Boston Gets In On ‘Skinny Tower’ Trend
New ‘Skinny Tower’ Proposed Near Boston Common
Boston would get its first “skinny tower’’ under a proposal for a deluxe condo high-rise that would rise over Boston Common.
A Swiss investor has teamed up with a local builder on plans for a 31-story tower at 171 Tremont St. that would give each condo an entire floor, with wrap-around 360-degree views.
It’s a new breed of super-thin high-rises, dubbed “skinny towers,’’ that have begun to conquer the Manhattan skyline. They tend to draw super-rich buyers anteing up millions to have their own floors.
While expensive to build because of the extremely small sites on which the towers are built, developers in New York have made out just fine thanks to skyrocketing prices, notes Kevin Ahearn, president of Otis & Ahearn, a top downtown Boston luxury condo marketing firm.
Ahearn suspects the same market dynamics will help get Boston’s first “skinny tower’’ off the ground as well, with downtown condo prices second now only to the Back Bay.
“With the increase in prices, it becomes much more viable. The whole market and neighborhood is exploding,’’ Ahearn said.
First, though, the developers, a team that matches the money of the Swiss investment mogul Maurice Dabbah with Boston developer David Rafferty and a pair of local joint venture partners, will have to win over City Hall to the idea.
Dabbah has financed other tower projects in New York and Miami, but has long been attracted to Boston, with family members having gone to school at local colleges.
The group plans to file an official project notification soon with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and hope to get their permits lined up in the following nine to 15 months.
The 355-foot tower would take shape where a four-story commercial building now stands, after a three-year construction period. The development site, at 3,400 square feet, is tiny, with the building having been used by Millennium Partners as a sales office for its bevy of nearby condo towers.
“These will be floor through ceiling units with 360 degree views,’’ said Dennis McKenna, senior partner at Riemer & Braunstein and co-counsel on the project. “Every unit will have a view of the Common. The goal of the development team is to impress the city and the neighborhood with the quality character and design of the building.’’
Still, among the challenges the developers may face in the city permitting process will be assuaging any concerns about shadows the tower might cast on nearby Boston Common and winning approval from city zoning officials to change use of the lot from commercial to residential.
The design of the tower is already underway. Local firm Elkus Manfredi Architects is on the job.
“There has been keen sensitivity in that area in regards to the concerns and regulations on wind and shadow,’’ McKenna said.
The development team has already begun to reach out to neighborhood residents, and meetings with city development officials are also in the works.
If the developers can make it through the city approval process, they are likely to find more than enough buyers, with new condo construction still lagging, even amid a flood of luxury rentals, notes Ahearn.
“It’s coming at a time when you need height and the city is more open to it,’’ he said.
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