Copley Square Revamp | Back Bay

JS38 said:
Gotta get Dartmouth Street between Copley Square & the BPL closed already, like they did in front of the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London...
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They closed it to cars a few years ago for a month. No reason they can’t do it permanently. For once can we prioritize Bostonians in Boston over suburban drivers?
 
Bostonians are stupidly territorial about their cars. They must have *their* parking spot, and *their* routes. Any changes are an unmanageable burden upon them.
 
Jeremi said:
A bunch of treasured architectural masterpieces and then....Copley Place Mall.
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It's the perversely perfect bookend to that other hideous mid-80s landscaper on the far opposite end of the Downtown core, the Tip O'Neill federal building on Causeway St.

(I'd argue the latter is far more devastating to the immediate urban fabric in that it's so close to the Lindemann complex and the Ed Brooke courthouse, with their equally urbanism-killing impacts--also, Copley Place Mall is somewhat softened by having the Southwest Corridor path snaking immediately past it, which is a true urban gem and somewhat hidden and thus under-celebrated.)
 
That stretch of Dartmouth absolutely needs to go, Boston needs to get much better at "plaza" design overall, and this whole most-recent refresh is taking laughably overlong. That said, it's not as if Copley Square -- when it's fully open/operational -- is an embarrassing disaster. Certainly nothing like the O'Neil building or City Hall Plaza.

My mom worked nearby, so I vaguely remember the late-'70s version, and I went to H.S. down the street and have lived and/or worked nearby nearly ever since, so I've experienced all subsequent iterations. The market is lively and crowded, the special events (First Night, Marathon, pop-ups,etc.) well attended and executed, and even aside from that there are plenty of folks enjoying their lunch hours there on the weekdays (reading, eating, relaxing) or doing precisely the same on weekends.
 
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DBM said:
It's the perversely perfect bookend to that other hideous mid-80s landscaper on the far opposite end of the Downtown core, the Tip O'Neill federal building on Causeway St.

(I'd argue the latter is far more devastating to the immediate urban fabric in that it's so close to the Lindemann complex and the Ed Brooke courthouse, with their equally urbanism-killing impacts--also, Copley Place Mall is somewhat softened by having the Southwest Corridor path snaking immediately past it, which is a true urban gem and somewhat hidden and thus under-celebrated.)
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A Volpe-style land swap at the O’Neill Building would be a city-altering success.
 
UNBELIEVABLE - - - the 2026 Marathon takes place in less than 3 weeks and this STILL is not complete??????

This is a bad look for Boston to the rest of the world. 'Heckuva job, Brownie' (or Mayor Wu).

www.boston.gov

Copley Square Park Improvements

Copley Square Park Improvements - The raised grove and plaza were reopened in April 2025 in time for the Boston Marathon and the farmers market season. Additional portions of the park and perimeter sidewalks were opened throughout the summer and fall. Work on the fountain and lawn areas is...
www.boston.gov www.boston.gov

"The raised grove and plaza were reopened in April 2025 in time for the Boston Marathon and the farmers market season. Additional portions of the park and perimeter sidewalks were opened throughout the summer and fall. Work on the fountain and lawn areas is anticipated to be completed by April 2026."

April is Wednesday - - they have 34 hours to make it for even this ridiculously long and overdue slow roll. If it's not complete and fully usable by Marathon Day it's another lost opportunity in front of the world.
 
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Picture of it almost complete

IMG_5573.jpeg

Link
 
Charlie_mta said:
A "mini me" of City Hall Plaza. Another sterile slab of concrete detached from the life of the city. I hope some food vendors and sidewalk cafes can be set up around the periphery.
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It's really unappealing as it sits. Perhaps when the vegetation blooms it will be more inviting.
 
This is pretty terrible. Even the street furniture choices; those light poles are terrible and clash directly with notable pieces like the gorgeous ones on the east face of the BPL and the general light pole scheme that surrounds the park.

Perhaps a small, silly detail to many, but it's an example of how poorly thought out and executed this was: no context, no cohesion, just mess at a high cost.
 
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citydweller said:
That was the budget when it was being first proposed. I wonder what the actual cost is now?
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From about a year ago, the price increased a bit, but not much. It'll probably increase substantially when they inevitably claim time delays toward the end of this. Attachments with full budget info are in the original post:
FormFollowsBudget said:
Through an FOIA request, I received information on the scope and pricing estimate/bid, for those interested.

The estimate was around $13.7M, with $745K in potential VE savings, and the published estimate in the bid advertisement was $13M. The target was $12.3M, which is reasonably close, but the winning bid came in at $17M. Programming, contingencies, and design fees add another few million.

I was originally curious if this project was similar to the City Hall Plaza project which included a substantial amount of waterproofing work for the T, which could explain the extended schedule. The listed Scope of Work seems pretty typical for a park update project, though.

From my initial read, the big parts of the project estimate are:
- $2M in hardscape
- $2M for the "raised grove"
- $1.5M for the fountain
- $625K MEP systems for a utility vault for the fountain
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