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Developer wants to make a splash with 20-story hotel on Kneeland Street near South Station
By adamg on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 3:04pm
A developer wants to replace the remains of the old Splash Ultra Lounge at 150 Kneeland St. with a 250-room hotel.
In a letter of intent filed with the BPDA, Hudson Group, which has redeveloped several Leather District buildings, says its proposed hotel would bring much needed guest rooms to the South Station area and permanently remove what had long been a neighborhood nuisance:
The property was formerly used as a restaurant and night club, which presented a significant nuisance to the neighborhood, while subsequent neglect of the site has resulted in serious blight.
Our goal is to develop a striking, slender, mid-rise tower housing a well-designed, top-quality hospitality facility. The Project will supply sorely needed hotel rooms to the immediate South Station area, which currently does not have a single hotel. The proposed hotel will complement the mixed-use fabric of the historic Leather District while positioning the Kneeland Street development corridor as a modern urban thoroughfare with a vibrant pedestrian realm.
Because of the lot's proximity to parking lots and garages, Hudson Group says it would not be including any space for parking.
Hudson's next step would be to file a detailed project-notification form, which would trigger a process that would include public hearings and, ultimately a BPDA vote.
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Comments
Splash
If they are going to take Splash's old spot, they need to commit to never asking for ID before serving drinks.
How about some housing for
How about some housing for middle and low income people thrown into the mix?
Get At It!
Get out there, find the site, raise the capital, hire the lawyers, the architects, payoff the local neighborhood association / city councilor, secure the permits, hire the contractors, payoff the other competing neighborhood association in the same neighborhood as the other one, hire the property manager, and make your dreams come true. No one is stopping you.
Non Profit Developers
They do exactly this.
We need more of them.
See Above
Get At it if you want it.
Didn't happen with new Fenway Hotel.
Spartanburg developers OTO https://www.otodevelopment.com/capabilities/development/ haven't offered any public benefit to the Fenway neighborhood other than a wider sidewalk and Ubers to block the bus stop with a restaurant that serves breakfast.
http://www.bethtreffeisen.com/single-post/2018/01/26/A-New-Hotel-Will-Re...
Why?
Does someone who owns property in the neighborhood have to add "public benefit" to whatever they're building? Did your building provide it when it was built?
didnt know
didn't know Hotels were included in inclusionary development....oh wait they're not.
"proximity to lots and
"proximity to lots and garages"?
Where?
In the whole 10 or so square blocks bounded by Kneeland, Atlantic, Summer and the surface road, there's...
One public parking garage (Chinatown Parking)
Two buildings with some basement parking available to public.
The parking at One Financial Center is tenants and building visitors only.
Then, there's the tiny lot on top of the bus station.
That's it.
If they want to say their customer base won't be the type to be driving in & out and therefore there won't be demand for parking, fine...
...but to say that there is enough parking (if there is demand) simply doesn't match the reality
Parker House, Copley Plaza, the Hostel on Stuart
Holiday Inn by the Garden, The Hilton on Broad Street
All do not have parking garages. Neither does the hotel on Broad Street.
15 Beacon has a tiny, tiny lot in relation to its capacity.
They are somehow making it.
Yes, and the new hotel being
Yes, and the new hotel being built on Albany Street.
The point is that it is one thing to plan on not having parking - if they're up-front about it.
...or to run a hotel that doesn't have a garage of its own but does have a commercial garage nearby (like any number of Boston or Manhattan hotels)
It's entirely a different thing to say that there is nearby parking when in fact there is not.
Valet
There are thousands of spots nearby. Hotels like this offer valet service. The garage doesn't need to be next door to be close since guests don't actually have to walk to it.
Yup
Take the old Ritz (Taj now) - it uses the Motormart and St James St Garages, not exactly close by but its all valet service. Actually pretty simple concept.
Nope.
Nope.
There are (at most) a few hundred spaces in the area I described - not "thousands".
I checked on a couple of parking/search websites. South/Atlantic has 71 spaces. Two Financial on Essex has 74 or 150. Lincoln St/Chinatown has 83 or 300. I assume the places with range of numbers that one number is designated available for "drive-in" and the other number is the quantity already taken up by monthly/reserved.
To get more spaces, you need to use multiple facilities or go further away - either of which multiplies the time involved in valet and the number of employees you need to do it. Also - factor in how badly gridlocked the streets in the Leather District get at rush hours. (AND the Splash sight is a little less convenient to the T than many other hotels)
Yes, Motormart is four blocks from Taj. That's four blocks along wide streets (not narrow ones, and not as close to the jam getting to highway ramps) to an enormous parking garage.
Again - I don't mind if their idea is to do it without parking. I do mind if they're lying because that's what they need to get permits/zoning/whatever. I especially mind if the permitting bodies are dumb enough to accept lies.
There is no duping by the
There is no duping by the proponent. No one at BPDA is saying oh yea they're all set because they said they'd find parking nearby in their filing. There are requirements for a hotel based on the ITE trip generation manual and there are plenty of area garages that would be open to guaranteed rates via valet agreements. It's not uncommon for a garage owner to pivot spaces from monthlies, etc to valet.
Why do they even need parking at all?
1. South station buses
2. South station trains
3. South Station commuter rail
4. South station red line
5. South station silver line from the airport
Who could say no to such glibness?
“Our goal is to develop a striking, slender, mid-rise tower ... while positioning the Kneeland Street development corridor as a modern urban thoroughfare with a vibrant pedestrian realm”
Another hotel without local benefit?
http://www.bethtreffeisen.com/single-post/2018/01/26/A-New-Hotel-Will-Re...
a local benefit
is removing the airbnb conversions
a local benefit
is paying property taxes on a currently empty parcel
a local benefit
is attracting people and foot traffic along a corridor that can be creepy and industrial feeling, especially at night, where 24 hour hotel staff means lights and human presence instead of a boarded up abandoned building.