UPDATED - Red Cab EDAB Meeting Summary
Existing Conditions at 111 Boylston St (Red Cab Site)
Proposed Development at 111 Boylston St (Red Cab Site)
See presentation slides here: 111 Boylston (Red Cab) Development Proposal
The following is a summary of the Red Cab Site EDAB meeting written by John Bassett. John is a Town Meeting Member in Precinct 6.
Notes on Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) meeting, June 13, 2006, by John Bassett. Attending Board members Bob Sperber, Ann Lewis, Ken Lewis, Paul Saner, Steve Pratt-Otto, Alden Raine, Jim Shea, Tom Nally. Staff Catherine Cagle, Marge Amster. Public: Inge Von Heune, Hugh and Arlene Mattison, Betsy Shure Gross, Edie Brickman, Virginia LaPlante, Rob Daves, Dave and Linda Hamlin, Rob DeVries, Randolph Meiklejohn, Andy Olins, Sarah Smith, Nadine Gertz, Paul Benson, Jeff Burger, Merelice, Kathryn Kirshner, Regina Frawley, Tad Campion, Louis Kaplan, me, and others.
Proposed development at 111 Boylston St (Rte 9), the former Red Cab garage and office.
The property is under agreement. The seller and prospective buyer want to complete the permitting process before the sale is complete and want to move as fast as possible. We can expect the next meeting and probably permit application to be as early as this August. This will be a major impact project, will be subject to environmental impact and design review, and will require special permits. It’s likely that the Planning Board will exercise its option to require a Design Advisory Team.
The prospective buyer is Leggat McCall Properties, represented by William Gause. The development team present included Geller DeVellis, landscape architecture, civil engineering and site planning, represented by Joe Geller, and Spagnolo and Gisness & Associates, Architects, represented by William Gisness.
The preliminary proposal for a building and site plan includes:
A building of 70,000 sf, which is four stories (about 56 feet) higher than Boylston St. The site drops off about 13 feet in the back (next to the T tracks), so the building is about 69’ higher than grade next to the tracks. The building is the full width of the site parallel to Boylston St, running from Kerrigan Pl. (a private way that would remain) on the west to within 5’ of the east property line. There would be windows on all four sides. There would be screens 8’ tall on the roof around mechanical equipment.
The use would be mostly (about 62,000 sf) medical offices. Labs that support medical offices would be allowed, as they are at other such offices. But research labs such as proposed at 2 Brookline Place would not be allowed and are not proposed. There would be 8,000 sf of retail space on the first floor, level with Boylston St.
There would be a level of parking that would cover almost the entire site, one floor lower than Boylston St. This was all or mostly in place when Red Cab used the site. Little excavation would be needed. There would be about half this much parking on the first floor that is at the level of Boylston St. There would be about 250 parking spaces total, most of which would be either tandem or stacked. There would be very little self-parking. Attendants would be needed for most parking.
No zoning amendments will be needed. All aspects of the proposal seem to be allowed by current zoning – with special permits. The site is zoned General Business (G) – 2.0. In addition to environmental impact and design review, the proposal will probably need special permits for at least the following:
Height: This seems to be maxed out. The Bylaw says this is a buffer area, which means it is less than 200 feet directly south of the residential (T-5) district that includes White Place. If Public Benefit Incentives (PBIs) are provided this can have a maximum height of 60’. How to measure height on a sloping site is complex and is discussed in Section 5.30 of the Bylaw. Without PBIs, the allowable height is only 45’.
Floor Area Ratio (FAR): Without PBIs 2.0 is allowed. This seems to be about 2.3. with PBIs 2.5 is allowed.
Parking: I guess special permits may be required to allow the tandem and stacked parking and maybe also for the total number of spaces. Medical offices traditionally require lots of parking.
Comments by EDAB and the public:
Most feel the proposal is welcome. This is an appropriate site for commercial use and is now both vacant and ugly. The proposal will add retail uses, doctor’s offices, tax revenue, and jobs. The proposal includes widening the sidewalk from 10’ to 17’ and adding a nice row of trees. It would improve appearances and the amount of pedestrian use. It is not far from the Brookline Village and Brookline Hills T stops and is accessible from the T.
Concerns:
Parking: Existing businesses (several owners were present) are already very short of parking and worry that users of the new building will try to park on Boylston St rather than use the parking on site. Existing business are desperately short of parking and want a proposal that will make parking easier, not harder. Some business owners wondered if the new building could rent them spaces. The proposal assumes one space per 250 sf of medical offices and one space per 350 sf of retail.
Shadow impacts: The proponents will do shadow studies showing impacts on White Place and on the three decker at the end of Kerrigan Pl. My guess is that there will be shadow impacts on both. It is set back only 5’ from the T (north) property line. So the northeast corner of the building is about 69’ above grade and only 5’ from the T fence. This is directly south of and less than 100’ from houses on White Place.
Impacts of the parking garage on White Place: The north wall of the garage, facing the T and White Place, will have openings for light and ventilation. There could be lights and noise from the garage. On the other hand, it’s assumed that most use of the building will be during daytime business hours.
Visual impacts: The building shown was a pretty rendering of a generic, boring building. It should improve. It was also noted that houses on the south side of Boylston St are high enough to have a good view of whatever’s on the roof. It was requested that there be north/south sections, probably all the way from Davis Ave to Walnut St, so that the visual impacts in both directions can be studied.
Taxes: Leggat McCall does not propose to own this for long. There is concern that a tax-exempt institution (hospital) might be the next owner. In this case we might get only taxes for whatever stayed in for-profit retail. There was general discussion of this at the end of the meeting. The solution that seems to work at 2 Brookline Place is not possible here. The Town doesn’t own the land.
Dirty site: Even if Red Cab was the cleanest cab company in the world, there will be cleanup needed. Testing has yet to be done.
Other questions: Could it be a green building? Will the parking area be secure at night?
For more information contact Catherine Cagle at 617-730-2468 or via email at:
Catherine_Cagle@town.brookline.ma.us