"As Mayor Thomas M. Menino prepares to leave office, real estate developers are lining up to seek key approvals for billions of dollars’ worth of mega projects before the election of a new mayor, or a blip in the economy, can upend or delay their plans. With a strengthening economy behind them, developers are seizing the opportunity."
Related: Menino’s grip on BRA may outlast his tenure
"The beginning of a new life for downtown Boston. The revitalization of the city’s long-struggling downtown is finally underway"
"Boston embraces the age of the skyscraper" by Casey Ross | Globe Staff, June 06, 2013
Once openly hostile to tall buildings, Boston is finally embracing the age of the skyscraper.
From North Station to the Back Bay, towers are being planned that would stretch the city’s boundaries, both vertically and culturally. In some cases, the projects would demolish overbearing developments from the past that sapped life from core neighborhoods and commercial districts.
On Wednesday, a developer proposed replacing the hulking Government Center Garage — a universally derided structure on Congress Street — with a huge complex of high- and mid-rise buildings, including a 600-foot office tower that would be one of downtown’s tallest.
At the Christian Science Plaza in the Back Bay, another developer is pitching a 700-foot hotel and residential building that would bring a new level of height to the edge of an iconic, if outdated, civic space.
And several other skyscrapers are under review or being constructed near North Station, Copley Square, Downtown Crossing, and Chinatown....
As Boston suffered grievous development mistakes in the Urban Renewal era of the 1950s and ’60s, when neighborhoods such as the West End and Scollay Square were demolished to make way for nondescript concrete buildings, including the massive Government Center Garage.
Today’s greater acceptance of high-rises is due in part to the fact that they would replace many of the most objectionable buildings from the past....
--more--"
Also see: 47-story Copley Place condo and retail tower put on hold
"The timing of the delay is unusual, given the improved market conditions for commercial construction and surging demand for luxury condominiums."
"Boutique hotel may rise in South Boston; Once-gritty west side is changing fast" by Casey Ross | Globe Staff, August 20, 2013
A developer is proposing to build a 14-story boutique hotel off West Broadway in South Boston, on a corner once notoriously ridden by crime that now boasts expensive residences, swank restaurants, and a newly opened Starbucks.
The hotel, by Sun Condos LLC, an affiliate of Boston-based Pappas Enterprises Inc., would cap a real estate transformation as dramatic as any that has unfolded in the city. Twenty years ago, the block where Pappas proposes to build hosted the often violent Triple O’s bar, the hangout of convicted killer James “Whitey” Bulger.
The proposed hotel would blend easily with hundreds of new homes and modern retailer shops that offer everything from sushi to spinning classes. A few blocks down West Broadway, a sign advertises the upcoming opening of Fromage, a French cheese and wine shop.
“The new buildings are wonderful,” said Maria Brown, a 49-year-old South Boston resident. “The neighborhood is getting overpopulated, but we get through it all right. I like all the upscale restaurants.”
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The $35 million hotel would include a restaurant, a separate cafe, and a rooftop pool and lounge.
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It would be the first hotel to open as part of a transformation of South Boston’s west side, where redevelopment is producing the kind of luxury homes that used to be exclusive to the neighborhood’s City Point section....
Makes one slap their knee in wonder at how and why that is happening!
--more--"
Related:
"While the homes cut energy costs over the long run, the upfront price is steep. If buyers can get over the initial sticker shock."
Time to park this post:
"A luxury condominium building next to TD Garden in Boston would not include any parking spaces, setting up the first test of whether a city notorious for traffic-clogged streets is ready to embrace housing developments that discourage automobile use."
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: What's The Big Beal?
Recent additions:
BRA poised to approve major new real estate developments
Bidding wars return to Boston condo market
I'm tired of the rich man's paper. $orry.
Also see: 47-story Copley Place condo and retail tower put on hold
"The timing of the delay is unusual, given the improved market conditions for commercial construction and surging demand for luxury condominiums."
"Boutique hotel may rise in South Boston; Once-gritty west side is changing fast" by Casey Ross | Globe Staff, August 20, 2013
A developer is proposing to build a 14-story boutique hotel off West Broadway in South Boston, on a corner once notoriously ridden by crime that now boasts expensive residences, swank restaurants, and a newly opened Starbucks.
The hotel, by Sun Condos LLC, an affiliate of Boston-based Pappas Enterprises Inc., would cap a real estate transformation as dramatic as any that has unfolded in the city. Twenty years ago, the block where Pappas proposes to build hosted the often violent Triple O’s bar, the hangout of convicted killer James “Whitey” Bulger.
The proposed hotel would blend easily with hundreds of new homes and modern retailer shops that offer everything from sushi to spinning classes. A few blocks down West Broadway, a sign advertises the upcoming opening of Fromage, a French cheese and wine shop.
“The new buildings are wonderful,” said Maria Brown, a 49-year-old South Boston resident. “The neighborhood is getting overpopulated, but we get through it all right. I like all the upscale restaurants.”
************************
The $35 million hotel would include a restaurant, a separate cafe, and a rooftop pool and lounge.
************************
It would be the first hotel to open as part of a transformation of South Boston’s west side, where redevelopment is producing the kind of luxury homes that used to be exclusive to the neighborhood’s City Point section....
Makes one slap their knee in wonder at how and why that is happening!
--more--"
Related:
"While the homes cut energy costs over the long run, the upfront price is steep. If buyers can get over the initial sticker shock."
Time to park this post:
"A luxury condominium building next to TD Garden in Boston would not include any parking spaces, setting up the first test of whether a city notorious for traffic-clogged streets is ready to embrace housing developments that discourage automobile use."
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: What's The Big Beal?
Recent additions:
BRA poised to approve major new real estate developments
Bidding wars return to Boston condo market
I'm tired of the rich man's paper. $orry.
