South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

shmessy · Sep 8, 2021

393b40 said:
The tower isn't getting redesigned. Too many things in motion at this point.

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That’s depressing. Lost opportunity to have done something special on an iconic location. A half hearted, personality-lacking and unimaginative bunt like Kenmore North. Like that location, this should have been a Statement Building. Something along the lines of the excellent and dynamic State Street HQ (but different). If ever a dramatic spire was perfect for a tower, this was the place.

In fact, both “polar stations” (North and South) should have been dramatically spired. Would have been beautiful and somewhat placemaking/urban/fun.

I can only imagine Dhz’s long shot skyline pics with the bookended spires recognized from afar as the major transpo terminals…..

FK4 · Sep 8, 2021

shmessy said:
.

That’s depressing. Lost opportunity to have done something special on an iconic location. A half hearted, personality-lacking and unimaginative bunt like Kenmore North. Like that location, this should have been a Statement Building. Something along the lines of the excellent and dynamic State Street HQ (but different). If ever a dramatic spire was perfect for a tower, this was the place.

In fact, both “polar stations” (North and South) should have been dramatically spired. Would have been beautiful and somewhat placemaking/urban/fun.

I can only imagine Dhz’s long shot skyline shots with the bookended spires recognized from afar as the major transpo terminals…..

It’s bland, and I agree with everything, but at least it’s glass. The absolute worst vantage of the city is coming in from the south on 93 — it’s just an ugly jumble of brick and cement and random stubby looking, tired old semi-skyscrapers. Something a bit shinier will draw the eye away from the drab, or so I hope.

RandomWalk · Sep 8, 2021

The Fidelity HQ building should have been dropped when Stone and Webster vacated a few years back. Use the opportunity to re-establish South Station’s complete street wall along Summer, and make a nice gateway into the future Post Office redevelopment.

Blackbird · Sep 8, 2021

Charlie_mta said:
^ It will always look like an upraised middle finger to me.

A.k.a. that “classic Boston” aesthetic!

mass88 · Sep 8, 2021

FK4 said:
It’s bland, and I agree with everything, but at least it’s glass. The absolute worst vantage of the city is coming in from the south on 93 — it’s just an ugly jumble of brick and cement and random stubby looking, tired old semi-skyscrapers. Something a bit shinier will draw the eye away from the drab, or so I hope.

Yep. It will stand up over time far better than a number of towers in downtown Boston.

Suffolk 83 · Sep 8, 2021

Today

chrisbrat · Sep 8, 2021

mass88 said:
Yep. It will stand up over time far better than a number of towers in downtown Boston.

sad, but oh so very true. i wish there was an obvious, economical way to undo/remove/reimagine one federal street and one beacon street. i'd put those two up against anything i've ever seen as the most aggressively ugly highrises ever.

KriterionBOS · Sep 9, 2021

FK4 said:
It’s bland, and I agree with everything, but at least it’s glass. The absolute worst vantage of the city is coming in from the south on 93 — it’s just an ugly jumble of brick and cement and random stubby looking, tired old semi-skyscrapers. Something a bit shinier will draw the eye away from the drab, or so I hope.

MT is quite prominent coming in on 93 from the south and I'm guessing Winthrop Square will be also (its basically right next to MT). Of course SST will add another decent glass tower to that. Overall not terrible by any means.

BeeLine · Sep 18, 2021

IMG_5393 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5394 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5400 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5411 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5403 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5401 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5404 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5406 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

IMG_5415 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

rjacobs · Sep 18, 2021

According to the contractor's update email, the deep foundation work won't begin until October (rather than September, which had been the stated timeline that they sent out last month). Not a big deal, but I'll feel much better once those supports are in place so that a tower can actually rise above them.

Jahvon09 · Sep 18, 2021

Why does it look so dark over the platforms Isn't there any lights there?!! Looks dark & creepy!!!

stick n move · Sep 19, 2021

KriterionBOS said:
MT is quite prominent coming in on 93 from the south and I'm guessing Winthrop Square will be also (its basically right next to MT). Of course SST will add another decent glass tower to that. Overall not terrible by any means.

Yea winthrop sq is going to be pretty prominent from the south.

Then add in SST and its going to be much improved.

DZH22 · Sep 19, 2021

stick n move said:
Then add in SST and its going to be much improved.

It is blocking the Fed from that angle, so wouldn't say MUCH improved but overall, yeah, it's going to be a big deal. If built in 2015 it would have been by far the tallest building downtown, like MT ended up being.

Sam Staiti · Sep 25, 2021

rjacobs · Oct 29, 2021

A small but not-insignificant update, from the project's official email update:

"In the Tower Work Zone, the contractor has begun installing the tower’s deep foundation elements."

This is the first confirmation I've seen that this element has begun (previous project updates stated September, and then October, as the starting point for the start of this phase, but as recently as a few weeks ago the update was revised to "will start in late October." Now it's official!