Officials at MassDevelopment are hoping to undo some of the effects of Boston’s urban renewal in the 1960s by returning residential living and a neighborhood atmosphere to the barren plaza around the Saltonstall building near City Hall.
The proposal was filed Friday with the Division of Capital Asset Management in response to the state’s request for proposals on revamping the 22-story sick building and its surrounding property. If MassDevelopment’s proposal were selected from the proposals received, 69 residential housing units would be brought back to the Beacon Hill area, along with several other improvements as part of a $181 million redevelopment plan.
This building is classic 1960s New York City architecture, said Robert L. Beal, president of The Beal Cos. and chair of MassDevelopment, referring to the Saltonstall building. We want to put it back into the neighborhood context.
No Subsidies
Working with architects at Elkus/Manfredi, the development team came up with a plan that involves construction of retail and residential buildings on the Saltonstall plaza along the edges of Cambridge and Bowdoin streets. The result is 69 new residential units, consisting of two-story townhouses along Bowdoin Street with two floors of apartments above them, and three floors of condominium units along Cambridge Street.
According to Beal, a minimum of 20 percent of the units will be designated as affordable. We’d like for that percentage to be higher than that, but it will be 20 percent at least, he said.
Funding for the affordable units will come from internal returns on the project. No other subsidies will be required, said Michael P. Hogan, executive director of MassDevelopment.
By bringing housing and additional retail into the area, Hogan said MassDevelopment is looking to extend the activity cycle in the area and make it more of a 24-hour area.
We’re trying hard to bring back the concept of what was once there, Beal said.
In addition to housing and retail, MassDevelopment plans on gutting the interior of the Saltonstall building, replacing the windows, modernizing the interior and remediating the environmental conditions.
By reconfiguring the interior of the building, including removing an elevator and moving some of the restrooms, Beal says space will be used more efficiently. We’re going to pick up another 25,000 square feet, he said. That’s like adding an extra floor.
The proposal calls for the first 12 floors to be used as public office space, with floors 13 to 22 set aside for private office space. Space for public tenants would be leased at $32 per square foot. Private companies would be charged $45 per square foot. Separate entrances would be used for public and private office areas.
Private-Sector Methods
The open-space plaza would be rebuilt with new paving and landscaping, as well as seating and other amenities, and the parking garage would be reconfigured to add 50 percent more spaces with no construction costs added, Beal said.
The $181 million project would be financed through a series of tax-exempt bonds for the public portion and by obtaining conventional debt and equity financing for the private portion. Because the state would not be asked to secure any of the financing, the project would not affect the state’s $1 billion annual general obligation bond cap.
MassDevelopment is seeking legislation that would enable the agency to utilize private-sector methods to develop the project and is looking to establish a separate entity to control, develop and manage the project.
MassDevelopment would lease the building shell and surrounding land from the state for 50 years, with two 15-year renewal options. At the end of the lease, the buildings would be turned back over to the state, representing a total return to the commonwealth, in today’s funds, of $110 million.
More than a half dozen respondents have expressed interest in redeveloping the Saltonstall building, including Beacon Capital Partners and Modern Continental.
