• Residential redevelopment of mill complex begun in 1980s
• Original plan calling for reuse of powerhouse now said to be unfeasible
• May be demolished for parking or possibly reused for that purpose
Historic Boston Incorporated 1999 Preservation Revolving Fund Casebook : Property
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Click here for Summer 2002 Update
| Baker Mill Powerhouse | Dorchester |
| • Important component
of late-19th and early-20th century intact mill complex • Residential redevelopment of mill complex begun in 1980s • Original plan calling for reuse of powerhouse now said to be unfeasible • May be demolished for parking or possibly reused for that purpose |
|
| Name: Baker Mill Powerhouse | Bldg SqFt: 44,640 | Lot SqFt: 26,189 | |
| Address: 10 Baker Court | Ward: 17 | Parcel: 4031800 | |
| Neighborhood: Dorchester | Zoning: Restricted Manufacturing-Planned Development Area (M-2-D) | ||
| Year Built: 1906 | Use: Vacant | ||
| Style: Romanesque/ Neo-Classical | Condition: Poor | ||
| Architect(s): Winslow and Bigelow | Owner: Baker Square Limited Partnership 6 Faneuil Hall Marketplace Boston, MA 02109 |
||
| Historic Certification: Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills National Register Historic District | |||
| FY99 Building Assessment: $185,000 FY02 Building Assessment: $197,500 |
FY99 Tax: $2,486 FY02 Tax: $4,116 |
||
| FY99 Land Assessment: N/A FY02 Land Assessment: $176,300 |
Tax Status: Current | ||
Preservation Strategy:
If there is no alternative to using the Powerhouse for parking or to finding more money within the condominium development for preservation, it is possible to structure an ownership arrangement that could utilize known subsidies for preservation. Example: the development entity gives the Powerhouse to a non-profit preservation organization qualified to obtain a Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund grant. The non-profit leases the property to a limited partnership whose investors contribute money in exchange for the Federal Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit. The limited partnership derives parking income from condominium owners and eventually sells the parking spaces to them. The Powerhouse (and adjacent refrigeration building) are preserved.
Significance:
The approximately 200-foot high smokestack of the Baker Chocolate Company Powerhouse rises dramatically from the north bank of the Neponset River to tower above a remarkable collection of late 19th and early 20th century mill buildings. The Baker family began milling cocoa beans at this site at the Neponset rapids in 1765, and, by the 1890s, the Baker company had become one of the largest chocolate manufacturing works in the world. The massive brick powerhouse brought about the electrification of the complex and provided a single source of power for all of the mills, each of which had previously operated on its own separate source of water or steam power. The powerhouse also allowed the company to install a refrigeration plant on site, thus extending the chocolate production season through the warm summer months. The Baker Chocolate Company continued to operate in Dorchester Lower Mills until 1965, when the General Food Corporation moved the company to Dover, Delaware.
Preservation Challenges:
The development concept previously approved and launched around 1987 called for converting five historic buildings and constructing a new parking garage/residential structure, thus accommodating 300 units of residential condominiums. The developer and/or its lenders reportedly lost $17 million by being forced to sell a supply of condominiums in newly rehabilitated historic buildings at the bottom of the market. The Powerhouse and Baker Mill continued to molder.
In 1999, there is a new team acting as the successor to the original development entity. The new team argues that, after exhaustive studies of alternatives, the Powerhouse must be torn down to meet the parking requirements for new condominiums in the Baker Mill. The advantage is that the Powerhouse (and adjacent historic refrigeration building) would be sacrificed to save and reuse the Baker Mill Building, whose present structural integrity is poor. An alternative would be to use the Powerhouse itself for parking, but this would create a financial shortfall of about $300,000.
The development team's challenge is to meld the competing interests of the preservation community, the Baker Mill condo association, neighborhood associations, and environmental regulations in time to avoid the last decade's financial debacle, where the project was conceived at the height of the market but sold in the trough.
Neighborhood Context:
The Power House stands on the scenic north bank of the Neponset River in the midst of the partially completed Baker Mill condominium project.
Other Sources of Information:
Department of Environmental Management, Office of Historic Resources; Boston Redevelopment Authority, Development Plan for Planned Development Area #25, South Dorchester, 3/26/87
Entry Completed: 06/23/1999
In 1999 Winn Development Company submitted a $14 million redevelopment proposal that included rehabilitating the Baker Mill Building into 78 condominium units and converting the powerhouse and refrigeration building into single-level parking facilities. The converted powerhouse would contain 34 parking spaces, and its exterior architectural character would not be affected. Although this proposal was a scaled down version of a previously approved redevelopment plan, concerns from residents of the adjacent rehabilitated mill buildings resulted in a protracted Chapter 91 licensing process and an extra $1 million in pre-development expenses. Winn Development is currently repricing construction costs to determine the feasibility of proceeding with the proposed project.Update Entry Completed: 08/07/2002
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