archBOSTON ARCHIVE

statler · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 825

Developers cast hungry eye on NStar site
Block on Waterfront could become hotel or residential project
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | September 21, 2005

A small, sausage-shaped block on the South Boston Waterfront carved out of Big Dig construction goes on the market today and could become a fancy hotel or residential complex despite its challenging location.

Located along a now realigned Congress Street, on the edge of Interstate 90 highway ramps and in the shadow of a tunnel ventilation building, the land has nevertheless been the subject of developers' interest for more than two years.

Its owner, NStar, has hired Meredith & Grew Oncor, the real estate firm, to sell the land to someone who wants to build in a promising area that nevertheless has huge swaths years away from development.

''There are a number of interested parties given its central location," said Yanni Tsipis, a vice president at Meredith & Grew, who along with brokerage president Thomas J. Hynes Jr. is marketing the curved, 7/10-of-an-acre piece of vacant land.

No asking price is set for the land, but Donald Anastasia, assistant treasurer of NStar, the electric and gas utility serving eastern Massachusetts, estimated in 2003 that it was worth about $10 million.

The land, on the south side of Congress Street across from a parking lot on land owned by Frank H. McCourt Jr., is zoned for 155 feet of height. But if the Boston Redevelopment Authority agreed to designate it a ''planned development area," the allowed height could rise to about 250 feet, which is a few floors taller than the World Trade Center office towers nearby.

The roof on the closest building, the Big Dig vent structure, is 115 feet high, but exhaust stacks rise to 178 feet.

The land is not yet permitted for development, but NStar worked with the city, Massachusetts Highway Department, and federal highway officials to ensure there is access from Congress Street.

''Historically it's been contemplated it would be a hotel site," said Tsipis. ''But given the strength of the residential market there may be an opportunity for that use or other uses as well." The two uses could be combined, with hotel rooms below and condominium residences on higher floors, he said.

Marketing materials tentatively designate the location as 505 Congress St., but the city has assigned no official address to the newly available land.

NStar obtained the property -- most recently used as staging for surrounding construction -- in a land swap with the $14.6 billion Big Dig.

NStar owned land on B Street that the project needed to build the South Boston Bypass Road, an exclusive truck route from Interstate 93 to the South Boston industrial area.

NStar received the so-called sausage site in exchange for that land.

The small block of land was only one piece of many acres that were taken, most of it temporarily, for use during construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel and depression of the elevated Central Artery.

The Fallon Co. and partners are in the process of purchasing the 21-acre Fan Pier site on the waterfront three blocks away. The land is owned by the Pritzker family of Chicago, which has had it on the market for about 1 1/2 years.

Tsipis said he thought the prospective sale of Fan Pier ''adds value to the parcel because it signals the impending development of a major section of the waterfront."

Although Fan Pier and McCourt land development has languished, apartments and two hotels are under construction on the waterfront.

The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center opened last year, and redevelopment in the nearby Fort Point Channel area is picking up with the sale over the last few years of the entire portfolio of Boston Wharf Co., including dozens of historic brick industrial buildings that are now being used for housing, offices, and retail space.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Link

ckb · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 126

Why not combine this parcel with the air rights over those ramps? Something creative needs to happen here to help connect this area with the Convention Center. With all the ramps and changes in elevation, one is hard pressed to figure out how to walk from this area to the front door of the convention center.

Poolio · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 193

The architects Spagnolo Gisness & Associates have done a design for this site. This appeared a couple years ago and, again, may be outdated or just conceptual. Still, it might give you some idea about the site. The project sheet tags it at 24 stories.

dudeursistershot · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 715

I like it... is the blue part of the building glass?

shiz02130 · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 94

Here's how the parcel looks today, from the elevated Summer Street. The vent building is on the right.

Looks to me like the plot could easily be combined with that ramp to its immediate right.

DarkFenX · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 1111

Looks nice but I wish it had a sharp corner like the Boylston St. proposal.

BostonFaker · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 703

So it would go over the ramp? Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be that much land, and if a building went up, it would be in sharp contrast with the neighborhood.

JohnnySic · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 72

I wish they would integrate that vent building into another development, the same way the other vent buildings have been disguised. Boy, is this one an eyesore.

Bos77 · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 37

I really wonder how much better this may have turned out if the budget for the remaining vents had not been cut. It would be nice if it could get covered up somehow, or integrated into something else. B

ut there is something I like about it, particularly the white cube portions on the northwest side. It takes on a very Meier-ish quality. If it had been kept to concrete, the white paneling, and maybe some chrome, it could be very elegant. But then they have to throw on the orange/tan bricks and aqua vents. Obviously they were trying to dress it up with a smaller budget, thinking they needed more with less. They should have been putting a new spin on the old adage "less is more".

Mike · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 402

Developer to buy the sausage site
Boston firm plans 500-room hotel on Congress St. land

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | March 30, 2006

The sausage is being sold.

Madison Properties Inc. of Boston says it will purchase a tiny strip of land known as the sausage site on the South Boston Waterfront and build a 500-room hotel there.

Denis P. Dowdle, a principal at Madison Properties, said yesterday his company is buying the Congress Street land, just under 3/4 of an acre, from NStar, which obtained it years ago in a land swap with the Big Dig.

Dowdle declined to say how much Madison is paying for the property, but the hotel project is expected to cost about $100 million, he said.

The site has been on the market since September, brokered by Meredith & Grew Oncor, but it has long been of interest to potential developers.

Dowdle said he plans two hotels in one -- an extended-stay inn on one side, and a limited-service one on the other. Both would feature room prices lower than those expected at other hotels being built around the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Extended-stay and limited-service brands are ''not all that common" in urban areas, said Dowdle. ''It's hard to find parcels that lend themselves to this."

A deal has not been struck with a hotel operator, he said, but he hopes to close on the land in April. He anticipates starting the permitting process this summer, breaking ground next year, and opening before 2009.

Parking for 130 cars would be on the first five floors, with hotel lobbies on floors six and seven. As with most modestly priced hotels, it would not have large restaurants or a ballroom.

The hotel would continue the accelerated pace of waterfront development. Rapid build-out in the area has been predicted for three decades, but plans have often been stalled by downturns in the market, disputes over uses and layouts, differences among landowners, or opposition from City Hall.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who supported 1997 legislation for the new convention center, pledged that almost 5,000 new hotel rooms would be built by the time it opened in 2004 -- a goal the Boston Redevelopment Authority says was reached.

Developer Joseph F. Fallon and his partners are expected to open in June the 793-room Westin Boston Waterfront hotel at the convention center, and two apartment buildings along Northern Avenue.

Also, the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, with 471 rooms, is under construction next to Fallon's apartments.

And Fallon is talking to architects and possible tenants for the first phase of 21 acres of development at Fan Pier -- including an office building, a hotel and condominiums, and retail space.

The sausage site is zoned for buildings no more than 155 feet high, but with city approval it could accommodate about 250 feet, making it taller than the 178-foot-high exhaust stacks on the nearby Big Dig ventilation building on Summer Street over the Massachusetts Turnpike tunnel.

Because of the proximity of Logan Airport in East Boston, Federal Aviation Administration regulations limit building heights on the waterfront.

''One of the prime benefits of this is you certainly block the view from the water and coming up Congress Street as well," Dowdle said.

The architect is Group One Partners Inc. of South Boston. Dowdle said the building would be a combination of glass, like the Manulife Financial tower on the waterfront, and masonry, like the nearby World Trade Center West.

Madison Properties was founded in 2002. The company secured permits for the Residence Inn now open in Dedham and is building a 350,000-square-foot shopping center near Route 146 in Worcester.

Link

tocoto · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 181

The newspapers seem to be so positive about the purchase of property for a new development, and then so negative about the whole process afterwards.

Rick · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 56

Rendering:

Merper · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 227

is that an actual rendering for this project?
i think we'd be lucky to get something this good.

I'm concerned with the parking on the first 5 floors... i hope this doesn't exclude some form or urbanity in the form of ground level anything...

LeTaureau · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 118

^^wow, that's sharp. Does anybody know if this parcel includes building over the ramp? The area seems so small otherwise.

quadratdackel · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 144

Merper · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 227

..yes, yes it does.

DarkFenX · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 1111

Here's the other article from Boston Business Journal.

S. Boston 'sausage parcel' may become hotel site
Boston Business Journal - 8:41 AM EST Thursday
by Michelle Hillman
Boston Business Journal

A vacant piece of land on the South Boston waterfront district referred to as the "sausage parcel" could become the home of two new hotels.

Denis Dowdle, president of Madison Properties, has the 30,437-square-foot, oblong-shaped parcel of land under agreement. Dowdle did not return calls for comment, but sources familiar with plans for the site said Dowdle is planning two moderately priced hotels -- one 250-room extended-stay hotel and another 250-room full-service hotel. The two would be attached.

"They're still in the due diligence period," said Donald Anastasia, assistant treasurer of Nstar, which is selling the land. "We do anticipate a sale."

Madison Properties has already held preliminary meetings on its plans with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, according to Jessica Shumaker, a spokeswoman for the BRA. "We expect them to officially file in May."

The site has been reported to be worth about $10 million, which Anastasia called an accurate estimate.

The parcel -- located on Congress Street in South Boston kitty-corner from the World Trade Center West and between B Street and the East Service Road -- is bordered by a Massachusetts Turnpike ramp on its south side and sits in the shadow of a ventilation building for the Ted Williams Tunnel.

Because the site is only few thousand feet across the harbor from Logan International Airport, any development must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been reviewing the heights of new buildings on the South Boston waterfront to ensure the structures don't interfere with flight patterns.

While a pair of hotels makes sense to real estate executives who are familiar with the site, the developers have a lengthy approval process in front of them. In addition to the FAA and the BRA, development on the site must be approved by the city's Zoning Board of Appeal, since the land is in a special planning district. Current zoning of the site allows for the development of hotel, residential and office space.

One developer has already walked away from the parcel. In 2002, the parcel was under agreement to Intell Management and Investment Co., now called Extell Development Co. One problem reported at the time is that the site is difficult to reach by car.

The parcel of land has been up for sale since last fall when Meredith & Grew Inc. was hired to market the property for Nstar.

"It is under agreement," confirmed Yanni Tsipis, vice president at Meredith & Grew, adding that it will close "later this spring."

In addition to being relatively close to the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center, the hotel would provide an affordable option for conventioneers unable to pay for a room in one of several a high-end hotels slated for the area.

If a developer can figure out how to make the site work it would be an ideal location for a moderately priced hotel, said Jim Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, adding the area needs at least 4,000 hotel rooms with a mix of price ran

DarkFenX · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 1111

Madison Properties confirms purchase of Seaport District parcel
Boston Business Journal - 2:56 PM EDT Thursday
by Michelle Hillman
Boston Business Journal

Denis Dowdle, president of Madison Properties LLC, confirmed Thursday he purchased the vacant piece of land commonly referred to as the "sausage parcel" in South Boston from Nstar for $5.6 million. The sale closed on Wednesday.

The land is located in the Seaport District and, pending approvals, could be the home of two new hotels, said Dowdle.

"With the success of the convention center, proximity to the airport, proximity to Financial District and just the emerging nature of the Seaport ... make anything, especially this site, ideal for this type of development," said Dowdle.

This summer Dowdle said he will file permits necessary to start the project review process with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration, which must sign off any development because of the site's proximity to Logan Airport. Dowdle said plans to break ground in mid-2007.

Prior to buying the land, Madison Properties talked to city officials about building two moderately priced hotels on the 30,437-square-foot, oblong-shaped parcel. One hotel would be an extended-stay and the other would be a standard select-service hotel, said Dowdle. Together, about 500 rooms could be constructed should Madison receive the necessary approvals from the BRA and FAA.

The site had been reported to be worth about $10 million, but it sold for much less.

"We ultimately agreed on a price that we all thought was a fair price and that's what we bought it for," Dowdle said.

Located on Congress Street in South Boston kitty-corner from the World Trade Center West and between B Street and the East Service Road -- the site is bordered by a Massachusetts Turnpike ramp on its south side and sits in the shadow of a ventilation building for the Ted Williams Tunnel. The site is a few thousand feet across the harbor from Logan International Airport.

The land was close to being sold in 2002, when the parcel was under agreement to Intell Management and Investment Co., now called Extell Development Co. The parcel of land was put up for sale last fall when Meredith & Grew Inc. was hired to market the property for Nstar.

DowntownDave · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 374

I never sausage a good development opportunity....

ckb · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 126

statler · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 825