Travel observations and new developments of other cities and countries

[nashvylle]

this would look great in place of the mcdonalds on broadway. 

[markhollin]

Miami: new renderings fro twin 83 story, 848 ft. towers to be known as MiamiCentral. Will feature 2007 residential units, 49,600 sq. ft. of retail,  and 2,136 capacity garage on 2.7 acres.  Courtesy of YIMBY Florida.
 

[andywildman]

6 hours ago, markhollin said:

Miami: new renderings fro twin 83 story, 848 ft. towers to be known as MiamiCentral. Will feature 2007 residential units, 49,600 sq. ft. of retail,  and 2,136 capacity garage on 2.7 acres.  Courtesy of YIMBY Florida.
 

AND IT'S ON A TRANSIT STOP!

Nashville is what, only 20 years away from development like this?

[nashville born]

On 8/8/2021 at 8:42 PM, KJHburg said:

^^ the tallest buildings by floor count in NC are all in Charlotte and so are the top 10 tallest buildings in the state save the PNC Plaza at 538 feet in downtown Raleigh.  

This new 33 story apartment tower in Raleigh will be that city's 4th tallest building overall in height. 

By floor count are 60 story BofA Corporate Center 871 feet, 48 story Duke Energy Center,  46 story Truist Tower, 50 story Vue apartment tower, etc.  

this is fairly up to date but our tallest in Charlotte and mainly office towers with the exception of the Vue apartment tower.   List of tallest buildings in Charlotte - Wikipedia

Thanks for the info/link.  Just saw that the wiki page touts the BofA tower as the 37th tallest is the U.S.  That struck me as a little high so I checked three cities' wiki pages (NYC, Chicago, and LA).  Combined, they have39 towers taller than Charlotte's BofA tower.   That 37th claim is a bit off, especially when you consider I only looked at three other U.S. cities.  So many more with single and multiple towers over 871ft.  

[markhollin]

New York: Renderings for One Madison Ave., Flat Iron District, 27 stories, 1.4 million sq. ft. office space (courtesy of YIMBY New York):
 

[markhollin]

Chicago, Ramova Theater renovation, 3518 South Halsted St. in Bridgeport area. Built in 1929, 1,800 seats, 5,000 sq. ft. brewery, 4000 sq. ft. restaurant (courtesy of YIMBY Chicago):
 

[markhollin]

New York: Progress on Mott Haven in The Bronx at 2401 3rd Ave., 4 acres, 25 and 17 stories, 900 residential units (courtesy of YIMBY New York):
 

[Bos2Nash]

Been meaning to do this post for a couple weeks now. I was up in New England at the end of July and on the day of my return trip I had time to give myself a brief walking update on the business district in downtown Boston. It was a brief tour, but very enlightening to how much construction is really booming in even such an expensive city. Here is the approximate loop.  

The first project was the South Station Tower. South Station is a historical building within Boston and the developer (Hines) is constructing a new tower above an expanded Bus Terminal and the Commuter Rail Station. Currently they are working on the Bus Station expansion which is bringing in some very impressive steel members. As an FYI, the first iteration of this tower was proposed in 2006!

This is the current Master Plan and some Renderings

Additionally here are two documents available through the City of Boston. The first one is a Public Comment Meeting, the other is typical Project Intent Report that accompanies many of the major developments within Boston.

• Presentation
• Notice of Project Change: South Station Air Rights Project

This is Millennium Place which was constructed which was completed in 2013 right on the edge of Downtown Crossing. I personally love the materiality of this building, very meticulous. Sitting across the street is the historically refurbished Paramount Theater, the Ritz Carlton (new one) and the Boston Ballet Opera House.

Washington Street (which runs through Boston in its entirety until it hits State Street, also is very well organized within this district

This beautifully restored building that house the Godfrey Hotel

Downtown Crossing (one block off the Boston Commons and Garden) is the heart of the business district and is protected from most vehicles (delivery and emergency vehicles have special privilege's). I would walk down here all the time during lunch. Christmas time in this area is gorgeous when Macy's puts up their massive Christmas tree too!

Millennium Tower opened in 2016 as the tallest residential tower in Boston at 681' and 54 floors. (It lasted until One Dalton (Boston's 2nd Four Seasons) opened in 2019  at 742' and 61 floors). One of the best parts about this tower is it incorporated renovating and restoring the old Filene's Basement building. The building now houses Irish clothing retailer Primark, a local grocery store and is a head house to the Red & Orange Line. Old Navy is also a tenant within the tower itself.

A new head house was also constructed for the Orange Line platform directly below (the stairs behind the clock are the roof)

They even took a beautiful step of incorporating an old clock and its ornament stone work at ground level to help with wayfinding...

History is still a centerpiece of Boston (of course) with the original State House at the corner of Washington and State Street (my old office was the building directly behind on the 9th floor)

This four story structure (that now houses a Chiptole) was one of the first to be preserved by Boston Historic and is very protected today. The Irish Potato Famine memorial is just to the left in the image as well.

Found this funny as part of the City Hall Plaza re-construction project. This would NEVER happen in Nashville haha

Boston's 2nd urban Target took the slot of an old Walgreens (or Rite Aid) a couple years back. It fills only the section of building at the corner stops at the glass divider you see to the left of the first image and to the 3-story bump out in the second image.

I am a huge fan of what the city did on Causeway Street for the bike lanes. Very well protected and very well marked when not...

The signage here indicates use daily and annually.

As we approach the Hub on Causeway, TD Garden and North Station, the bike actually transitions to a protected center lane. Making both sides of the street very accessible for bikes as well as providing a safe pedestrian refuge for pedestrian crossings.

Hub on Causeway is a recent "crown jewel" development for the city. It takes up the footprint of the original Boston Garden (detailing of which is mimic'd in the hotel/residential tower base). The building was built in three phases with an Avalon residential tower off to the side of the site first, then the residential/hotel tower and finally the office tower. The project also had to provide connection from Causeway Street to the North Station Commuter Rail/Amtrak station, access to the TD Garden (home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics) and to the Green and Orange Line below. This project was designed by Gensler (Cumulus Site's architect). The development is also home to an urban Star Market (grocery) ArcLight cinema and many other retailers. 

The residential tower has 440 units, the hotel is 272 keys, the office is 651,500 square feet, the podium (which is retail and office) is 395,645 square feet. The Avalon residential Tower is 503 units with 270 standalone parking spaces.

The timeline for this project was original proposed in 2013 and the office tower was completed May 18, 2021.

The first image shows the residential tower in the foreground and the office tower in the background.

The tall windows are intended to be similar to the original Boston Garden design, which can be seen below prior to the green line being buried.

This is a connector that connects an Avalon residential Tower (phase I of this project) back to the main residential/hotel tower.

This is the main entrance to the development. It is home to multiple retail/restaurant entry points as well as the Bobby Orr statue after scoring his most famous goal.

The view looking down Canal Street toward Fanuel Hall and the Greenway

View approaching the development from Canal Street

The office tower is unique in its design as well as execution.

It butts directly up against the current TD Garden as well as overlooking the Zakim Bridge (which was part of the Big Dig) and the I-93 tunnel.

Here is the ground floor plan of the development. Also, there is only 4 levels of parking under this entire development totaling 546 parking spaces!

Section/Height chart

Here are some Development Renderings

Directly across I-93 from Hub on Causeway is Love Joy Wharf which consists of 175 residential units and ZERO parking. The development also included the renovation of 160 Washington Street into offices that now house the headquarters for Converse shoes.

The brickwork is truly exquisite on this project!

Beautifully accessible waterfront as well as access tot he retail. This area of the waterfront is actually the lock system to get into the Charles River (love me that Dirty Water!)

Here is the site plan for the development

Ground floor plan of the newly constructed 130 Beverly Street (again, no new parking)

Renderings of the project

This images shows just how constrained the site was as well.

Running down Washington Street is a pretty recent BRT lane. Boston has been doing some pilot testing around different areas and are now making them permanent.

This is the view from that same street looking back at the business district

A new pocket park being constructed (pretty sure this is smaller than Church Street Park).

 

[smeagolsfree]

I see they have those height limits there too! But I did forget they can’t block the sun coming into the Commons.

[Bos2Nash]

Bullfinch Crossing is a multi-building redevelopment proposed back in 2013 and is ongoing where the developer is re-developing an old parking garage piece-by-piece with a multitude of different uses. Click Here for the original Project Notification Form proposal from back in 2013

This was the existing structure

Here is what that PNF was proposing

Since this proposal, they have built and completed 100-110 Sudbury and they are working on One Congress. The portion of the development abutting the I-93  and Merrimac/Congress Street is also changing to a single Life Sciences building (you can see this change and additional renderings HERE).

Here are some progress photos of the One Congress office tower, which will be home to State Street Insurance.

The tower will have some iconic facade detailing as well.

The purpose of the "Big Dig" project was to bury the I-93 elevated expressway, but the real crown jewel of this project is the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Hands down shows the beauty of having green space within an urban core. People from all walks use this daily for all different uses. It is truly beautiful piece of the city and weaves neighborhoods back together.

The buffer provided between the surface road and the greenway is great!

 

 

 

I actually saw nurse getting in her steps through the Labyrinth here.

Connection to the waterfront through Christopher Columbus Park.

The Boston Harbor Islands building is really cool in how they take water off the roof and concentrate it into a specific drainage system.

Boston's version of the pedal taverns.... The family friendly Duck Boats

PO Square is also a great pocket park within the heart of the business district. There is a cafe, usable mats to enjoy lunch on as well as hosting events like afternoon Yoga. This park is built on top of a parking garage.

A developer is renovating a tower adjacent to PO Square to remove the concrete facade and replace it with a glass curtain wall system. Very odd project.

The Bank of America building added on their Winter Garden a couple years ago is a very cool structure that has cafe space and direct direction to banking giant offices.

Lastly, 115 Winthrop Square is an incredible development in the City. It is a 99 ground lease on an old abandoned garage that the City of Boston owns. The ground lease is costing the developer north of $150 million dollars. The site is incredibly constrained within the business district and proved to be quite an obstacle in the approval process due to shadow laws that impact the Boston Common, Boston Garden and the Copley Square Park. The original PNF can be found here. Originallly approved at 1,545,021 square feet, the project has been downsized to now be 1,447,000 square feet. All on a 47,874 square foot lot. The final height of the tower will be 690'-4" above grade.

This is the massing breakdown

Here are some progress photos of the construction...

Check out the "ripples" in the facade. Somewhat similar to what One22One is doing and this is going all the way up the structure.

Even the facade that not super visible is getting solid design. Love it!

Something we can only wish for in Nashville, the streets have been shrunk down in order to have temporary sidewalks on BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET!!

[Bos2Nash]

Last but not least, I had a layover at LaGuardia and I had neve been here. The airport is currently undergoing an $8 BILLION project to rebuild the terminals and I was fortunate enough to walk through portions of it.

A skybridge above the tarmac is utilized for multiple portions of the terminal...

The architect nerd in me was quite impressed with the quality of the bathroom design and construction...

Loved the architectural model showing the entire project...

Last but not least the center mall in the terminal is a bit over the top.....

[smeagolsfree]

Pan too fast makes us dizzy!

[Bark At The Sun]

On 8/16/2021 at 2:56 PM, Bos2Nash said:

Been meaning to do this post for a couple weeks now. I was up in New England at the end of July and on the day of my return trip I had time to give myself a brief walking update on the business district in downtown Boston. It was a brief tour, but very enlightening to how much construction is really booming in even such an expensive city. Here is the approximate loop.  

 

This is Millennium Place which was constructed which was completed in 2013 right on the edge of Downtown Crossing. I personally love the materiality of this building, very meticulous. Sitting across the street is the historically refurbished Paramount Theater, the Ritz Carlton (new one) and the Boston Ballet Opera House.

 

 

That is such a cool area of Boston.   Was there back in 2016 and stayed at the Hyatt Regency right around the corner.  We had dinner at Legal Crossing one night and breakfast at Caffe Nero......both very good.   Never had lobster before until that trip ......... had a killer lobster roll at the Back Deck (just up the street from Legal Crossing) and a whole one at the Sail Loft in the harbor area near the aquarium.    My wife enjoyed walking up to the Parker Omni House to get one of those mini Boston Cream pies.   The subway trip from the airport to downtown was easy, and everything downtown was very easy to walk to or get around to with one of those trolley tours.  I really enjoyed Boston and am looking forward to returning one day.

[dmillsphoto]

6 hours ago, Bark At The Sun said:

I'm not sure why, but I'm suddenly STAHrVING.

[markhollin]

Spent some time in Grand Rapids, MI last week (city 200,000 and metro 1.2 million population).  Here are some pics of more current  structures.  Will share more in the next few days of all the wonderful older architecture.

[BnaBreaker]

Glad you enjoyed GR!  It's a fantastic small city, especially if you are a lover of outdoors activities and great beer!  

[markhollin]

1 hour ago, BnaBreaker said:

Glad you enjoyed GR!  It's a fantastic small city, especially if you are a lover of outdoors activities and great beer!  

Indeed--terrific craft beer scene there.  And Meijer Gardens is one of the best arboretums in the country, that also has a fantastic 3,000 capacity amphitheater that is always hopping with major acts each summer. 

[BnaBreaker]

5 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Indeed--terrific craft beer scene there.  And Meijer Gardens is one of the best arboretums in the country, that also has a fantastic 3,000 capacity amphitheater that is always hopping with major acts each summer. 

Agreed completely!  What breweries were you able to make it to?  There are so many that I've never had the chance to go to, but my favorites so far are probably City Built and Greyline.  I also love New Holland, who have a huge beautiful new tap room/brew pub over on Bridge Street, but they're technically based out of Holland so I won't count them. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by BnaBreaker

[markhollin]

Grand Rapids, Michigan also features some amazing "good bones" of classic structures from the late 1800s-1920s era.  Many of them were built for the lumber and furniture businesses that were booming at that time.  Most have been converted to offices, hotels, and residential now.  I really love all the various hues of brick that were utilized. 

There are also quite a few brick streets---some from the1800s that are given loving care, as well as many new streets of brick, especially in parts of downtown. 
 

[Bos2Nash]

8 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Grand Rapids, Michigan also features some amazing "good bones" of classic structures from the late 1800s-1920s era.  Many of them were built for the lumber and furniture businesses that were booming at that time.  Most have been converted to offices, hotels, and residential now.  I really love all the various hues of brick that were utilized. 

There are also quite a few brick streets---some from the1800s that are given loving care, as well as many new streets of brick, especially in parts of downtown. 
 

Absolutely beautiful architecture! Another benefit of these buildings is they are built to last more than a lifetime, so they will most likely outlast their newer constructed counterparts.

[markhollin]

Magic City Innovation District in Miami, 18 acres, 1,599 residential units, 942,000 sq. ft. of office space, 432 hotel rooms, 200,000 sq. ft. of retail, inclusive of Little Haiti Brightline Commuter Train Station (courtesy of YIMBY Florida).

 

[markhollin]

Renderings and progress on Los Angeles'  Figuero & Pico, at 37 stories, 600,000 sq. ft. office/hotel, 65,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurants (courtesy of YIMBY LA):

[markhollin]

Indianapolis:

Hope that someday our Music City Roundabout will have statuary art of this type instead of Stix:

[markhollin]

New York City's 100 year-old 26 story Crown Building is being converted into Aman Hotel with 83 rooms/22 condos (courtesy of YIMBY New York):
 

[markhollin]

San Jose,  CA: Renderings for 447 Almaden Blvd., 16 stories, 282 ft, 1,416,000 sq. ft. office space, 37,600 sq. ft. retail space, 1,279 capacity garage (courtesy of YIMBY Bay Area):