Historic Boston Inc. Opens Historic Hayden Building In Chinatown

Historic Boston Inc. Opens Historic Hayden Building In Chinatown

1875 Work by H.H. Richardson for Reuse as Four Apartments and Retail Space

 

BOSTON, February 28, 2013 – Historic Boston Inc., a nonprofit real estate development and preservation organization, today formally opened four new apartments in a historic H.H. Richardson-designed building that it has saved, rehabilitated, and re-purposed in Boston?s Chinatown neighborhood.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino joined Historic Boston Inc. Executive Director Kathy Kottaridis, HBI President Matthew Kiefer, donors, and friends in a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. today.

Kottaridis announced at the celebration that Historic Boston Inc. has passed the halfway mark toward its goal of raising $1 million for three projects, including the Hayden Building, in the Trilogy Fund.

“Together we are showing once again that historic preservation does not inhibit economic development, it ignites it,? said Mayor Menino. ?The restoration of the Hayden Building in the heart of Chinatown will support preservation projects across our city. I want to thank the HBI Trilogy Fund donors for their contributions to this important work. I look forward to future success together.”

The Hayden Building, located at 681 Washington St., at LaGrange Street, will feature retail on the ground floor. The four 930-square-foot apartments, on floors 2 through 5, are in the process of being rented.

Joining Mayor Menino in today?s ribbon-cutting was Ronald M. Druker, cochair with the Mayor of Historic Boston?s Trilogy Fund.

Historic Boston Inc. today honored major donors to the Trilogy Fund, who include Druker, Alan and Sherry Leventhal, Norman and Muriel Leventhal, the Lewis Family Foundation, the Winn Companies, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The Trilogy Fund was launched in June 2012 to help finance the redevelopment and preservation of three current projects: the 1875 Hayden Building, the 1836 Alvah Kittredge House in Roxbury, and the 1865 Vertullo Building in Hyde Park.

?Historic Boston?s generous donors love Boston and recognize the value of historic buildings to Boston?s unique sense of place and as anchor to this dynamic and growing city,? said HBI Executive Director Kathy Kottaridis. ?We are so grateful for their big-hearted support.?

The Hayden Building, which was located at the heart of the Combat Zone adult entertainment district, was threatened with demolition when Historic Boston Inc. purchased it in 1993, with the help of the City of Boston and Mayor Menino. The organization secured the building and preserved it through years of inactivity, initiating a full-scale preservation and reactivation project about a year ago.

The full cost of the design and construction is $5.6 million.

The Hayden Building is architect H.H. Richardson?s only remaining commercial building in Boston. HBI also purchased the low-rise adult bookshop next door. Over the next two years, HBI arrested the structural problems, restored the full exterior to its Richardsonian character, and put the first floor of the Hayden Building back into use as Liberty Bank.

The upper floors remained empty because their fit-out was too expensive and the market too weak to support the expense.

The low-rise building was redeveloped for Boston?s first Malaysian restaurant, Penang. HBI carried the building for 15 years, but its goal was to fully re-activate the structure with a new use. In 2010 HBI sold the Penang building to Kensington Investment Co., Inc., which is building apartments at Washington and LaGrange streets, and used the proceeds for the Hayden Building?s upper floors as residential units. The net revenue from rentals will help HBI implement further preservation projects.

The Project Manager for the Hayden reconstruction was Lisa Lewis. The general contractor was Marc Truant & Associates. The architect was CUBE design + research. The historic consultant was McCrostie Historic Advisors, LLC.

Financing was provided by the Historic Boston Inc., Massachusetts Historical Commission, and Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin, donors to HBI?s Trilogy Fund, and Eastern Bank.

Generous assistance was received from City of Boston Inspectional Services Department, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Department of Neighborhood Development, and the Boston Landmarks Commission.

ABOUT HISTORIC BOSTON INC.
Historic Boston Incorporated is a nonprofit preservation and real estate organization that rehabilitates historic and culturally significant properties in Boston?s neighborhoods so they are a useable part of the city?s present and future. HBI works with local partners to identify and invest in historic buildings and cultural resources whose re-use will catalyze neighborhood renewal. HBI acquires and redevelops historic structures and provides technical expertise, planning services and financing for rehabilitation projects. HBI projects demonstrate that preserving historic properties is economically viable and that they can be useable and functioning assets in a community. For more information, please see www.historicboston.org.

For more information, please contact:
Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director of Historic Boston, Inc., 617.442.1859, kathy@historicboston.org
Or
Tom Palmer, Tom Palmer Communication, 617.755.7250, tompalmer@rcn.com

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