Maverick Marketplace Looking At Another Top Award in Hub Contest

The outside of Maverick Marketplace at 154 Maverick St. The building owned by John and Melissa Tyler won the 2014 Boston Preservation Alliance award in the summer and is now up for the 'Fan Favorite' award.

The outside of Maverick Marketplace at 154 Maverick St. The building owned by John and Melissa Tyler won the 2014 Boston Preservation Alliance award in the summer and is now up for the ‘Fan Favorite’ award.

After winning the prestigious 2014 Boston Preservation Alliance award for their historic rehab of 154 Maverick St., John and Melissa Tyler now have the chance to walk away with the ‘Fan Favorite’ award from the Boston Preservation Alliance.

The Tylers’ Maverick Marketplace was one of 10 Boston Preservation Alliance (BPA) award winners this past summer. These 10 winners are now competing online for the fan favorite award.

As of Tuesday, Maverick Marketplace was in second place with 555 votes with Log Mein Corporate Headquarters on the South Boston waterfront in first place with 724 votes.

“Melissa and I won an award with the Boston Preservation Alliance for our renovation and restoration of Maverick Marketplace,” said John Tyler. “There is a Fan Favorite competition to vote for the best of the ten. For some fun and a lot of “Eastie Pride” we ask you to vote for us online.”

Fans of Maverick Marketplace can vote at www.vote2014.bostonpreservation.org/.

Alison Frazee, BPA outreach coordinator said all ten of these outstanding projects represent the Boston Preservation Alliance’s mission to protect the places, promote the vibrancy, and preserve the character that make Boston so unique.  The winner will be announced during the annual awards ceremony on Tuesday, October 21 at historic Faneuil Hall. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the ceremony begins at 6:00 p.m. with a reception to follow in the Greenhouse next to Faneuil Hall.

Before they purchased 154 Maverick St., the building was one that remained idle for decades. That all changed when the Tylers, a husband and wife team, had a vision of transforming the former Welfare building on Maverick Street into small business incubator.

The Tylers worked for years permitting, constructing and restoring the historic brick building at 154 Maverick St. into a marketplace for small business, professional offices and residences.

In July the BPA announced the Tylers work was among 10 high profile, big budget projects that received the 2014 Boston Preservation Alliance award.

It was a rare occasion as the award is not usually given to a husband and wife team that used their own funds and labor to complete a restoration project of a former public building.

After a fierce competition though, the BPA called the Tylers project and the other nine that received award, “our strongest group of nominations in the Award’s twenty-six year history”. The Alliance selected winners based on their outstanding contributions to preservation and the character of Boston’s built environment.

“Recognition of the hard work of our team that completed this two-year renovation is important to us” said John Tyler. “I am really proud of my wife, Melissa who was not only the vision and driving force of this project but also the General Contractor in charge of the day-to-day work on the building”.

Melissa Tyler said the award is really a great accomplishment for the Eastie neighborhood project.

“But what really makes us proud is the 17 new businesses that call the building home,” she said. “They are generating jobs and wealth for their families on a corner of Maverick square that had been abandoned and empty for 24 years”.

Previous BPA winners from Eastie include the Sumner Street Firehouse that houses Zumix and the Barnes School at 127 Marion Street.

“Historic preservation is both a community and an individual activity. Neighborhoods benefit immensely and support restored and adaptively used historic buildings, but it takes the fortitude of a company leader, or in this case a few dedicated individuals. Maverick Marketplace is the personal mission of John and Melissa Tyler,” said BPS Executive Director, Greg Galer. “They creatively returned an abandoned civic building back into an asset to the community. More personal sweat equity likely went into this project than any of our other winners. Boston would benefit from more individuals like the Tylers.”

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