Public Food Market

[ablarc]

Not that I know of; it was just outside the urban renewal district's boundary (dashed line, second plan, post 16).

Union Oyster House probably helped save it, along with Bell in Hand Tavern (1795) and that tiny little brick law office (formerly souvenir shop) from the early 1700's: the one with the Boston Stone embedded in its foundation. That used to be the official dead center of Boston: Ground Zero.

[Boston02124]

Originally Posted by Ron Newman

Hmm, that map doesn't show why it was cleared -- the parcel is just empty. The Government Center T station map shows it as a proposed hotel, and the long narrow block south of it (between Congress and Union streets) as a proposed office building.

This hotel was proposed for this site once.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Oof, that was a bullet dodge. Any info on this tower? When was it proposed? What happened?

[Beton Brut]

^ The Feds killed it, due to its proximity to the low-rise portion of the JFK, even before the Oklahoma City bombing.

The worst part of the project is that it would have made the re-opening of Hanover Street impossible.

[Ron Newman]

Why? Would it have taken up more than just that lot? As it is, that part of Hanover is closed every Friday and Saturday for Haymarket.

[PaulC]

proposals are in:

Hersha Group
http://www.masspike.com/pdf/real_est...l_7_hersha.pdf

Winn Development
http://www.masspike.com/pdf/real_est...cel_7_winn.pdf

Why do these proposals look like shit? Are they that preliminary that they can't submit a real design? It looks like they were only concerned with the program breakdown.

[Ron Newman]

This is a building that already exists, so you're not going to see a lot of architectural diagrams. I doubt that anyone will make significant changes to the fa?ade.

[vanshnookenraggen]

So they are going to build.... a mini-mall? Is this smart being right next to Quincy Market?

[Ron Newman]

Reading it more closely, I see that Hersha wants to add two floors to the building.

I welcome any proposal that adds a public farmers' market, which would be very different from anything available now at Haymarket or Quincy Market.

[ablarc]

It's better than a vacant storefront, and it's better than not having a farmer's market, but now there's less pressure to build a proper glass shed on, say, the Greenway.

[Shepard]

Some news about the proposed market - and a rendering (or something??) after the link.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/...blic_mark.html

Plan for downtown public market inches forward as state hires consultant

The building at the corner of Hanover and Blackstone streets would house a public food market.


By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

A plan to build a public food market adjacent to Haymarket and the Rose Kennedy Greenway has taken a step forward, though some are now concerned it may be moving too quickly.

Scott Soares, commissioner of state Department of Agricultural Resources, announced at a Tuesday night meeting that his agency had signed a contract with nonprofit consultants to assemble an implementation plan for the market by April 1. The goal, Soares said, was to open the market by the 2012 production season.

An advisory committee of North End, Waterfront, West End and Beacon Hill stakeholders is helping to steer the project. It is working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on the development of two sites adjacent to the Greenway.

The first, Parcel 9, is the wedge-shaped vacant lot between the Greenway and the Haymarket Pushcart Vendors. The other, Parcel 7, is an underused building between Sudbury and Hanover streets that currently houses the Haymarket MBTA stop, a ventilation system and a parking garage. The first floor of the building has long been designated by MassDOT as the future site of a public food market that would sell local produce, fish, meats and baked goods ? the sort of market many other large cities have long had.

Governor Deval Patrick has pledged $10 million in state assistance to build the market. A previous plan to develop the market in partnership with the Boston Public Market Association was scotched due to the organization?s ties to Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki and his predecessor, Dan O'Connell.

The DAR?s contract calls on the consultant group, Project for Public Spaces, to examine the options for the space and make recommendations. But many committee and community members at the Jan. 4 meeting said it would be foolish to move forward with plans for that site that didn?t also include the upper floors of the building, the future building for Parcel 9 and the adjacent Haymarket.

The upper floors of the Parcel 7 building and all of Parcel 9 will be developed under a separate Request for Proposals, with a new building on Parcel 9 to be designed by David Chilinski, president and co-founder of Cambridge-based Prellwitz Chilinski Associates.

Some felt that the plan for the public market should incorporate use of the broad plaza on the Greenway side of the building, while others insisted the planning should be restricted to interior spaces.

At least one committee member strenuously objected to what he saw as state officials pushing forward with a plan without adequately consulting the group. Claudio Kraus, who owns the gift shop Geoclassics and represents Faneuil Hall Marketplace on the committee, said he felt ?slighted? by the lack of communication.

?You come today, Jan. 4, with your 90-day or 70- or whatever deadline ? three months after we had asked for that, so I feel like maybe our time is being wasted here, and you already predetermined it, and you already decided everything,? Kraus said. ?So you could at least tell us, ?Look this thing is going to happen that way,? all along the process so that we wouldn?t waste our time.?

Soares attempted to reassure Kraus and others that the consultant?s contract only meant they would make recommendations, not that wheels had been set in motion to take the plan toward one predetermined destination. He said that the process would continue to be open to the committee and the community and would proceed through a series of open meetings.

Peter O?Connor, director of real estate and asset development for MassDOT, stressed that the planning was still in a preliminary phase.

?All we know right now is that a consultant has been chosen to develop a business plan for how would a public market operate on the first floor of Parcel 7,? O?Connor turned to Soares. ?That?s it, right??

?That?s it,? Soares said.

Committee members and several of the many neighborhood residents and business owners said it was vital that the market plans be developed in sync with plans for the rest of that building and for Parcel 9. They asked that the process not be tied to an arbitrary three-month timetable to meet the April 1 deadline on the consultant?s contract but be given ample time to take shape through a community process.

?We have the luxury of having enough time to do this in a dynamic equation rather than one process being the given for the other,? said Robert B. O?Brien, executive director of the Downtown North Association. ?Because if this is not done right by either one of us, instead of being the catalyst for each other?s success, we?re going to be the impediment to each other?s success. And I think we ought to be aware of the fact that we can fail again.?

Exhibit A for why change-management-by-committee rarely works.

As for the debate itself about separating the parcels, I tend to think it better to develop what the city can immediately, thus making the parcel more attractive for near-future uses. Small and organic seems to always work better than lump and megaplan.

[Ron Newman]

A previous plan to develop the market in partnership with the Boston Public Market Association was scotched due to the organization?s ties to Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki and his predecessor, Dan O'Connell.

I don't understand why that would be a reason to drop the plan. Aren't those ties an asset rather than a liability for the market? They run the South Station farmers' market well.

[czsz]

Conflicts of interest might get things approved or allow them to run more efficiently, but that doesn't mean there aren't other good reasons to worry about them.

[briv]

Does anybody know why the ventilation building has never had a single tenant?

[KG523]

Originally Posted by czsz

Conflicts of interest might get things approved or allow them to run more efficiently, but that doesn't mean there aren't other good reasons to worry about them.

such as?

[Sicilian]

^KG523

Let me give this a shot.

Let's say you have a financial stake in the outcome of a bid for contract work. Let's use the public market as an example.

Let's say you come to this forum and post seemingly objective praise for certain ideas, and objections to others, but your ulterior motive is to ensure that you win the bid.

And let's say you pay individuals to attend community meetings and speak up in favor of your proposal.

Or maybe your best friend is the appointed representative from the community advising the City on the proposal, but that friend doesn't disclose the relationship.

Are these conflicts of interest worth thinking about, or really not a big deal since you deserve to get the project regardless of how you go about getting it?

[Ron Newman]

Boston Public Market is a non-profit organization, so I don't see how these issues matter much. Let's just get the thing open already.

[Mayor Menino's Crohn's]

Dumb question: Would any of the Haymarket Fruit and Vegetable vendors be opposed to this proposed Public Food market?

[commuter guy]

Article appearing in the Boston Metro:

http://www.metro.us/boston/local/art...one-to-make-it

For everyone too lazy to read the article, the most interesting quote in the article was from the local business owner of Haymarket Pizza. Here is what he had to say about the viability of the new market:

?It would be good for me because it would bring more people,? he said. ?But a market needs people to support it, and there?s not that many people around in the winter. I just don?t see that happening.?

This quote is indicative of the well discussed problems facing the Greenway and its lack of vitality. Although, very near the North End, this neighborhood has never fully recovered from the urban renewal demolition which occurred to make way for the central artery and Govt Center. I like the idea for the public market and hope it works. However, for much of the year, this area feels a bit desolate. You feel like your somewhere on the edge of the city, rather than in the midst of the city.