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‘The city of Boston… let us all down’: Allston Rock City Hall abandons plans for live music venue [UPDATED]

UPDATE 10:58 a.m. EST: All hope might not be lost. ARCH’s owner, Rich Anton of Studio 52, relays the following message, noting that the manager who posted the note last night is simply no longer employed at the space and is no longer authorized to speak on its behalf:

“As we are currently utilizing the ARCH space as a art gallery, we have not completely abandoned our quest for live entertainment,” Anton tells Vanyaland. “We are just navigating that path very carefully which we expect will take a good amount of time. Should we eventually acquire the correct permits and licenses to use the space for purposes beyond our legal use, we will certainly let you guys know.”

Stay tuned. Our original post is below…
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Facing mounting city opposition, permitting struggles, and ongoing noise concerns from a neighbor, Allston Rock City Hall has abandoned its vision to become a DIY music venue. The space, a part of the Studio 52 rehearsal complex on Everett Street in Allston and currently utilized as an art gallery, relayed word last night via its manager, Nick Grieco.

ARCH will still operate as a private room, art gallery, and a utility space for Studio 52. But its plan to join the Allston music scene as a new alternative to the bar and club scene is no more.

Here’s Grieco’s post from last night:

As you may or may not know, Allston Rock City Hall is no more. Creating ARCH was a long and strenuous journey, and the support that all of you showed me and Studio 52 throughout the process was nothing short of miraculous. From conceptualization, to construction, to completion, the feedback was incredible, and had things worked out the way we all wanted, I have no doubt in my mind that together we would have turned ARCH into a remarkable performance home for the musicians of Boston.

I put my heart and soul into bringing something new and exciting to the city of Boston, and the city of Boston let me down. It let us all down. The circumstances that led to the indefinite delays and the eventual decease should have never taken place, but they did. We tried tirelessly to rectify those injustices, and fight for what we knew would have been an uplifting entity for the creative population, but in the end the efforts were for nought. Some of you booked shows with me as we were growing. Some of you invested your time and money in me and my vision. Some of you fought alongside us when things went south, in front of the community, or behind the scenes. To all of you, I am deeply sorry.

I am heartbroken, I am disappointed in my city, and to top it all off, I am now unemployed. As if you all haven’t already been so outstanding enough as to support me and my efforts thus far, I look to you once more to assist me now in taking the next step towards recovery, as I look to walk down new paths.

Thank you so much, I love you all.

Here are additional looks at the ARCH space since its opening as a gallery a few months ago…

ARCH 1

ARCH 3

ARCH 4