Historic preservation of landmark properties is an economic engine throughout the commonwealth and strengthens its architectural heritage. That belief was underscored this week when the Massachusetts Historical Commission convened its annual statewide conference in Salem.

This year’s theme was “Making Connections: Partnerships for the 21st Century,” offering ideas and strategies of how like-minded individuals can work with developers to save historic building and adapt them for reuse.

One example of that collaborative effort is under way in Brighton, near Boston College and Cleveland Circle. It is the $80 million mixed-use development of Waterworks Park on the site of the former Chestnut Hill Waterworks property along Beacon Street, over-looking the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

“The property was designated a Boston Landmark in 1989; it is also listed on the National Register and the State Register of Historic Places,” according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

But getting to this point has been a long, arduous process.

Last year, the state Division of Capital Asset Management awarded development rights to Merrill Diamond, an architect and historic preservationist who recently developed Stoneleigh, the luxury condominium complex at the former Dedham jail.

Acquisition costs are being finalized, and the property will change hands in about a month, he said.

Last month, the BRA approved a plan at the Chestnut Hill Waterworks to create 108 luxury condominiums within three buildings and parking for 224 vehicles.

In addition, another existing building will include office space and a museum that pays homage to the city’s engineering history in providing water to an ever-growing population as Boston was annexing surrounding towns.

The official name of the developer is Waterworks Park, LLC, a joint venture between Diamond/Sinacori LLC and E.A. Fish Associates LLC.

“We took different career paths,” said Diamond of his partner, Nicholas Sinacori, who grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. “He pursued business and finance and has been a treasurer in U.S. industries and a founding partner of a venture capital firm.”

Sinacori joined Diamond about a year ago. Diamond, on the other hand, became an architect after graduating from Syracuse University. His career broadened as a developer several years ago.

The New York ties surfaced again in this project as Frank DiMella, who was a couple of years ahead of Diamond at Syracuse, formed an architectural firm in Boston, DiMella Shaffer, DiMella has designed the new six-story structure that will be built in the pipeyard, the most easterly portion of the property, next to Cassidy Park. And, DiMella oversaw the site coordination, said Diamond.

The new building will house 81 luxury condominiums, while the so-called low service building, the Beaux Arts building of white limestone, will contain 20 condominiums. Its grandeur is reflected in the tall Corinthian columns and pilasters and the scrolled cartouche at the top of the building.

In addition, seven condominiums will be constructed in the operations building, another late 1800s building, where a second story will be added.

The condominiums will have different floor plans – studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms – ranging in size from about 1,000 square feet of living space to nearly 3,000 square feet. The market rate condos will be priced between $500,000 and $1.5 million.

The other landmark historic building features architecture of a different style. This building, known as the high service pumping station, was designed by city architect Arthur Vinal in 1888 and reflects the Romanesque influence of noted architect H.H. Richardson, who designed Trinity Church in Copley Square.

Built of Milford granite and sandstone, this two-and-a-half-story building is handsome, with its gabled roofs and huge windows with double transoms. A west wing was added in 1898, designed by Wheelwright and Howe.

Graham Gund, a prominent architect of today, is the design architect for the three existing building, and Clarissa Rowe of Brown Richardson and Rowe is the landscape architect.

“There is some confusion as to who exactly designed the original landscape,” said Diamond. However, he found sketches in the archives at Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline that pertain to the site, indicating that either Olmsted or the subsequent firm of the Olmsted Brothers designed the greenspace and curved roadway.

The high service pumping station will include 26,000 square feet of commercial space, plus a 2,000-square-foot community room and 10,000 square feet of exhibit space that will be open to the public.

The idea was to create a museum that would showcase an 1894 Leavitt triple-expansion engine that once pumped 20 million gallons of water daily.

“One of the reasons we were selected [to develop the property] was that in addition to taking the eight-acre site that constitutes the waterworks pipyard and three historic building, we embraced the overall area,” said Diamond.

The developer is spending $1.1 million to restore the edge of the reservoir to Cleveland Circle, plus $200,000 to jumpstart the Cleveland Circle area. Another $100,000 has been earmarked for overall master planning that will have a larger, overall context and include the restoration of the rest of the reservoir.

The community benefits also include $1.5 million for the restoration of three historic buildings that relate to the city’s growth between 1870 and 1910, said Diamond. “That was Boston’s Golden Age, after the Great Fire of 1872 and the expansion of the Back Bay.

A number of great Boston cultural institutions were founded about that time as well, he added.

Diamond is a former commissioner of the Massachusetts Historical Commission and can appreciate the value of adaptive reuse and preservation work. But, he added, he enjoys new construction too and is excited about what will be happening at Waterworks Park.

“One of the big accomplishments, greatly boosted by Preservation Massachusetts, was the creation of state tax credits that would make the restoration of historic buildings more economically viable. However, they only can be applied to rental property, so only the high service pump station would be eligible, he said.

“Preservation has a role in the economy,” he continued, which he has seen in his practice as well as during his service on the Massachusetts Historical Commission and on other preservation groups.

“The Boston Landmarks Commission is a very key component in this project,” he added.
“We have a passion for history of Boston and Massachusetts,” he said.

Construction will begin in the spring, although contractors may start moving earth around on the site in November.

ompletion is expected within18 months. In the meantime, however, a trailer on site will serve as a sales office to market the residences, probably starting next month. The Waterworks Marketing Group, a joint venture between Diamond/Sinacori and Peabody Properties, will be handling the sales.

“I would venture to say that not one unit has a bad view,” he said.

The reservoir, which originally consisted of two basins and the waterworks served Boston for more that 100 years, but its use was cut back beginning in the 1940s when the Quabbin Reservoir was construced.

In the 1950s, one of the reservoirs was filled and its 37 acres were transferred to Boston College, which now uses the land for athletic fields. And when the Dorchester Tunnel was completed in the mid-1970s, the waterworks were no longer needed.

But the MWRA continued to use the pumping stations for emergency backup until two years ago when construction of a new emergency pumping facility was completed and new headquarters opened in Chelsea. The site was declared surplus property.

In 1991, the waterworks site and the reservoir were zoned as open space. Eleven years later, the BRA asked for a zoning amendment to allow compatible uses, such as housing and offices on 7.9 acres. The Boston Preservation Alliance and Historic Massachusetts had previously organized a charrette to determine the best uses for the site if it were to be developed.

Albert Rex, the immediate past executive director of the BPA, said the recommendations included allowing hotel, office, retail and residential use on the site and, in the meantime asking the MWRA to spend $2.5 million to repair the historic buildings.

:Preservation does make sense, and the city is a shining example of what preservation can do.

“The mayor deserves all kinds of kudos for keeping focused on preservation,” said Rex.

“Preservation often is discounted, but it has an impact on real estate values too. However, our location in New England, on the water, and our scale and our sense of place make it an expensive place to develop.”

Boston Homes By: Marilyn Jackson 2004-09-11

Press Contact: Peabody Properties, Inc. Tel: 781-794-1000