Stark sells out in Boston

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From the Slatin Report:

> RESIDENTIAL | BOS 04 11 07
STARCK'S DOWNSCALE DELIGHT
Peter Hellman

The 367-unit Parris Landing complex in the Charlestown Navy Yard, seen from Boston Harbor.
As a star of the 1972 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team and a former left wing for the Hartford Whalers, Kevin Ahearn has known his share of success, but he may have pulled off his biggest hat trick yet with the condo conversion and redevelopment of Parris Landing in Boston. In an ultra-competitive ? and sputtering - market, Ahearn scored his three goals melding a successful conversion of the property and brisk sales with an infusion of world-class design. For that surprise score, he brought in Philippe Starck, one of the world?s most renowned designers and a man whose work is associated more with avant-garde, super-luxury hotels and condos than with mid-level developments.

Of course, rental-to-condo conversions involve extreme complexity, regardless of the property or the market?s health. Ahearn?s marketing firm, Otis & Ahearn, rebranded and converted the five-building, 367-unit complex in the former Charlestown Navy Yard on schedule and with rising price points despite a local condo market that began to weaken midway through the three-year sales campaign. Having powerful friends didn?t hurt.

In late 2003, the real estate arm of Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group, and its development partner, Draper & Kramer, asked Ahearn to evaluate the makeover potential of the complex of mostly smallish rental units at the 30-acre Navy Yard. The sedate, red-brick and limestone structures were built in the 1840s as a shipbuilding and repair facility and closed in 1974. Four years later, the Boston Redevelopment Authority took over the property and eventually sold it to a private partnership in 1982.

The new owners used Federal historic rehabilitation tax credits to redevelop the buildings into Constitution Quarters, a nautically themed apartment community with moderate rents that was also Charlestown?s largest multifamily development. Two decades of deferred maintenance later, Constitution Quarters was tired and dated, a big ? and not unwarranted ? concern for Carlyle, Ahearn says. Of further concern, the new development would have to capture a sizable chunk of condo buyers in the Charlestown area, which accounts for about 11% of downtown Boston?s annual condo sales.



The 1,000-foot-long, 60-foot-high atrium, a former dry dock, post-Starck.
?Frankly, Carlyle wasn?t sure if those 367 units would be marketable as condos in Charlestown, never mind the price,? Ahearn says. Charlestown had averaged about 300 condo sales annually over the preceding three years, he explained, "so we had to be confident that we could grab more than one-third of the market over the next three years ? a very aggressive capture rate.?

Carlyle, Ahearn and the development team had to move quickly because Constitution Quarters was not yet formally for sale. Carlyle wanted to complete an off-market transaction, Ahearn says, and then convert the property with tenants in place. Adding to the challenge, the investment giant wanted to sell out within three years at prices ranging from the mid-$200,000 range for studios to about $700,000 for triplexes with roof gardens?moderate levels for the overall Boston market.

Given the right conditions ? i.e., marketing approach - Ahearn was confident in demand for the project. ?If we could create the right excitement," he said, the team could reach "the cohort of young people, divorced singles, empty nesters, and refugees from downtown Boston" that would fill the project.".

Along with offering realistic pricing, Ahearn knew that design would be key, starting with the obliteration of the outdated nautical theme of Constitution Quarters and the introduction of a lively, possibly even provocative, new image. He?d read about the conversion, then underway, of a Boston police station into 26 ultra-luxury apartments designed by Yoo, the London-based, design-driven development firm co-founded by Philippe Starck.



An undated photo of the atrium.
?I emailed Yoo, congratulating them on the police station conversion, but telling them that we had a much larger and more exciting project on the waterfront,? Ahearn says. ?That caught Philippe?s attention, because he?s passionate about the democratization of design. He says it shouldn?t be only for the wealthy. Here was a project that filled the bill.?

Ahearn felt that the most important element of the project for Starck would be the transformation of the complex's' gigantic atrium, originally a dry dock, which runs for 1,000 feet - the length of the two largest buildings - with a height of 80 feet. Ahearn asked Starck if he would model the space after the Delano Hotel in Miami ? an acclaimed Starck design for hotelier Ian Schrager - with its huge draperies, avant-garde furniture and oversized doors. Starck's French-accented reply: ?No, no, not on your budget.?

Instead, Starck said he found inspiration in Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York. That would mean jackhammering the atrium?s existing quarry tile floor in favor of minimalist concrete, newly poured and scoured. And ? of course - the design included a palate in shades of white only, including the atrium?s mighty web of overhead trusses, then painted royal blue. The entire palate of the public spaces, in fact, would be limited to shades of white and gray except for the Granny Apple green and yellow translucence of the elevator cabs and shafts.

At that point, the atrium?s makeover added up to little more than tasteful minimalism. Now Starck added his playful, vaguely seditious signatures: the visual jolt of ornate Venetian chandeliers and a parade of oversized, cheeky sculptures such as a light bulb, detergent bottle, baby?s pacifier and a rubber duckie.



Inside a Starck-designed apartmetn.
Even before signing on Starck, Ahearn had approached a local architect about commissioning public sculpture on the site. ?His response was that the cost would kill us, but Philippe found a way to get the pieces made within our budget,? Ahearn says. ?This was not meant to be high-end public art, just whimsy.?

Would whimsy fly in famously buttoned-down Boston? Ahearn felt that Starck?s cheeky plan would energize the faded complex, now renamed Parris Landing in honor of its architect, Alexander Parris (1780-1852). The developers were not so sure. Draper & Kramer had just completed a big rental-to-condo conversion in Florida in conventional, modern style. Why risk going with the iconoclastic Starck? Both Ahearn and Starck showed their faith in the plan by becoming minority investors?Ahearn to the tune of about $2 million ? and the team was set.

Carlyle closed on the project in March 2004, and a two-year, $18 million renovation phase started two months later. Despite the disruptions, about 20% of the property?s tenants bought their apartments.

Ahearn began marketing to the public in September 2004, a year before the condo market began to falter as concerns about a housing bubble emerged. "Fortunately," recalls Ahearn, "we had a very good head of steam going into 2006, so we were able to avoid much of the demand for seller concessions.?



The courtyard at Parris Landing.
At Parris Landing, sales held firm at an average of 12 units per month throughout 2006 as they had in 2005, which Ahearn calls ?the fastest absorption rate ever for a project of this size in our market. Despite the softness, we were able to increase prices by 5% to 8%.?

One month shy of concluding Parris Landing?s three-year marketing plan, all but three of the 367 units have been sold for a total take of $155 million. Ironically, Starck's other Boston condo project ? the high-end renovation of a former South Boston police station ? has fared not nearly so well. But that?s another story.


Peter Hellman is a writer in New York City.
 
I never understood why anyone would want to live at the CNY. There is NOTHING around there in the way of services. Yeah, it's nice to be on the water but you can't get a quart of milk without driving a long way.

It COULD be a cool neighborhood, but so could SBW. The BRA is still stuck back in the 1960's in terms of neighborhood development.
 
Actually, just down the street from this project there is a convenience store (a Store 24 or something) that is actually really good, and sells beer. I'm not saying that one store makes it a good neighborhood, but it is a pleasant surprise.
 
I hate to say it but one thing that would really help in bringing the Navy Yard into Charlestown would be to either knock down the ropewalks or drive a few roads through them. Then they could add retail shops along Chelsea St.

It won't happen but it would help.

Also, while it would be tricky to construct, they should build 1 and 2 story retail buildings under the Tobin Bridge which would help not only the Navy Yard but also the projects to the north. Perhaps a pre-fab retail building? Sounds like a fun project if I were at the Harvard GSD.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
I never understood why anyone would want to live at the CNY. There is NOTHING around there in the way of services. Yeah, it's nice to be on the water but you can't get a quart of milk without driving a long way.

It COULD be a cool neighborhood, but so could SBW. The BRA is still stuck back in the 1960's in terms of neighborhood development.
Quite inaccurate. Like said earlier, there is a 24 hour store and there is a few cafes across the street from it and an atm as well. There's also a basketball court and tennis court to go to and the 93 occasionally enters the Navy Yard. You can also travel to DT by boat.
 
DarkFenX said:
Quite inaccurate. Like said earlier, there is a 24 hour store and there is a few cafes across the street from it and an atm as well. There's also a basketball court and tennis court to go to and the 93 occasionally enters the Navy Yard.

Obviously it has been a long time since I was last there and I am glad that I am wrong. Still, being as removed from the city as it is, I just can't understand why someone would want to be there.

You can also travel to DT by boat.
The T ferry service is fun, they need to really have a water taxi that would go to more places.
 
DarkFenX said:
vanshnookenraggen said:
I never understood why anyone would want to live at the CNY. There is NOTHING around there in the way of services. Yeah, it's nice to be on the water but you can't get a quart of milk without driving a long way.

It COULD be a cool neighborhood, but so could SBW. The BRA is still stuck back in the 1960's in terms of neighborhood development.

Quite inaccurate. Like said earlier, there is a 24 hour store and there is a few cafes across the street from it and an atm as well. There's also a basketball court and tennis court to go to and the 93 occasionally enters the Navy Yard. You can also travel to DT by boat.

I've never heard anyone claim that a walled off area with an atm, one or two restaurants, a convenience store and an occasional bus was a well-serviced neighborhood. The Navy Yard has a lot going for it, but it has very little to distinguish it as actively urban, especially at night.

The worst part about it is that it could be amazing and it is not.
 
IMHO

I have to say, I think Charlestown is too remote for me, and for most of my clients (real estate buyers).

If you like coming home from work and staying in all night, watching TV, then the Navy Yard is for you.

But, if you're going to do that, why not move to the suburbs and get twice as much space?
 
I'm talking about along Chelsea St. On one side is this wall of the Tobin Bridge and the other is the wall of the Ropewalks. This area could be redesigned to connect Charlestown with the Navy Yard. Right now what we have is basically a gated community; perhaps that's what they were going for?
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
I'm talking about along Chelsea St. On one side is this wall of the Tobin Bridge and the other is the wall of the Ropewalks. This area could be redesigned to connect Charlestown with the Navy Yard. Right now what we have is basically a gated community; perhaps that's what they were going for?

I think this is a great idea and I'd love to see it happen. The Navy Yard has so much potential. It should be reknit into Charlestown somehow.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Right now what we have is basically a gated community; perhaps that's what they were going for?
Boston's biggest lost opportunity --even sadder than the Seaport or NorthPoint.

The connection should be to Boston primarily and sleepy Charlestown secondarily. Connection to the city used to be City Square --once a truly urban place when the El still rumbled through. A quaint little streetcar line could snake from the Navy Yard down the Greenway, across Fort Point Channel to the Fish Pier. Tourists would scramble to ride this thing at four bucks, while commuters could use their T-pass at reduced fare.

Buy the streetcars from Portugal.
 

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