0 Back Bay Station Eyed for 1.4M Sq Ft. Mixed-use Development

165 Dartmouth Street retail space in Boston

Credit: Zillow

Back Bay Station is poised to become a destination location according to proposed plans by Boston Properties.

A recent BBJ article indicates the 1.4-million-square-foot mixed-use development is planned just above Back Bay Station and an adjacent parking garage at 165 Dartmouth St.

From the Boston Business Journal report:

“Boston Properties will invest significant capital into the 1970s-era garage and the station, resulting in a transit-oriented development which will integrate the project, the garage and the station into the Back Bay and surrounding neighborhoods.”

You can read more on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Back Bay Station Air Quality Fixes Prove Costly

Back Bay office buildings at duskThe cost of clean air is very expensive, but totally worth it.

According to an article on Banker & Tradesman, “The repairs could climb from $800,000 to $6 million…The MBTA commissioned Westwood-based Hatch Mott MacDonald to study the decades-old ventilation system as part of a $32-million station renovation project being led by developer Boston Properties. For years, diesel exhaust from commuter rail locomotives has lingered on station platforms and filtered up to the concourse…MassDOT spokesman Jason Johnson said the MBTA will adopt the report’s recommendation of creating a modeling assessment that would include detailed engineering. The model is expected to be completed by the end of winter.”

You can read additional information on the air quality assessment of Back Bay station on the B&T website.

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0 Upgrades Scheduled for Newly Privatized MBTA Station in Back Bay

Back Bay Station is the 3rd Boston transit hub that has been turned over to the private sector and has some significant deferred maintenance.  Boston Properties is doing its part to help bridge the gap.

Back bay station renovations

Credit: Boston Globe

From The Boston Globe:

Just months after signing a $32 million deal to have the real estate giant Boston Properties upgrade the station, the Department of Transportation has agreed to cover six-figure shortfalls in rent from vendors and pay potentially big sums for structural repairs.

The agreement, signed in the closing weeks of the administration of Deval Patrick, calls for Boston Properties to manage the building and renovate the station — installing a new glass facade and windows, updating turnstiles and waiting areas, and bringing in new retail tenants.

In exchange, the company gets the right to build a tower above the station, which opened in 1987.

0 Back Bay Project Progressing

rendering of proposed renovations at Back Bay station in Boston

Rendering courtesy of the Boston Globe

Boylston Street in Back Bay is closer to adding a new address for a $330 million mixed use project.  This is known as Parcel 13, which is on the North East side of Mass. Ave. & Boylston Street.

From The Boston Globe:

Peebles Corp. was chosen over two rival bidders to develop Parcel 13, a rectangle of state-owned air rights at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street that stretches over the Massachusetts Turnpike. Peebles now needs to win both state and city approvals to move ahead with the project…The proposed development, designed by Handel Architects of New York and about a block long, would include a 156-room hotel, 88 condominiums, 138 parking spaces, community areas, and 26,000 square feet of retail space. The building’s footprint would stretch from Mass. Ave. to Dillon’s Restaurant & Bar on Boylston Street and would feature a distinctive squiggle shape.

0 Tower Considered at Back Bay Station

rendering of proposed tower at Back Bay station

Credit: Boston Globe

The Back Bay skyline could see yet another change on the horizon.  Plans state that there would be one high rise and at least one mid-rise tower on the site.  The present building was designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood and opened in 1987.  That building replaced the older station that opened in 1928 for New Haven Railroad.

The Boston Globe reported on the considered remodeling of Back Bay Station, nothing “the owner of the John Hancock Tower in Boston is negotiating with Governor Deval Patrick’s administration to renovate and manage the MBTA’s Back Bay Station in exchange for the right to build a towering complex of residences, stores, and offices… [it would include] a skyscraper and at least one other building above the rehabilitated station, which would get a new retail arcade, ventilation upgrades, and a glass facade along Dartmouth Street.”

The full Globe article is available online, here.

0 New Tower Considered in Back Bay

Back bay tower site

Photo Credit: Boston Business Journal

Will Back Bay be home to another Boston Properties skyscraper?  The location would be atop the John Hancock garage at Back Bay Station.

A report in the Boston Business Journal describes the proposal, “Boston Properties, owner of the John Hancock and Prudential towers, is floating a proposal for a skyscraper to be built on air rights atop its garage near Back Bay Station…a conceptual idea for a building could include office space and other mixed-uses above the parking garage at the corner of Stuart and Dartmouth streets.”

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