Day Five – March 21st Boston

After a short but chilly walk over to offices of Bruner Cott Architects and Planners we sat down for a discussion with the design team and developer, David Espstein of The Abbey Group, of 45 Province, a 32 story condominium project in downtown Boston a block from old city hall.  The project embodies the difference between developing in a market like Boston from that of Phoenix.  First of which the fact that the property was purchased 20 years ago as a parking garage and has been through four major development scope revisions.  Fortunatley the operating income allowed the developer the patience to successfully navigate the project that is currently under construction.  The site is approximately 13,000 sq. ft. and will house nearly 145 residences in addition to 300 parking spaces, a restaurant and private spa.  There are seven floors of parking, four of which below grade and due to the small floorplates, all levels are accessed by valet only through two auto elevators.  After the discussion at the office we took a bus to the project and had lunch across the street at Kennedy’s.   

After lunch the project superintendent Ron Thomson from Suffolk, the general contractor on 45 Province took us to the 11th floor for a tour of the construction progress.  Not sure how but they located 30 hardhats for all of us.  The site tour was unexpected and we are grateful to have had the experience. 

Our next stop was at the Boston Redevelopment Authority for a historic perspective on Boston’s development from the Cheif Architect Robert Kroin.  We had a great visual reference standing around a model of the city as Mr. Kroin took us through each stage of focused redevelopment and how Boston’s historic downtown has become what it is today.  We discussed the waterfront redevelopment and the impact of the Big Dig project.

  After leaving the BRA we walked part of the Freedom Trail on our way to The Point for a mixer between the ULI Boston Young Leaders Group and ASU MRED.  We had a little time to kill so we made our way down to the warf and spent some time winding through Boston’s North End neighborhood.  The ULI event was a great success with a big turnout and a we took advantage of the opportunity to learn more about working in Boston’s unique real estate climate.