Markeshia Ricks File Photo
It is often presumed that a scorched-earth strategy of clear-cutting sites is cheaper for developers. That is often true, unless there is perfect fit with the old site’s structures and the new use and regulations.
The State Street Lofts project shows a way to get cache via history. Developer Post Road Residential hired a real pro at infill architecture, Beinfeld Associates, an architectural firm that uses a 19th century shell at the projects signature corner – where State joins Mechanic and Lawrence Streets to offer back a restaurant to the streetscape while netting over 200 market rate units on a little over three acres. The developer is transforming the former Star Supply factory into the State Street Lofts — 4,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space with three residential units on the second floor
On Crown Street, The Salvation Army had gobbled up the 160-year-old Trinity Home site, cannibalizing the rectory. The old chapel did not suffer quite the same fate, and will now be used as a central part of the marketing of a renovation project designed by Gregg, Wies & Gardner architects.
Babies are not bath water: in development in a very competitive, high risk environment, any edge is welcome. Here, history just happens to be New England’s strongest edge over every other part of the country.
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