The Baker administration’s chosen design to redevelop the Charles F. Hurley building in downtown Boston is a disappointment – but not for any architectural reasons.
No doubt the handful of Brutalism fans in Greater Boston will object to architect NBBJ’s two towers or landscape architect Mikyoung Kim Design’s reimagining of the property’s central courtyard.
Even though the Boston Preservation Alliance blessed the plan for its ability to “most successfully preserve the original expression of the historic Hurley building,” early reactions to the proposal in some corners of social media have been harsh.
But we don’t take issue with the architecture. We leave such questions of taste firmly in the realm of the art critics.
Instead, what irks us is that NBBJ and Baker-anointed developer Leggat McCall Properties were only able to find room for 200 units of housing alongside state offices and labs in a building with a footprint of roughly 2 acres, on a site that’s over 3 acres.
Given the opportunity to redevelop such a huge swath of land where preexisting zoning permits towers up to 400 feet high, it’s unfortunate that the state settled for a design with far fewer homes than the site can fit.
As every Banker & Tradesman reader – and the Baker administration – well knows, Massachusetts is struggling under an enormous deficit of housing. By driving rents and for-sale prices into the stratosphere, it’s sapping our economic potential, draining working people’s paychecks and making our businesses less competitive. In short, it’s an existential crisis for the state.
It’s this scale that calls for a whole-of-government solution, where all of Massachusetts’ assets, especially government-owned land as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is doing, are turned towards rectifying the imbalance in the housing market and making sure Bay Staters can put roofs over their heads without breaking the bank.
The Baker administration deserves credit for picking a design that includes a not-insignificant amount housing, instead of simply trying to wring as much money out of the property at the corner of Cambridge and Staniford streets as possible. And they are promising to advance other important goals with the project, including racial equity via what’s promised to be the largest minority-focused capital raise in state history.
But really, shouldn’t this site have more homes, too?
Letters to the editor of 350 words or less may be submitted via email at editorial@thewarrengroup.com with the subject line “Letter to the Editor,” or mailed to the offices of The Warren Group. Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
