Large development near South Station will have to preserve a Chinatown park

The BRA has posted the design guidelines for developers who want to turn 5 1/2 acres of mostly state-owned land next to South Station into a "gateway" project - and a key part is a requirement that any development include a replacement for Reggie Wong Park, which consists mainly of basketball courts on Kneeland Street.

However, the design guidelines - which Bldup pointed us to - don't say the developer that wins the rights to the land has to keep the park there, only that if they move it, they have to set aside at least the same amount of land to recreate it somewhere on the site.

The guideline set out a complex set of ideas for how the project should look: From the south, the project will be a "gateway" to the city, and one that can include buildings up to 300 feet high, but along Kneeland, the look should feel more like part of the existing neighborhood of relatively low-slung buildings - and should somehow encourage people to feel like moving along a corridor towards South Station.

Also, no giant ziggurats:

The 5.5 acre site, though already comprised of several subparcels, should be broken into smaller parcels and streets to better relate to the adjacent neighborhoods. Careful attention should be given to the orientation of any building(s) and shadow impacts to each of these neighborhoods, while still considering the relationship of individual buildings within the site to one another.

In addition to the old Wang building, now used by MassDOT, the site also includes a Veolia steam plant, which the state says can be torn down, although a smaller replacement would have to go on the site.