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Boston Architecture & Urbanism Discussions and photos regarding Boston area architecture and urbanism. |
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#41 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Chelsea
Posts: 413
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Thanks again Toybug.
If you go to Google maps' street view, from 360 Main St. to 400, you'll see the remaining commercial space that I'm talking about. From 340 to 356 are the commons w/the town hall and fire dept behind. If you look Ron, you can tell from the trees that the common is young. On the back side the remaining commercial and residential is 22-26 Central St. We?re literally talking a few houses on either side that lead up to a handsome brick/stone buildingin the square, the Dow building. It would have created a nice wall for the common. I do believe that there was some commercial space that was razed for the common as well, so the whole situation just doesn?t make sense to me, but that?s Stoneham for you. |
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#42 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: salem ma and washington dc
Posts: 4,201
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Quote:
__________________
A man gazing on the stars is at the mercy of the puddles in the road |
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#43 |
Administrator
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Approaching a City
Posts: 7,281
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
^^ They're just being glib.
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#44 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 103
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Quote:
The problem is with properties held for speculation, which by definition yield little (parking, perhaps a legacy tenant) or no income. An income approach is clearly irrelevant to such properties. The fact that the income approach continues to be (mis)applied is the problem. While no one claims that assessments are a perfect guide to value, in the residential world, where valuations are based on precedent transaction, it's difficult for assessments to be off by orders of magnitude from valuation. In the commercial world, this happens frequently, and the phenomenon is most acute for property held for speculation - income is not, and never will be, the point for owners of property like the Alexandra. Moreover, it's not just a factor of "when markets are rising" - because these properties aren't run for income, tax valuations can be out of whack for decades on end. Which just encourages the owners to continue to hold on - as the tax burden is trivial, the value can just be accumulated over time as unrealized (and therefore untaxed) capital gains. Indeed, other things (such as the zoning climate or local economy) being equal or improving over the long term, it makes sense to sit on such properties forever ... over the cycle, the value of the prospective redevelopment tends to increase. The owner potentially has much more to gain from a redevelopment in 2020 than a redevelopment now, even presuming that means riding out a cycle or two or three. Indeed, several of the most notorious vacant lots downtown have been handed down through generations of the same family! The development opportunity is "always there," silently appreciating, untaxed. For this reason, the principle of taxation on basis of income ought to be abolished for any property that is severely underutilized. |
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#45 | |
Administrator
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Approaching a City
Posts: 7,281
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Quote:
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#46 | |
Senior Member
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Quote:
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#47 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Chelsea
Posts: 413
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Couldn't the same arguement be made for many other churches?
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#48 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 3,528
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
^ The problem's been around for a while:
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer', but you are making it a den of robbers." |
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#49 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Dorchester/Boston
Posts: 5,664
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
maybe this is finally going to happen? taken today.
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#50 |
Administrator
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Approaching a City
Posts: 7,281
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
You took a picture of their sacred space?!?
Now you're screwed. |
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#51 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Dorchester/Boston
Posts: 5,664
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
I was driveing by! now I,m screwed! oh well better screwed than not!
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#52 |
Senior Member
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
I wonder how long that sign remains untouched by creative graffitists.
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#53 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 548
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Can't they fight the Scientologists after the building is restored?
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#54 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 4,147
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Article in this week's Boston Courant.
They don't publish online, here's the 411. Church of Scientology will list its Back Bay headquarters next month. Once it has, it will then file "final architectural plans" with the BRA for its new South End home, located at 1759-1769 Washingon Street, in the South End. The Back Bay headquarters is assessed at $3.6 million but the church's attorney believes its value at around $17 million. The church is proposing the addition of a floor on the five-story Alexandra Hotel. (I'd support that.) It won't present its plans to the BRA, etc., until its Back Bay property is listed for sale, presumably because it can't move until it has the money to renovate or at least a signed P&S.
__________________
"You must really like hearing yourself talk, because you do an awful lot of it whether or not you know anything at all about the topic at hand ..." |
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#55 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 777
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Boston.com article:
Restoration on the corner Church of Scientology reveals its plans for Hotel Alexandra By Robert Preer, Globe Correspondent | January 23, 2010 The Church of Scientology plans to open a street-level cafe, bookstore, and chapel as part of its renovation of the 19th-century Hotel Alexandra, a long-faded Gothic beauty that for years has sat mostly empty at a prominent Boston crossroads. The revived building would add more street life to a corner of the South End that is seeing more activity, and signals that the city?s desire to have the neighborhood revitalized after the removal of the elevated Orange Line on Washington Street is finally coming to pass. The neighborhood is slowly beginning to take on the trappings of the more gentrified parts of the South End, though the area remains dotted with empty storefronts. A number of new restaurants, including fine dining venues, recently opened on Washington Street, adding to the South End?s reputation as a haven for foodies. Residents and merchants said fixing up the Alexandra is key to solidifying the neighborhood?s makeover. ?It is going to add to the neighborhood and complete the corner,?? said Bill Raymer, owner of Restoration Resources antique store on Washington Street. ?It will look like it did in the 1800s. It?s an eyesore now.?? The church bought the building two years ago to be its New England headquarters. It now expects to submit a renovation plan to the city in early spring, and has already given neighborhood and business groups previews. The church will restore the elegant facade, which has columns framing the ground-floor entrances and sandstone blocks in contrasting shades above. The upper floors will have classrooms, a library, and meeting spaces, and the Scientologists plan to add a sixth floor that will be set back from the front of the building. ?This is going to revive a building that has been largely abandoned and empty for over 30 years,?? said Marc LaCasse, the church?s lawyer. ?It will activate the street with pedestrians and lights. People will be coming and going seven days a week.?? While a construction timetable has not been established, Church of Scientology officials expect work to begin shortly after city permits are granted. When it opened on the corner of Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue in 1875, the Alexandra was a meeting place for Boston high society at the junction of the city?s then most important thoroughfares. In the early 20th century, the property fell into decline and was turned into a rooming house. A 1993 fire damaged the interior, and the upper floors are boarded up. South End residents, community leaders, and city officials have long felt the neglected building was a detriment to revitalization of the area, particularly the stretch of Washington Street that leads into Roxbury?s Dudley Square. Linda Rubin Royer, executive director of the Washington Gateway Main Street program, said the restored building will make the area safer. ?They will have people there at all hours, and that will mean less crime.?? The Church of Scientology has rehabilitated a number of historic buildings in US and European cities for use as church centers. Scientology?s first church in Boston opened in the Back Bay in 1971. It plans to sell its current building on Beacon Street after relocating to the Alexandra. The preference for restoring old buildings is symbolic, according to Graham Parker, executive director of the Church of Scientology-Boston. ?Scientology itself is about restoring life,?? Parker said. Founded in the early 1950s by author L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology stresses the betterment and rehabilitation of the human spirit. Some of Scientology?s beliefs and practices have been controversial, in particular its stance that psychiatry is destructive and should be abolished. The cafe and bookstore in the restored hotel will be open to the public. Parker said that while information about Scientology will be available in the cafe and store, he expects the establishments to draw people who are not necessarily interested in Scientology. ?I don?t think we?ll compete with Dunkin? Donuts, though,?? he added. Joe Bornstein, owner of Olympia Flower Store on Washington Street, said, ?I would have preferred to see more of a retail presence on the first floor, but at this point, any renovation is a good thing.?? The Church of Scientology has been working to connect with the South End for several years. The church opened a storefront tutoring center next to the Alexandra several years ago and also runs a gun buyback program. Volunteers from the church helped with a recent park cleanup. Residents and merchants said they have no issues with the church?s ownership, and are instead focused on the benefits they see coming from the renovation. ?Once the building is renovated, it will be a good thing,?? said Natalie van Dijk Carpenter, owner of Lekker Unique Home Furnishings on Washington Street. ?What I think about Scientology doesn?t matter.?? Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com. photo essay of south end which appeared with article: http://www.boston.com/business/gallery/southendboston/ |
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#56 |
Senior Member
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Sad to see the Globe publish such a glowing article about a forthcoming source of blight.
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#57 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 3,528
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
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#58 |
Senior Member
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Scientology is a blight, since it is a fraudulent and dangerous organization. It should never be welcomed into any urban neighborhood.
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#59 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: downtown
Posts: 3,096
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
Well, as of this morning it is still a wreck.
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#60 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: brooklyn
Posts: 6,052
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Re: Alexandra Hotel
I think Christian Science is crazy, but their center is hardly a blight on Boston.
I really don't mind insane religions spending money to improve Boston. If/when reason puts them out of business, we'll inherit their handiwork. |
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