One Channel Center Open Letter to the BRA

A group of residents from Channel Center, Fort Point Place, and 249 A st. have put together an open letter to the BRA on the One Channel Center parking garage and office building.  Our previous post on the project has details on it.

FPNA is hosting the letter here:
http://fortpointneighborhood.org/current-projects/channel-center/

I would encourage everyone to read it.  If you agree, you can sign it online or visit the front desk at 25 Channel Center st to sign it in person.

Music and Film Tonight and Tomorrow Night

KEROAÄN (from Philadelphia)

and ess enn emm (Reuben Son, Benny Nelson and Patrick Emm)

Friday, March 9, 2012 8pm

10 Channel Center St.

suggested donation $10

Studio Soto and Uppercase present KEROAÄN's debut Boston performance. A powerful mix of digital synthesis and light, this will be a memorable evening of new music.

KEROAÄN is a musical artificial intelligence developed by FRASER/ROSENBERG that performs by implementing XENAKIS’S Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis. This non-standard synthesis is played in real time by the KEROAÄN program. Pushing and pulling between sections of hard noise, singing glissandos, jagged melodic scribble and other sonic curiosities, the program liberates the computer from its position as a mere tool of hyper-productivity and transports the machine into a state of creative and performative being. Operatic in scope, a live diffusion of KEROAÄN features lasers, strobe lighting, and fog synched to both audible and structural qualities of the music as an infinitely morphing chorus of digital voices croon, cry, scream and everything in between.

ess enn emm is the debut performance of a trio consisting of three of Boston's leading electronic musicians: Reuben Son, Benny Nelson, and Patrick Emm.

http://ianmfraser.wordpress.com/keroaan/

http://www.privatechronology.com/reubenson.html

http://pineboxrecordings.blogspot.com/

http://www.weakintheknees.net/weakintheknees/benjamin_nelson.htm 

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In This Dark: films of Luther Price

Saturday, March 10, 2012 8pm

10 Channel Center St., Boston

suggested donation $10

Mobius, in conjunction with Studio Soto, proudly presents a screening of new and rarely-seen super8 and 16mm films by internationally acclaimed, experimental Boston filmmaker, Luther Price. This screening coincides with the inclusion of 26 of his films in this year’s Whitney Biennial. Works in this program were especially selected by Price, and will be projected in their original formats. The filmmaker will be present at the screening. The screening is co-produced in conjunction with Studio Soto and will take place at 10 Channel Center St. in the Fort Point neighborhood of South Boston.

"Price’s film work has an oppressive intensity, envisioning an alienated world of often mindlessly repeated rituals and poses that entrap and suffocate his subjects. He sets up a constant dialogue between his compromised victim-subjects (often himself or his own family) and the equally compromised film stock itself. Images of ruptured flesh and ghostly birthday parties are further ruptured and drained of life by Price’s torturous manipulations of the film, which can include chemical processing, filters, optical printing, re-photography, and even holes punched in the frame. What emerges is Price’s great subject — the breaches, breakdowns, and collapse of body, family, and society, and by extension all of life, in the face of unstoppable philosophical forces. What makes it work is the nonstop flow of extraordinary, unforgettable imagery." ----Gary Morris, from "Home Movies From Hell," Bright Lights Film Journal

"I want to make true films. I don't care if it hurts me... people exploit each other anyway. If you exploit yourself you leave no room to be exploited by someone else... No one can hurt me; no one can say anything about me because I've already said it. I've already given them the dirt. We always have the ability to redeem ourselves... " ---Luther Price

Bio:

Luther Price received a BFA in Sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he studied with Saul Levine. He is an experimental filmmaker whose work has been widely screened in the United States and Europe at such venues as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Cinematheque. He is a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. His films, shot primarily on Super 8 mm, often include controversial subject matter, found footage, the artist performing in a variety of persona, and physical interventions into the actual material of the film, sometimes incorporating live performance. His films are distributed by Canyon Cinema in San Francisco, The Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York, Light Cone in Paris and others. (source: Wikipedia)

films to be screened:

    * 1)  Red Rooster (1987)  - super8 sound; 4min by Tom Rhoads

    * 2)  Porcelain Ribbon (1990) - super8 silent film 4min

    * 3)  Meat Dry 02" (1999) - super8 sound film.10min

    * 4)  Mr.Wonderful (1987) - super8film sound on film 10min by Tom Rhoads

    * 5)  jelly fish sandwich (1994) - super8 sound film 18min

    * 6). Burgin and Tonic (2012) -  16mm optical sound (inkblot) reel #2 8min.

    * 7)  Fragment (2012) - optical film 16mm 4min.

    * 8)  Nice Baskets (2006) - 16mm optical sound 8min

    * 9)  Tamponia (2007) - 16mm optical sound 7min

    * 10) Rocket (2007) 7min 16mm

    * 11) Deaf For Chicken Lip (2006)- 16mm optical sound 12min

5 Channel Center Construction

At the community meeting this evening Commonwealth Ventures outlined their plans for the construction of 5,7,9 Channel Center. They will need to re-route Channel Center traffic at different points, but will keep access to all of the buildings. They plan on having construction vehicles will enter and exit on the far side (the entrance closest to Artists for Humanities), but don't own that whole street so are still finalizing that. Equipment and materials are going to be kept next the building on the side opposite Midway.

As residents who were living here in 2008 may remember, when they did the work on the building their office is in, they kept loud sandblasting equipment going on weekends and until past 7pm at night. They were able to get permits for this by claiming the work was indoors (as only the loud equipment was outside; the sandblasting was inside). This blog post from Christmas 2008 has more details.

For this project they will be doing similar sand blasting on the interiors, so will have similar equipment. They are going to try to schedule construction for 7AM - 3PM, but they couldn't guarantee that they would not work later or on weekends. As a reminder, if there problems with this or any construction work, city residents can always call Inspectional Services with issues: 617.635.1010.

Commonwealth Ventures is going to create a website and try to keep the community updated with progress and any issues / inconveniences that come up and welcomed input. It will also have timelines and plans.  They haven't finalized the URL for this new site.

Channel Center IAG Mtg, Mon. 11/29

Please be advised that a Channel Center Impact Advisory Group (“IAG”) meeting will be held on Monday, November 29, 6:30-8:00 PM, @ 10 Channel Center, 2^nd floor.  The purpose of the IAG meeting is to give an update on the Channel Center Project mitigation and to answer any questions about the preservation and rehabilitation of 5, 7 and 9 Channel Center. 

All members of the public are welcome to attend IAG meetings.

Thank you.

Kristin Kara

Senior Project Manager

Boston Redevelopment Authority

One City Hall Square

Boston, MA 02201

Phone: 617-918-4263

Fax: 617-742-7783

dParty at 35 CC Friday - kick-off for common boston

the kick-off party for this weekend's common boston is Friday evening:

dParty, Fri, June 19th, 6-9pm
Thompson Design Group, 35 Channel Center St.




The Common Boston cocktail party, held at Thompson Design Group, celebrates good work by community advocates and local architects, and lubricates good conversation between them.

During the party, we’ll be debuting the work of the Neighborhood Photography Project, including images by photographers and community members in Ashmont, Jamaica Plain, Fort Point Channel, and Chinatown. Also on display during the event, Studio Soto will present an exhibition of photographs by Mobius Artists Group member Bob Raymond, who has been documenting Mobius’ activities for nearly thirty years, and an installation by Wenxiong Lin.

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Common Boston Weekend 2009 is June 18 through 21!


Common Boston Weekend—Boston's only free, public festival of neighborhoods and design—celebrates the city June 18 - 21st.

Conceived as a community celebration of architecture and design, Common Boston Weekend consists of more than 40 open buildings, neighborhood tours, exhibits and events concentrated around four Boston neighborhoods: Ashmont, Jamaica Plain, Chinatown and Fort Point Channel. Highlights include open architecture studios, a guided walk through Franklin Park, an audio tour of Berkeley Street Community Gardens, bike tours of Jamaica Plain and Dorchester, and food tours.


Also:

- Join us for a Forum at the Quincy School on designing the city for families, Thu, June 18th, 6:30 - 8:30pm
- Come to Pecha Kucha night featuring Common Boston and the BSA, Wed, June 17th, 6:30pm

Visit www.commonboston.org for a complete schedule of events. All events are free and open to the public.

Theft at 25 Channel Center

The Herald and the Boston crime log have coverage of a burglary at 25
Channel Center over Memorial Day weekend. Two thieves took a Flamet
painting, jewelry, and a laptop from an 8th floor unit and $213,000
worth of jewelry from an 11th floor unit.

http://www.citizenobserver.com/cov6/app/alert.html?id=7457

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_05_29_Burglar_grabs_jewelry__art_in_Hub_condo_caper/

Construction at 40 Channel Center

The buildout for a new restaurant, Barlow's, at 40 Channel Center St. is set to begun and will last for ~4 weeks. It's going to be done by Folan Construction.

Some details on the plan:

The wooden deck will be extended to the rear of the building to the 40 Channel Center Street entrance. This is for customer convenience and service efficiency. The 20’-deep deck will have a steel trellis (open to the sky) and a living screen to camouflage the concrete and offer a privacy screen to the diners. LED lighting will also be installed.

The fresh air intake unit, located on the south side of the building, will remain there. This unit and the other mechanical units soon to be installed will be screened in so they will not be visible.

Project will commence in about 4 weeks, and will be done on a Monday-Friday schedule, using a vacuum drill for dust control. The work schedule will be forwarded to us when developed, but work is expected to start in 1-2 weeks.

The windows on the north and south elevations will be cut in on Saturdays and will take about 4-6 Saturdays. This work permit states that this work must be done on a Saturday due to building occupancy (and vibration).

The entire project, pointing, weatherproofing and replacement windows, will take approximately 8 weeks to complete.

The restaurant capacity is about 260 and there will be a small function room for 30-50 located in the basement. An emergency egress for this function room will be on the south side of the building.

Pat and Tom anticipate opening the restaurant mid-June. The hours of operation will be 11 AM to 1AM and the deck will close at 11 PM.

Barlow's will also be operating a small cafe that will be located in the 10-20 Channel Center building. Cafe will be open M-F, offering breakfast/lunch items.

Comm Ventures Planning Rental and Artist Spaces

Commonwealth Ventures is changing their plan for 5 Channel Center and, instead of tearing it down and doing luxury condos, is planning on building rental apartments and live/work spaces for artists.

There's few details on the project available at this point, but it's good to hear a developer both preserving historic buildings and doing moderately-priced residential in Fort Point.

Globe Article: Demolition plans are scrapped

Commonwealth Ventures Press Release

Rue La La / SmartBargains Moves into Channel Center

Retail Convergence, a tech company which runs SmartBargains.com and RueLaLa.com, moved its 125-employee headquarters into new space at 20 Channel Center.

Two companies sail into Seaport
By Thomas Grillo | Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Boston’s Seaport District has netted two companies.

Retail Convergence, an online shopping company, is moving into new quarters in the Fort Point Channel area. The company, located on Milk Street, had eyed suburban spots but settled on South Boston.

“We need creative space and we didn’t know if that was available in the city,” said CEO Ben Fischman. “But this space allows us tremendous creativity and flexibility and we intend to grow here.”

Read full article...

Studio Soto Gets Space!

Because of Archon/Goldman Properties's 49/51/63 Melcher St development project, Studio Soto lost their space on the corner of Melcher and A St.

Thanks to the Thompson Design Group, they've recently been given some space at 35 Channel Center St. and have a programs starting this week:

Julie Andrée T. Landscape for the ones who get lost, an installation
March 13th to April 12th
Opening reception Friday March 13th, 5 – 8 pm
with performance by the artist;
and closing performance Sunday, April 12th at 5pm

Rob List – Drawings About Movement, 1980 – 2000
March 13th – April 29
Closing reception Wednesday, April 29
with performance by artist, time tba
location: 35 Channel Center, corner
Studio Soto in-residence at Thompson Design Group

Gallery hours: Friday, 4 - 7 pm; Sat. and Sun. 12 - 5 pm

For more details, see:
http://www.studiosoto.org/

Commonwealth Ventures Put on "Do Not Issue" List

Because of Commonwealth Ventures's loud late-night and weekend noise at their 30 Channel Center St site just before Christmas (see previous post for details), their project has been put on the "do not issue for weekend work after 5PM" list, so they should not be able to get any more permits after 5 PM. A big thanks to Casey at Mayor Menino's office and also ISD for this.

Loud Construction at Channel Center

As many have had to deal with, Commonwealth Ventures is doing construction on 30 Channel Center St. and has very loud machinery that they've been operating until past 7 PM at night. They're planning on doing it again this evening and also tomorrow (Saturday). I've called Inspectional Services and the Mayor Menino's office to try to figure out if they were granted a permit and why; normal construction hours in Boston are until 6pm, Monday-Friday.

I'll keep the list updated as I learn more. You can also call Inspectional Services yourself and let them know your concerns at: 617.635.1010.

UPDATE: I spoke with Commonwealth Ventures. The noise is from dust collectors for the sandblasting they're doing and is going to continue through Christmas and probably until New Years. They had intentionally set their hours from 9 AM to 7 PM (instead of the normal 7am to 5pm) to not bother early risers. They're trying to finish the project by Christmas and weren't willing to curb their hours at this point. They did agree to make sure that the equipment was all completely off before 7 PM and in the future look for ways to put equipment facing the Gillette plant rather than residential buildings (they claimed in this case, the duct collectors couldn't reach the doorway from A St.).

UPDATE: I wasn't home after 7 PM Friday and Saturday, but have heard that they worked really late. If you were around and can either confirm or refute this, please email me: fpna@dewdrops.net. Commonwealth Ventures has many more permits they'll need and the city does listen when developers violate them.

UPDATE (1/2): The inspector from the city responsible for that site called me this afternoon. He said they were granted a permit to work off-hours as it was for work inside the building and they're usually granted automatically for work indoors. I told him while the work was in doors, the noise was very much outdoors. Clearly, Commonwealth Ventures was working the system. He agreed to speak with the foreman and watch them more carefully in the future.

FBI Puts New HQ on Hold

From Boston Business Journal:

FBI delays search for new HQ, renews current lease

by Michelle Hillman

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is slowing down its hunt for a new, 250,000-square-foot headquarters and is keeping its plans a secret.

Besides pushing the deadline for the second round of proposals back about a month, the government agency has renewed its lease for 100,000 square feet at Center Plaza near Boston’s Government Center, according to sources. The 3 1/2-year lease was renewed with its current landlord, Equity Office Properties Trust, and is meant to be a short-term fix until the agency decides where it will move, said a real estate source with knowledge of the lease.

The FBI previously considered development sites on D Street and at Channel Center in Boston’s Fort Point Channel, but neither of those sites are in the running, according to real estate sources. Calls to the Boston office of the U.S. General Services Administration, which is in charge of the FBI’s search, did not return repeated calls for comment.

“There’s really no discussion going on with the FBI,” said Richard Galvin, president of Commonwealth Ventures LLC, which owns Channel Center. Galvin declined to comment any further.

Commonwealth Ventures Considering Saving 5 Channel Center

Hub developer will now save two Fort Point warehouses
By Scott Van Voorhis | Friday, July 25, 2008

A developer with grand plans for redeveloping a key swath of the Fort Point Channel neighborhood is now looking at renovating, rather than tearing down, a pair of the area’s signature Victorian-era warehouse buildings.

Richard Galvin, president of Commonwealth Ventures, said yesterday he is exploring plans to redevelop a 200,000-square-foot complex of early-1900s warehouse buildings at 5 Channel Center. Galvin, who is now in discussions with City Hall and neighborhood groups, is looking at putting as many as 130 rental units in the buildings.

“We decided let’s try and keep these buildings,” Galvin said. “I believe it’s more in keeping with the historic character of the site.”

The move represents a significant shift from plans laid out for the area by its previous developer, Beacon Capital Partners. The deep-pocketed Hub real estate firm, owned by the Leventhal family, in 2001 unveiled plans for a sweeping redevelopment of a block of old Fort Point warehouse buildings on what was then Midway Street.

While Beacon planned to preserve a number of the buildings, it also had ambitious plans for hundreds of new luxury condos.

It had lined up permits to tear down the buildings at 5 Channel Center as part of a second phase of condo construction, but wound up selling the project first.

Commonwealth Ventures, which took over the project last year during a downturn in the real estate market, has taken a different approach.

Instead of expensive condos, it is now looking at more modestly priced rentals that might provide a less expensive alternative to young professionals looking for a place in the city.

Commonwealth Ventures’ plans have gone over well in Fort Point, an up-and-coming residential enclave that features the region’s largest artists’ community.

“If we can just preserve as many of the buildings as possible, that is a wonderful thing,” said Becky Dwyer, a longtime Fort Point resident and artist.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1109023

Channel Center Development meeting 10/24

The new owners of Channel Center are holding a public meeting to give an update on that project:

Community Meeting: Channel Center Update

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: Midway Studios, 15 Channel Center Street, South Boston

Agenda: Channel Center Holdings VAF, LLC will give an update on the next phases of the Channel Center Project, which is located in the Fort Point Channel District of South Boston

Beacon Sells Rest of Channel Center at Loss

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/03/06/beacon_sells_channel_center_piece_at_loss/

Beacon sells Channel Center piece at loss

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | March 6, 2007

Alan Leventhal's Midas touch didn't work on one property in Boston.

The Boston real estate executive and his firm Beacon Capital Partners LLC, which has made a bundle buying and selling big commercial properties such as the John Hancock Tower, unloaded a loser yesterday for $19 million less than it paid for it.

Beacon sold the mostly undeveloped portion of Channel Center -- two rows of old industrial buildings in the Fort Point Channel area -- to Commonwealth Ventures LLC of Southport, Conn., for $21.5 million. Beacon Capital had purchased the property about seven years ago for $40.5 million.

Beacon Capital executives declined to comment yesterday on the company's financial record with Channel Center.

Channel Center is a 16-building portfolio of the old Boston Wharf Co. buildings that Beacon acquired in 2000. Beacon redeveloped about 30 percent of the property in what it once projected as a $360 million project. But the renaissance of this industrial area has been slower in coming than Beacon Capital executives expected, and the fund they bought it in was coming to the end of its life, so they put Channel Center on the market.

Beacon Capital had planned a largely residential project for the location, previously called Midway; it did redevelop some buildings and built one new one, turning part of the complex over to an artists' nonprofit group.

One large space was envisioned as a performance theater and recently was leased by Longwood Events Corp., which puts on private parties. That space is called Artistry.

Commonwealth Ventures plans to immediately redevelop one of the two rows of Channel Center buildings, along A Street near Gillette Co. , into 280,000 square feet of office space, with retail shops on the first floor....