Status Report / Public and Private Preservation Initiatives

		back to contents / religious properties preservation Public and Private Preservation Initiatives
CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT Liberty Tree Building Stop and Shop Bakery FENWAY Sears Building JAMAICA PLAIN Patrick Meehan Carriage Factory Roxbury Brewing Co. NORTH END Michelangelo School ROSLINDALE Longfellow School ROXBURY Boys and Girls Club Ferdinand's Blue Store Dearborn School Gasometer Municipal Building Palladio Hall Temple Mishkan Tefila SOUTH END Allen House Boston Penny Savings Bank		Historic Boston’s 1999 Revolving Fund Casebook highlights endangered historic properties, mostly large-scale buildings that have been subject to years of vacancy, neglect, or chronic under-utilization. Yet in this, the fourth edition of HBI’s casebook, the choices of which properties to feature as full casebook entries is not as obvious as in the past as the rapid pace of rehabilitation and preservation in the city in 1998 and 1999 has dramatically altered the most difficult challenges facing preservationists in Boston today. At least sixteen major historic properties throughout the city whose fates were unknown or unsure when the casebook project began in the summer of 1998 are suddenly under rehabilitation, or are in advanced stages of planning to such an extent that they no longer appear to be endangered. These buildings, such as the Sears building in the Back Bay Fens, Ferdinand's Blue Store at Dudley Square, the Allen House in the South End, and Michelangelo School in the North End, had become almost as well-known for their vacant hulks as for their glorious architecture. Now they are getting another chance at life, and if early plans and progress are any indication, the results will be stunning. A few trends are apparent. Certainly Boston’s booming economy finally has enabled private developers, with the strong support of city agencies, to take on some of the city’s larger, more difficult historic properties. But there is more to it than just the economy. Developers are rediscovering the great potential of Lower Roxbury, especially around Dudley Square. Government agencies continue to support private historic rehabs by occupying historic properties as office space. Non-profit organizations are playing a critical role in redevelopment. And large-scale historic buildings, such as schools and factories, continue to provide solutions to Boston’s critical shortage of housing. The city and its agencies are essential to the success of many of these projects, many of which could not have proceeded solely on the strength of their own momentum. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) has invested more than one million dollars to stabilize the Allen House in the South End, and the nearby Porter House, prior to acquisition by private developers, and the Department of Neighborhood Development has done the same for the Boys and Girls Club of Roxbury. The BRA required the owner of the Liberty Tree Building on Washington Street to spend $150,000 on exterior stabilization prior to redevelopment. The Boston Landmarks Commission was the major catalyst behind the preservation of the Sears Building. Indeed all of the buildings noted in this paragraph benefit from the protection afforded to designated Boston Landmarks. A year ago, Historic Boston would have considered many of these sixteen historic properties as prime candidates for the 1999 Casebook. A few remained on our endangered list up until six weeks before press time. Many are well under way and are sure to succeed. Others have solid plans and seemingly sound financial support behind them, yet work has not begun. For this latter group, HBI is guardedly optimistic, and hopes for the sake of the city and its neighborhoods that preservation of these important historic properties will soon become a reality. The following examples illustrate briefly some of the recent and ongoing preservation success stories in Boston.


The Liberty Tree Building at 628-636 Washington Street (c. 1850), is a rare pre-fire downtown commercial building that reopened in spring 1998 as the new offices of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Although technically falling outside the 1999 parameters of this article, it is included because it illustrates an important precedent in the reuse of large-scale historic buildings: private development is able to proceed because of the commitment of a government agency to lease all or part of the building as office space. As this article will illustrate two other major rehabilitation projects--Ferdinand's Blue Store and the former Boys and Girls Club of Roxbury, both in Dudley Square--will proceed because of similar government agency commitments. Developer Kevin Fitzgerald's $7 million rehabilitation of the 45,000 square foot Liberty Tree Building gave new life to a building that was once home to several adult entertainment venues on the edge of the former Combat Zone. Ironically, the Registry's former offices on Nashua Street, a handsome Art Deco building in the old West End, will be demolished as part of the Central Artery Project.
Stop and Shop Bakery 216-246 Causeway Street - Central Business District The Boston Group, with architects Finegold Alexander & Associates, will convert the old Stop and Shop Bakery near North Station into 246 condominium units and 13,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space beginning in summer 1999. The project will cost an estimated $50 million and should take about eighteen months to complete. Preliminary plans call for construction of six additional stories onto the original 1902 building. The developer has agreed to set aside 10% of the units to sell at below market rates for at least twenty years to elderly or long-time North End residents. The rehabilitated property will be known as the Gateway because of its location at the foot of the new Charles River Bridge planned as part of the Central Artery Project.
Sears 309 Park Drive - Fenway The Abbey Group’s conversion of the former regional headquarters building for Sears Roebuck & Co. into Landmark Center may be the most anxiously awaited historic rehab project in city history. It is certainly the largest. This 1929 Art Deco giant has been vacant since 1988. With groundbreaking in November 1998, the project is well underway toward a projected opening in early 2000. The 1.5 million square foot office and retail complex will cost an estimated $60 million. The project will include two new sky-lit atriums createdby removing six-story cores of the building to enhance a second-level concourse, expose vertical transportation systems, create public balconies and deliver natural light to inner office suites. Major tenants already include a large cinema complex, a health club, and several major national retail chains. There will be on-site parking for approximately 1,800 vehicles. The National Park Service has granted the project preliminary approval to receive the 20% Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit for historic buidings.
Patrick Meehan Carriage Factory 172-178 Green Street - Jamaica Plain Patrick Meehan, a wealthy builder and entrepreneur, designed, built, and operated this fine brick carriage factory in the Brookside industrial area of Jamaica Plain around 1880. The Bostek Trust has begun conversion of the four-story industrial building into fourteen loft condominiums that will serve as live-work space for artists. The project will be completed by September 1999.
Roxbury Brewing Company 31 Heath Street - Jamaica Plain Family Service of Greater Boston, one of the oldest and largest health and social service organizations in the city will move its headquarters into the renovated former Roxbury Brewery in Jamaica Plain. The 1896 building has been vacant for fifteen years. Work has been underway to convert the 30,000 square foot four-story brick building into offices since November 1998. New construction will add 10,000 square feet of office space to the building, although it involved substantial demolition of the original building. The project should be complete by October 1999 at an estimated cost of $7.8 million. Most of the funding is from private sources with a $25,000 commitment from the city. Family Service operates more than forty social service initiatives. The move to its new location in Jamaica Plain near Roxbury will allow Family Service to be closer to the diverse, inner city population that it serves and will enable it to collaborate more closely with other community based organizations.
Michelangelo School 64-84 Charter Street - North End Adjacent to historic Copp's Hill Burying Ground, the Michelangelo School, built in 1919, has been vacant since the late 1980s. The city will convey the Georgian Revival school building to the newly formed Villa Michelangelo, Inc., probably by August 1999, for conversion into 71 units of housing for the frail elderly. The project is a joint venture of Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., East Boston Community Development Corporation, Inc., and North End Community Health Committee, Inc. Villa Michelangelo has budgeted more than $7.7 million for the housing conversion project, the bulk of which comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 202 program for elderly housing, with additional funding from city and state HOME funds. The Massachusetts Historical Commission has awarded the project a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund for masonry and window repair. Villa Michelangelo has allocated space in the school's assembly hall annex for use as the Freedom Trail Visitor Center, which will include a visitor information desk, a display on the history of the North End, and public restrooms. Development and operation of the visitor center will be a collaboration among several public and private non-profit historical and tourism organizations. The entire project should be completed by late summer 2000.
Longfellow School 885 South Street - Roslindale Longfellow School has been vacant since the city declared it to be surplus property in 1989. Ten years later, Rogerson Communities, a Roslindale-based nonprofit developer and manager of housing and programs for the elderly, is nearing completion of its conversion of this 1897 school building into 44 units of affordable housing for the elderly. The project has received $3.6 million in support from HUD, nearly $1.3 million from the city in CDBG funding and in Linkage funding for development costs, and $500,000 in Massachusetts Housing Stabilization funds. Rogerson converted the former Roslindale High School into housing for the elderly in 1987.
Boys and Girls Club of Roxbury 80 Dudley Street - Roxbury The Canton Corp. is rehabilitating the former Boys and Girls Club of Roxbury near Dudley Square. The Boys and Girls Club vacated this 1914 building in the 1980s when the organization occupied its new facility on Warren Street. The federal government has made a major commitment to Dudley Square by agreeing to lease one floor of the three-story 31,000 square foot building for the Boston offices of the Social Security Administration. Space on other floors will be leased for office or retail use. The project will cost an estimated $7.5 million, with the city committing $4.5 million in enterprise zone financing to the private developer. Initial demolition work has begun and the project should be complete by February 2000. The project has received preliminary approval for the 20% Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit for historic buildings.
Ferdinand's Blue Store 2260-2272 Washington Street - Roxbury Now in the advanced planning stages, the rehabilitation of the vacant Ferdinand's Blue Store at the Y intersection of Washington and Warren Streets will begin sometime in 2000. This magnificent five-story Renaissance Revival former department store serves as the northern gateway to Dudley Square and is one of the best-known landmarks in the area. The Politis Family owns the property and has retained Raymond Property Company as its developer. Current plans call for the rehabilitation of both the main store and its eight story annex on Warren Street, which have a combined floor area of 30,000 square feet. Substantial new construction around the existing historic buildings will increase the total floor area to 200,000 square feet. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has committed to leasing the entire development as its main office space. The project will cost an estimated $40-$50 million and should take fifteen months to complete. The Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Department of Neighborhood Development are providing guidance for planning and assistance in securing financing.
Dearborn School Ambrose Street - Roxbury Madison Trinity Financial Corp. is developing the 1907 Dearborn School near Dudley Square into 42 units of one-bedroom housing. Madison Trinity owns the building and will manage its rental operations; the Boston Housing Authority owns the land and will enforce mixed-income requirements through a long-term ground lease. BHA has required 15% of all units to be set aside as market rate rentals. Begun in February 1999, the project will cost $5.86 million and should be complete by August 1999. The Dearborn School rehab is part of BHA's redevelopment of the old Orchard Park housing project, one of only two BHA sites to receive federal funds from HUD's HOPE VI program, which provides funding to local housing authorities to redevelop outdated public housing. The overall project involves the rehabilitation of nine original Orchard Park buildings, demolition of the remaining twenty original buildings, and construction of new townhouse units on Harrison, Eustis, and Ziegler Streets. The project has received preliminary approval for the 20% Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit.
Gasometer 8 Gerard Street - Roxbury A New York developer has announced plans to convert the unusual round Gasometer off of Massachusetts Avenue in New Market into an 80-unit hotel for a national hospitality chain. Built in 1875 by the Roxbury Gaslight Company to store coal gas for city streetlamps and residential lighting, the building has been a warehouse since about 1906, although it has been largely vacant since the 1980s. The project will retain the building's distinctive domed metal roof. A curved front wall will highlight the interior of each hotel room. Initial reports estimate the project start date for summer 1999 with completion in late 2000.
Roxbury Municipal Building 339 Dudley Street - Roxbury Owned by the city, work has begun to convert the former Roxbury Municipal Building into the Vine Street Community Center. The administration of Mayor James Curley built the Municipal Building in 1914 to house city offices, a library, and a gymnasium. It has been vacant since 1989 when its last occupant, the Cape Verdean Community Center, vacated the building. This fine Beaux Arts building has fallen into an extreme state of disrepair, most apparent from its crumbling front stairs (now demolished) and several gaping window openings. The renovated facility will feature classrooms, day-care space, a running track, gymnasium, and a senior center. The Department of Neighborhood Development will manage the $3.8 million construction project for the City of Boston.
Palladio Hall 150 Dudley Street - Roxbury Palladio Hall, along with the Hotel Dartmouth across Warren Street, stands as the southern gateway to Dudley Square. Built in the late 1870s, Palladio Hall is a fine example of an Italian Renaissance Revival commercial block. Nuestra Communidad, a Roxbury-based private non-profit development corporation, is in the process of rehabilitating the 19,000 square foot commercial building. When complete, Nuestra Communidad will lease Palladio Hall's long-vacant upper floors as office space; retail uses will continue on the ground floor. The project will cost an estimated $3 million and should be complete by late summer 1999. Besides providing useful commercial space, Nuestra Communidad hopes that the Palladio Hall rehabilitation will encourage other development in Dudley Square by demonstrating the financial feasibility of upper-floor office spaces in existing buildings. The National Park Service has granted preliminary approval to the project to receive the 20% Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit. In 1997, Nuestra Communidad completed a $3.3 million rehabilitation of the nearby Sargent Prince building, built in 1868, which now provides 29 studio apartments for formerly homeless individuals; four commercial spaces occupy the ground floor.
Temple Mishkan Tefila 218 Seaver Street - Roxbury Across from Franklin Park, the Washington, D.C. based United House of Prayer acquired the former Temple Mishkan Tefila from the City of Boston in September 1998 and has begun conversion of this grand Neo-Classical synagogue into a church for its Boston congregation. Built in 1925 by the oldest conservative Jewish congregation in Massachusetts, it served as a temple into the 1960s. It then became the property of the Elma Lewis School for the performing arts. The United House of Prayer will restore the building’s marble fa�ade and will retain all original exterior iconography. It will create a new 500-seat assembly hall on the main floor and a 200-seat basement chapel. Artists will create new stained glass windows to fill the empty monumental window openings. Phase 2 of the project will rehabilitate the rear school building for use as a private school affiliated with the church.
Allen House 1682 Washington Street - South End The Allen House is the South End's most elegant mansion, built in 1868 at the western entrance to fashionable Worcester Square. New Boston Housing Enterprises acquired the 14,000 square foot building from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which had stabilized the building at a cost of over $600,000. The developer has converted the long vacant and neglected property into eleven luxury condominium units. Seven of these units are in the grand ballroom, which was added to the rear of the building in 1894; two intervening floors were constructed within the once open interior of the ballroom. Construction began in November 1998 and residents began to move into the building in May 1999. Project costs are estimated at $3 million.
Boston Penny Savings Bank 1375 Washington Street - South End El Centro del Cardenal, the city's largest Latino social service agency, has announced plans to reopen the mostly vacant and graffiti covered former Boston Penny Savings Bank building as a youth center. Built c. 1902, this stately white marble Renaissance Revival building is located on a corner lot diagonally across from Holy Cross Cathedral. It served as a bank until 1959, when the Archdiocese of Boston purchased the building and converted it into a community center. The Archdiocese will transfer the building to El Centro, whose early plans for the building include child care, after school programs, a teenage recreation center, a youth-run caf�, and an emergency food center for the homeless. Although preliminary work has begun on the building, including power washing the exterior, El Centro still must raise $3 million to complete the project.