Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

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Re: Filene's

As a neighborhood resident, I have to say I would be strongly opposed to turning this site into a college dorm unless there was some key mitigation.
 
Re: Filene's

^ Depends how they structure the deal. Hynes has the city by the balls and could say it will rent the apartments to college students and strike a deal with the city with some affordable apartments.

This is why the city is so corrupt.
 
Re: Filene's

TheRifleman said:
This is not that positive to be focused on one industry.
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I tend to agree with this but higher ed is a bit different from industries like steelwork, bio-tech or finance.

The likely-hood of a higher ed industry-wide collapse is exceedingly rare (and if it did happen, we would have a much larger problem on our hands).

Also rather than just providing the city with a mass of 9-5 workers (most of whom live in the suburbs), Colledges and universities provided actually (albeit temporary) residents and in turn the city must provided shops and services for them. Think grocery stores, furniture stores, barber shops, banks, etc.

So while I think Boston should diversify itself a bit (especially by regaining its footing in the finance sector), if we are going to put a lot of eggs in one basket, this isn't a bad basket to put them in.
 
Re: Filene's

tobyjug said:
As a neighborhood resident, I have to say I would be strongly opposed to turning this site into a college dorm unless there was some key mitigation.
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Whatever, Ned.
 
Re: Filene's

I was thinking more along the lines of hot co-eds. But that other stuff sounds good too.
 
Re: Filene's

Ahh, I knew there was a catch! :)

And we have a request here from the United Front of Downtown Crossing Residents for, uh, um, well they seem to be asking for Topless Tuesdays.
They also are demanding that the dorms not have curtains installed.
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Re: Filene's

statler said:
I tend to agree with this but higher ed is a bit different from industries like steelwork, bio-tech or finance.

The likely-hood of a higher ed industry-wide collapse is exceedingly rare (and if it did happen, we would have a much larger problem on our hands).

Also rather than just providing the city with a mass of 9-5 workers (most of whom live in the suburbs), Colledges and universities provided actually (albeit temporary) residents and in turn the city must provided shops and services for them. Think grocery stores, furniture stores, barber shops, banks, etc.

So while I think Boston should diversify itself a bit (especially by regaining its footing in the finance sector), if we are going to put a lot of eggs in one basket, this isn't a bad basket to put them in.
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I really don't have a problem with this model. This is why Menino continues to get elected. They will move out the working class to the suburbs and the city will consist of three groups.

#1 Rich (Voters)
#2 Students (From other countries)
#3 Poor people (Voters) that got into affordable housing.

If they can't get sometype of Retail vibe brewing downtown in the future then we might have seen the end of Boston's downtown retail. The retail sector might shift to another part of the city and Downtown might become a college haven area.
 
Re: Filene's

GW2500 said:
^^^ Wouldn't this get taxed?
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In theory, if a 501(C)(3) owned it, and if it were used for the non-profit's stated purposes, no.

But it is never that black and white. I imagine there would be retail on the lower levels; that space gets taxed. I imagine that a university would not be the owner, so we would be unpeeling the owner's accounting to see what really is going on.
 
Re: Filene's

I'm very much a pro-development guy, but I would be completely against student housing at this site. I'd rather have a hole in the ground until the market turns around and financing is available for a decent mixed use project. Student housing will just mean more Bollocos and Verizon stores in DTC. I'd rather see a project that gets a variety of people living downtown.
 
Re: Filene's

tobyjug said:
In theory, if a 501(C)(3) owned it, and if it were used for the non-profit's stated purposes, no.

But it is never that black and white. I imagine there would be retail on the lower levels; that space gets taxed. I imagine that a university would not be the owner, so we would be unpeeling the owner's accounting to see what really is going on.
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Washington has broken all the rules these days. So Hynes would probably be looking for interest free money from the state or sometype of stimilus package to help create jobs to build Filene's. The numbers still won't make sense unless he has students paying 2,500 dollars a month in rent. Which is possible especially when all those students come from another country.

Hynes & Unions will be putting pressure on the state officials about jobs so who knows they might get their way.
 
Re: Filene's

A part of me sympathizes with Aquaman's sentiment.

But I wonder if I am wrong. In a way, the DTX situation reminds me of the way that the city officials in Quincy used to view Hancock Street. "You want to do WHAT at the old Sears Building? You want to do WHAT at the empty Woolworths?" Well, just like Remicks wasn't walkin thru that door, Crawford Hollidge and Stearns ain't walking thru this one.

I guess I am ready to write off big time retail, and hope that more residents create livelier small scale retail and occupied shop fronts.

(The real question is whether the penny pinch landlords like Druker feel the same way.)
 
Re: Filene's

aquaman said:
I'm very much a pro-development guy, but I would be completely against student housing at this site. I'd rather have a hole in the ground until the market turns around and financing is available for a decent mixed use project. Student housing will just mean more Bollocos and Verizon stores in DTC. I'd rather see a project that gets a variety of people living downtown.
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A fair point and I think a regular condo/office/apartment would be a better fit here, but I don't think a dorm tower spells doom to the area either. It's still adjacent to the Financial District, so there will still be office workers, It still adjacent to the Common so there will still be tourists. 45 Province St and the Millennium Towers aren't going dorm anytime soon, plus Chinatown. It will still be a good mix of people, just a few more.

It is not the ideal solution, but a tolerable one.
 
Re: Filene's

I think people aren't really recognizing the difference between having responsible graduate students paying rent as opposed to undergraduate hipsters living in tenements. I think that graduate students would function more like traditional residents supporting healthy neighborhood services.
 
Re: Filene's

TheRifleman said:
Hynes has the city by the balls
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Or does the city have Hynes by the balls? His company has a long line of recent real estate failures. He is holding the Seaport Square parcels. There's no reason to believe that Hynes' company is going to survive this recession given his bone-headed marketing and tone-deaf ear.

In this city, it's funny... we say he has the city by the balls. But in other cities, he'd be run out on a fencepost.

I wonder if he's politically connected or anything. Anybody know what his dad did for a living?
 
Re: Filene's

All for it... graduate students would probably bring the smaller, more diverse array of store (i.e. Davis Square). It would keep the area young and dynamic, while making it safe. Fill out some bars, and restaurants. I would rather this than some stuffy harbor towers person that will move in and say "Im here, no more construction please." This type of building will encourage more, not stifle it.

And as for building a city around the "college industry" It is great. Boston should stop fighting it and accept it. It brings money, talent, jobs and makes it a destination known the world over. The working class will build the lowes in brighton, students and professionals will build dynamic, livable neighborhoods. So, by having them live there and encouraging more residential build, then the housing supply goes up, prices go down, and joe the plumber can live in the city along with everyone else. I don't think students push working class people do, I think the focus on luxury buildings for the wealthy (or those who wish they were) do. We need to get back to building for young people that want to not live in a dump. That will help the city.

Sorry for the disjointed post. I didn't have much time to better organize it, but the idea is there.
 
Re: Filene's

I agree - Filling DTX with students will bring some of the Central-Inman-Harvard-Davis energy into downtown Boston, and the area needs that.
 
Re: Filene's

Ron Newman said:
I agree - Filling DTX with students will bring some of the Central-Inman-Harvard-Davis energy into downtown Boston, and the area needs that.
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Have you seen Harvard Square these days? It looks like Wall Street with a Bank at every major retail spot. The mom & pap days that created the character of Harvard Square are gone. It's too corporate. DTX would be the same situation Corporate Atmosphere because they are the only ones who could afford the rents.

Everything around that area would be CVS, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, .....You get the picture.
 
Re: Filene's

Harvard Square isn't what it used to be, but still has many unique things: Brattle Theatre, Harvard Film Archive, Zero Arrow Theatre, Harvard Book Store, Schoenhof's Books, Grolier Poetry Bookstore, Globe Corner Bookstore (the only one remaining of what used to be a local chain), Club Passim, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cardullo's.

And even some of the chains aren't bad -- wouldn't an Eastern Mountain Sports or a Newbury Comics or a reopened Barnes & Noble be a good addition to Downtown Crossing?
 
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