samsonyuen
July 2nd, 2005, 03:40 PM
Dueling visions
BRA gets 2 very different proposals for developing Theater District 'gateway'
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | July 2, 2005
After changing its mind twice about what it wants in a new ''gateway" to the Theater District, the Boston Redevelopment Authority has received two radically different development plans.
The corner of Stuart and Tremont streets, which has been the site of a ticket trailer for years, will boast flashy Times Square-like electronic billboards and retail stores no matter which proposal it chooses.
But this is the fourth time since 1997 that the city has asked for proposals for the location in the heart of Boston's entertainment neighborhood. In each previous instance the authority has rejected all of the proposals it has received, putting the prominent little parcel on hold again.
''We have not just the luxury but the responsibility to wait for the right project," said BRA spokeswoman Meredith Baumann. ''We don't go with just the best of what's been bid, if it's not responsive and appropriate."
One of the two plans submitted last week for the 5,000-square-foot block next to the Wilbur Theatre is for a three-story glass building with a projection-style billboard on the exterior. Proposed by Amherst Media Investors LLC of Summit, N.J., an outdoor advertising firm, it would house a restaurant, ticket sales office, and possibly a music club.
The other plan, the concept of Abbott Real Estate Development LLC of Boston, is for a modern, 90-foot-high building on the corner site, connected to an even higher wing of about 13 floors rising above the Wilbur Theatre. Abbott is working with Tufts-New England Medical Center, which owns the air rights over the Wilbur, and Robert S. Merowitz, the managing partner of the Wilbur.
The Abbott plan, dubbed Wilbur Place, features a large video billboard and digital displays above the ground floor on the Tremont and Stuart street sides.
A considerably more ambitious undertaking than Amherst Media's, it would include 78 units of housing on the upper floors, a souvenir kiosk, studio and rehearsal space, a restaurant and cabaret or bar, and a Boston Walk of Fame, where famous local people would have their names imprinted, Hollywood-style, in the sidewalk.
The BRA has encouraged development of housing. But both Amherst Media and a previous bidder, which dropped out this time, wrote to the authority to say the block was too small.
In the BRA's request issued last fall, a dramatic restriction was imposed, essentially ruling out the Wilbur Place plan. The restriction said the BRA would not consider proposals that included air rights over neighboring buildings.
But a 14-page letter to the BRA in October from a lawyer representing the theater owner may have changed the BRA's mind. The letter threatened legal action because of the ''stunning exclusion of the Wilbur's air rights."
''The owners and the operators of the Wilbur and the Hospital are staggered by the express exclusion . . . of the air rights," the letter said. In dramatic language fitting a dispute over a theater matter, the letter outlined what it said was ''a vexatious and prospectively litigious scenario."
Merowitz said yesterday the BRA eventually allowed his team to come in and present its proposal for a major development next to and over the Wilbur. The BRA's most recent request omitted the exclusion of air rights.
Asked why he thought the BRA had changed its mind and decided to allow use of neighboring air rights, Merowitz said, ''We had a very attractive and compelling presentation. It's exactly what that neighborhood needs, a real gateway."
Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Amherst Media, refused to speculate on why the BRA reversed itself after initially issuing a restriction unfavorable to one of his group's toughest competitors. ''We have a great proposal," said Paven. ''We're excited at the possibility of activating the Theater District."
Baumann said the letter written by the Wilbur Place team did not affect the BRA's position on air rights, and she had no explanation for why it changed. The BRA initially thought it would be ''simpler" to consider the bids if they were not connected to adjacent development, she said.
''I don't think we were wrong in doing it the way we did it the first time," she said. But then the Wilbur Place group told the BRA that ''the complications wouldn't exist for that development team, so it made sense to evaluate it as they proposed," Baumann said.
BRA gets 2 very different proposals for developing Theater District 'gateway'
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | July 2, 2005
After changing its mind twice about what it wants in a new ''gateway" to the Theater District, the Boston Redevelopment Authority has received two radically different development plans.
The corner of Stuart and Tremont streets, which has been the site of a ticket trailer for years, will boast flashy Times Square-like electronic billboards and retail stores no matter which proposal it chooses.
But this is the fourth time since 1997 that the city has asked for proposals for the location in the heart of Boston's entertainment neighborhood. In each previous instance the authority has rejected all of the proposals it has received, putting the prominent little parcel on hold again.
''We have not just the luxury but the responsibility to wait for the right project," said BRA spokeswoman Meredith Baumann. ''We don't go with just the best of what's been bid, if it's not responsive and appropriate."
One of the two plans submitted last week for the 5,000-square-foot block next to the Wilbur Theatre is for a three-story glass building with a projection-style billboard on the exterior. Proposed by Amherst Media Investors LLC of Summit, N.J., an outdoor advertising firm, it would house a restaurant, ticket sales office, and possibly a music club.
The other plan, the concept of Abbott Real Estate Development LLC of Boston, is for a modern, 90-foot-high building on the corner site, connected to an even higher wing of about 13 floors rising above the Wilbur Theatre. Abbott is working with Tufts-New England Medical Center, which owns the air rights over the Wilbur, and Robert S. Merowitz, the managing partner of the Wilbur.
The Abbott plan, dubbed Wilbur Place, features a large video billboard and digital displays above the ground floor on the Tremont and Stuart street sides.
A considerably more ambitious undertaking than Amherst Media's, it would include 78 units of housing on the upper floors, a souvenir kiosk, studio and rehearsal space, a restaurant and cabaret or bar, and a Boston Walk of Fame, where famous local people would have their names imprinted, Hollywood-style, in the sidewalk.
The BRA has encouraged development of housing. But both Amherst Media and a previous bidder, which dropped out this time, wrote to the authority to say the block was too small.
In the BRA's request issued last fall, a dramatic restriction was imposed, essentially ruling out the Wilbur Place plan. The restriction said the BRA would not consider proposals that included air rights over neighboring buildings.
But a 14-page letter to the BRA in October from a lawyer representing the theater owner may have changed the BRA's mind. The letter threatened legal action because of the ''stunning exclusion of the Wilbur's air rights."
''The owners and the operators of the Wilbur and the Hospital are staggered by the express exclusion . . . of the air rights," the letter said. In dramatic language fitting a dispute over a theater matter, the letter outlined what it said was ''a vexatious and prospectively litigious scenario."
Merowitz said yesterday the BRA eventually allowed his team to come in and present its proposal for a major development next to and over the Wilbur. The BRA's most recent request omitted the exclusion of air rights.
Asked why he thought the BRA had changed its mind and decided to allow use of neighboring air rights, Merowitz said, ''We had a very attractive and compelling presentation. It's exactly what that neighborhood needs, a real gateway."
Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Amherst Media, refused to speculate on why the BRA reversed itself after initially issuing a restriction unfavorable to one of his group's toughest competitors. ''We have a great proposal," said Paven. ''We're excited at the possibility of activating the Theater District."
Baumann said the letter written by the Wilbur Place team did not affect the BRA's position on air rights, and she had no explanation for why it changed. The BRA initially thought it would be ''simpler" to consider the bids if they were not connected to adjacent development, she said.
''I don't think we were wrong in doing it the way we did it the first time," she said. But then the Wilbur Place group told the BRA that ''the complications wouldn't exist for that development team, so it made sense to evaluate it as they proposed," Baumann said.