Former Gaiety Theatre site gathers dust
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Friday, June 15, 2007
Kensington Place was touted as Boston?s next upscale residential tower when the historic Gaiety Theatre was leveled in 2005 to make way for it.
But nearly two years later, there is just a dusty lot off lower Washington Street where the 30-story luxury skyrise was supposed to drive the last nail through the remnants of the old Combat Zone.
So far, the only beneficiary has been the Glass Slipper strip joint, which did business near the Gaiety and also found itself in the path of the tower. With a key assist from City Hall, the Slipper moved to a new and improved peel palace just across the street.
All of which has left the activists who fought to save the Gaiety embittered.
?This is a scandal and an outrage what was done there,? said Shirley Kressel, head of the Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods.
The tower?s would-be developer defends the deal, blaming rising construction costs for the delay. The firm has already pumped ?tens of millions? into the project, said James O?Brien, a top Kensington executive.
But O?Brien also could not give a timetable for when work might finally start.
?Hindsight is just wonderful,? he said of the project?s critics.
City Hall, which used its eminient domain powers to take possession of the development site, is standing by its developer.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority shelled out $2.25 million in a settlement that paid for the Slipper?s old building and the cost of relocating to new digs, according to a spokeswoman. Kensington, in turn, reimbursed the BRA shortly after.
?Kensington has shown they are committed to the project,? said BRA spokeswoman Jessica Shumaker. ?We are confident they will proceed as soon as they can.?
But for project critics, it?s a sad case of ?I told you so.?
When the demolition of the theater was being debated a few years ago, Lee Eiseman, treasurer of the Friends of the Gaiety, argued a vacant lot, not a tower, would be the result.
?We were telling anyone who would listen that this would happen,? said Lee Eiseman, who served as treasurer of Friends of the Gaiety, which sought to save the theater. ?Of course we are cynical about it.?
God they should just build now then before construction cost rises even more. I really don't understand it. If cost continues to rise why not build it before it becomes more expensive instead of whining so much.
