Utile selected for the Downtown Boston Greenway District Study
Utile was selected by the Boston Redevelopment Authority to lead an ambitious new planning initiative in Downtown Boston. As the BRA Request for Proposal states: The study seeks to develop guiding urban design and planning principles for the new Greenway District focused around the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The study will examine potential development opportunities; identify and define height, density, and use guidelines; and develop scenarios for future development in the area. The study will include an assessment of impacts of density and height on the Rose Kennedy Greenway as well as the adjoining districts/neighborhoods.
The study will include recommendations for sustainable design guidelines for the District in keeping with Mayor Thomas Menino’s recently announced Government Center Green Growth District.
Utile’s work will also explore an innovative parking policy that reduces commuter and special event car use Downtown, achievable because the area is well-served by mass transit. Parking policy is being prioritized because three potential development sites within the study area are currently publicly accessible parking garages with a total capacity of 4378 cars. A development proposal to replace one of them, the 2300-car Government Center Garage, is active right now and is being vetted by the developer/owner Raymond Properties in a series of informal community meetings.
Utile will be collaborating with Ken Greenberg, a Toronto-based urban designer; HR&A, a Manhattan-based real estate and economic development advisory firm; and the Boston office of Nelson Nygaard, a nationally recognized transportation planning firm.
Ames Shovel Works in the Boston Globe
When a local developer purchased a site in North Easton, Massachusetts that used to house the Ames Shovel Works, the Ames family took notice. As lifetime owners and operators of the Shovel Works (they sold the complex in 1972), they had strong emotional ties to the site and were uniquely positioned to create awareness about its’ storied history.
The Village of North Easton is one of the most important industrial sites in Massachusetts, home to National Landmarks designed by H.H. Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted open spaces, other significant period architecture and of course, the Shovel Works. As one time producers of 60 percent of the world’s shovels, the Ames wealth fueled all the aforementioned building.
When it became clear that the granite buildings that once housed the Shovel Works were in jeopardy of being demolished or, at best, irreparably altered in the planned Chapter 40B redevelopment, the Ames sprung to action. Along with other concerned residents, agencies and commissions, they formed The Friends of the Historic Ames Shovel Works at North Easton. The group hired an expert team to take up their cause: Utile, Inc. as urban designers and master planners, Noble and Wickersham as regulatory lawyers, Milford and Ford Architects as preservationists, and GLC Development Consulting as financial analysts.
Utile was tasked with creating a set of guidelines both sensitive to the historic importance of the site and realistic to potential redevelopment under existing 40B regulations. Under the new guidelines, Utile designed an alternative development scheme that kept density low and allowed for the preservation of significant buildings, primarily by using historic tax credits to meet the developments financial objectives.
The process is ongoing, and Utile remains an active and open participant. An article written by architecture critic Robert Campbell on the situation (including the image you see above) appeared in the Boston Globe on November 30.
ZUMIX Firehouse to proceed
Utile has been working closely with ZUMIX, a youth-centered music non-profit, to design their new cultural and performance space in the old Engine 40 Firehouse in East Boston. The 1923 brick building will house a large performance area, a radio station, a recording studio, music classrooms and support spaces, and will greatly enhance both the capacity and profile of the organization. The project aspires to a LEED Silver certification, an effort lead by collaborator New Ecology, and will be a green-building demonstration project for other non-profits and the neighborhood of East Boston.
Find out more about ZUMIX here.