Route 128 Developments

[Boston02124]

If there's another thread or simular please move Waltham>

Burlington >

woburn>

feel free to add ur own pixs or dev. news newton this is from my old sign thread

 

[Shepard]

I used to work in the Wellesley Office Park... no fond memories.

 

[statler]

We already have a thread for these types of developments.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

We already have a thread for these types of developments.

LOL

 

[Shepard]

I can't find anything about this funny. Yes, architecture and planning on the Seaport are both lacking. But at least you're in a big lively city, if only on the outskirts. And you can take transit there, even if it's the wacky Silver Line. And horrific as the buildings are, at least some of the windows have skyline or water/airport views.

128 office parks are degrading, soul crushing, torturous and inhuman. Companies that move to these places must be trying to find ways to increase their carbon footprint while driving away and boring to tears their most valuable talent.

 

[Beton Brut]

"...and let me tell you about TPS Reports."

 

[kennedy]

I can't believe employees put up with it. Then again, my own father prefers working out in the suburbs - means that he doesn't have to commute.

 

[Ron Newman]

I worked for an East Cambridge company that was suddenly bought and moved to Wayside Drive in Burlington at the beginning of 2002. I hated it and was relieved to be laid off after 6 weeks. Yes, it is possible to miss Kendall Square.

These days it would be a little more tolerable, since the Wayside Commons is now across the street (with Borders Books, LL Bean, and various eateries)

 

[statler]

I can't believe employees put up with it. Then again, my own father prefers working out in the suburbs - means that he doesn't have to commute.

For every one of us, there are thousands that feel the same way as your father.

 

[JohnAKeith]

Ha, ha, I misread that to say, "for every one of us who hate the suburbs, they feel the same way about your father."

 

[type001]

128 office parks are degrading, soul crushing, torturous and inhuman.

Wow, that's a little extreme.

Unfortunately most companies do not have the luxury to afford office space in the city to accomodate the number of necessary employees to do the work. Did you ever think that some companies might move to do the burbs so that they DON'T have to layoff workers? I wonder how many people desperate to find work now would pass on an offer to work in Waltham or Burlington.

 

[Shepard]

If space is really so hard to afford, then let your employees telecommute, videoconference, etc. Cloud technologies are getting better and better, so if your campus doesn't enhance the experience of your employees or clients, I'd say it's almost better to have none at all.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

If space is really so hard to afford, then let your employees telecommute, videoconference, etc. Cloud technologies are getting better and better, so if your campus doesn't enhance the experience of your employees or clients, I'd say it's almost better to have none at all.

Are you an owner of a medium sized firm? Do you really know what they hell you are talking about?

 

[Shepard]

It's true that I usually don't know what I'm talking about.

But on this point I'm fairly certain that we're trending towards a technology enviornment where physical space will be considered an unnecessary luxury, and to get the ROI off it that you'd need (in terms of talent retention, etc) you will need much better location and architecture than the Waltham Office Park has to offer. Technological convergence coupled with cloud technology means that increasingly almost any type of service can be delivered on almost any platform. Telecommuting sounds like an old-fashioned term because it was invented in the 90s, but what we're heading towards is going to be an entirely different world of white collar work.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Hey, I'm not doubting you there. But if a medium sized firm can only afford rent along 128 doesn't it seem like a stretch to ask them to buy all new technology for commuting habits that are, at this point, still a fringe? I mean, I work from home a lot but I do enjoy actually going into work because when I'm there I am much more focused. And seriously most of these firms are probably still using IE 6. That really says it all.

 

[kennedy]

IE6 is the virtual incarnation of the Devil.

Anyhow, if medium-sized firms cannot afford luxury office space in the city, then shouldn't developers cater to the market by building just plain average office space, perhaps on the outskirts of the city?

 

[FrankG]

I smell an investment opportunity!

Anyhow, if medium-sized firms cannot afford luxury office space in the city, then shouldn't developers cater to the market by building just plain average office space, perhaps on the outskirts of the city?

 

[PlanBoston]

... if medium-sized firms cannot afford luxury office space in the city, then shouldn't developers cater to the market by building just plain average office space, perhaps on the outskirts of the city?

I smell an investment opportunity!

and hence we have crappy office parks along 128 (and 495) ... which gives rise to an archBoston 128 development thread.

Ah, circle of life.

 

[palindrome]

IE6 is the virtual incarnation of the Devil.

Anyhow, if medium-sized firms cannot afford luxury office space in the city, then shouldn't developers cater to the market by building just plain average office space, perhaps on the outskirts of the city?

As new office towers are developed, older buildings should become more affordable to said medium firms.

 

[kennedy]

Straight from Jacobs herself. Eventually, the buildings get old enough that they become historic. And then, we have problems.

Perhaps I should have clarified what I meant by outskirts of the city - I meant anywhere that's not in the core of downtown. Charlestown, Allston, Dorchester, Roxbury, East Boston, etc.