham
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

^ Hmmm... maybe this new generic, boring team can accomplish something the avant-garde, edgy Macallen team couldn't do - develop and sell condos at a profit.

The poor Macallen - it's very good, high quality product that is just 15 years before its time for that location, and yet in 15 years it's going to look so dated.

Bring on the grocery-store designers!
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

well if that's the city you want to live in.....

what looks more dated? the hancock tower or vernacular retail of the 70s? Which has held up better in your mind?

I think the developer of the Macallen is probably doing just fine, a few open units isn't a big concern. I'd be willing to wager that stylistically it will hold up over the next half century much better than any "contextual" design being done right now.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

In time, the genuine always trumps the phony. How much time is a concern for folks who enjoy forthrightly modern architecture.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

Oh God, don't misconstrue what I wrote - I love the Macallen - love it. And thankfully the Pappas' have a real, strong, local commitment to that area so they could afford to take a risk - you can bet if Archstone controlled that property it would be a faux-red brick and glass lump of bla, bla, bla.

The point I was trying to make was deeper, and it's the same fundamental question that has always plagued all of the creative arts - art for the masses or art for the elites. I loved my years working in real estate finance because that's where the integrity of the art/architecture is forced to actually work and result in a viable, saleable product.

On a separate note, let me over-generalize here: the Hanock has been very much liked since it opened and the Pru has been very much disliked since it opened. Today, that same trend holds true and I would imagine in 50 years people will continue to enjoy the Hancock and dislike the Pru.

Do buildings that are disliked from the minute they open ever grow to become liked over time? Conversely, do popular buildings ever grow out of favor over time? And I am not talking about among the AIA crowd, I'm talking about among the general public? It's interesting to think about. Those dorms that Harvard marred the Charles River with in Allston - will people someday learn to like them, or will it remain as one of the "Ugliest Buildings in Boston" as per the boston.com forum question posed last year?
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

pelhamhall said:
Oh God, don't misconstrue what I wrote .....
Click to expand...

Very well put. I'm new here, so I don't understand any underlaying context to individual['s] posts yet.

I won't pretend to have my finger on the pulse of the bourgeois taste in urban aesthetic, but if Peabody Terrace hasn't grown on people in 30 years I can't imagine One Western Avenue ever will.

It could just speak to a deeper issue of how individual people challenge [or don't] their own assumptions and beliefs over time. I will happily have a conversation with anyone regardless of political stance or beliefs, but if they are 50 and believe the same thing they did when they were 18, what would be the point? Anyone who has followed Jim Kunstler knows that he will believe the same thing on his deathbed as the moment he finished his first Duany essay, and his position has obvious politico parallels as well, on all sides of all coins; as our political, architectural, etc., opinions are informed by these frozen extremists we tend to emulate them, sadly.

I didn't like Boston City Hall when I moved here, and though I still find it infuriatingly flawed (at this point the blame is more on the city for not fixing the flaws than on the architects for creating them), after experiencing it nearly daily (externally) for years I've come to appreciate it on many levels. One Western Ave on the other hand, I had an immediate taking to its massing and form, but that affection quickly dissipated. Same for most of Gehry's work.

Perhaps maybe its just too few people in the world (or the world of stakeholders and nimbys at least) are open to the development of their own opinions and ideas. A world of idealogues who choose their opinions like they choose their wife or job. Think about it, choose it, then stick with it for better or worse.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

Two infill developments in Southie. The Signal Building and a smaller building across the street. Both are at the intersection of B St and West Second. These are iPhone pics so apolgies in advance for the quality (or lack thereof). Not sure if this is the right spot to post this, so feel free to move the pics if I'm in the wrong place . . .

The Signal Building is an old manufacturing building that is being converted into 75 units with a third of that devoted to artists live/work space. The development incorporates the existing building and a vacant lot next door.

The existing building (note the granite sills). This shot is from B St:


Across West Second St:



Where West First turns into B St:


The back of the building from West First. The top two stories that were added are clad in copper.


 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

Nothing special across the street, but this building used to be an eyesore so it's welcome infill.

This is the bridge over the haul road. This building is literally perched on the edge of it.


Looking across B St and West Second from the Signal Building:


Two tone facade? Or does the brickwork just need to be pointed?
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

I was going to say I hope they do something about the bricks, but meh...it's actually kind of interesting to keep the seam.

BTW, the iPhone pics came out well.
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

5/31

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Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

God that is such a handsome building. Why isn't it in the Seaport?

Anyone have an idea on occupancy?
 
Re: MacAllen II and all things South Boston

^already being rented...started condo and quickly went rental.
 
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