On April 25, 1968, South End residents held sit-in at what was then a Boston Redevelopment Authority office in an old fire house on Warren Avenue in the South End, to protest the authority's large-scale South End urban-renewal plans that would force thousands of residents to move.
The former fire house (on the right) and the neighboring building with one of the area's wholesale florists, remain to this day, now as condos: Read more.
Clarence "Jeep" Jones, who led the Boston Redevelopment Authority board for 24 years, died Saturday.
The BRA, um, BPDA, just won't take no for an answer: After losing several legal battles over its attempts to put a restaurant at the end of Long Wharf, the authority is trying yet again to convince judges to let it get what it wants. Read more.
Meet the Boston Planning and Development Agency. And try to say BPDA three times fast.
We established a brand strategy that reflects the organizational reforms underway and will inspire greater trust and confidence from the people it serves - the residents and community members of Boston. ...
As we change internally, we need to change externally as well. Our logo has been around since we were founded in 1957, and doesn’t accurately describe us as we are now, and how we plan to be in the future. It’s overdue for a reboot. Updating our logo will signal to the community that we’ve changed - and to us that we must continually fulfill our new brand promise.
Latest rendering of proposed Tremont Crossing project. With birds.
Developers of the long stalled Tremont Crossing project in Roxbury last week showed off their latest plans for the proposed development, now smaller than the plans they showed off earlier this year. Read more.
Portion of smoking-gun map. Shaded area covered by federal grant includes pavilion site.
A federal appeals court today ruled the BRA can't turn a Long Wharf pavilion into a restaurant because the structure is protected from commercial use as part of a federal grant detailed on a map the BRA signed off on, then lost - but which a couple of retired National Park Service workers found three decades later. Read more.
Waldo Bros., which has sold building supplies since 1914 on Southampton Street, will be replaced by a car dealership specializing in used luxury cars according to plans filed with the BRA. Read more.
The BRA board yesterday approved the Brighton Marine Health Center's proposal for a 102-unit apartment development aimed at area veterans.
The $40-million project on Commonwealth Avenue at Warren Street, first proposed in 2014, will include 11 three-bedroom units.
NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on the BRA's latest court wranglings to try to put a restaurant in the kiosk at the tip of Long Wharf.
Authority lawyers were in federal appeals court in Boston last week arguing why a US District Court judge was wrong to rule last year that the BRA should knock it off already now that paper documents amazingly reappeared that showed the structure was always intended to be part of a public park, not a commercial structure available for lease.
You'll hardly even notice it - the last brown building on the right.
The Swiss owners of a runty little office building at 171 Tremont St., across from the movie theater and the Common have filed revised re-do plans with the BRA that call for construction of a 13-story building that would have just 12 condos - one to each floor above the lobby.
In a cover letter, the Dabbah family of Switzerland tells the BRA: Read more.
A developer has filed plans with the BRA to convert the top three floors of the eight-story 1919 New England Telephone switching station at Essex Street and Harrison Avenue into 46 apartments. Read more.
Architect's rendering.
The BRA board today approved a development off Old Colony Avenue and Dorchester Street that would transform a nearly 5-acre collection of small industrial buildings into 656 condo and rental units in buildings ranging up to 24 stories tall. Read more.
The BRA board today approved a proposed 40-unit condo project at Washington Street and Montebello Road that will include seven condos sold at below-market costs - and commercial space that will also be offered at below market rates. Read more.
Developers of the long proposed Tremont Crossing project said today they're now proposing a smaller development without a hotel, with less office space and with no housing for students. Read more.
Architect's rendering of a dark and stormy day on the waterfront.
A developer this week filed formal plans for a 15-story, 411-room hotel at 660 Summer St. in the Flynn Marine Industrial Park.
The Marine Wharf hotel would be split between a Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton, under the proposal submitted by developers Eamon O’Marah and John Matteson of Harbinger Development of Wellesley. The BRA had tentatively designated the company to build a hotel at the site last fall. Read more.
If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard about a state approval of the BRA’s request for an extension of its Urban Renewal Plans – here’s the reason: It would be illegal.
Multi-year extensions are classified as major modifications, which the state Department of Housing and Community Development cannot approve unless the City Council has approved. In 2005, the BRA tricked the Council into approving a double major modification: 10-year Plan extension together with a change in the process for future Council review -- to exclude extensions. DHCD’s ratification of that major modification ended the Council’s power over extensions.
Architect's rendering. See it larger.
GE and the Massachusetts Development Finance Authority today filed their formal plans for the company's new headquarters on Fort Point Channel that will include extensive renovations to two old candy buildings and construction of a new 12-story glass building.
In a filing with the BRA, GE says it hopes to begin roughly 15 months of renovation and construction this spring. In addition to the BRA, the state Department of Environmental Protection will also have to approve the project due to its location on former tidelands along Fort Point Channel. Read more.
Architect's rendering.
Even in overheated Boston, not every development project approved by the city gets built: A developer who won BRA approval for a 24-unit apartment building at 151 Liverpool St. in 2015 never started work and then sold the building to another developer - which is now back before the BRA with a proposal for a 36-unit building that might contain condos instead of apartments. Read more.
The BRA board yesterday approved a $6-million project to replace a multi-family house, an auto-repair garage and a small commercial building with 20 condominiums at 202 Maverick St., at Frankfurt.
The building will include two penthouses and, in an underground garage, 20 parking spaces. Three units will be sold as affordable.
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