Back in November, it was announced that a real estate developer had purchased the old Dainty Dot Hosiery property on Kingston Street near Chinatown for $9 million. At the time, it was unclear what he intended to do with the property, which is zoned for a building as high as 100-feet.

Well, details have been forthcoming.

Developer Ori Ron of Swampscott, Mass., plans to redevelop the old Dainty Dot Hosiery building at 120 Kingston St. into a 180-unit residential high-rise that he says will be "iconic" in its design.

... [T]he 120 Kingston St. tower ... would include 4,000 square feet of retail space and 160 parking spaces. Its proposed height &8212; at a total of 380 feet &8212; is about four times that allowed by zoning, and the tower would replace much of the Dainty Dot building, which was built in 1898.

Neighborhood activists are not pleased. They complain that the building would not fit in with the neighborhood and does nothing to address the needs of its residents.

This is an easy one for me (are you surprised?).

I can certainly understand and respect zoning regulations. The Archstone-Smith apartment building on Washington Street seems absurdly large, as does the Kensington Place development, going up across the street from it.

The Dainty Dot building, on the other hand, borders the Rose Kennedy Greenway; it's more a part of "downtown" than it is a part of Chinatown. Its neighbors would be the new State Street building and ... that other building there on the corner (I forget the name).

And, while I can understand the neighborhood's concerns that the building "isn't going to help Chinatown", neither does an empty building, which is what Dainty Dot is.

I'd say, choose your battles, wisely. This isn't worth fighting for.

(Once this gets more press, the neighborhood activists will start talking about how the proposed building will tower over a park being built, next door. Don't buy into the talk. The "park" is about 20 feet by 30 feet, and it borders three multi-lane streets. It may well end up being the least-used park ever in the city of Boston, if and when it is completed. Photo, here.)

Source: High-Rise Planned for Chinatown - By Adam Smith, SAMPAN