Unconventional sites for housing the teeming hordes

[whighlander]

After years of decline and stagnation the population is growing

The Mayor and BRA have called for approximately 30,000 new housing units in the next 15 years -- that's about 2,000 units per year

We are seeing hundreds of units of housing being constructed in towers downtown and in the Seaport. There are piers and other waterfront sites in East Boston and Charlestown that have active projects or proposals. Several of the old public housing projects have been renovated or reconstructed recently into mixed-income mini-neighborhoods and there are more of these to redo. There is always the traditional: infill on a vacant lot, leveling a gas station or convenience store and building a few condos, and adding a floor of residences above a building in a neighborhood street of retail shops.

However -- today we hear that there might be a whole lot of surplus Boston Public Schools

An outside audit by McKinsey and Co., of Boston Public Schools concludes the system needs to close and sell off between 30 and 50 of its 125 schools and make a wide range of staffing changes to balance its books and get BPS back on track towards bringing test scores up.

 

[JeffDowntown]

After years of decline and stagnation the population is growing

The Mayor and BRA have called for approximately 30,000 new housing units in the next 15 years -- that's about 2,000 units per year

We are seeing hundreds of units of housing being constructed in towers downtown and in the Seaport. There are piers and other waterfront sites in East Boston and Charlestown that have active projects or proposals. Several of the old public housing projects have been renovated or reconstructed recently into mixed-income mini-neighborhoods and there are more of these to redo. There is always the traditional: infill on a vacant lot, leveling a gas station or convenience store and building a few condos, and adding a floor of residences above a building in a neighborhood street of retail shops.

However -- today we hear that there might be a whole lot of surplus Boston Public Schools

I don't have the demographic trends on hand, but with the projected population growth, isn't it likely that the population of school age children will also grow.

Is the proposal to do a massive school sell off short sighted (quick fix to raise cash), that will then have to be reversed a even greater expense? McKinsey is pretty well known for these kinds of recommendations (quick cash now, let the next guy worry about the future).

 

[davem]

Interesting topic, but it should be moved into Boston Architecture & Urbanism or Design a Better Boston.

 

[JumboBuc]

This thread shouldn't be in this forum. Could a moderator move it?

And it would take many decades of significant population growth before Boston's school aged population could get anywhere near its previous high levels. People just don't have kids like they used to, and those that do have a bunch of kids don't squeeze them into apartments like they used to.

 

[JeffDowntown]

This thread shouldn't be in this forum. Could a moderator move it?

And it would take many decades of significant population growth before Boston's school aged population could get anywhere near its previous high levels. People just don't have kids like they used to, and those that do have a bunch of kids don't squeeze them into apartments like they used to.

I agree that there are too many school "spaces" hence buildings. I'd just be cautions about how deeply you cut. Also, different ethnic groups have vastly different numbers of kids per family these days, so you need to watch the ethnic makeup of Boston, not just general trends.

 

[bdurden]

After years of decline and stagnation the population is growing

The Mayor and BRA have called for approximately 30,000 new housing units in the next 15 years -- that's about 2,000 units per year

We are seeing hundreds of units of housing being constructed in towers downtown and in the Seaport. There are piers and other waterfront sites in East Boston and Charlestown that have active projects or proposals. Several of the old public housing projects have been renovated or reconstructed recently into mixed-income mini-neighborhoods and there are more of these to redo. There is always the traditional: infill on a vacant lot, leveling a gas station or convenience store and building a few condos, and adding a floor of residences above a building in a neighborhood street of retail shops.

However -- today we hear that there might be a whole lot of surplus Boston Public Schools

Would you link us to the article or final report referenced?

 

[whighlander]

I agree that there are too many school "spaces" hence buildings. I'd just be cautions about how deeply you cut. Also, different ethnic groups have vastly different numbers of kids per family these days, so you need to watch the ethnic makeup of Boston, not just general trends.

Jeff --- I believe that the article quoting from the study mentions that Boston's schools have seats for the 1970's when there were almost twice as many students as today

If there are indeed dozens of schools that are surplus -- some will probably be old traditional urban schools which make good fabrics for reuse as condors -- this has even been done with the old Lexington High School building on Mass Ave just outside Lexington Center.

Some may be 1960's or 1970's style of school construction in a place like West Roxbury where the complex sprawls over a large footprint with a large parking lot and athletic fields. These could be developed into entire min-communities with hundreds of units of varying size, local retail and even local offices

 

[CBCArch61]

Re: Unconventional sites for housing the teeming hoards

http://www.universalhub.com/2016/consultant-recommends-bps-shut-and-sell-50-schools

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...on-millions/q2i3obf0H5nuXfQGmYde7N/story.html

 

[whighlander]

Would you link us to the article or final report referenced?

This is the link from the story in Universal Hub [my highlights bold]

http://bostonpublicschools.org/site...DisplayDate&GroupYear=2015&GroupMonth=12&Tag=

Mayor Walsh releases audit of Boston Public Schools
BOSTON - December 18, 2015 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Boston Public Schools (BPS)

Superintendent Tommy Chang today released the findings of an independent operational review of the school district. Commissioned by the Mayor’s Office last winter, the audit identifies possible opportunities to explore for more efficient operational approaches and suggests reallocating potential cost savings to better serve all students in the system. The independent review was conducted between December 2014 and March 2015 and updated throughout the year as additional information became available........

The independent audit finds BPS is facing numerous structural challenges. BPS’ student population continued to decline in 2015, decreasing to 54,000 students*. This marks a drop from nearly 100,000 students in the early 1970’s.

Due to decades of decline in student enrollment, BPS is carrying a significant number of underutilized classrooms. Over half of the district’s schools are operating at under 68% of their physical capacity, and only approximately 54,000 of the more than 90,000 physical seats are currently filled

 

[ErnieAdams]

Thread title should be "teeming hordes" and not "teeming hoards," which more closely (though not quite grammatically) depicts a survivalist's fallout shelter bursting at the seams with canned goods.

Also, I initially thought the title meant looking for places for new housing, not figuring out how to reconfigure BPS. Not that the two aren't hand in hand with each other -- developers would probably love to get their hand on some of the schools that get declared surplus in the future. Would be ironic if the pendulum completely swung on this issue, i.e. surplus school buildings get developed into housing, school enrollment ticks back up, and then they need new school buildings again. Sounds like there's a metric ton of surplus, though.

 

[whighlander]

Thread title should be "teeming hordes" and not "teeming hoards," which more closely (though not quite grammatically) depicts a survivalist's fallout shelter bursting at the seams with canned goods.

Also, I initially thought the title meant looking for places for new housing, not figuring out how to reconfigure BPS. Not that the two aren't hand in hand with each other -- developers would probably love to get their hand on some of the schools that get declared surplus in the future. Would be ironic if the pendulum completely swung on this issue, i.e. surplus school buildings get developed into housing, school enrollment ticks back up, and then they need new school buildings again. Sounds like there's a metric ton of surplus, though.

Ernie -- good catch -- my spelling never good has not improved in the era of the autocompletion

Now it reads teeming hordes

But, yes -- the idea was triggered by the potentially surplus school sites -- there are plenty of other possible kinds of sites -- open to all suggestions -- just must be unconventional [at least in the context of Boston]