The Beverly (née Merano) (Parcels 1B & 1C) | Bulfinch Triangle | West End

[Shepard]

Re: The Merano

Not bad for a landturd.

Like all the boxitecture being built around here, it's only going to be as good as the quality of the materials.

 

[bolehboleh]

Re: The Merano

I personally like this building and think that Boston needs more building of a similar density.

It's an okay looking building. Nothing special but not awful either.

But I do agree that this type of density and price range is what the city needs to keep the working class in town. If the local government can create enough incentives for developers to build these types of buildings so that they can get the same return on their investments as they would with luxury condos, go for it.

 

[deh74]

Re: The Merano

It's an okay looking building. Nothing special but not awful either.

But I do agree that this type of density and price range is what the city needs to keep the working class in town. If the local government can create enough incentives for developers to build these types of buildings so that they can get the same return on their investments as they would with luxury condos, go for it.

Yeah I agree it's no architectural masterpiece but it gets the job done fine and if they had to make the choice between it looking great and having affordable housing then I'm glad they chose this route. The only thing I really don't like about it is the sheer horizontal size of the thing.

 

[Semass]

Re: The Merano

My favorite bit of this is how it knits the streetwall back together along Causeway. As you walk down the street now, the addition of the Victor has helped but this will close that gap. If they can get some good ground floor retail it will be a great pedestrian connection into the north end. This will also be a fine, though not spectacular, terminus to the greenway.

 

[Equilibria]

Re: The Merano

I wish they'd done a bit more to make the north side distinctive, since it's positioned right above the tunnel entrance. I guess they still could - throw some sort of art/light feature up on that window wall in a way that doesn't screw with the hotel guests. I wonder if they could do a paneling job with some semi-see-through materials to make an image or something...

 

[BPLange7]

Re: The Merano

Hidden motivation for the project - it's now a parking garage for LoveJoy residents.

 

[Lisbon]

Re: The Merano

I'll be happy to see another piece of the Bullfinch Triangle pieced together! This project looks pretty good. Architecturally, it's uninspiring, but not offensive. When completed, my guess is that in terms of looks it's going to come out as Avenir > Merano > Victor. I've grown to appreciate the Avenir. I love the Victor from Causeway street, but neither of its sides do anything for me.

With this starting soon, I can't wait for 1) TD Garage towers and 2) the Congress street garage projects to start. This neighborhood is transforming so quickly! Imagine how it will look when all of these projects are done + infill on Friend, Portland, and Lancaster streets! Once those are all done I can start dreaming about putting something on the Greenway ramp parcel...

 

[George_Apley]

Re: The Merano

Hidden motivation for the project - it's now a parking garage for LoveJoy residents.

I didn't look through the docs but where the hell is the parking? Above ground obviously.

 

[citylover94]

Re: The Merano

It looks like there is one or maybe two levels of parking between the ground floor and the floors above. If you look at the rendering there is a one or two floor height section right above the ground floor with a very different facade treatment from the floors above and below.

 

[whighlander]

Re: The Merano

It looks like there is one or maybe two levels of parking between the ground floor and the floors above. If you look at the rendering there is a one or two floor height section right above the ground floor with a very different facade treatment from the floors above and below.

Citylov -- Two really bad concessions to political correctness or politics? :

• 1. The stupid decision to make the entire building "Affordable" -- by the asinine Liberal [read as Commy] definition of such --- without allowing someone who is a real worker with a family to be able to live there
  
  from John Keith's http://www.bostondwells.com/home/category/boston-affordable-housing
  
  

  Related Beal unveils housing plan for Bulfinch Triangle parcel
  4/29/2015
  
  with 239 apartments, each priced at rents well below the going market rates. A little more than half of the units would be so-called workforce housing for middle-income tenants, with the rest aimed at low-income residents....
  
  According to the Globe:
  
  To qualify for the 132 workforce apartments, residents would have to earn between 120 and 165 percent of the median income, which for a two-person household in Boston is $78,800, according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The remaining units would be reserved for residents earning between 30 percent and 120 percent of the median income.

  
  So -- what about a real family of say a fireman and a teacher making a bit over $100,000 with 3 young kids -- you'd think they would be the ideal "Workforce Family" that needs housing in the core of the city so that the teacher could teach in the new DTX school area that the fireman could walk to her station down on Pearl St. -- Not going to happen according to the Central Planners
  
  Or how about the hard working recently arrived immigrant working by day as a meat cutter in a DTX supermarket and at night while studying English as a second language as a security guard in a suburban mall -- not going to happen courtesy of the Central Planners
  
• 2. all of the parking is "Valet Parking only" to cram the parking into the building without making it taller -- unless its a robotic valet parking system -- none of the "affordable" or "Workforce" folks will find a place to park their cars
  

Colossal Failure from a demographic / economic perspective -- Google: Central Planning, Commies, and Baltimore

 

[citylover94]

Re: The Merano

Um Whigh I'm not sure what in my post you were responding to all I talked about was parking and where it looked like they had located it. I know you mentioned it but really it seems like a stretch to say you were responding to what I wrote.

Also all families are "real" families you can't just decide that because one family isn't the exact demographic you think should live somewhere that they don't count. Honestly it sounds like you are more worried about who lives where. Also why would a family living downtown in a major city even need a car. I know if my family lived there we would not own a car because it just wouldn't be a priority.

 

[JohnAKeith]

Re: The Merano

I can't quite understand what this conversation is about so maybe I'm not adding anything but from what I can see, the "$78,000" is area median income. Unfortunately, the way the sentence is written above, it sounds as if $78,000 is 165% of area median income (AMI).

That comes out to $118,000 for a two-person household at 150% of AMI. (I can't do the math for 165%.)

From the BRA:

 

[JumboBuc]

Re: The Merano

So -- what about a real family of say a fireman and a teacher making a bit over $100,000 with 3 young kids

Just for the record, the average Boston firefighter made $109,090 in 2013 while the average Boston teacher made $79,263. Plus there was another 18.8% pay hike for Boston Fire agreed to last year.

I don't mean to take this conversation any farther into the weeds, I'm just tired of people always citing police and fire as the struggling middle class.

 

[Coyote137]

Re: The Merano

The great thing about predictions like "colossal failure" is that soon enough we'll all get to see if they're accurate or not.

 

[SeamusMcFly]

Re: The Merano

Just for the record, the average Boston firefighter made $109,090 in 2013 while the average Boston teacher made $79,263. Plus there was another 18.8% pay hike for Boston Fire agreed to last year.

I don't mean to take this conversation any farther into the weeds, I'm just tired of people always citing police and fire as the struggling middle class.

Thank you. I was going to look this up, because I know the average in my city is about $99k for a fire fighter.

Everyone freaks if you ever mention the pay of fire or police folks in a negative context. Of course in my City, that $99k is roughly 3 times the median income for individuals in my City, and twice the median income for a family.

I think people buy into what you say about them being struggling middle class, or that "for the risks they take. no price is too high". However, it's not as if these people are taking on jobs no one else wants. There is always a long waiting list to get on the fire dept. Is it for childhood dreams and saving people, or for the income/retirement? That's a question for a different forum entirely.

 

[whighlander]

Re: The Merano

Um Whigh I'm not sure what in my post you were responding to all I talked about was parking and where it looked like they had located it. I know you mentioned it but really it seems like a stretch to say you were responding to what I wrote.

Also all families are "real" families you can't just decide that because one family isn't the exact demographic you think should live somewhere that they don't count. Honestly it sounds like you are more worried about who lives where. Also why would a family living downtown in a major city even need a car. I know if my family lived there we would not own a car because it just wouldn't be a priority.

City first let me appologize -- I took advantage of your post to respond to several of the surrounding ones and yours -- now for everyone else -- my main point was that setting some arbitrary % of the somewhat arbitrary definition of local median income or $ value for income is just pure unadulterated Commythought

The city has absolutely No business and No ethical justification for such class distinctions

OK if city resources are involved in the project and you want to encourage non-market rate housing -- you can provide control on the types of finishes, or size of the rooms, etc. -- then if the Kennedy's or the Brady-Bunchen's want to move in so-be-it

The other way leads inexorably to West Baltimore

This lesson should have been learned over the past few decades - the War on Poverty is over -- The Institutionalized Poverty Industry is the victor

 

[citylover94]

Re: The Merano

Whigh maybe I am totally off based but it seemed to me like the developer had decided on the wage limit not the city gov't at least that is how it sounded to me.

Why is it so bad to give an income cut off and perfectly okay to tell a developer what level of finishes and size rooms they can build. That to me seems much more restrictive and to put it simply odd and no less arbitrary than the other plan. \

Also whats to say they don't then sell those apartments at prices that are too high for the average family in the area they are built in?

 

[whighlander]

Re: The Merano

Whigh maybe I am totally off based but it seemed to me like the developer had decided on the wage limit not the city gov't at least that is how it sounded to me.

Why is it so bad to give an income cut off and perfectly okay to tell a developer what level of finishes and size rooms they can build. That to me seems much more restrictive and to put it simply odd and no less arbitrary than the other plan. \

Also whats to say they don't then sell those apartments at prices that are too high for the average family in the area they are built in?

City -- Political Correctness aside for any city to be "Sustainable" it needs a viable, "diverse" mix of employers and a similar mix of employees at least some of whom live in the city.

That means that typical "Workforce Families" need to be able to live in the city where they work and be able to stick around long enough to raise a family. The "Workforce Families" are predominantly determined by job classification -- not necessarily by family income. Some will be frugal and save for a future "White picket fence in the burbs" and others will over reach and want to live a bit over the top, have a stay-at-home mom, or send their kids to a private school. As the city government -- that is and must not be our business.

Therefore to keep the "Workforce" -- some of whom as city employees are statutorily required to live in the city -- the city must foster a diverse spectrum of housing options

Given the above -- Arbitrary % cutoffs of some arbitrary median income is not an appropriate way to characterize the people who you are trying to house

 

[goldenretrievers]

Re: The Merano

i think this is being used as staging for roadwork on causeway st

 

[Mike]

Re: The Merano

City asked to deal tax break to Beal
Friday, July 17, 2015
By: Donna Goodison

Developer Related Beal is seeking controversial tax breaks — originally designed for affordable housing in “blighted” areas — for its hotel and workforce/affordable housing project slated for Causeway Street, across from TD Garden.

Related Beal and the Boston Redevelopment Authority declined to reveal the proposed dollar value of the tax break for the Bulfinch Triangle project.

“To create this critically needed housing in the city, we are thinking creatively and exploring all potential solutions,” Related Beal said in a statement. “It is premature to elaborate or detail all of the financial aspects as the project is still under review.”

An Aug. 13 BRA hearing is expected on the Chapter 121A tax break, which BRA development review and policy director Erico Lopez and project manager Casey Hynes called “essential” to the project’s feasibility.

“Without the tax predictability provided by 121A, the project, most especially the creation of affordable/workforce units of rental housing, would not be possible,” Lopez and Hynes said in a memo yesterday to BRA Director Brian P. Golden. “The high cost of land — especially in the downtown Boston neighborhood — the ever increasing costs of construction and substantial cost of infrastructure would make the project impossible.”

continued ...

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2015/07/city_asked_to_deal_tax_break_to_beal