Comments on: Concord Baptist Church, South End, to be turned into condos

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:51:19 +0000

Our congregation will build a larger, brand new church in Mattapan, which will be state of the art and seat over 1,000 people.

By: Raleigh Real Estate

Raleigh Real Estate — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:47:40 +0000

Very interesting post. Seems like a neat project! I can’t wait to see what the final outcome turns out like. : ]

Thanks for sharing!

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:26:45 +0000

Why is it that people are so quick to jump to the religious bigotry argument. The Baptists, like most Christians, believe in things like the holy “trinity”, “resurrection from the dead” and the “immaculate” conception but somehow the religious beliefs of others are labelled “crazy.” Hmmmm… and the Mormons believe that the Angel Moroni delivered the word of God, which were on some golden plates buried somewhere in New York, to Joseph Smith. And then there’s the Quakers, Shakers, and movers? I think you get my point.
Bottom line, I thought this was a free country and that freedom to practice one’s own religion was a fundamental right. We really have reached a point of severe religious intolerance of others’ beliefs and it sure is interesting to see that get played out on a blog about real estate in the South End!! God bless America!! [IF you believe in God and aren't a "godless yuppie"] Are all yuppies “godless” or only the ones that took anon’s free parking space away from him? The nerve. Imagine wanting a soccer filed for kids at a school to play on. Humppffff…. how awful.

By: anon

anon — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:45:53 +0000

These days, the only “religious” organization moving TO the South End is the church of TomKat and their asian baby. I guess this makes sense with all the crazywood people in town making movies and getting tax breaks. Perhaps they’ll get together with the godless yuppies in the Neighborhood Parents for the Hurley School and build a xenu-themed miniature golf course on Worcester St. (right next to the equally absurd soccer field). Here’s hoping!

By: Observer

Observer — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:32:24 +0000

The issue re: the windows in the back of the building (pulpit) is actually not a function of zoning, but likely fire code. Fire code in Boston has formulas for how much glazed area, as a % of the overall wall area, is allowed based on how close the structure/wall is to the lot line. For a zero-lot line building, which I believe this is, there is 0 allowable glazing. The logic is that with glazing on the lot line, the owner of the abutting lot could build a structure that would be at risk of fire communicating via the windows.
There are expensive alternatives – witness the pricey fire-rated windows on the upper parts of 485 Harrison overlooking the Leon Electric bldg., but it is costly.
IMHO, I understand why the developer wants the glazing, but he also should have known about the fire code. You can’t just change the laws because you want to or because they are inconvenient.
Having walked through the building and living rather close to it, I can say that it looks structurally to be in terrible condition – the roof is sagging and the walls are maintained via post tension rods. In general, the floorplates do not progam well for a conversion, hence the absurdly large units that would be very tough to sell.
If the City wants the deal to proceed, the should have the developer maintain the Waltham and Warren facades, knock down the structure, step in 5-8′ off the pulpit facade to get the glazing legally, and build a new structure integrated to the old facades that makes sense.
Just my humble opinion.