The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 129

yiy" yr -jury i A33 (Pic ffoflon (Blobc SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 1989 Cape Cod A68 New Hampshire A68 Apartments A76 arage over the Pike it fly? Scondras pushes for development of air rights y-Mfpvp'i-l(0i-yp-'f0r'-yr-pr-yi" 'gif 'if Ag will i i By John King Globe Staff I he only problem with the land where David Scondras wants to build affordable housing and parks and. parking, the Boston city councilor readily admits. Is that It doesn't exist. 1 fv yn. I I i i I.

i 1 nrr neighbors as the Prudential Center and Fenway Park. Scondras backs the creation of an agency responsible for planning and developing the "air rights and abutting properties presently owned by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority" in Boston. The agency would take control of the rights from the turnpike authority, then find developers to produce "usable open spaces and residential housing, particularly low- and moderate-income housing, and new commercial space." His starting point, Scondras says, is the need to pull traffic away from residential areas near the turnpike. To do this, he wants to see parking garages constructed with direct turnpike access; then, the garages would be wrapped in rowhouses or commercial space as a way to relate them to the Back Bay, Fenway and South End areas. "There's more than one trigger.

We need parking that attacks the traffic problem, and we need more affordable housing," Scondras explains. "And potentially, development allows for neighborhoods to have the scars between them healed" by covering over the turnpike. It isn't as if the space has never been touched. Copley Place sits atop the turnpike, as do Prudential Center and the Hancock Tower's parking garage. Out in Newton, a hotel and a supermarket partially cover the highway.

Those projects, however, date from the '60s and '70s (though Copley Place opened in 1983), and were privately instigated. Their goals had more to do with private profit than public policy. In recent years, several developers have Investigated air-rtghts projects in the Massachusetts Avenue area, but pulled back because of cost or governmental disinterest. In the Chinatown area, meanwhile, the Boston Redevelopment Authority proposes that in the decade to come, hundreds of units of new housing could be built in part above the turnpike's final yards. According to participants at the February meeting, the idea is enticing, particularly If it can pull together the now-choppy urban landscape between Massachusetts Avenue and Copley Square.

"People demonstrated a guarded optimism," says entertainment entrepreneur Pat Lyons, who owns three clubs on Landsdowne Street between the turnpike and Fenway Park. "I applaud David's efforts at getting the idea far enough to have a meeting with business people." Two obstacles, however, could keep the idea from gaining momentum: one is financial, the other procedural. While the BRA plans to study the engineering and financial feasibility of air-rights work near Mass. Scondras has nothing of detail to show either skeptics or supporters. And even the most enthusiastic business executives won't pledge fealty to a plan because of its philosophical merit.

"The only way the thing can go from being a dream and vision to reality Is hard fast numbers," Lyons says. "It's groovy and right on, but is it folly or reality? At the meeting, the consensus was we need to get a handle on what the costs are." it I I. 4 i i Other than that, the site is perfect a swath of largely open space reaching from Chinatown past Kenmore Square, ideally situated in central Boston. And proximity to transportation couldn't be better: the Massachusetts is close at hand. In fact, the turnpike and the site are one and the same.

Scondras is the latest in a long line of planners and public figures to look at the empty air above the eight-lane expressway and see a potential development area. But Scondras wants to be more than yet another dreamer. He wants to make it happen not on a scattershot basis, but with some semblance of overall planning. And he says it can be done. "The most compelling reason for a coordinated approach is that in the long run, air rights are going to get developed," says Scondras, whose district includes the Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods.

"Rather than parcel it out a piecemeal basis over time, why not do it in a thoughtful way?" Last month, Scondras unveiled a proposal to create the Boston Turnpike Properties Development Authority, presenting his Idea to government officials and representatives from such major turnpike kawtwatf -4 -3-" I Globe staff photoDavid L. Ryan A proposal has been made to build over the Mass. Pike at Massachusetts Avenue. Potential locations for development Prudential Center of air rights above the Mass. Pike Hynes Convention Center "I think the answer is that you can't build over the turnpike and do affordable housing; the economics just won't suggests Joseph Feaster, the turnpike authority's assistant director of real estate.

"If that could be done, it it'd already be done." But Scondras has an answer: federal funding. Specifically, the state would build the platforms using federal transportation grants, perhaps including them in the financial package for the eight year Central ArteryThird Harbor Tunnel project scheduled to start major construction in 1991. "The cost of the platform at this point is prohibitive," Scondras admits. "If we can convince the state and federal governments to adequately subsidize the platform, you've set the stage That's the point of the BRA study. If you look at overall cost benefits, the government is sure to get back more (through taxes, etc.) than it would lose" through grants." In other words, Scondras seeks assistance from sources that have grown dry this decade.

Even if the pump does come alive a long shot the state may balk at giving control to a new agency. Yet the proposal has caught people's attention: no city or state agency opposes it. And if it falters? One observer predicts another plan will take its place. "The air rights are sitting there, look-ing like wasted space," says Tunney Lee. a state planner for Copley Place who now heads the urban studies department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The city gets disrupted by things like highways. You want to mend it back, but the costs are enormous." fgli lili I I I I I Globe staff map NENA GROSKIND Lots Si Blocks Can't afford Bay State 4 WW' 1 1 IIP tun -i w8 wis' it 1 lum inl ftrirrir MumU Lincoln looking up One Lincoln Street, the 35-story downtown piece in the parcel-to-parcel linkage puzzle. Is moving forward with a steadiness rare in Boston's development annals. Earlier this month, the Boston Redevelopment Authority gave eminent domain powers to developers Metropolitan Structures and Columbia Plaza Associates. The team said they needed such clout to buy three parcels and round out the city-owned land on Kingston and Lincoln streets that is the heart of the project.

Surprisingly, a brick warehouse will be left at the corner of Kingston and Essex streets. Until last month, it was to make way for a widened Essex Street and a plaza facing Chinatown. The change was not done to lessen the project's cost or speed it up. said MetCPA executive Robert Green. Instead, since plans to widen Essex Street are shaky, the team agreed to back off.

The change had no impact on the crowd who came In support of the project; In fact, the BRA board hearing was a love fest. Even Susan Park, who chairs the Boston Preservation Alliance, said she "enthusiastically embraces" the project, which is half-owned by local minority entrepreneurs and will help fund an office park at Ruggles Station in Rox-bury. One Lincoln Street also has the blessing of the Flynn and Dukakis administrations. Colncidentally, It also Is the tallest office tower since International Place. The total height is just shy of 500 feet: 100 feet less than Federal Reserve Plaza, but well above the BRA's 400-foot downtown cap.

However, virtually nobody Is complaining. At the hearing, one of the two opponents to the project's scale was a lawyer for the adjacent five-story Bedford Building. And he forgot to mention a curious fact: In 1984, the Bedford's owners proposed their own addition to the block. A 600-foot tower. 1905, is the future home of the Crosby Vandenburgh Group, a publishing firm moving to Back Bay from Fort Point Channel.

Crosby will take 33,000 square feet, nearly half the six-story building's office space. Eric Bacon of C.W. Whittier, one of the brokers for the deal, says there are commitments on another 30,000 square feet. Which suggests that the owner, A.W. Perry was right to embark on an expensive, meticulous restoration that has made fans of such skeptics as Homer Russell, the BRA's urban design director.

Across the street, time is running out. With Louis' clothing store settled in the old Bonwit Teller building, Louis' former home and two neighbors will be razed so construction can start on the last phase of The New England's 500 Boylston St. project. Among the buildings that face the wrecking ball next month: The Colton Building, an oddball but airy turn-of-the-century gem that was the center of two unsuccessful preservation campaigns. Instead, the site will house 222 Berkeley a 22-story contextual tower by New York architect Robert A.M.

Stern. Nice-looking houses Several Massachusetts housing developments, won design awards recently from the National Association of Home Builders: The Ledges in Winchester, Grand and Merit awards, single-family attached house category, developed by The Green Co. of Newton, designed by Blood-good Architects of Iowa. River House in Danvers, Merit and Best in Re- gion awards, one-of-a-kind custom house category. developed by H.D.

Haynes of Danvers. designed by Hermit Woods Designs of North Reading. Bartlett's Reach of Amesbury, honorable mention, single-family attached house category, developed by CP. Berry Construction Co. Inc.

of Danvers, designed by Claude Miquelle Associates of Wakefield. Bricks and mortar Massachusetts Realtors have pledged nearly $15,000 to the Armenian Earthquake Fund, and the -recent presentation of $13,620 of that brought the total raised by the fund to more than $500,000 Not only does Brooks Brothers hope to expand its Newbury Street store ever-so-slightly, the high-priced haberdasher also wants to set up shop in the financial district. The most likely spot? Sources say 75 State Street, despite strong competition from at least two other towers Lots of praise for the snappy slide show at the Meredith Grew real estate trends seminar Tuesday. Larry Miller Productions put It together; the prolific firm also is working for the developers of Boston Garden, the Prudential Center and Campeau Boston Crossing aka Lafayette Re-Place Overheard on St. Paddy's Day: What do you call those little green buildings where Irish wee folk live? Leprecondos.

JOHN KING AND TERESA M. HANAFIN 9. My husband and I sold our Massachusetts home last year and moved to Texas in what we anticipated would be a temporary assignment. But we replaced the tiny, 1200-square-foot home we had sold for about $130,000 with a home almost twice that size, for which we paid $112,000. There is no way we could afford anything close to the house we have now if we moved back to Massachusetts, which is why we have decided to stay here even though we'd much rather be living in New England.

My question is do you think housing up there will be affordable to middle income people in the near future? A. Housing affordability is a problem nationally, but for a variety of rea sons, the problem is acute In New Eng land, and particularly acute in Massachusetts. The short answer to your question is no -1 don't see any reason to expect the situation to improve dramatically any time soon. The housing market is slower now, which means that home values are not appreciating at the wild pace of a few years ago. If that situation continues, and if the economy remains reasonably strong, the gap between earnings and housing costs may begin to narrow.

But that gap is so large, and the number of people priced out of the market Is so great, it Is going to take a lot more than a natural market cycle to bring the affordability ratio back into anything approximating a reasonable balance. Real Improvements won't come until we manage to address some of the fundamental problems unreasonable House bargains One Lincoln Street just shy of 500 feet. Conway also Is selling Taunton Ridge in East Taunton, developed by David Ellman of Sure-lock Homes of Taunton. There, 122 single-family houses, on lots ranging from 15,000 square feet to an acre, are selling for $129,900 to $164,500. Twenty of the 32 houses in the first phase are sold, even though marketing Just began last month and the grand opening isn't until April 1.

And you've probably noticed the ads for Bourne-hurst Estates in Plymouth, with a huge "$129,900" screaming off the page. Bob Ciardi, an accountant, and partner Tony Marinilli, a civil engineer, are offering a range of single-family houses: At the low end, an L-shaped ranch carries the $129,900 tag; at the high end, a double garrison Is selling for $149,900. What's remarkable is that the smallest lot is Vi houses aren't palaces the ranch Is 1.400 square feet and the garrison, 1 .600 square feet but with that much land, "first-time buyers can get into the house now and expand later as they can afford it with additions, garages, whatever," Ciardi said. What Is these developers' secret? Some got good deals on land, some built small, others increased density. Whatever the reason, buyers are responding.

Win some, lose some The corner of Boylston and Berkeley streets is In the throes of change. First, the good news. The Berkeley Building at 420 Boylston. a stylish terra cotta-clad structure from With all the talk about how pricey the housing market has become, there still are developers around selling cheap. Take Cranberry Ridge in Raynham.

developed by Nick Mirrione of Brockton. Of the planned 96 at-tached condos, the first 48 built in phase one marketing began last June are sold, and another 10 unbuilt condos are under agreement. Why? Try the price $89,900 to $97,400. That gets you a 950-square-foot, one-bedroom unit with a screened porch or deck. There are 12 units in a building, and those prices will hold at least through construction of the next two buildings.

"It's the hottest thing going, it really is." says Larry Figura. a vice president of Conway Development Sales, the marketer. "Mirrlone's looking for more land to duplicate it." zoning restrictions, no-growth atti tudes. controls on rents, limitations on Continued orj next page.