The Kensington | 665 Washington Street | Downtown

New Chinatown Project?

So does anybody have an update for this project?
 
Last edited:
Re: New Chinatown Project?

Ya sumthin about a new theater (theatre?) I think lol
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

Developer Kensington revives Chinatown project
By Jessica Van Sack
Wednesday, September 15, 2010


The developers of a major Chinatown project that was supposed to eliminate the final remnants of the Combat Zone - and instead became a downtown blight - are expected to present a modified plan to city officials this week, the Herald has learned.

Kensington Investment Co. first submitted plans to build a 30-story mixed-use tower on Washington Street in 2003. To make way for the project, they demolished the Gaiety Theatre in 2005 over the objections of community activists. The Boston Redevelopment Authority also shelled out $2.25 million to relocate the Glass Slipper strip club through an eminent domain taking, and was later reimbursed by Kensington.

But what was supposed to be the new Kensington Place retail and residential complex - a gleaming book-end of Chinatown?s Washington Street corridor - has been a weed-covered lot surrounded by a chain-link fence at the corner of LaGrange and Washington streets for more than five years.

The developers have briefed BRA officials with the details of their new plan, which would increase the number of rental units from 300 to 360 and eliminate a level of expensive below-grade parking, reducing the overall cost, officials said.

Those modest changes are enough to help the developers move forward with a project that has been too expensive until now, BRA spokeswoman Susan Elsbree said. Developer Jim O?Brien did not return repeated calls.

Kensington Place?s predicament resembles the halted redevelopment of the former Filene?s site in nearby Downtown Crossing, which has drawn the ire of Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

But the difference between Menino?s relationship with Vornado Realty Trust and Kensington Investment Co. is striking, and had outspoken BRA critic and landscape architect Shirley Kressel crying foul yesterday.

?There?s something behind this - they made a deal with them,? Kressel said. ?(Menino) sold out for this thing to make himself a hero somewhere else.?

Turns out Kressel?s theory isn?t without merit: Kensington has agreed to contribute a whopping $7 million to the Hong-Lok elderly affordable housing development in Chinatown, Elsbree said.

If Kensington can afford to pay $7 million to Hong-Lok, Kressel asked, ?Why haven?t they built the building??

Lee Eiseman, a Hub activist who protested the demolition of the Gaiety, predicted in 2003 the parcel would become a hole in the ground.

?Kensington and the BRA were very good at getting groups of Chinatown people and even local priests to say the Kensington project would clean up the Combat Zone and eliminate smut,? Eiseman said.


Link
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

Shirley does bring up a good point. Though to me it sounds like Kensington is trying to preempt and community backlash by giving this money to affordable housing. IDK though, if a hole in the city gets filled AND there is more affordable housing in Chinatown (or wherever) does it really matter if there was some back room deal? I mean, it's not like Kensington is getting a sweet tax deal or something.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

30 stories, eliminating a level of parking, more housing, mixed use. Nice.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

Great if it actually gets built. Less parking, more housing, exactly what should be in a real city.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

If only Vornado were making such awful backroom deals to pay out millions to finance affordable housing developments while the Filene's site rotted...instead of making plays at the Hancock and proposing New York's tallest.

Maybe there is something to the mayor's favoritism here.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

Kensington Reduces Size Of Stalled Chinatown Development, Moves From Condos To Apts.

By Cory S. Hopkins
Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

A new, marginally smaller, mixed-use development plan featuring rental apartments instead of condominiums has been submitted for a controversial, and vacant, parcel in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood by Kensington Investment Co. Inc. and its affiliates.

Kensington is now proposing a maximum 29-story tower at the corner of Washington and LaGrange streets, down from a maximum height of 30 stories, according to a Notice of Project Change filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and obtained by Banker & Tradesman.

The vacant parcel in Boston's Chinatown that is stalled by Kensington Investment Co.The 398,000-square-foot residential project is slated to contain up to 395 residential apartment units, up from the 300 mixed rental and condominium units last approved in 2006. The on-site allocation of 61 affordable units originally included in prior versions of the plan has now been replaced with a $7.35 million off-site housing contribution to nearby Hong Lok House.

The original, 4-level, below-grade, 245-spot parking garage has also been revised. It will now include 160 spots in two below-grade and three above-grade levels. The project also includes 7,200 square feet of adaptable office/retail space on Washington and LaGrange streets.

The site was formerly the home of the historic Gaiety Theater before it was demolished by Kensington in 2006 to clear the way for a 30-story, 404,000-square-foot, mixed use retail and condo project. Demolition of the Gaiety also involved a relocation of the Glass Slipper gentleman's club. Since then, however, the site has remained a vacant, fenced-in lot as the economic downturn froze Kensington's funding.

In its latest proposal, Kensington said it had arranged a new financing plan consisting of 35 percent equity and 65 percent debt. Kensington said financing 65 percent of the project cost was "achievable," given the "general market optimism for well-located urban Boston apartment projects where construction is scheduled to begin in late 2011."

"[Kensington] is now positioned to re-enter the financial market with a project tailored to the real estate market of the coming decade: 2010 to 2020," the company said in its filing. "Thus, in lieu of the mixed rental/condominium and affordable unit project, [Kensington] has proposed a 100 percent rental project."

Kensington said it had identified several promising debt partners, including a consortium of commercial banks, one or more union-affiliated pension plans or life insurance companies or a government-insured loan arranged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The company also cited its parent company's existing relationship with both Wells Fargo and Capital One as a reason to pursue traditional funding from those entities. CW Capital was mentioned as a potential partner should federal funding be pursued, Kensington said.

Kensington Investment is the wealth management office of travel-industry magnates Alan and Harriet Lewis, owners of Grand Circle Travel and Overseas Adventure Travel, both headquartered in Boston.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

Three-level above-grade garage? A puny 7,200 square feet of "adaptable" office/retail space for that huge site? This is disgraceful.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

It's really not even reduced in size at all ... it's still the same height but with one less floor because of the garage.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

briv said:
Three-level above-grade garage? A puny 7,200 square feet of "adaptable" office/retail space for that huge site? This is disgraceful.
Click to expand...

7200 ft2 of street retail space is definitely not small, especially when you consider it's going to all be on the first floor.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

briv said:
Three-level above-grade garage? A puny 7,200 square feet of "adaptable" office/retail space for that huge site? This is disgraceful.
Click to expand...
Just what I thought when I read this article.

BarbaricManchurian said:
7200 ft2 of street retail space is definitely not small, especially when you consider it's going to all be on the first floor.
Click to expand...
Will a ramp connect the basement parking with the upper-level parking, or will they have separate entrances and functions?
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

I guess it's all speculative until we see a site plan, but 7k sq/ft of "adaptable" office/retail sounds small to me considering the size of the building, especially when one of the big selling points of the original plan was opening up the alley between this and the Boylston Building to pedestrians and lining it with retail. Is this even still part of the plan? Also, I assume the "adaptable" qualifier means we'll likely never see retail here at all.

This new iteration seems like nothing more than a massive value-engineering job to me. The BRA seems so desperate to get something, anything, built here that they're willing to OK whatever the developer hands them at this point.

Also, for those interested, the old site has a Kensington thread going back to 2005 with lots of info on the controversy regarding the demolition of the old Gaiety and neighboring buildings. Lots of old photos as well.
http://www.archboston.org/archive/viewtopic.php?t=60
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

briv said:
one of the big selling points of the original plan was opening up the alley between this and the Boylston Building to pedestrians and lining it with retail. Is this even still part of the plan?
Click to expand...

what retailer in their right mind would open an establishment in that alley? Perhaps more importantly, what financial institution would loan money to a retailer to build out space in that alley? They would almost have to give the space away rent free to attract any retailer that has a chance at drawing in foot traffic.
 
Re: Residences at Kensington

kensington1.jpg


Wonder if this is still what we are getting.

From page 6 (3/2008).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top