The New Residential Conversion Thread

awood91 said:
Another notable data point from the article: "In Boston, developers have proposed converting some 2 million square feet of underutilized office space into residential projects. Less than 20 percent of the 2,331 units proposed for conversion have been built or are under construction."

Goes to show that our office to resi conversion "boom" is still mainly conceptual, not a reality for the market.
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Further to my point here: https://www.bisnow.com/news/boston/...ut-financing-woes-leave-most-projects-stalled
 
I couldnt read the link so found a different article. Apparently if they convert this building to affordable housing.

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Then in return they can build a new building or add an addition to an existing building of up to 250,000 sq ft within this square.
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csindie.com

Cambridge meetings, Sept. 21-28: A land swap in Kendall Square - Cambridge | Somerville Independent

Take part in a meet-your-neighbors gathering and meetings on trading development for affordable homes in Kendall Square and rebuilding Gold Star Mothers park.
csindie.com csindie.com
 
stick n move said:
I couldnt read the link so found a different article. Apparently if they convert this building to affordable housing.

161.webp


...
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161 First is a beautiful old Brick-and-Beam that underwent a major structural rehab/foundation underpinning a few years ago and was gutted. It is great to see this (hopefully) being put to good use rather than sitting vacant.
 
Can we replace that fugly parking lot next to Draper please?
 
Most of the additional square footage is on one part of that garage in the massing models.

However, if they replace the garage where will the Draper folks get to test their toys? They have kept the top floor exclusively for testing. Years ago I work in an office with a view of the parking garage and I would watch them moving interesting rigs around the place.
 
Known at different times as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Building or the Transnational Building, the 13-story building at 133 Federal St. is in line to be the latest office-to-residential conversion project in Boston as city officials offer tax incentives to help owners find new uses.
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www.nbcboston.com

Brutalist office tower to become apartments in Downtown Boston

A downtown Boston office building designed by Brutalist architect Paul Rudolph — once at risk for demolition as part of an adjacent tower proposal — is now slated to be converted into 155 apartments.
www.nbcboston.com www.nbcboston.com
 
Whoa! Love the idea. A year ago this was discussed (see my comment). Recently landmarked, so it was going to be protected anyways, but this is a perfect conversion. Right in the financial district, close to South Station, High St Place next door. This would be phenomenal if it all goes as planned.

133 Federal Street sold - Rudolph building (not that Rudolph)

133 Federal Street sold on Friday. This is the Paul Rudolph building next to the Millennium tower (the other one). The buyer is an individual investor who has planned on turning other buildings into residential. Steve Belkin was the seller. He is the Trans National guy who had proposed tearing...
archboston.com
 
Justbuildit said:
Whoa! Love the idea. A year ago this was discussed (see my comment). Recently landmarked, so it was going to be protected anyways, but this is a perfect conversion. Right in the financial district, close to South Station, High St Place next door. This would be phenomenal if it all goes as planned.

133 Federal Street sold - Rudolph building (not that Rudolph)

133 Federal Street sold on Friday. This is the Paul Rudolph building next to the Millennium tower (the other one). The buyer is an individual investor who has planned on turning other buildings into residential. Steve Belkin was the seller. He is the Trans National guy who had proposed tearing...
archboston.com
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This has always been one of my favorite Boston buildings, especially for its time, built in 1960. One of Paul Rudolph's best, IMO. Happy this is being put to a good re-use!
 
Charlie_mta said:
This has always been one of my favorite Boston buildings, especially for its time, built in 1960. One of Paul Rudolph's best, IMO. Happy this is being put to a good re-use!
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This Paul Rudolph tower at 133 Federal St was built right after the Travelers Building at 125 High Street (built in 1959 and demolished in 1988). The photo (below) of the Travelers building was posted by DZH22 on an aB thread in 2020, as it was being prepped for demolition. These two buildings marked the unofficial beginning of the "New Boston", and I remember these two towers being a very big deal at the time for Boston, the first of many new towers and developments in the city's core in the 1950s and 60s, following a long fallow period of economic stagnation after WW II in which very few significant buildings were put up. So, these two buildings signaled the beginning of a renaissance for the city. It was a very exciting and optimistic time.

 
Charlie_mta said:
This has always been one of my favorite Boston buildings, especially for its time, built in 1960. One of Paul Rudolph's best, IMO. Happy this is being put to a good re-use!
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No doubt, it's a 'brutalist beauty'
 
12345 said:
www.nbcboston.com

Brutalist office tower to become apartments in Downtown Boston

A downtown Boston office building designed by Brutalist architect Paul Rudolph — once at risk for demolition as part of an adjacent tower proposal — is now slated to be converted into 155 apartments.
www.nbcboston.com www.nbcboston.com
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The plaza just south of this building (part of the same parcel) desperately needs some TLC. I remember at one point there was a vague pitch to build a skinny tower there.

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I wonder what will happen to that plaza with a residential conversion? Will it stay "public" or become a residential amenity?
 
-Its pretty hard to keep track of all of the different residential conversions going on right now, but I’m pretty sure this one hasnt been posted yet:

79 Essex Street​

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“79 Essex is the adaptive reuse of an existing, vacant building at the corner of Essex and Oxford Streets in Chinatown. The development will be a joint venture between Beacon Communities LLC and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England, Inc. (“CCBA”) and will transform the vacant building into approximately 47 units of affordable housing with associated resident amenities and property management offices. The streetscape along Essex Street will be enlivened via ground-floor commercial space, and the project also includes potential additional commercial support space in the basement.”

www.bostonplans.org

79 Essex Street | Bostonplans.org

Development Projects and Planned Development Areas (PDAs) that the Development Review division is coordinating.
www.bostonplans.org www.bostonplans.org

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That's ^^^ fantastic news. It feels like Chinatown is in a very precarious spot these days.
 
29 conversions approved and in the pipeline....... 6 UC..........1 completed (15 units, 281 Franklin St).

Need to get shovels in the ground and that middle number up ⬆️
 
As part of the application there's a requirement for the full building permit to be pulled within 1 year of applying in order to qualify. Whether the city will use that as an actual stick in these settings is TBD, but I hope they're signaling urgency to the developers. Slow walking this at risk of having your tax incentive yanked is about as good of a motivator as I can imagine....

The application itself still has old dates of apply by Dec 2025 and pull permits by 2026, but the Sept presentation below indicates there's a 1 year window to act.


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