South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

[jass]

Re: South Station Tower

Yeah, we've had this discussion before. I'd be curious to know how much time each of you has actually spent in these stations.

You can easily tell who actually uses transit and who sits at home drawing rectangles in their notebook all day

For someone who can see the future you sure have trouble winning people over to your point of view, if this thread is any indication.

Well this is archboston and not liveableboston. Some of the most beautiful buildings in the world are complete garbage at ground level because theyre designed from the sky

 

[Rover]

I go through South Station as I have almost every workday for the past 20+years. I welcome this project. While I don't spend anytime on the train tracks soaking in the sunlight as I'm worried about getting run over by a passing train, I have been in both Grand Central and 30th St Station in Philly, two darker stations which still maintain their classic ambiance if you're really into that sort of thing.

 

[tysmith95]

"i'm against the tower" = "i'm against affordable units being built in the City."

That is not true at all. These are the highest of the high end. Middle Class units are the ones being built at Dudley, Forest Hills, Dorchester, etc.

 

[Rover]

That is not true at all. These are the highest of the high end. Middle Class units are the ones being built at Dudley, Forest Hills, Dorchester, etc.

Believe the point is that if you don't build SST you don't get the tax revenues used to build affordable housing. The feds sure as hell aren't offering up anymore dough, and the money has to come from somewhere.

 

[kmp1284]

That is not true at all. These are the highest of the high end. Middle Class units are the ones being built at Dudley, Forest Hills, Dorchester, etc.

I think that's just how he and the other height fetishists would try to spin opposition. From his blatant disregard for the residents of 65 Martha Road it's obvious he doesn't care about affordable housing or the people who rely on it.

 

[tysmith95]

Odura, if you care about housing affordability the NIMBYS to get mad at are the ones in Readville, not this project.

 

[shawn]

Odura, if you care about housing affordability the NIMBYS to get mad at are the ones in Readville, not this project.

You can be mad at both - both are infinitely frustrating, both are myopically shortsighted.

I know - I know - that this necessarily cannot be an apples-to-apples comparison, but having spent two decades in a multitude of APAC big-boy cities with big-boy problems, the past few pages of back-and-forth read like a Sesame Street skit.

Boston needs more housing, period. Get both Readville and SST done. Every additional unit available to the market is one more unit to alleviate demand.

 

[KentXie]

Anyone who think odurandina actually cares about affordable housing need to read through his incessantly annoying posts. He doesn't. He hijacks "affordable housing" as a vehicle to push for tall towers to satisfy his fetish. If a developer was going to build a supertall in Boston that would result in a significantly loss in affordable housing, he would be for that too.

 

[tobyjug]

KX, you are too good a guy to get wound up! The dude just likes tall buildings. Wouldn't read too much into it beyond that! Ha, not like any of this really matters anyway. Anyway, best wishes!

 

[odurandina]

Boston needs more housing, period. Get both Readville and SST done. Every additional unit available to the market is one more unit to alleviate demand.

Everything needs to go up faster and get a little or in some cases, significantly taller. Some infill projects can support Serenity-sized centerpieces. Some 230' apts and neighborhood supertalls could probably get a few more floors.

Tremont Crossing towers need that 90' of original height put back. Dudley Square could have been twin towers w/ 1 easily going 420' to promote anti-gentrification. They could have included a 380' apt tower at the Flower Exchange.

A 30 story tower might pull 2.5~2.75x the number of affordable units of a 15 story tower (in some cases). That's not conjecture. Read your Fred Trump.

Serenity could have gone 23 or possibly, even 33 stories. Look at that parcel. What's the threat assessment?

Add the height. Ace or reduce the size of underground garages.

We're doing good stuff. Like Joe Walsh said; "we just kick it up a notch." This doesn't promote gentrification. Such planning (like the original proposal at 1 Charlestown) is anti-gentrification.

65 Martha is easy to solve. That's not conjecture.

Peeps been doing this shytte since the ziggurats.

let's

1. have no sense of humor.
2. be joyless as fuck.

 

[KriterionBOS]

Is this building a residential tower?

 

[stick n move]

The top half yes. It was an office tower that was put on hold...forever, shrunk the top portion and became mixed use.

 

[jass]

If youre going to ruin south station, might as well cram in every unit possible. Tall and skinny is not a good use. You need one hefty boi, or whatever it is the kids are saying these days.

Theres a developer in LA that architecture-types hate because they find his style to be tacky. And urbanists hate him too because his ground floor sucks.

But dude puts up 1,000 units like its nothing.

If you want to tackle affordable housing, you need stuff like this:

 

[HalcyonEra]

If youre going to ruin south station, might as well cram in every unit possible. Tall and skinny is not a good use. You need one hefty boi, or whatever it is the kids are saying these days.

Theres a developer in LA that architecture-types hate because they find his style to be tacky. And urbanists hate him too because his ground floor sucks.

But dude puts up 1,000 units like its nothing.

If you want to tackle affordable housing, you need stuff like this:

South Station is not going to be ruined in any way whatsoever. This is a fantastic project and long overdue.

Where exactly have you been for the past 20-50 years with your disdain?

 

[odurandina]

That shytte Jass posted has been going up all over So Cal; from Century City to the South Bay, along the 405, the 10 as far out as Rancho Guacamole, and the 101 toward Ventura where they used to grow oranges, strawberries, ect.

When they should have started building more towers w/ less parking at their transit hubs, and programmed, and connected their transit centers--instead, from Vista to Del Mar, Riverside to Long Beach, Chula Vista to Oxnard has been ruined w/ endless condo hell stretching to infinity.


*edit Century City.

 

[FitchburgLine]

It will be improved, not ruined. I’m a transit commuter, what the hell are you on about with this? The North Station development made the station better, do you agree?

 

[jass]

That shytte Jass posted has been going up all over So Cal; from Center City to the South Bay, along the 405, the 10 as far out as Rancho Guacamole, and the 101 toward Ventura where they used to grow oranges, strawberries, ect.

When they should have started building more towers w/ less parking at their transit hubs, and programmed, and connected their transit centers--instead, from Vista to Del Mar, Riverside to Long Beach, Chula Vista to Oxnard has been ruined w/ endless condo hell stretching to infinity.

Thanks for proving the point that you dont give a shit about affordability!

It will be improved, not ruined. I’m a transit commuter, what the hell are you on about with this? The North Station development made the station better, do you agree?

North Station was already a sad little basement

 

[North Shore]

Just a thought - When you cram that much density, what do you do to offset the inevitable impacts on school systems?

I'm not here to demean the benefits of affordable housing. We absolutely need some in greater Boston. But there are impacts that must be assessed along with them

40B developments alone have overtaxed many a school system.

 

[jass]

Just a thought - When you cram that much density, what do you do to offset the inevitable impacts on school systems?

I'm not here to demean the benefits of affordable housing. We absolutely need some in greater Boston. But there are impacts that must be assessed along with them

40B developments alone have overtaxed many a school system.

Ban children

 

[JumboBuc]

Just a thought - When you cram that much density, what do you do to offset the inevitable impacts on school systems?

I'm not here to demean the benefits of affordable housing. We absolutely need some in greater Boston. But there are impacts that must be assessed along with them

40B developments alone have overtaxed many a school system.

This argument is one of the biggest red herrings of the bunch. Boston's school-aged population keeps on consistently dropping. Increased urban housing density is being more than offset by lower fertility rates and changing demographics. BPS schools are operating well below their physical capacity, and the administration has been trying for years to shutter under-used buildings.

Places where the school-aged population is growing tend to be in-demand high-achieving districts that parents pay a premium to move to for the express purpose of putting their kids in the schools. Those districts have the resources and should expand their schools if needed.

Getting more kids into good schools should be a goal of society, not something to be wary of.