The Hub on Causeway (née TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End


I think a tower like this would have been cooler:

31604973278_395dd36751_z.jpg
 
^ There is something very pleasing, nostalgic about those tall windows like the old Garden.
 
^ There is something very pleasing, nostalgic about those tall windows like the old Garden.

Exactly - - as someone who appreciates history, a tip of the cap to the architects for that. The old art deco Garden truly harkened back to a grander, more ambitious style. I only wish they kept the spire.
 
This article is mostly a press release, but it does say the food hall (“the city’s largest”) will be open to the train concourse.
https://urbanland.uli.org/developme...ng-a-former-sports-venue-the-hub-on-causeway/



Thanks, Fitchburg, for this find. Pretty impressive article about the history behind the Hub Development and the thinking by everyone involved which led to what is being built today, including the explaination about how the office building 'bump outs' came about and what they look like from the inside.
 
Note how the Food Hall is connected to North Station:

KVvAWDE.png

Is anyone else wondering how woefully undersized that MBTA access vestibule is? One set of stairs, one escalator and one elevator to process a crowd before and after an event (plus normal rush hour commuters)?

Yes, people are used to exiting the garden and crossing over Causeway Street, but if they know there's a covered access way to the GL & OL, especially when it's raining/snowing/cold - that's a recipe for disaster.
 
Is anyone else wondering how woefully undersized that MBTA access vestibule is? One set of stairs, one escalator and one elevator to process a crowd before and after an event (plus normal rush hour commuters)?

Yes, people are used to exiting the garden and crossing over Causeway Street, but if they know there's a covered access way to the GL & OL, especially when it's raining/snowing/cold - that's a recipe for disaster.

It is too small...it isn't even bi-directional. I regret this.

But the after-game surge (and maybe the peaky-McPeak of rush hour?) was probably going to be too big for most "right-sized" access, and they're obviously trying to move some of that traffic via the Food Hall and "The Hub" (covered area) retail, which should be good at slowing/spreading the exiting surge.

Being able to get to Causeway as a straight-shot through "The Hub" is a fairly decent option--much better than today's out-and-around path.
 
It is too small...it isn't even bi-directional. I regret this.

But the after-game surge (and maybe the peaky-McPeak of rush hour?) was probably going to be too big for most "right-sized" access, and they're obviously trying to move some of that traffic via the Food Hall and "The Hub" (covered area) retail, which should be good at slowing/spreading the exiting surge.

Being able to get to Causeway as a straight-shot through "The Hub" is a fairly decent option--much better than today's out-and-around path.
The tunnel itself was already fixed in size, so the test is if the entrance is big enough to "fill" the tunnel. The great hall does provide better overflow capacity than the existing side entrances.
 
Holy shytte. Not planned for the future?

like building 8 floors and not putting on an extra 10 all over the Metro core next to transit?

It just couldn't be. Who would do that?

No but seriously, think Boston/ Cambriddge, etc is bad;

There's this incredibly stupid town: Los Angeles.
 
The tunnel itself was already fixed in size, so the test is if the entrance is big enough to "fill" the tunnel. The great hall does provide better overflow capacity than the existing side entrances.

The tunnel used to be the major pinch point before the fare gates. But if you remember the old head house, it had two escalators, an elevator and a double wide set of stairs to get you down to the tunnel. And it would overcrowd.

Now, you're moving the same amount of people to a much smaller area to begin with. I just foresee it as a total clusterf*ck after a game.
 
The tunnel used to be the major pinch point before the fare gates. But if you remember the old head house, it had two escalators, an elevator and a double wide set of stairs to get you down to the tunnel. And it would overcrowd.

Now, you're moving the same amount of people to a much smaller area to begin with.

...so could say the new cramped single stair, single escalator, and single elevator are right-sized for the crappy old tunnel.:rolleyes: (an admission that the old headhouse over-promised vs the old tunnel). If they weren't going to upgrade the tunnel it at least can be justified as entirely right-sized end-to-end.

...Maybe its me as a middle child: attacking the design (and delay) when things are quiet, but defending the street-level "walk straight out" when the tunnel is critiqued.

Also, do I see that the existing McDonalds is the Gibraltar guarding the entrance to the new Food Hall?
 
^
That McDonalds was closed a couple of years ago, which was a good/bad situation for me. There’s been nothing there since. Also, heard they’re using the new high speed escalators for the T tunnel access, twice the speed and half as much space required.
 

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