42 replies to this topic

[Cotuit]

Menino calls for new downtown skyscraper to eclipse Hancock building [Boston.com]

One Winthrop Square, Boston, MA [GoogleMaps]

[M. Brown]

BIG NEWS!!!

[lexicon506]

I can't believe no one has posted on this yet. Are you guys awake???

[Recchia]

I'll get more excited once a bid is selected and it's a little more set in stone.

[Cotuit]

What Menino would like to see, and what market conditions will support may well be two different things, I'm with Recchia.

[UrbaniDesDev]

it is inevitable. I'm surprised it took so long. Looks great!

[wanderer34]

No offense, but it looks like a copy of the John Hancock center in Chicago. What I'm saying is that it's not original. South Station Tower was probably the best proposal I've ever seen for that city and I don't know what happened to it. I'm not dissing the city, but the proposal so far looks uninspired (no pun intended) and I thought that Boston really needed to build up their Back Bay skyline rather than worry about the Financial District.

[Cotuit]

wanderer34, on Feb 27 2006, 03:19 PM, said:

No offense, but it looks like a copy of the John Hancock center in Chicago. What I'm saying is that it's not original. South Station Tower was probably the best proposal I've ever seen for that city and I don't know what happened to it. I'm not dissing the city, but the proposal so far looks uninspired (no pun intended) and I thought that Boston really needed to build up their Back Bay skyline rather than worry about the Financial District.

There's no real proposal yet, any renderings floating around are just markups the BRA did to give a sense of the scale of an 80-story building in that location.

The Back Bay skyline is growing, not that I see anything wrong with the way it is now.

[Recchia]

I was very impressed this past weekend (my monthly Boston visits) with how much Back Bay and downtown have basically come one big downtown.  Looking down Huntington from Mission Hill and all you see is skyscrapers all they way to the financial district, with except of course that tiny little gap aka Boston Common.

[sbarbrow]

so campbell (boston globe correspondent) is not so psyched about this particular tower (or the mayor... or both?)

http://www.boston.co...isnt_it/?page=1

[Cotuit]

sbarbrow, on Mar 13 2006, 12:03 PM, said:

so campbell (boston globe correspondent) is not so psyched about this particular tower

I was just going to post a link to that. I tend to agree with him, as so far as Boston does not need to be involved in the penis size contest that has gripped cities like Shanghai, Dubai, Taipei, and Kuala Lampur. Boston can be (is) world class without whipping it out on it's skyline if you will.

[sbarbrow]

Cotuit, on Mar 13 2006, 12:06 PM, said:

I was just going to post a link to that. I tend to agree with him, as so far as Boston does not need to be involved in the penis size contest that has gripped cities like Shanghai, Dubai, Taipei, and Kuala Lampur. Boston can be (is) world class without whipping it out on it's skyline if you will.

i agree - i like his point too that with the south station tower, several lines of public transportation converge on it... with this one, it's not quite as accessible.

i'm pretty partial to the boston skyline - but of course i'm super biased  

[Frankie811]

http://www.boston.co...r_iconic_tower/

[ctman987]

I just returned from a weekend in the city and I loved it. Where exactly is this tower site located??

[lexicon506]

well, the official city RFP (which was sent out today) calls the site One Fifteen Federal St. So I guess the main entrance to this building will be on federal street, but winthrop square (intersection of Otis and Devonshire Streets) is the general area. I think it's a great location becuase it's pretty much smack in the middle of the financial district.

[PghUSA]

It has been over 30 years since JH was constructed, Boston is def. due for a new metro tallest.  Glad to see there is a push for this!

[cloudship]

I'd much rather a beautiful, standout building than a super-tall but ugly building. Boston has enough towers - work on the greenway, on back bay, and South Boston.

[nowyano]

cloudship, on Jun 13 2006, 07:53 PM, said:

I'd much rather a beautiful, standout building than a super-tall but ugly building. Boston has enough towers - work on the greenway, on back bay, and South Boston.

whatever happened to a new Hancock (or maybe it was Prudential I don't remember) being put up on the South Boston Waterfront?

[TheBostonian]

nowyano, on Jun 15 2006, 06:32 PM, said:

whatever happened to a new Hancock (or maybe it was Prudential I don't remember) being put up on the South Boston Waterfront?

There is a new John Hancock/Manulife building there.  No more than 20 or so stories high.

[atlrvr]

Menino and BRA are now welcoming developers to present proposals for towers in the 1,000 foot range at other downtown sites.

Boston Herald

Apparantly, one site that may move forward is an ugly office building at Congress and High streets, that would be demolished for something in the ~80 story/1,000 foot range.

More Boston Herald

Hopefully if that happens, they will really concentrate on the ground level, because that intersection is pretty fugly and not very inviting to pedestrians.

Edited by atlrvr, 29 September 2006 - 10:26 AM.