Parcel 9 Letters From Community Groups and Haymarket Pushcarts Strongly Favor Cresset / DeNormandie “Blackstone Market” Apartment / Restaurant Proposal

In a landslide of comment and recommendation letters for the final Parcel 9 designation, Cresset / DeNormandie’s Blackstone Market proposal gained broad support from a myriad of community and business interests against Normandy Partners’ Haymarket Square Hotel. Perhaps most notably, the Haymarket Pushcart Association has come out strongly against a hotel at the site.

Parcel 9 is the triangular plot of land created by the Big Dig adjacent to Haymarket and the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway, bounded by Blackstone, North and Hanover Streets.

The official Parcel 7 & 9 Advisory Committee did not make a definitive recommendation in its letter, but noted that individual members are supporting the Cresset / DeNormandie Blackstone Market proposal rather than the Haymarket Square hotel concept.

Many of the letters respond to a MassDOT comment that the property owner would favor the stronger financial proposal without further community considerations. A hotel may have the financial edge in that race. The submitted comment letters argue that community interests should also be prioritized in the selection criteria for the final bidding round.

The comment letters are attached below in pdf format:

• Letter from the Parcel 7 & 9 Advisory Committee whose members include Victor Brogna: North End/Waterfront Residents Association, Otto Gallotto: Haymarket Pushcart Association, Ryan Kenny: North End / Waterfront Neighborhood Council, Claudio Kraus: Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Daniel Nuzzo: North End Resident, Robert O’Brien: Downtown North Association, Tad Stahl: Beacon Hill Civic Association, George Thrush: Northeastern University School of Architecture and Kathryn West: Partners HealthCare.

• Letter from Otto Gallotto, President, Haymarket Pushcart Association

• Letter from Walter C. “Budge” Upton, CEO of Upton + Partners, a previous round bidder.

• Letter from the Downtown North Association President, Robert O’Brien.

• Letter from the Federick A. (Tad) Stahl, FAIA, of Beacon Hill

• Letter from George Thrush, FAIA, Director, School of Architecture, Northeastern University 

• Letter from Claudio Kraus, Ph.D., Faneuil Hall Merchant Association

The two final bidders are proposing the following:

• Haymarket Square Hotel (Normandy Partners) – 180-room hotel with 2-story public winter garden, a ground market, pushcart and retail space, top floor restaurant and rooftop garden. (Presentation & Video)
• Blackstone Market (Cresset & DeNormandie) – 50 rental housing units at North Street with three large restaurants on second floor, a first floor market and a green roof/agricultural center. Cresset recently completed the Liberty Wharf restaurant development in the Seaport District. (Presentation & Video)

Not selected for the final round were the Boston Museum (civic contemporary museum) and Upton + Partners Market Square (rental apartments with an Italian-themed “Eataly” food market).

See more news on Parcel 9.