Tall and Thin

Cojapo

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NY seems to be going thru a phase right now where a lot of the new residential highrises are tall and super thin. I think this kind of development would work here in Boston. Small footprint but dense, tall but not hulking or overwhelming. Here are a few in NY:

785 Eighth Avenue l 173m l U/C:
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785EighthAveUC.jpg

785EighthAveUC2.jpg


One Madison Park l 200m | 60 fl | U/C:
OneMadison.jpg

OneMadisonUC.jpg
 
Really? I can see these same projects working in downtown but very few other places in Boston. Also there needs to be a little context to those projects you showed. The first is on 8th Ave right next to Times Sq and the second is in Madison Sq, home to the Flatiron building and the MetLife Tower (1909), both holding the record as worlds tallest at one point in time. Tall buildings here are common; slivers in Boston are not as common.

I think there was a sliver built in the Back Bay way back when the area was still developing that offended so many people (NIMBYs are not new) that they imposed height limits because of it.
 
These would work along the Greenway, any number of the Air Rights parcels over the Mass Pike, especially between Tremont and Harrison. This would fit at the Aquarium garage where Chiafaro needs to go up to be profitable and keeps the conservation groups happy be preserving some open space. Just a thought....
And true, the locations of those towers are premium.
 
This could also work in Kenmore Square or Copley along Boylston. There are plenty of small footprints there.
 
Two somewhat unrelated thoughts:

There's a funny little sliver on Beacon St., bordering the Boston Common (near the Frog Pond). Not as tall as these NYC projects, but I've always wondered about its history.

The new BU dorm towers could be seen as a somewhat less daring version of these projects, no?
 
I'm not saying that slivers can't work in Boston, just that slivers of this scale can't.
 
Compared to the neighboring buildings, these are both hulking and overwhelming. They'll probably look even stranger if they start getting built in close proximity.
 
Hi.

beacon2.jpg


The tall & thin building's address is 48 Beacon Street.

It is a condo building. There are 19 units in the building (where???).

The building was constructed in 1930 (thanks to the Depression?).

Funniest line in one of the listings: "three-sided exposure" ... probably the only building on Beacon Hill that can say that ...

No units for sale, right now. It'll cost you around $700 per square foot to live there ...
 
Does it have an elevator or is it an eight-story walkup?
 
The northern third of the One Charles parcel would have been great for one of these.
 
I just saw the perfect spot for a tall and thin downtown.

The shitty one story CVS on Washington St in DTX has moved across the street leaving that crappy space open for redevelopment.

I'll try to remember to bring in my camera tomorrow and take some pictures.

Trust me, it's perfect.

Now all I have to do is find the landowner, convince them to sell me the property at a reasonable price, convince the bank to loan me the money to buy the land and build the tower (despite the fact that the sum of my development experience is playing SimCity in '94), and finally convincing the BRA, mayor's office and various NIMBY groups that the tower is a good thing for the city.

Wish me luck!
 
I've always had a death wish for that CVS building.
 
yeah it's definitely a shit hole. What is going on with the Barnes & Noble building? Is there something there already?
 
No idea. They have covered all the windows in the B&N building, as if the new tenant wants to surprise us a few months down the road.
 
No idea. They have covered all the windows in the B&N building, as if the new tenant wants to surprise us a few months down the road.

I can imagine some future unveiling: it's... a Verizon store! Surprise! :(
 
^^No, no, this is DTX, clearly it will be a costume jewelry shop.

With lots and lots of gold chains!

If we are lucky we might get (yet) another sneaker store.
 
One thing the neighborhood doesn't have, and could probably use, is a furniture store. But we're getting pretty far off topic.
 
I knew that was there, I just never realized the foods it sold. I always thought it was just fruit. Isn't the North End somewhat of an ideal candidate for tall and thin building? I'm not saying the whole neighborhood - and I know the height restrictions, but it seems like a lot of the buildings here have small footprints. Something I would like to see - more centered around the dream project thread - is some redevelopment in the predominantly residential neighborhoods around old north church. The streets are narrow, dark, and have a certain aesthetic that would do well with some sort of street level cafe/specialty stores. Much like ablarc pointed out in a previous post for a future cambridge.
 

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