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Rear of long unoccupied South End building collapses; neighbors evacuated, plans for luxury condos might be delayed

By adamg on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 9:21am
Collapsed rear side of Upton Street building

Collapsed. Photo by Liana Rogue.

The Boston Fire Department reports the rear fire escape and parts of the 5-story building at 23 Upton St. collapsed last night into Public Alley 701.

The building has long been unoccupied - and designated by the city as having serious structural problems. Firefighters evacuated five people living in adjacent buildings as a precaution.

Last February, the estate of Richard Campana, who had owned the building, sold the building for $3.95 million to Navem Partners, an investment firm based on Newbury Street that claims to be "a leader in high-value-creation real estate investment opportunities within dynamic urban environments."

The company had already listed the building on a page describing its projects:

The property closed in March 2019, and construction is expected to begin in the middle of 2019. Pre-marketing is already underway, with sellout expected by mid 2020.

Three luxury condos, with high-end fixtures are planned.

Located in the highly desired Union Park neighborhood of the South End.

Neighborhoods: 
South End
Free tagging: 
Upton Street


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Comments

By cden4 on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 10:28am.

I know "open concept" is all the rage these days, but I think this is taking it a bit too far!

By anon on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 12:22pm.

"Condemned" sign visible in this Google Maps image from 2018.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/23+Upton+St,+Boston,+MA+02118/@42.3422791,-71.0720821,3a,75y,43.43h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1suWM9VfEGrZy9PtWRm3_hfQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DuWM9VfEGrZy9PtWRm3_hfQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.430714%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e37a6ce7734033:0xea37638df2455a2f!8m2!3d42.3423715!4d-71.0719807

By roadman on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 4:06pm.

for an apartment building

with apologies to Paul Henning

By Brown Stone’$ 4 yuppies on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 8:08pm.

South End is Big Buck$
That building probably can sell for $2.5 million “As Is”.
It would be a total shame if they can’t save that building or what’s left of it.
And what about the buildings that are connected are they effected also .

By anon on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 2:49pm.

If it falls down on its own, shouldn't that speed up redeveloping the property?

By roadman on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 3:33pm.

call for reusing the original building (not sure if that's the case here).

By Carmella on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 4:02pm.

It’s a shame that the luxury condo development will be delayed. There aren’t enough of them in the city. We need to speed up the exodus of working class families from the city. Can’t the BRA do something about this?

By JustinM on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 6:50pm.

Per the Boston Globe, the apartment had been unoccupied for decades while the previous absentee owner used it to hoard junk, so this will be adding new housing to the rolls.

By Carmella on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 9:01pm.

This new housing on the rolls will never be lived in by a working family. It will, most likely, be lived in by transient occupants who will vacate every two to four years. That's not how to keep a neighborhood together.

By Umbrage on Sat, 01/04/2020 - 8:24pm.

I'm happy you're so privileged as to not be transient.

That said, would you rather this group of people instead actually displace a working family elsewhere in the city?

Your logic is beyond parody.

By Anon on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 8:16am.

Today on this old house