The 26-story, $130 million apartment tower set to rise at the site of the old Dainty Dot building in Chinatown is significant for two things in particular (not to mention for the 240 apartments it will add to a Boston development scene adding apartments like mad lately). No. 1, it will mean 2,200 square feet of outdoor space along the Chinatown section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, according to Casey Ross at The Globe. Along these lines, the tower will have a 5,000-square-foot restaurant connected to a large outdoor patio and a widened section of the greenway.
No. 2, the tower marks the Boston debut of developer Forest City, which is working with Hudson Group North America. Forest City's last two big projects were both in New York: a 76-story apartment tower designed by World's Greatest Living Architect Frank Gehry and the under-construction Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn, which includes several towers and a new arena for the hapless Nets.
That latter project was particularly controversial, tied up in court for several years and moving forward initially only when the state, at Forest City's request, began seizing private land under eminent domain. The Chinatown tower, however, should prove extraordinarily less controversial, save for some neighbors who wanted to preserve the Dainty Dot building. It was denied historic status by the Landmarks Commission in 2007, and, had the Great Recession not intervened, construction on its replacement would have gotten under way then. As it is, construction will start in the next few months. It is designed by—who else these days?—Elkus Manfredi.
· Tower Set to Rise in Chinatown [Globe]
· Rent Check! Boston Apartment Construction Booming [Curbed Boston]
[Elkus Manfredi Architects]
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