What a week! If it weren’t enough to worry about, with the pandemic and the violent invasion of the Capitol, our local news organization, northendwaterfront.com went out of business Friday. In Boston, people are gearing up for a mayoral race, after learning Thursday that Mayor Walsh is slated to be Labor Secretary for president-elect Joe Biden.
Our effort to protect one of America’s most sensitive historic neighborhoods will come to a head once again on Tuesday, Jan. 12, when we go before the Boston Zoning Board of Appeals at 12:30 pm to oppose plans for a condo conversion of the St. Leonard’s Rectory at 14 N Bennet St. The Rectory is just steps from the Nazzaro Building, and deserves a better fate than it would get under the proposed luxury condo conversion by Epsilon Partners. You can virtually attend the hearing through this ZBA website https://www.boston.gov/public-notices/13678171
Approving this proposal would set a bad precedent for Boston’s oldest, historic neighborhood. In the image above, you can see the Nazzaro building at the upper left corner, and the red dot is the Rectory roof that the developers would transform with modern features. In between, the taller building, is St. Christopher’s Friary. Both the Rectory and the St. Christopher’s Friary next door are owned by the Province of Franciscan Fathers, who are based in New York. The fate of one building is likely to influence the future development of the other.
We have been ready to support a new life for the 100-year-old Rectory, but the developers have refused to negotiate for a year. They want to maximize their profits by putting in features that just aren’t appropriate here: a new fifth floor, giant floor-to-ceiling windows and open balconies. Both of our elected neighborhood councils–NEWNC and NEWRA–have voted against granting the variances for this project, Mayor Walsh unfortunately is tending toward supporting this project, as he often sides with developers for political and economic reasons.
Our attorney Larry DiCara was going to speak for us at the ZBA hearing, but he was hit by a car Thursday night and is intensive care. We hope you will add him to your prayers. Even before this terrible development, the ZBA postponed its Rectory vote six times. We expect Jan. 12 to finally be the day of decision.
Here are some of our concerns:
- The Rectory is not just any North End building. This is in a uniquely sensitive location. The Rectory is part of a special block of historic buildings designated by the Massachusetts Historical Commission that are literally sacred ground. It is steps away from St. Leonard’s Church and the Nazzaro Building–the original North End bath house–which is protected as a pending Landmark.
- If Epsilon has its way, this will be a five-story walkup with only one stairway, no elevator, no off-street parking, and no second fire exit. Residents of the six condos can play loud music through the floor-to-ceiling-sized open windows and have parties spilling out on the planter balconies, at any time of day or night, despite its intimate proximity to St. Leonard’s church, the retired priests at the St. Christopher’s Friary and quiet residential condos on N. Bennet St.
- Both NEWNC and NEWRA have rejected the current design, in multiple overflowing community meetings over the past year.
- North Enders have raised safety concerns that Epsilon has never addressed. The Rectory is vulnerable if the weight of a new fifth story is added on the present roof, because this nearly 100 year old brick building sits on an uncertain foundation of hollow tunnels and rooms that connect to St. Leonard’s church. Epsilon refused the request that they do a structural or traffic study. We had a similar building collapse nearby during reconstruction last year.
- Saying they have a “legal right” to add a fifth story on the roof just because it meets the maximum legal limit of 55 feet, is not true! Epsilon offered no justification for their fifth story, open “planter” balconies and giant windows that violate the BPDA guidelines. They are unsuitable to this property. It is the abutters, not the developer, whose rights are protected by the zoning laws.
If the ZBA decides to side with us and reject the zoning variances, it will simply send Epsilon Partners back to the drawing board, to come up with a more suitable plan for the Rectory condo conversion, within its current historic envelope.
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