Battle brewing to Transform a concrete Desert

The History:  Over the years Parcel 13, the 50,000sf lot at the corner of Mass Ave and Boylston Street controlled by MassDOT, has been dangled before developers in hopes of being able to bridge the gap between the Back Bay and Fenway.  Today, this Mass Pike overpass is heavily traveled waste land serving as access to the Back Bay and Fenway for many Greater Boston residents.  Trinity Financial, coming off a failed bid for the site a few years ago, has joined another Boston development heavyweight and a region newcomer out of Florida in submitting bids in response to a MassDOT request for proposals.  Anyone who wins this bid will be required to put considerable investment into an aging Hynes station which currently occupies much of the site not over the Mass Pike.

The Proposals: 

Boston Residential Group ("BRG"): The proposal from this local developer would be picking up on a concept we may see more often over the coming years.  BRG will be building 460 beds for a local college to utilize for its students along with retail space and hotel rooms.  There would be no residential units with this proposal but would fit in nicely with Mayor Walsh's 2030 Housing Plan which has universities taking some 5,000 students out of work force housing over the next 16 years.   

BRG's Proposal, shoping center on Mass Ave with student housing tiered down Boylston. COURTESY: Cambridge Seven Associates

Peebles Development Proposal. Courtesy: Boston Globe

The Peebles Corporation: A real estate firm based out of Miami has proposed something to pay homage to the musical focus of the neighborhood called The Viola.  The Viola would consist of a mix of housing, retail and hotel and, according to diagrams, would seem to incorporate large green space on the rooftops along the site. 

This would be Peebles first foray into the Boston real estate market.  The company has prior experience throughout Florida and the MidAtlantic Region.  

Trinity Financial:  Trinity is back for another go at Parcel 13 with a proposal that consists of 350 apartments and retail space.  The project would consist of only 100 spaces and will certainly be a point of contention if this project gets to a community review.  However, with the situation of this project at the center of a transportation hub, owning a car in this transit oriented development would not  be a necessity as transportation options are abundant in the immediate area.   

In The Meantime... Lets activate the space to show how vital it could be.

Whichever project is chosen, if any, development is still a long way off from becoming a reality. Many months of bid review, community involvement and municipal and state approvals will be necessary before this project is ever able to break ground. The bridge over the Pike serves as an access point for residents and visitors to access both the Back Bay and Fenway Neighborhoods and, on busy summer nights when the Red Sox are in town, this sidewalk becomes littered with sports fans heading to Fenway.

---

The space on both sides of Boylston Street is covered by a large steel structure which serves as support for the street running above the Pike.  Those support beams extend beyond the width of the roadway and present a unique opportunity to create a sense of place on an unused and desolate overpass. There is the potential to turn it into a community meeting space that pulls passersby off the street and into a local neighborhood cafe, bar or sandwich shop and shows that, prior to extensive development and investment, this site will be a success and what will successfully draw people to the space.  Assuming it's feasible, lets work with an increasingly innovative MassDOT to get a project like this off the ground ASAP.  

Shipping Container Coffee Bar

If you'd like to express your view on this or other surrounding air rights parcels, there is a public meeting for the BRA's air rights advisory committee for all surrounding parcels 12-15:

• Thursday, November 20th
• 6:00-8:00pm
• St. Cecilia's Church, 18 Belvedere