Developer wants to finally put up North Station-area hotel approved in 2014
By adamg on Fri, 09/23/2022 - 1:23pm
A Woburn developer that won approval for a 90-room hotel at 104 Canal St., at Valenti Way, is seeking city approval again to begin construction, but this time for a hotel with 98 rooms.
Somnath Hospitality, LLC is seeking BPDA approval for its "notification of project change." The company will also have to go back before the Zoning Board of Appeal because that board's prior approval of the project expired in February.
The hotel, if built, would replace a closed one-story bank branch.
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From the rendering, it looks
From the rendering, it looks like the even smaller one story building to the right will remain.
What is the history of this site? From the residue on the wall of the adjoining building on Valenti Way, it looks like a taller building once was here, but the current building looks pretty old itself.
Part of The Abutting Buillding
That one story entrance is integrated as the main entrance to the spaces above what was the Beerworks.
It is one property so you are probably not going to get a change in it soon.
Also, there used to be a much taller building on the bank site as you can tell by the brick outline on the building to the west. A lot of people don't realize that the tax structure in this city from the 20's to the 70's, in many areas, it was so bad that it was more economical to knock a building in many areas that maintain it.
Hence it was more economical to have parking lots (which were taxed as "open space" and people paid in cash) near the Garden than have buildings with no tenants yet property expenses.
Even Boylston Street had at least 2 open air parking lots into the early 90's. Parking was a better cash flow than office or residential.
In Redevelopment
After CBT architects moved out of 110/112 Canal Street the owners started redevelopment of the whole site (BBW already gone for a while). The side 'entrance' will become a cafe with a roof deck, they tore down the billboard to create access to that roof. The old BBW main entrance will become the main entrance for the whole building, with the restaurant footprint decreased. So as you say the one-story building will remain... Bit of an odd roof deck, one floor up with huge buildings on either side... Great spot for a croissant?
The bird lady who used to live in the old bank's doorway moved a few doors down, she must have got advance notice.
Magoo sez
Magoo here. Have a magoovolous weekend uberbody! Magoo.
The most useless things in a
The most useless things in a city are: surface parking lot, church, one story bank. The city should be doing whatever they can to assist the developer in getting this project done as it’s a huge upgrade.
What about AFTER it's
What about AFTER it's developed?
Even if you're not a
Even if you're not a religious person, churches provide an affordable venue for a lot of other things, often run by outside nonreligious organizations: music performances and rehearsals, day cares, craft fairs, social dances (e.g. swing dances), support groups, nonprofit offices, even entire schools.
Our city would be much worse off without these spaces.
Just A Church?
What about a synagogue, mosque, or other house of worship? Or is it just Christianity and specifically Catholicism which you rant about all the time that bothers you?
What great structures have you built that would help foster your vision of the city?
I mean, you come from a little bit of money. Why don't you enter he development business or are you just another whiny little rich kid who expects the help to do it for you?
“Anything I don’t like should be forbidden.”
“Take that land from them and build something that tickles my fancy.” - fixed it for you.
I am not religious, but
I am not religious, but churches are frequently the most unique and character defining structures in any neighborhood. I think churches and religious structures are a huge positive part of the built environment and a reminder of an earlier time when actual communities existed in this city.
Depends what kind of church
I've been on streets in Dorchester where so many little storefront churches predominated that they pre-empted any more useful commercial activity. Instead of something busy and bustling like Fields Corner or Nubian Square or the Hyde/Jackson Square corridor, you end up with a depressingly dead street.
I suspect
The storefront churches aren't exactly crowding out commercial activity. They're looking for the most affordable real estate in proximity to their parishioners. In the absence of a storefront church, I think you have an empty storefront.
That one-story bank branch
That one-story bank branch has a neat little Art Deco (-ish) decorative panel above the door that will make a cool souvenir for someone.
Art Deco
That dates back to The First National Bank of Boston. The branch remained open as Fleet, then eventually closed as Bank of America.