By Dan Murphy
A conceptual plan for the North Station Gateway Project, which would replace three existing buildings with a 40-story mixed-use building, including residential, hotel, and retail components, was unveiled on Thursday, Nov. 21 during a virtual public meeting sponsored by the city’s Planning Department.
The RMR Group has proposed a project for 251 Causeway St. , which would span 560,000 square feet of Gross Floor Area (GFA) and stand approximately 447 feet tall at its highest point. The project would comprise a mid-rise hotel containing 300 rooms; 420 residential units; and approximately 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, restaurant, and amenity space, as well as 150 parking spaces across two levels of below-grade parking.
“We’re acknowledging that it’s a substantial change from what’s there today,” said Jesse Abair, vice president of the RMR Group, who added that the project team is now hoping to solicit feedback from the public to inform the project’s program and design during this preliminary phase. “We think it’s a legitimate site for some scale,” he said.
The project would replace three largely vacant, existing buildings – two office buildings, Keany Square Building at 251 Causeway St, and the Thomas Butler Metals and Paper Stock Company Building at 100 North Washington St., respectively, as well as a small apartment building, the John McGraw Building at 126 North Washington St.
None of the three building are designated as landmarks per the state, the National Register of Historic Places, or the Boston Landmarks Commission, and all three have been significantly altered since their original construction, said Doug Kelleher of the Maynard-based environmental engineering firm, Epsilon Associates.
The project team has explored “every iteration” to save these buildings, including preserving the envelopes, or building on top of the existing structures, added Abair, “but we just couldn’t make it work.”
Meanwhile, the project’s highest point would be a slender tower, measuring 65 feet wide, at the north end of the site in an effort to reduce the shadow impact, said Abair.
Jane Forrestal, a member of the city’s IAG (Impact Advisory Group), as well as a longtime West End Place resident, expressed concern over the height of the proposed, nearly 450-foot tower.
Rather than a “tall, slender structure,” Forrestal voiced her preference for a project that “spreads out more across the site.”
David Kubiak, a long-serving member of the North End/Waterfront Residents Association (NEWRA), pointed out that proposed height far exceeds the 100-foot limit for buildings in the Bulfinch Triangle per the city’s Article 80 zoning code, so he anticipates the project would require at least one variance to move forward as proposed.
Kubiak suggested the developer should instead explore the possibility of splitting the project into two buildings – a luxury building and an affordable building, respectively, with the affordable building perhaps located at the corner of Medford and North Washington streets.
Regarding the project’s affordable housing component, Abair said it “doesn’t make sense economically” to build affordable units on the site, so the developer would be making a “sizable contribution” to the city to build affordable housing nearby instead.
Duane Lucia, a West End neighborhood activist and historian, as well as a 20-year resident of nearby 150 Staniford St., expressed concern that the project would be “homogenized,” if all of its affordable housing units were located off site.
Lucia said he believes the project’s proposed parking, along with two loading docks and other anticipated activity at the site, would also only add to the neighborhood’s current congestion.
Abair responded that the project site is perhaps better served by public transportation than anywhere else in the city, and that the project team expects the proposed parking provisions would be adequate for residents and hotel guests.
The city’s public comment period for the PNF (Project Notification Form) for this project is open through Dec. 13; comments can be submitted via the Boston Planning Department’s project page (http://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/north-station-gateway-project), or sent directly via email to Sarah Peck, project manager, at [email protected].