Gigantic Fenway Center Project to Begin in Spring

Fenway Center, one of the largest stalled projects in Boston, will be ready to start construction in the spring of 2017.  The five-building, 1,300,000-square-foot mega project has secured financing for the project’s two-building first phase, which would include 313 residential units. The project has an estimated price tag of $700 million.

The 1.3 million-square-foot complex will be developed over air rights which span eight lanes of the Massachusetts Turnpike. 

The finished project will include 550 apartments and commercial space in five buildings between Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street; 1,290 parking spots, open space, and streetscape improvements. 

Plans also call for a farmers market and a bike-sharing station.

Fenway Center will be among the most transformative development projects in Boston.

Boston regulators approved a $4.6 million tax break to spur construction of a new neighborhood near Fenway Park that would straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike and include hundreds of apartments, stores, restaurants, and offices. 

The tax deal for the $550 million Fenway Center development, negotiated by Mayor Walsh, received unanimous support from the board of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The tax break will provide an important stimulus to a project that promises to create 1,800 construction jobs and boost economic growth.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority voted to petition the City Council for approval of a Special Tax Assessment Agreement between the City of Boston and MK Parcel 7 Development, LLC, the developer of the Fenway Center project.

The project has languished for years due to legal and permitting challenges, and the developer has struggled to generate enough funding to move forward.

The development was approved by the BRA Board in 2011, but has been delayed due to litigation and rising costs.

Fenway Center is particularly costly and complex because it requires construction of a $45 million deck over the Mass Pike to support its main parking garage and a 27-story tower with offices, apartments and stores.

The project would be the first development to be constructed on air rights over the turnpike since Copley Place was built in the 1980s.

“We are going to cover up the highway and build a new neighborhood out of thin air,” said John Rosenthal, president of developer Meredith Management Corp.

Fenway Center will combine:

•     Fully funded, energy neutral MBTA Yawkey Commuter Rail Station
•     1,290 Parking Spaces including 750 shared-use spaces
•     500 Residential Apartments including 10% on-site affordable units and 5% offsite
•     170,000 SF of Office Space
•     Over 90,000 SF of Retail Space
•     Over 30,000 SF of Parks and Green Spaces
•     Bicycle Storage and a Bicycle Share Station
•     Community Space
•     Daycare Center

The tax relief is structured to help fund construction of the project’s retail spaces, not its apartments. The deal will reduce the project’s taxes over a six-year period during its construction and early years of operation.

After its completion, Fenway Center is expected to generate about $5 million a year in taxes. The developer would also pay the state $226 million to lease the 4.5-acre development site over 99 years.

Currently, the property generates about $152,000 a year.

Click images to enlarge

  

31-Story Hotel-Condo Tower to Rise near Copley Square

For the last few years, developers have been working with the city to construct a midsized high-rise building in Back Bay near Copley Square. After several delays, construction is finally about to break ground on 40 Trinity Place.

40 Trinity Place will be a 31-story tower with a four-star hotel on the lower floors and luxury condominium units on the upper floors. 

The 429,000 square foot building will rise 393 feet tall at the southeast corner of the intersection of Stuart Street and Trinity Place.

The new tower will have 154 hotel rooms, 146 residential units, a celebrity chef restaurant, a sky lobby and bar, a two-story public outdoor patio and high rise conference center, and ground floor retail and restaurant space.

Amenities for those who live in the residential portion will be located on the 17th and 18th floors and include concierge service, valet parking, a movie theater and a spa.

The highlight of the building will be a two-story sky lobby and bar, which will be set on the 15th floor.

The developers are planning on having a celebrity chef operate the restaurant and people from all over Boston will be able to come and view the city below from 150 feet in the sky.

The restaurant will also feature an outdoor patio, which when completed, will become the highest rooftop bar in the city.

40 Trinity will be built adjacent to the existing Boston Common Hotel, with an 11,300 square foot expansion for the hotel's University Club located on the building's third floor.

The ground floor of the building will open up retail space allowing for more business in the neighborhood.

Previously proposed on-site affordable housing units have been eliminated; instead, 39 affordable housing units would be built off site.

A total of 17 on-site affordable units were previously proposed.

The look of the building has been designed to minimize visual impact on the Boston skyline.

The design is particularly sensitive to context as the building is within close proximity to Copley Square and adjacent to the iconic Hancock Tower. The building exterior is sculpturally distinctive, explicitly designed to distinguish it from the adjacent buildings.

Many architects have praised its sculpture-like design.

According to the architectural team that designed the building, it was “explicitly designed to distinguish itself from adjacent buildings” nearby. They also pointed out that “shadow and wind impacts on the surrounding area were carefully considered”.

40 Trinity will have a boutique and elegant feel unlike some of the larger buildings going up around Boston which consist of 200 or more units such as Millennium Tower, the New Four Seasons and Pier 4.

The hotel portion of the tower is being designed by Stonehill Taylor Architects of New York City.

40 Trinity is set to break ground in early 2017 and will be built by Suffolk Construction. The project will create approximately 700 construction jobs as well as approximately 350 permanent jobs.

The building is designed to meet LEED Silver certification, incorporating a number of sustainable design features to preserve and protect the local environment.

Tremont Crossing Mega-Project to Get Underway in Roxbury

Tremont Crossing is a $350 million mixed use development planned for heart of Boston, consisting of retail, office, residential and arts. The 1.7 million square foot project would bring the most sweeping change to the Roxbury neighborhood in decades. Located on an 8 acre parcel across from Northeastern University and the Longwood Medical Area, the complex will feature a mix of large-format retail stacked vertically, small retail shops and restaurants fronting on Tremont Street, office space for MassDOT, 300 market rate apartments, a 200-room hotel, a museum, a large garage facility and a public plaza complete with outdoor art.
 

For years, development has been promised for Parcel 3, a vast plot of land located on Tremont Street in Roxbury near the Boston Police Department’s headquarters and Northeastern University.

Elma Lewis Partners has held onto the development rights for several years without anything happening.

Finally, due to an improving economy and due to Northeastern’s expansion, which brought a new vitality to the area, the parcel will soon become something more than a fenced-off field of weeds.

Feldco Boston, part of the development team behind Tremont Crossing, has signed a letter of intent with BJ’s Wholesale Group to lease up to 90,000 square feet in the 400,000-square foot retail section of the project. This will make it easier for them to get financing for the other parts of the project.

Tremont Crossing will eventually encompass more than 1.7 million square feet of space and include retail and restaurants, office space, a 200-room hotel, parking garage and a 19-story residential tower. Also proposed is a new home for the museum of the National Center for African-American Artists.

Tremont Crossing will include a mix of retail, office, and residential uses: 

•  404,475 square feet of large format retail, which could also have entertainment and recreational uses on 4 levels

•  33,800 square feet of space for smaller shops and boutiques fronting along Tremont Street

•  300 units of residential including studios, one bedroom and two bedroom rental apartments in a 297,800 square foot tower

•  200-room extended stay hotel encompassing 102,250 square feet

•  38,000 square feet of cultural facilities that will primarily house a new museum for the National Center for Afro-American Artists located at the center of the development

•  713,785 square feet of office space above the cultural facility

•  8-story parking structure with 1,502 spaces

•  A large public plaza, complete with sculptures and outdoor seating space

Designed by the renowned firm of Cambridge Seven Associates, the project will be built in an urban style that will be modern, environmentally-conscious and pedestrian-friendly.

Construction is estimated to last 24 months and will create approximately 670 construction jobs and 1,738 permanent jobs.

New Construction Projects at University of Massachusetts

Construction at the University of Massachusetts shows no sign of slowing. Several new buildings are on the horizon, including the $52 million, 87,500 square foot Integrated Design Building, and the $85 million, 104,000 square foot Physical Sciences Building. With the amount of bulldozers and blocked walkways already around UMass, students are wary of further construction projects making it difficult to get around the campus. However, three new buildings are already in the design phase with construction at the Amherst campus expected to continue through 2018.

Another new campus building is planned to begin construction this year – the Integrated Design Building, which will house the department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning department as well as the Architecture and Design and Building Construction Technology programs.

On approximately 87,500 square feet, this building will house classrooms and studios, computer labs, lounges, meeting and teleconferencing rooms, materials-testing lab, green-building lab, wood shop, digital fabrication lab and outdoor work area.

The building will also feature a cafe, exhibit space, a library, multifunction spaces, a covered indoor courtyard on the first floor and an outdoor courtyard complete with green roof on the third floor.

The $52 million project is scheduled to begin this summer and is expected to take two years to complete, with a 2017 opening projected.

Already in process is the Physical Sciences Building, located near North Pleasant Street and West Experiment Station. This building will be used for research laboratories for chemistry and physics.

The project is being funded by the state with about $85 million. It is part of a campus master plan that was initiated several years ago in order to fulfill the campus’ mission to upgrade its science facilities and be more competitive with scientific research.

Work includes construction of a new 3-level Physical Sciences Building, housing laboratory and office space.

The building will have a basement, accommodating physics laboratories with high bay capacity sitting on foundations that will telegraph very low levels of vibration.

The 104,000 square foot project will provide labs, lab support, and offices for 20 faculty and approximately 130 students. The interior labs will be designed to provide the greatest possible degree of flexibility.

Construction of the Physical Sciences Building is expected to be complete in early 2018.
 

Click to enlarge