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BRA paves way for harbor project

Agency eases Lovejoy Wharf height limits

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff  |  March 10, 2006

The Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday approved an amendment to the city's municipal harbor plan that would allow two dilapidated warehouse buildings at the mouth of the Charles River to be turned into 14- and 11-floor luxury condominiums.

The action was a big step forward for Lovejoy Wharf, a planned complex of 250 luxury condominiums, 45,000 square feet of commercial space including a restaurant, a pavilion open to the public on the Harborwalk, and views of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge and points north.

The new harbor plan, amended yesterday for the second time since its 1991 inception, still must be approved by the state. Lovejoy Wharf also must go through the city's approval process.

Though opposed by some neighbors, it has strong support from the city and most public officials. The plan features not only extensive space for the public but also the city's first fully automated parking system, where the owners of as many as 350 cars will deliver their vehicles to a computerized garage with no attendant, picking them up later with the swipe of a card.

Two supporters, City Council president Michael F. Flaherty Jr. of South Boston and Councilor Michael P. Ross of Beacon Hill, acknowledged yesterday that the views of some residents of a nearby residential building, Strata 234, would be blocked. But, ''I don't see any reason not to support it," Ross said. ''This is going to provide an opportunity to light up that end of the harbor."

Lovejoy Wharf, a project of Ajax Management Partners LLC of Lexington, involves conversion of what was known as the Hoffman Building, at 160 North Washington St., and demolition and new construction at 131 Beverly St., just to the west, toward North Station.

''It's an old, forgotten, and abandoned corner of the city," Robert W. Easton, a principal of Ajax Management, said this week. ''This is an opportunity to re-create an acre of waterfront plaza as has not been seen before."

Under the state law, the height and density of new buildings on waterways or harbors is limited to 55 feet unless exceptions are granted. The city amended its municipal harbor plan in 1999 to allow the Strata building to be built to 155 feet. Yesterday, the BRA board voted to allow Lovejoy Wharf to reach 155 feet at its highest point, on the North Station end.

The project is owned by Easton and other principals of Ajax Management and by AIG Global Real Estate and other partners.

Ajax has done projects in Philadelphia and Westford, but this is by far the largest yet.

The architect for the project is The Architectural Team Inc. of Chelsea.

As planned, the renovated brick Hoffman Building and the new glass and steel structure will sit next to a rebuilt, widened wharf structure. A pedestrian path will lead from the elevated level of North Washington Street, at the southern end of the bridge to Charlestown, down to the wharf along Boston Harbor.

A pavilion near that connection, which will lead to retail shops and one or two restaurants on the first floor, will be open to the public at all hours.

If approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority in June, construction is expected to begin on the $150 million project in the fall and be completed in about two years.

Ajax originally proposed a structure 155 feet across the length of the site, but after extensive discussions with neighbors and community groups, the company reduced the height in two areas.

It now has sections 112 feet, 145 feet, and 155 feet high, though mechanical equipment on the tallest one brings the actual height there to about 185 feet.

Although the project includes substantial public benefits, such as the pavilion connecting the Harborwalk, the Freedom Trail, and Charles River parks, about 30 neighbors have hired a lawyer to fight the design.

State Representative Marty Walz, a Back Bay Democrat and an opponent of Lovejoy Wharf in its current form, praised many of its attributes and commended the developers for making improvements. But she said the city should not support it without changes.

''We knew what was going to happen at the BRA meeting -- it's all a ridiculous show," she said. Walz wants the height reduced to the level of the existing buildings, parking reduced to 250 spaces, and a planned 5-foot-wide sidewalk along Beverly Street widened.

Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association and a member of the Municipal Harbor Plan Advisory Committee, said she sympathizes with those whose views would be obstructed.

But, said Li, ''Was there a promise there would never be anything in front of it? I didn't understand that at the time."

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.