Once a center of activity, Charles River Speedway sat in vacant disrepair for decades. The speedway was originally built in 1899 by the Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) for harness horse and bicycle racing. Despite its popularity in the early 20th Century, the rise of automobiles gradually infringed on the speedway until parts of the track were cleared to make way for Soldiers Field Road in the 1950’s. Finally in 2019, funding was granted so work could be started to restore the remaining defunct municipal offices and other buildings to be used as an extensive mixed-use space. The Architectural Heritage Foundation (AHF) partnered with Bruner/Cott Architects and D.F. Pray. Once Alpine was brought on to the project by D.F. Pray, they faced the challenges of advanced building deterioration, unsafe structural damage due to a previous fire, coordinating schedules with numerous other contractors, and restoring the windows to their former beauty. The schedule was further challenged with the introduction of COVID-related restrictions and related materials shortages.
