Recent content by JeffDowntown

Mortgage rates at 8% have housing sales stalled. Developers are afraid of that.

I think the problem is the high interest rates (particularly 30-year mortgages). They not only make construction financing difficult, they make residential units hard/slow to sell.

The nature of the retail at this site is a minor part of the urban disconnect. The real problem is a suburban style low-rise big-box retail building right on the Back Bay high spine. That is the design abomination.

I can attest that I have also experienced a lot of those 20+ minute waits on the Orange Line on Sundays recently. I know it is not statistically sound, but if those are happening, there must be some 3 minutes waits some other part of the day to get to 13 minutes on average. Maybe they run lots...

Anybody with any design sense knew the Connector would never be the Great Hall (which could never exist in that site anyway) (regardless the BS pronouncements of Millennium). 1/3 of the Connector is dedicated to vertical height change ramps.

I am still rather amazed that you can do that kind of transformation to a tower. Much better.

I just want to thank the MBTA are their brilliant coordination of planned track work on the Blue Line and the Rockport/Newburyport Commuter line. Through their planned shutdowns this week they have ensured that there are no viable rail transit means to get into Boston from the near North Shore...

I get all that, but in a practical sense Bus Electronification is costing capital monies, and with a higher cost per bus and bus garage charging space, it means bigger fleets are even more expensive. So Bus Electrification has a direct impact on our ability to expand fleets, frequencies...

We already have the Boston Civic Design Commission that plays the design and aesthetics oversight role on many projects. We just don't like their decisions. The BCDC Review Criteria include: new or rehabilitated structures over 100,000 square feet; projects of special significance or projects...

It is more that EV garages are going to be more expensive than the old diesel garages (apparently). EV buses seem to mean more garage space needed per bus. More busses also means more garages. I am just pointing out that supporting bus infrastructure is pretty major. It is not free of...

God help us if the BPDA suddenly decided that Brutalism is all the rage again -- central planning worked so well in our mega-urban renewal era. And in the central planning model, who is the arbiter of taste? In Boston it has often been the mayor :rolleyes: ("The mayor says he likes the blue...

Honestly this is also a market failure. If people who rented or leased buildings actually cared about the urban design and building architecture, the developers would do better, to attract tenants. Apparently not very many Americans care. The only developers who care are ones who are...

While I fully support bus infrastructure expansion, let's not pretend it is cheap infrastructure. With the T committed to electrifying as much of the bus fleet as possible, the cost for new bus garages is now looking like $500 million per garage, nine to replace. That is $4.5 Billion in bus...

We have leadership with no inherent knowledge of transit systems. They are too used to hiring consultants to supervise consultants to supervise consultants on the topic.

Not quite directly under the approach, but still pretty restricted. Looks like 200 to 225 ft. max. across the site.