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Crumbling eyesore drops mortar on Boylston Street
By adamg on Mon, 02/26/2018 - 1:42pm
NBC Boston reports ISD this morning ordered Boylston Street shut in front of the dilapidated hulk that until recently housed that boot store after parts of the building plunged to the sidewalk.
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Comments
If only Boston had some sort
If only Boston had some sort of Authority for seizing and Redeveloping these blighted properties.
please
Please do not give the BPDA responsibility over more property than it already has. How long did they sit on the China Trade Building and try to force it on developers before finally caving and turning it into a future library? Or look at the "transparency" of their sale of the Winthrop Sq. Garage.
The better question
Why has it taken so long? A rotting block in a tony section of Boston. Hmm
More Goofus and Gallant references, please
n/t
Wait a second...
Wait a second...
Isn't that one of those properties with an absentee and missing owner thus the long standing condition and emptiness of said properties? They've been in that state for at least 30+ years and even the Tannery is long gone.
How is the city going to get the property owner to do anything when they don't know who in fact it is and they haven't been able to get them to do anything previously?
And that is hardly the only such property in that block. Considering that the block is relatively low density [for the area] and that almost all the buildings on the block are vacant and falling apart - not just this one property... shouldn't the city just seize the whole block and redevelop it?
No
The first couple of buildings on the block (old Shreve's and Women's Industrial buildings) are owned by Ron Drucker. He has a permitted building to occupy that space for almost a decade now. HOWEVER, the plan was for a super high end office building and the market for that kind of office space has not come back from prior to the financial crisis - so he is for now at least sitting on the permit.
The other end of the block is the Wedding Cake building - a bit of an anachronism -but interesting façade (not sure if Drucker owns this building) and it's perfectly fine and quite well maintained. It's the several units in the middle of the block that are the problem.
I got the impression that these lots were owned by an older person known to the city that is just land-banking them and of course not maintaining them. this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We'll see.
Building and zoning permits expire
If his permit is from before 2008, is it still valid now? I recall Somerville having to extend IKEA's permit to build in Assembly Square, and then refusing to extend it a second time when they still didn't start building.
Don't know
But TD Garden sat on theirs for about 20 years. Perhaps approvals is better than permits which may have a shorter lifespan.
This block is critical
to connecting foot traffic from the Boylston/Newbury shopping districts to the theater district and downtown crossing.
The newly renovated and relocated Globe Bar is a good start, and the mainstay Parish Cafe is a good draw as well, but if the city wants to promote foot traffic, and get shoppers to cross over onto the other (East) side of Arlington street, this blight of a block must be fixed.
This block might be there most under-utilized in all of the back bay. If these ramshackle buildings can be fixed, this is prime real estate for shopping. It's one block over from the most expensive block on Newbury street!!
Not to pile on - but it even
Not to pile on - but it even seems that the Arlington Street Church is falling apart...how long does it take to repair those stone stairs on its side entrance (the one on Boylston)?
Blame shopping online and the
Blame shopping online and the laziness of human nature. Nobody goes shopping inside these stores anymore enough to keep the stores alive. Sad but true. The mystique of Newbury Street is gone as well.
Or blame a landlord holding out for lots of money
That thing has been like that for years and years; its horrible condition is nothing new.
There was a Globe article
There was a Globe article about this stretch last year. Basically, the owners want to redevelop but are sitting on it, letting the buildings deteriorate.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/08/22/boylston-street-should-b...
Newberry
Does that graphic really say Newberry St? NEWBERRY?
Fix it before Boston Marathon
Fix it before Boston Marathon. Who owns the building?? What's their problem? They haven't done one thing to it in years.
Hicham Ali “Sam” Hassan
Hicham Ali “Sam” Hassan
Boston Marathon doesn't pass this location
It ends in Copley Square, a few blocks west.
Yes but this s typically very busy with people trying to find
Loved ones post race. May actually be in current secure fences in area post race.
The race ends
The facilities for people who support the race, including EMS tents, gear pickup, volunteer HQ, etc. are all at that end of Boylston.
Make no mistake: if this were on Marathon day people would have been hurt and gear would have been destroyed.
ISD is a poorly run agency.
They have a Director of Constituent Services who can't be bothered to return phone calls to constituents.
Marty was supposed to have fixed this agency and made it responsive to citizens. After calling them 4 times over 3 weeks and getting no response I concluded that its an agency that doesn't have time for citizens.
I do know that it's an agency with people who mistreat people trying to do right. When I was a landlord I had to ask a tenant to leave because she was letting her dog urinate on the desk, was using the apartment to board dogs for profit and few other issues. She left but not before filing a complaint with ISD. Instead of addressing the tenant's conduct (including illegal use of a residence for commercial purposes) all that they did was to cite me for minor violations. At least citing me did help me make worthwhile improvements. But if they were an agency actually serving citizens they would have dealt with the illegal behavior of the tenant.
I have little respect for this agency.
ISD ....
....is an overworked underfunded agency. Their mission, among other things, is to ensure the safe living conditions of tenants, not to protect the business interests of landlords.
Tenants are always favored even when they are wrong or scamming.
In Mass. landlords = bad, greedy. Tenants = oppressed.
Is that why we have ...
... shelters overflowing with homeless landlords?
Safety issues aside...
.... I rather enjoy seeing this remnant of the bad good old days of dirty old Boston. Especially in the midst of the chrome and glitz of the sterile mostly ugly new Boston.
This building is long overdue
This building is long overdue for the wrecking ball
Apparently they listened
Application to demolish four contiguous buildings at 384-402 Boylston Street in Back Bay
https://www.boston.gov/news/demolition-delay-application-384-402-boylsto...