Weiner Ventures’ Plans to Scale Back Air Rights Project in Boston

Weiner Ventures’ Plans to Scale Back Air Rights Project in Boston

Weiner Ventures' plans to erect two-story buildings, a seventeen-story apartment and thirty-three condominium tower were recently scaled back. The company's initial plan was to build 160 condos and 182 apartments in the two towers above the Massachusetts Turnpike in Back Bay on a one-acre piece of land adjacent to Hynes Convention Center. In fact, Weiner's first proposal was to set up a 342-unit of 689,000 square feet for residential purposes next to Dalton, St. Cecelia, Boylston, Cambria and Scotia streets, including air rights over the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Weiner Ventures’ developers had revived the plans to develop the area in the year 2016. It was after MassDOT awarded the air rights to AD Scotia in 2013, a partnership of Samuels & Associates and Weiner Ventures with the aim of setting up a four-hundred-foot tower that would provide housing and hotel rooms. However, a new proposal was presented to the Boston Planning and Development Agency that incorporated air rights owned by Prudential Insurance Company. The current changes will see the entire project reduced by thirty-six percent by:

• Eliminating the 182-unit apartment of 212,000 square-feet that would have a height of 300 feet
• Reducing the condo tower from 442,000 to 394,000 square feet
• Creating additional retail space of 45,500 square-feet to entertain the public and allow pedestrian activity within the building
• Scaling back on the number of parking spaces to 175 from 303
• Reducing the proposed height of the condominium tower by six stories. The change will reduce the tower to 544 feet.

Note that while the apartment tower was eliminated, the deck would still be erected above Turnpike as a result of air rights owned by Prudential Insurance Co. The initial proposal granted the company- Prudential Insurance, rights to own the apartment building. However, the recent changes saw the company strike a new deal with Weiner Ventures to rid of the proposed apartment complex and continue using Prudential's Parcel 15 piece of land as part of the ongoing project.

As such, to accomplish the revised project, Weiner Ventures agreed to incorporate Prudential Insurance Company in the project without taking part in the construction of the rental building. According to Weiner's Managing Partner, the changes allow the project to meet most of Boston Planning and Development Agency objectives of air rights development above the Turnpike after the mid-1980s construction of Copley Place.

The Introduction of the Turnpike

The Turnpike was deliberated in the 1950s to revive the depressed economy of Boston and create access to downtown. However as the city's economy improved in the 1970s and 1980s, the public cost of Turnpike's open-cut neighborhoods increased pollution on most residents' homes and loss of land became intolerable.

At the time, the economy hardly supported air rights development due to the high costs and lack of adequate public subsidy. Over time, the surging prices of land and its scarcity made air rights projects economically viable. The development of Back Bay and South End shows Boston's tradition of reclaiming land during the boom period. It explains the emergence of the Turnpike Authority, which divided air rights into 23 parcels defined by natural boundaries and bridges.

Conclusion

The proposed project by Weiner Ventures accounts for one of the developments that will transform the site from an undeveloped highway overpass to an urbanized residential and retail area that will harmonize the fabric of the city.