The newly minted Fort Point Channel Landmark District was assembled to prevent demolition and preserve the brick warehouses that fill the South Boston neighborhood.
However, in their first application, the landmark regulations will be used to clear the way for the razing of an 85-year old warehouse – a demolition the neighborhood landmark documents explicitly allow. And while Fort Point residents have resigned themselves to the irony of a preservation district endorsing demolition, they’re no less wary about the tower that will replace the doomed warehouse at 319 A St. Rear.
Goldman Sachs’ real estate arm, the Archon Group, and their partner, New York developer Tony Goldman, have told the Boston Redevelopment Authority they want to replace the Pastene Alley warehouse with a 269-foot tall, 290-unit residential tower. That would be 89 feet taller than the 180 feet the site is zoned for. Abutting buildings range from 95-135 feet in height.
Preserve Via Growth And Change?
Ellen Lipsey, executive director of the Boston Landmarks Commission, said the new regulations aim to “preserve what draws people to the area, and allow it to grow and change in a way that’s complimentary to its character. The intent of the district is to preserve historic buildings and promote infill that respects scale and character of the neighborhood.” Demolition of the Pastene Alley warehouse was grandfathered into the regulations, she said, because it’s addressed specifically in the BRA’s master plan for the area.
The 100 Acres planned development area that governs development in the area allows for heights in excess of 180 feet at that site in exchange for exceptional community benefits. The planning documents don’t specifically endorse demolition on the site, but the landmarks document says the city “will consider [a] rooftop addition … and/or new construction in place of” the building at 319 A St. Rear. Last week, Archon’s regional director, John Matteson, said his firm plans to level the warehouse entirely.
“This is the beginning of the 100 Acres,” Matteson said. “It’s the first new building, and it will be tied into all the other new buildings that will go on the Post Office and Gillette [parcels]. At the end of the day, it’s going to be an interesting, mixed-use neighborhood.”
Matteson also stressed that “we’re just in the first inning” of the tower proposal. He said Archon is bullish on the tower’s prospects because of the success Berkeley Investments’ FP3 is enjoying. “You feel like things are coming along,” he said.
Even so, the proposal has raised eyebrows in the neighborhood. It came months after his firm backed out of an office-to-condo conversion project a block away, at 316-322 Summer St. Archon instead sold the building to the Lincoln Property Co., which invited wrathful blowback from neighbors when it deemed the condo project economically infeasible, and sought BRA approvals to renovate the building’s office space.
Super-Sized Shift
There’s a fundamental disagreement in the Fort Point neighborhood about whether Archon’s proposed residential tower represents a profound shift in philosophy – or just an escalation in ambition.
The Texas-based firm paid $92 million for 16 Boston Wharf Co. warehouses in mid-2005. Archon has already turned a profit on that deal. In just a short time, it has been able to sell off half its Wharf Co. portfolio for $132 million – a tidy $40 million profit on its original investment.
Such success has bred enmity among Fort Point’s artists, some of whom Archon has displaced. They view the firm as an interloper whose sole purpose in the neighborhood is to hold buildings for a few years, and then flip them for a profit. It doesn’t help that Archon’s own Web site speaks bluntly about plans for acquiring city approvals for additional square footage for its buildings, and then selling those permits “once zoning approval of the additional FAR is complete.”
Artistic Outrage
“That basically spells it out,” said one resident, speaking anonymously because open criticism has drawn sharp rebukes from City Hall in the past. “Archon’s in the business of securing rights and then getting out. It’s their M.O. They have no desire to develop anything.”
“They convinced the BRA that Melcher Street is shovel-ready, but nobody believes they’ll build it. They’ll flip it,” said another resident, referring to Archon and Goldman’s 220,000-square-foot office project proposal. “Nobody believes they’ll do the tower. They’ll sell the permits. And the BRA acts like they want to believe them. From the time Archon came to the neighborhood, they pitched this vision of this dynamic neighborhood. Of course, that hasn’t happened. They sold most of their property for offices. The only residential they’ve asked for is this goddamn tower.”
“We will build it,” Matteson insisted. “It’s our intention to build it.”
