Mayor Menino Announces: New Projects Moving Forward
Dec 13, 2012
Lovejoy Wharf Project Adds Offices The BRA Board unanimously approved the Notice of Project Change to add an office component to the previously approved residential project. The Lovejoy Wharf project maintains the same massing, height, and public benefits of the project approved in 2006. 
LovejoyWharf is located on the Boston Harbor between the Zakim Bridge and Charlestown Bridge. The proposed project will replace a dilapidated structure and revitalize a vacant building.
The existing 9-story building at 160 North Washington Street will be rehabilitated and another floor will be added. The project will include 187,000 SF of office space and 45,000 SF of ground floor retail, including a 300-seat café-style restaurant.
The existing dilapidated structure at 131 Beverly Street will be removed and replaced with a 14-story building with a 10-story link to the rehabbed 160 North Washington Street facility. The proposed project will contain approximately 100 units of housing.
Lovejoy Wharf includes the full restoration of the existing wharf currently in disrepair, and an extension of the City of Boston’s Harborwalk along the water’s edge. The restored wharf will include public access, floating docks, public water transportation facilities, and a 2,000 SF visitor’s center bringing 42,619 SF of new open space along the waterfront.
The project includes up to 315 parking spaces to support the site's office and residential uses.
The developers are The Related Companies and The Beal Companies with Architectural Team, Inc as project architects. The project will create up to 350 construction jobs.
Hotel, Restaurant, Retail, and Spa for Downtown Crossing
Private investment / Total project cost: $60M
Total SF: 135,500
Restaurant/Retail/Spa: 4,800 SF, 2,800 SF, 1,500 SF
Jobs: 90 construction jobs, 100 permanent jobs
Taxes:$1.5 million in property taxes, $1.4 million in City hotel taxes 
The momentum in Downtown Crossing continues with the unanimous approval of a $60 million development project featuring a boutique hotel, restaurant, retail, and spa space. The 59 Temple Place project will preserve and protect the historical 11-story Blake Building at 59-63 Temple Place and the 6-story Amory Building at 501-507 Washington Street. The exteriors will be fully renovated, including restoring the facades of the first two floors and the complete reconstruction of its interiors. A sidewalk canopy and granite curbing will mark the entry of the hotel’s lobby on Washington Street and up lighting will be installed along the renovated façade’s perimeter. The building owner, Walton Oxford Capital Temple, LLC, will coordinate with the MBTA to improve lighting and signage at the Downtown Crossing T stop. Walton Oxford Temple will also donate $100,000 to The Wang YMCA of Chinatown, Boston Asian: Youth Essential Services Youth Ready for Work Program, Kwong Kow Chinese School Afterschool Program, and Asian American Civic Association Work Force Development. The development team includes Walton Oxford Capital Temple, LLC, owner; Gettys, design consultant; Goodwin Procter, legal counsel; Epsilon Association, permitting consultant; Exclusive Real Estate, development consultant; and Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, transportation consultant. 4 Facts About Downtown Crossing
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Over 700 residential units are under construction, representing over $400 million in investment.
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With the approval of Millennium Tower, there will be 1,200 new residential units housing 3,000 families by 2016.
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The City is embarking on its 5-year plan to invest $2.6 million in infrastructure improvements including roads, sidewalks, and LED signage (1st at Washington and Winter Streets).
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Over 80 new businesses have opened in the last two years; Walgreens is investing $4.2 million in its flagship to open Spring 2013.
BRA Grant Will Fund Comprehensive Green Energy Retrofit The BRA Board unanimously approved a $200,000 grant for one of the state’s largest affordable housing energy users. The monies will assist the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation in greenovating the Brighton Allston Apartments located at 1387 Commonwealth Avenue and 493-501 Washington Street. [caption id="attachment_9378" align="alignright" width="294"]
493-501 Washington Street[/caption]
The energy upgrades will significantly reduce the heating utility costs that residents in the 60 affordable units incur, and make the property one of the most efficient affordable housing properties in the state.
The BRA grant funding will aide in a comprehensive $2 million rehab at Brighton Allston Apartments that includes an update to the energy systems, including the replacement of aging furnaces and boilers, thermostats, and improvements to air sealing and wall insulation.
The Brighton Allston Apartments were identified as one of the largest energy users in the state as part of the assessment for the Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN), a federally funded energy efficiency retrofit grant program for existing affordable rental housing. Additional funding for the project will be provided by LEAN.
The BRA grant money is being distributed from the Inclusionary Development Program (IDP) Energy Efficiency Fund, a one million dollar fund available to improve the energy efficiency of existing multi-family rental housing. Energy audits and a demonstration of cost effective construction plans are required for grant eligibility. The BRA has awarded more than $440,000 in IDP Energy Efficiency Fund grants since the fund was established 2010.
Downtown Harbor Planning Begins and Greenway Zoning Takes Shape The BRA Board unanimously approved Utile, Inc, a premier urban planning firm, to assist BRA staff in creating and shaping redevelopment at the water’s edge. Utile, Inc is partnering with two highly qualified subconsultants, Durand and Anastas Environmental Strategies and Noble and Wickersham, firms that bring extensive knowledge of waterfront development and decades of experience to the process. Over a two year period Utile, Inc and its subcontractors will work with the BRA and the community to shape a vision for the waterfront that improves public access to the cleaned-up BostonHarbor and the BostonHarborIslands, and creates new and improved connections to the Greenway. The harbor planning effort will result in a Watersheet Activation and Public Realm Plan with recommendations on the creation of new open spaces, water transportation access, locations for public art, exhibits, and wayfinding, climate change adaptation strategies, water amenities, fish piers, and waterfront recreation activities. The results of the Watersheet Activation and Public Realm Plan will inform the Municipal Harbor Plan, a land use plan required under the state’s Chapter 91 waterfront licensing regulations. The Municipal Harbor Plan will be used to propose changes to the existing state requirements to accommodate the vision of Boston’s downtown waterfront. In addition, Utile, Inc will work with BRA staff to codify new zoning guidelines that will preserve, protect, and enhance the Greenway, based on the Greenway District Planning Study Use and Development Guidelines adopted in 2010. The zoning will work to integrate and connect the downtown waterfront vision with the Greenway. Utile, Inc was selected through a competitive RFP process authorized by the BRA Board in June 2012. The following consultant teams responded to the RFP: Sasaki, Utile, Inc, Fort Hill Infrastructure Services LLC, and Fort Point Associates, Inc.