Join the National Safety Stand-Down: May 2-6

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other federal safety agencies have designated May 2-6, 2016, for the third annual National Safety Stand-Down. The event is a nationwide effort to remind and educate employers and workers in the construction industry of the serious dangers of falls – the cause of the highest number of industry deaths in the construction industry.

OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Center for Construction Research and Training are leading the effort to encourage employers to pause during their workday for topic discussions, demonstrations, and training on how to recognize hazards and prevent falls.

“Falls still kill far too many construction workers,” said David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

“While we regularly work with employers, industry groups and worker organizations on preventing falls and saving lives, the National Safety Stand-Down encourages all employers – from small businesses to large companies operating at many job sites – to be part of our effort to ensure every worker makes it to the end of their shift safely.”

More than four million workers participated in the National Safety Stand-Downs in 2014 and 2015, and OSHA expects thousands of employers across the nation to join the 2016 event.

To guide their efforts, OSHA has developed the official National Safety Stand-Down website with information on conducting a successful stand-down. After their events, employers are encouraged to provide feedback and will receive a personalized certificate of participation.

 “In many workplaces, falls are a real and persistent hazard. Given the nature of the work, the construction industry sees the highest frequency of fall-related deaths and serious, sometimes debilitating injuries,” said Dr. John Howard, Director of NIOSH. “Since the effort began in 2014, the National Safety Stand-Down serves as an important opportunity for both employers and workers to stop and take time in the workday to identify existing fall hazards, and then offer demonstrations and training to emphasize how to stay safe on the job.”

The National Safety Stand-Down in 2016 is part of OSHA’s ongoing Fall Prevention Campaign. Begun in 2012, the campaign was developed in partnership with the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda program. It provides employers with lifesaving information and educational materials on how to take steps to prevent falls, provide the right equipment for their workers, and train all employees in the proper use of that equipment. OSHA has also produced a brief video with more information about the 2016 Stand-Down in English and Spanish.

For more information on the success of last year’s Stand-Down, see the final data report. To learn how to partner with OSHA in this Stand-Down, visit http://www.osha.gov/StopFallsStandDown/.

The page provides details on how to conduct a stand-down; receive a certificate of participation; and access free education and training resources, fact sheets and other outreach materials in English and Spanish.
 


To learn more about preventing falls in construction visit http://www.osha.gov/stopfalls/.  

North Cambridge Housing Complex to be Demolished & Rebuilt

The Cambridge Housing Authority has plans to use proceeds from a $30.8 million bond from MassDevelopment to demolish and reconstruct the Jefferson Park apartments, a 100% affordable multi-family housing project in North Cambridge.

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development ruled the site’s conditions obsolete, calling for demolition of the buildings.

Rebuilding will create 104 units: 32 one-bedroom units, 53 two-bedroom units, and 19 three-bedroom units.

Other improvements will include private entrances for each of the units, along with maintaining private outdoor spaces and landscape designs.

Bank of America is the project’s bond purchaser and MassDevelopment also assisted DHCD with the approval of federal low income housing tax credits that will provide approximately $25.1 million in equity.

“Providing affordable housing in Cambridge remains crucial in one of the commonwealth’s most competitive housing markets,” said Marty Jones, MassDevelopment president and CEO.

MassDevelopment issued the $30.8 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Jefferson Park Apartments LLC, an entity managed by the Cambridge Housing Authority. Bank of America is the bond's purchaser.

Federal low-income housing tax credits will provide $25.1 million in equity for the project. MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development worked together to secure the tax credits.

Jefferson Park spans six buildings in North Cambridge. The properties built in 1950 and served as housing for veterans and their families in the aftermath of World War II. Since then, the Cambridge Housing Authority has provided affordable housing for families and individuals in these units.

CHA is a national leader in the development, management, and administration of subsidized affordable housing for more than 5,000 households of low-income elders, families, and disabled individuals. MassDevelopment has issued bonds on behalf of several CHA projects, most recently $104 million in tax-exempt bonds for three affordable housing developments.

 “The revitalization of Jefferson Park-State exemplifies the CHA’s commitment to provide its residents with high quality, energy-efficient housing that will remain affordable for generations to come," said Greg Russ, executive director of the Cambridge Housing Authority.

Boston's $1B Government Center Redevelopment Plan

Developers plan to construct a huge 528-foot glass skyscraper at the corner of Congress and New Sudbury streets. The curvy 47-story tower would be the centerpiece of a Government Center redevelopment project, where builders are preparing to construct a cluster of high-rises to replace portions of the Government Center Garage.

The project, estimated to cost well over $1 billion, will include construction of three high-rises and three smaller buildings containing more than 2.3 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

The project will begin with a 42-story residential tower with 450 rental and condominium units, followed by removal of the part of the garage that hangs over Congress Street and the construction of the 47-story office building. The developer wants to begin construction later this year.

The new office tower, designed by architect Cesar Pelli, would be an unusually dramatic building for Boston, a city that has shied away from the kind of eye-popping architecture that defines the skylines of other major cities.

In all, the project would result in six buildings containing 2.3 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

Three high-rises would be built on the western portion of the site, and three smaller buildings would be built along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

A retail plaza would create a new connection between the Greenway and Canal Street.

While the portion of the garage above the street would be demolished, the core of the building at Congress and New Sudbury would remain, preserving 1,100 parking spaces. That part of the garage would be hidden behind the new high-rises.

The development has received approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, but plans for each building must also be approved by the agency’s design commission. BRA director Brian Golden has offered strong support for the project.

“The redevelopment of the Government Center Garage site will reshape the downtown skyline in a way that few projects can,” he said. “We welcome a creative approach to its design and look forward to working with the architecture team to review their proposal more carefully.”

Developer Tom O’Brien, a principal of HYM Investment Group, said the project’s architecture is meant to call attention to the vast change it would bring to the city’s downtown.

He noted that it would remove one of the area’s worst eyesores, a relic of the Urban Renewal Era, and reconnect the Bulfinch Triangle to the North End and Beacon Hill.

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven is collaborating on the design with CBT Architects of Boston.

The project's primary investor is the National Electrical Benefit Fund.

Boston is experiencing a burst of real estate development, transforming much of its downtown and outlying neighborhoods. A retail and condominium tower is under construction at the former Filene’s site in Downtown Crossing. Additional towers are being proposed at Winthrop Square in the Financial District and at the site of the Harbor Garage on Atlantic Avenue.

In the Bulfinch Triangle, Related Beal is building a new headquarters for Converse Inc., and Boston Properties plans to construct a series of towers in front of the TD Garden.

Electrician Plunges 800-Feet to Death from Skyscraper

An electrician in his second day on the project plunged some 800 feet to his death Thursday from a Los Angeles skyscraper that will be the tallest building on the West Coast once it's completed.

The worker fell around noon from Wilshire Grand Center onto the back edge of a passing car. It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.

The electrician hit the trunk of the car, which was sitting at the corner Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street with the blanket-covered body and a coroner's tent hours later. The car was badly damaged.

The woman who was driving did not appear to be seriously hurt but was taken to a hospital, city fire officials said.

The worker was an electrician with ASSI, according to a spokeswoman with California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

A newspaper reporter was on assignment at the construction site when the man fell to his death.

At about noon, the reporter took a construction hoist from the 71st floor down to the first floor of the hotel, which will be the West Coast’s tallest building when it is completed.

After stepping off the hoist he heard what sounded like “a large bag of cement hitting the ground."

The electrician was not supposed to be above the third floor and had removed his hard hat before falling 53 floors, construction company officials said.

The worker had not been wearing a safety harness because it wasn’t required for the bottom floors he was working on, said a spokeswoman for Turner Construction, the main contractor on the project.

The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it's completed.

A top-out ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor.

The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.

The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown.

Chris Martin, CEO of Martin Project Management which is supervising the construction, says there were barricades around the edge of the building and other safety measures in place.

Martin said all of the building's 891 workers had undergone training.

"There's safety training for every worker on the job, and certain locations there's very specialized training. So these are all smart people," Martin said. "
We had no injuries up to this date."

Work at the jobsite, which had been suspended, will resume today.

Five New Developments Planned for East Boston

Everyone knows that East Boston is undergoing dramatic changes, in part, because of a plethora of long-awaited development.  For several years, buyers and renters have been moving over to Eastie to escape higher costs elsewhere in the city, and soon, these five new developments will get underway to welcome even more new residents to the neighborhood.
 

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Clippership Wharf 25 Lewis Street Boston, MA 02128 Clippership Wharf is a mixed-use waterfront development in East Boston that will include 492 apartment and condominium units along with lots of retail space. It will also have 300 plus parking spaces and flourishes such as a fitness center and a canoe/kayak-rental. To further sweeten the deal, Cassin/Winn Development plans to add 1,381 feet of promenade along the Harbor.

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Loftel Boston 175 Orleans Street Boston, MA 02128   Plans for the Loftel Boston include rehabilitation of a long-vacant six-story building in the Jeffries Point neighborhood, building a two-story addition, then creating 150-room loft style boutique hotel with parking for 65 vehicles. Boston developer Heath Management plans a “modestly priced” hotel where rooms would average $200 a night or less. Redevelopment of the historic structure at 175 Orleans Street will cost approximately $20 million.

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Hodge Boiler Works 111 Sumner Street Boston, MA 02128 East Boston waterfront is undergoing a dramatic transformation, and this big project will only enhance that change. DeNormandie Companies plans to redevelop the old Hodge Boiler Works site on the East Boston waterfront and create 95 rental apartments as well as a six-room bed and breakfast and a new marina building. Plans also call for a café, a 30-slip marina, a new Harborwalk and a parking garage for 75 vehicles. The developer of agreed earlier this winter to scale back his plans from 119 apartments to 95, thereby knocking off about 80,000 square feet.

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135 Bremen Street Boston, MA 02128 Last year, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved construction of a 94-unit apartment complex at 135 Bremen Street, between Grove and Porter Streets in the East Boston neighborhood. Rental units will range from studios to 3-BRs. Plans for the 127,000 square foot complex include 110 vehicle parking spaces, space for 100 bicycles along with landscaped public space. The six-floor development is due to have a dozen apartments designated as affordable, as well as 8,300 square feet of commercial space along the ground floor near the Greenway. Construction is expected to start late this summer, and another 12 to 14 months before completion.

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One Fifty One Liverpool 151 Liverpool Street Boston, MA 02128   Cedarwood Development's plans for 151 Liverpool Street include construction of a new five story residential building with 24 apartments and 35 parking spots at grade-level. The 38,000-square-foot project will rise a few blocks from the Maverick Blue Line stop and include three apartments designated as permanently affordable.

Boston Developer Plans 740-ft Financial District Tower

A developer has plans to build one of Boston’s tallest buildings in downtown’s Financial District. The 740-foot glass tower will include a 300-room hotel, offices, retail space, a restaurant and 150 luxury condominium units.  Costing as much as $900 million to build, the 900,000-SF skyscraper will add a new showpiece to Boston’s rapidly changing skyline.

The building would be the tallest building in the downtown area and will include a 300-room hotel, retail space, offices, and up to 150 condominiums on the upper floors.

The tower proposal comes during one of the most dynamic periods of construction in the city’s history, as numerous skyscrapers aim to alter the Boston skyline.

At 740 feet, the angular skyscraper would be Boston’s third-tallest structure, behind the 750-foot Prudential building and the 790-foot John Hancock Tower.

An office building at 133 Federal Street would be combined with the new tower at ground level to create a 72,000-square-foot lobby with restaurants and shops.

The complex, called 111 Federal Street will rise on one of the Financial District’s last major development sites, replacing the city-owned Winthrop Square parking garage presently on the site.

Before work can proceed, developer Steve Belkin must negotiate a deal to buy the property from the city.

The dilapidated garage at 111-115 Federal Street will be demolished and replaced with glass storefronts and modern lobbies for the offices and a luxury hotel.

Former Mayor Thomas Menino selected Steve Belkin to redevelop the property in 2006, but the project failed to attract enough tenants amid the economic downturn.

The original plan called for a 1,000-foot office tower, but that proposal was rejected because it would have interfered with air traffic. The new proposal calls for a tower 260 feet shorter.

The building will be one of only a few towers built in the densely packed Financial District since the 1980s. In recent years, tech companies, restaurants and retailers have brought new life to the area.

The project, designed by Boston-based CBT Architects, is expected to begin construction sometime late this year.

Giant Apt Project Will Have Tallest Building in South End

One of the largest residential projects in the city is being prepared for construction on a block between Albany Street and Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End.

Leggat McCall Properties is preparing to build a giant apartment project at 575 Albany Street, part of a wave of development transforming a neighborhood that serves as the southern approach to downtown.

The 710-unit, two-building complex between Harrison Avenue and Albany Street near Boston Medical Center will be the tallest new construction in the neighborhood, with one building reaching 19 stories and the other 11 stories.

The 3.1-acre development, between East Dedham and East Canton Streets, will also include about 14,000 square feet of retail space and 40,000 square feet of office space, along with new open space and an underground garage.

Presently, there are five buildings on the site; three of them are slated to be demolished, while the ones at 575 Albany and 660 Harrison Avenue will be retained and integrated into the project.

It will be the latest development to spring up along Harrison, turning a low-slung industrial neighborhood into one of Boston’s hottest markets for high-end housing.

“There are a lot of buildings coming there and a lot more that could come, depending on owners’ appetite and timing,” said a real estate consultant. “It’s easily one of the busiest stretches of development in the city.”

The property, today mostly parking lots and small office buildings, was bought last year from Boston Medical Center, along with a neighboring office building.

“This is an opportunity to take an underused site and create a substantial residential presence there,” said Bill Gause, an executive vice president at Leggat. “It’ll create a lot of vibrancy.”

Builders have been drawn to the area because it’s close to downtown and the Back Bay. Development got a boost from a 2012 rezoning that enabled taller buildings along Harrison and Albany.

A few blocks up Harrison Avenue from Leggat’s project site are the recently opened Ink Block, with 315 units spread across three buildings, and the Troy, a 19-story complex with 378 apartments. There’s a 160-unit building under construction at 600 Harrison, and site work has begun on a 602-unit complex farther north, near the Massachusetts Turnpike.

In between are brick warehouses and old industrial buildings that have been converted to lofts, boutiques, and swanky restaurants. On many Sundays, thousands of people flock to the weekly South End Open Market.

And more is coming.

Developer Related Beal has an agreement to buy the site of Quinzani’s Bakery, a key parcel at the corner of Harrison Avenue and East Berkeley Street. Across Albany from Leggat’s property, the 5.6-acre site of the Boston Flower Exchange is reportedly near a sale for more than $40 million, although no buyer has been disclosed.

The apartments at 575 Albany Street won’t come cheap. One-fifth — as many as 140 units — will be set at rents affordable to low- and middle-income tenants, as dictated by zoning in the area, though some of those may be off-site.

The rest will be priced at rents comparable to those in other new buildings nearby, Gause said. Studios at the Troy, for example, run between about $2,600 and $3,000 a month.

Gause predicts strong demand for the units, in part because of the proximity to Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine.

The company plans to build in two phases — a 410-unit building first, then a 300-unit building. The developer expects to begin construction later this year.