The design of the Dock Square Garage project continues to be under review.
The Boston Planning and Development Agency(BPDA) met with the Boston Civic Design Committee (BCDC) earlier this week to discuss plans for Dock Square. In March, the BCDC rejected the plan causing the BPDA to make changes.
The original plans called for a 209-foot-tall building but, the BPDA lowered their plans to 160 feet tall. They have now reduced the height of the building to 125 feet tall. If approved the building will be 420,000 gross square footage with 209 residential units with 27 of those units being income restricted. There will also be about 450 parking spaces.
On the first floor of the building there will be about 11,500 square footage of retail space. The original plan called for 8,000 square feet.
The design team was inspired by sea shells for the exterior looks. The outside of the building will have a shiny, bronzy feel to it as well as glass mixed in with the building. The original featured more glass.
They also plan on having public art spaces on the Greenway side of the building as part of their mitigation project.
The BPDA received many public comments about the project. Some in favor of it and some not so much.
“As a young professional living in the North End, I am in support of the proposed redevelopment of Dock Square parking garage. This garage is left over from the days of the elevated highway, designed for utility not aesthetics. Being that is now a location adjacent from Rose Kennedy Greenway to Quincy Market is a great are to create a transitional space for tourists and residents,” said Alicia J Delgado.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace also expressed their support for the project.
“We feel this development proposal will add to the Boston housing inventory and assist in adding to the Mayor’s goal of 53,000 housing units. It will improve upon the existing streetscape along Surface Road and Clinton Street. It will also add new residents to the Market District that will undoubtedly support the local vendors at the marketplace,” said General Manager Joseph M. O’Malley.
Others worried the new building would change the historic value of the area.
“We are continuing to review the proposed design for Dock Square Garage under our Article 80 process. We have worked closely with the development team on changes to the design of the project that are responsive to feedback received from the Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC) as well as the community,” said the BPDA.
Thank you, Sara Brown, for this article! Now can we just approve this already.
Making this building taller is still a bad idea. It has a huge footprint already and will just be a taller and more intrusive footprint. I see that the designers at the BRA have now chosen to illustrate the prospective design from the North St and Clinton St perspectives. Previous design views showed the view looking south on the Greenway This is a bit disingenuous and it certainly doesn’t mean that the views from the North End Parks along the Greenway will be any less affected. I assume they changed the revised design views to deal with that precise issue.
Please listen to the wise advisors from the Boston Civic Design committee.
This needs to be redone to work with the area. Proposals l;like this has me wondering why we tore down the expressway to connect neighborhoods.
We need to value and preserve the uniqueness of our neighborhood.
This contradicts that .
M A