Hey, there! Log in / Register
Citgo Sign to stay where it is under developer's plans for Kenmore Square block
By adamg on Fri, 02/02/2018 - 9:42am
Related Beal says it won't move the oil-company ad turned beloved Boston beacon when it redoes the block of nine buildings in Kenmore Square that it's agreed to lease from Boston University.
But in a "letter of intent" filed with the BPDA recently, the developer says it does plan to knock down three buildings next to the building supporting the sign - home to Bertucci's and formerly the New England School of Photography - and replace them with a single, eight-story building with restaurant and retail space on the first floor, offices above and a new parking garage below ground.
And while the building holding up the Citgo Sign will stay in place, the company is proposing "redevelopment and repurposing" it and other buildings to add room for "office/creative workspace."
Related Beal's next step is to file a detailed project notification plan with the BPDA.
Letter of intent (133k PDF).
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
So, Bye Bye Bertucci's Building
That building or buildings - Bertucci's, New England School of Photography, and Narsyphilis, buildingd built in the 1920's by the way, will be going away, while the old Leahy Clinic buildings will just be renovated. There will probably be similar massing as the other buildings to the east.
Does Cornwall's (No baseball hats please!?!) have to move again? If so, Good. No baseball hats in a bar in Kenmore Square, even back in the 80's? 75 Chestnut you are not. The Algonquin Club you are not. I haven't crossed their threshold since and will never again.
What the what?
What the what are you going on about.
Bertucci's building? Nope. Not historically. Narsyphillis and what the other one was are long dead, too.
Oh, you mean Lucifer?
Whose trident long outlasted the club itself?
Good, Stay out. Cornwalls is damn awesome.
Cornwalls is awesome. One of the best bar / restaurants in the city. Great staff, great family owners, great beer list. Oh, and the food is really good and reasonably priced. They are everything a bar should be in this city. A rarity.
They're doing just fine without your business.
I Will
Give them my wishes. I'm going to the Sevens.
Two things
1) Cornwall's is on the other side of the Citgo sign. The two buildings being torn down are single-story, close to the corner: Cornwalls is on the ground floor of a five story building, by the headhouse for the T stop.
2) As someone who *lived* in Kenmore Square for years, some of us appreciate having a place where we can go about our daily business on game day, without it being mobbed with people in Vacation Mode. Cornwall's is awesome.
The building at the corner of
The building at the corner of the street is a loss. Bertuccis, I don't see anything architecturally worth saving.
NESOP moved to Waltham
They're now on Moody Street.
Definitely
HAHAHAHAHAHA. We're dating ourselves.
Lease or buy?
I thought BU sold those buildings, although the letter does say that Beal is entering into a long-term lease for the land.
Thanks
Wow , Thanks because I been born and raised here (Boston) and honestly it will truely be heart breaken to NOT see it anymore I understand things change and evolve But. .... certain icons should be alittle respected.
Thanks.
Maybe read the post again
They're keeping the sign right where it is.
Read her comment again
I think she's stating that she's thankful that the sign is staying in place and she would have been heart broken if the sign was not there anymore. (verb tenses and usage may not always line up).
Icons.
Yea we really need to respect a neon advertising sign for a foreign autocratic gov't owned oil company that has been polluting this planet for countless years. Sheesh people have some culture. Don't you see how well they preserve their garish advertising in truly great cities like Paris and Rome?
But it's familiar
familiar like a drunkard stepfather who beat you every Friday, and did penance every Sunday, but it's one of the few icons you have, so you cling to it.
It also ties into another exploitive billionaires icon that has been extremely successful at getting the citizens to embrace and promote as their own family. Don't expect the area newspaper of record to be criticizing that and other area-based sports teams.
Yeah, but think of all the
Yeah, but think of all the drunk college students that follow that beacon back home!
I'm okay if they want to tear it down, but I demand another absurdly tall, lit-up sign to take it's place!
Will the post office stay where it is now
on Deerfield Street? Is that one of the buildings to be demolished?
Heard a rumor that the PO has to move
Not sure if it is true. Our mailman at work told me that the Fenway Carrier Annex which is on Boylston St to the left of Tasty Burger has only 3 years left on it's lease, at which point they'll likely get the boot so that another tall building can go up. They had thought about combining the Fenway office with Kenmore, but apparently Kenmore has to move too, so where the two offices will end up is still unknown. That's the rumor anyway.
Save the corner building.
The rest of it (up to and including the sign) I don't really care to much about, but that corner building is one of the few remaining gems left in Kenmore Square. It will be a shame to lose it but people are so excited to save an old ad that they are willing to let the real jewel of the area go under the wreaking ball because they can't see it on their teevee during the Red Sox game.
That building is weird
It's been vacant for ~15+ years, minus the CityCo on the first floor. Strange as it's in such a valuable location.
Not technically
The steps up to that building were Melvin's nook, may he rest in peace.