Boston’s Best Condo Buildings: Heritage on the Garden

One of Boston’s best condo buildings, Heritage on the Garden, shows off it’s belvederes and amazing outdoor spaces.

Heritage on the Garden is a 12-story brick and limestone building located at 300 Boylston Street, the corner of Arlington and Boylston in Back Bay. The ground floor has luxury retail and the next three floors are office space. Private residences start on the fifth floor.

Beginning on the sixth floor are three distinct towers – belvederes – complementing the Heritage’s upscale façade, allowing many of its 87 condominiums to command enviable views of the Boston Public Garden, and permitting an inspiring percentage (60%) of residences to enjoy bountiful outdoor space. One possible drawback to the three tower design, however, is that residents of the east and west belvederes have to take two elevators to access their luxury homes. (To learn more about Heritage’s development, amenities, high profile owners, and 2015 Sales, hit “Continued”)

Back When They Developed Heritage on the Garden

When it was being marketed as a development in the late 1980s, the property promised a couple things Bostonians weren’t so familiar with: white glove service and high end finishes. “You want your car washed, your plants watered, your dog walked, room and maid service? No problem,” wrote a Globe reporter describing what Heritage staff were prepared to do to make life easier for residents. Inside the living spaces prospective buyers saw Italian marble, wood moldings, and even refrigerators with ice cube dispensers on the doors – a new level of luxury that Boston condominium developments had started to offer buyers in the late 1980s.

While the development was primarily aimed at suburban empty nesters moving to the city, sales brochures were also printed in French and Spanish for international buyers. At the time the Heritage opened its sales office, the top end of the Boston condominium market was thought to be $1.4 million and $500 per square foot. But the Heritage’s fantastic location, part of a rejuvenated Boylston Street thanks to the city, its impressive design, and of course its refrigerators with ice cube dispensers on the doors, allowed asking prices to go as high as $2.5 million. Reportedly, a third of the condos had no problem selling in the first week of marketing.

Amenities and High Profile Owners at Heritage

I particularly like the dressing rooms in Heritage residences, an amenity that sometimes seems to distinguish great from good Boston condominium buildings. The very best residences at the Heritage are on high floors, boast impressive amounts of square feet, have the largest balconies and terraces and, of course, enjoy the most incredible views.

Instead of a fitness center, Heritage on the Garden has a mahogany and cherry library on the 5^th floor. The library faces the Garden and is a great place to chat, read the Wall Street Journal, enjoy the daily tea, or eat at the weekly Sunday brunch. There is also a function room on the 6^th floor. Today perhaps as many as 30 Heritage employees – including a fully staffed front desk, a major domo and two assistant major domos, concierges, valets, doormen, and maintenance personnel – are available to assist residents.

Heritage on the Garden condominiums come with a garage parking space and extra storage. High profile owners at the Heritage include Tom Werner of Red Sox ownership and a number of high powered Boston attorneys.

2015 Sales at Heritage on the Garden

A nicely renovated 8^th floor corner condominium came to market at the Heritage in 2015, but it didn’t face the front, offering “classy city views” instead of beautiful park views. For outdoor space it had only a Juliette balcony. As a result, the residence (#807) sold for only $1581 per square foot, accepting an offer that was three thousand dollars less than the $2,995,000 asking price.

Additionally, a combined residence at the Heritage, 1005 and 1006, featured 5083 square feet of living space, and “67 feet of frontage on the Public Garden, not including the landscape terrace.” The broker called the quality of finishes unmatched, and the opportunity to live there “once in a lifetime.” The property listed for $15 million and if it sold at that price, it would have instantly become the highest sale in the history of the Greater Boston MLS. Instead, competition drove the final sales price to $15.4 million.

Heritage on the Garden is truly one of Boston’s best condominium buildings.

Click if you interested in learning about another one of Boston’s best condominium buildings, The Carlton House.