225 Franklin St

Where 225 Franklin St is

Its block in Downtown Boston, drawn from Boston's own building outlines and street centerlines.

The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm

35 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.

The typical floor has 590 ft of exterior wall, and across 39 residential floors the building carries 25,396 ft of it in total, divided among the 722 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.69: a squarish plan, with enough perimeter for a conventional double-loaded corridor. How window line and plate shape are measured.

At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 18.5 homes per floor. Its floors are not alike, though: the typical floor's deepest interior point is 50 ft from a facade, while its worst floor reaches 94 ft. The score follows the typical floor, so a podium that could not hold a bedroom does not by itself sink a slim tower above it — but it is there, and it is part of what would have to be drawn around.

Why 225 Franklin St scores 80 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 69, Interior depth 76, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.

Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is daylight efficiency, at 69 out of 100: 75% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%.

Built in 1968

Boston records this building as going up in 1968, which puts it in the post-war stock.

As a rule, the period when plates got deep and facades became curtain wall: sealed glazing, lower floor-to-floor heights, and mechanical systems designed around a sealed box. Conversions here usually turn on whether the windows can be made to open and whether ceilings survive new plumbing. That is the era’s general tendency rather than a finding about this building — the model reads an outline and a height, and can see nothing inside — but it is the first thing an architect would want to know, and it colours how much confidence the 75% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$360 per square foot all-in across 906,245 sq ft of converted floor, or $326.2M in total — about $452K for each of the 722 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 229,255 sq ft of windowless core, which has to be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered like the rest of the building and then earns nothing. Against it the model sets a completed value of $442K a home, which for 722 homes is $318.8M.

What would have to be true

A $7.5M gap before any grant, which the modeled $10.0M closes. What would reopen it soonest: circulation efficiency 1% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $7.5M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 722 homes finishing at $452K rather than the $442K the model assumes — 2% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $352 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $438K a home. That is below the assumed value, which is why this building counts as unlocked by the grant — subject to it qualifying under the law's vacant-and-abandoned test, which this data cannot show.

Each of these, moved on its own, would be enough to undo that for 225 Franklin St:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 225 Franklin St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown Boston

225 Franklin St ranks 65th of the 96 buildings screened here, against a median score of 89.

Its floor plate is better lit than 22% of them, and shallower than 48% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 12th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 96 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.

Within the SKY zone

35th of 52 zoned SKY — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

52 of the screened buildings are zoned SKY. 225 Franklin St ranks 35th of them against a median score of 88. 40 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 51 ft from a facade against this building’s 50 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 19,019 homes. The group’s top scorer is 147 Milk St, at 100.

Its nearest match in size: 60 State St

The screened building closest to 225 Franklin St in converted floor area is 60 State St: 925,422 sq ft over 42 stories, against 906,245 sq ft over 40 here.

225 Franklin St scores 80 to its 67, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 76 out of 100 here, 30 there (deepest interior point 68 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 60 State St falls short even with the modeled grant, while 225 Franklin St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant. The two stand about 1,300 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 225 Franklin St $10.0M, on the assumption it qualifies. Whether it does, no published dataset can say.

That figure assumes the building meets the Act’s vacant-and-abandoned test, which turns on code-enforcement and receivership records no city publishes.

It does not sit in a 2018 designated Opportunity Zone, so it would not draw that Section 201 priority.

Other buildings screened near 225 Franklin St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 310 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 185 Franklin St
  29 stories · 54% daylit · 584 estimated homes · scores 35/100 (Marginal)
  about 310 ft away
• 260 Franklin St
  26 stories · 81% daylit · 358 estimated homes · scores 84/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 330 ft away
• 55-61 Batterymarch St
  7 stories · 100% daylit · 38 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 390 ft away
• 147 Milk St
  10 stories · 100% daylit · 259 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 470 ft away