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Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport Agree. Silicon Valley is like Waltham on steroids. I can't imagine anyone on this board driving through and not bemoaning how ugly it is. It's the architectural and urban planning antithesis to Boston/Cambridge/Somerville. But the office space is...

Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's Is it that they paid too much or are taxes too high on commercial properties? Does anyone know what kind of rate (per sq foot, or overall percentage) commercial RE taxes are? I know my RE taxes in Boston are ridiculously low compared to the 'burbs and always...

Re: South Boston Development Completely absurd, and could only be written by a bitter Southie local. You are right, it was better when it was a place for bums to urinate, meth heads to fornicate and for bar fights where people died and eyewitnesses wouldn't identify the culprit. And for...

"Your saying it is elitist to criticize 4 and 6-lane boulevards that run from the Fort Point Channel (e.g. full stop) to Marine Industrial Park (e.g. full stop)? Entire lanes of those boulevards were developable land." What?! How would anyone get around? On the one hand you quote up to 10-15K...

(1) There is zero need now or in the semi-near (10-15 years) future for police, fire or schools in the SBID. If the BPD relieves the State Police then perhaps a substation would make sense. There is a fire station practically at the foot of Seaport Boulevard and Congress Street. Why would we...

Agree, they are normal sized in NYC as much as they are in Houston. And they have bike lanes. Comparing the Seaport to the older sections of the city, particularly their lot size and street size is pointless. It makes no sense economically or in any other sense to build-out a huge area along...

Is there any need for a police station when there is already one on West Broadway and half of the Seaport is under the jurisdiction of the State Police? Is there any need for a fire station when one exists at 125 High Street? Frankly I hope not one of those things cited get built in the...

Yes, the Seaport Square plan calls for the developer to install trees and upgrade the median and side walks on Seaport Boulevard and the other streets that boundary the project. The developer will also be footing the bill to reattach Farnsworth and Thompson Place to Seaport Blvd., and build a...

(1) Stand corrected on Pritzker/Fallon but the point is that the obligated developer obliged and we ended up with the ICA. Fallon is developing Fan Pier. He may have limited partners, but Fallon is in control. (2) If you look at the SS master plan, the IC was always slated to be a park. The...

The similarities are uncanny! They are both anchored by a convention center (though the Hynes is of less importance now). They both have a component (of albeit very different in style as you rightfully point out) old architecture that fell into disrepair and was repurposed into a substantial...

Is the insinuation that developers are reaping a windfall due to the investment? In any event, how can they capitalize on this value? Joe Fallon had a museum on Fan Pier first. And he has been building out a marina (that just had a huge addition added a few weeks back). He is bankrolling a...

You should look up the Seaport Square master plan. WS Development is handling the 10K's sq ft of retail. They previously did Legacy Place. Their is a convention center the size of which is rumored to be doubled with a commiserate increase in hotels. There is an outdoor music venue. There...

Which cities should we be looking at for inspiration? There is a lot of residential in the West End, and I'd argue most of that redevelopment was very poorly executed as a result. Balancing the residential with office space doesn't seem like the end of the world to me, though I get the...

+1 The effect of all the new (expensive) office space will and already is resulting in lower rents in DTX and the Fin District. 125 High will be a ghost town after PwC vacates and Int'l Place has many empty floors from Ropes & Gray's exit a few years back. PayPal has moved into 1IP for pete's...

PwC and also Goodwin Proctor go where their clients are. They both cater to emerging technology businesses (as do Fish and Richardson and several of the other law firms that moved there years ago) and venture capital/private equity. And they both were in pretty old office space. Nascent tech...

There are an absurd amount of jobs and companies in the SBID, which by anyone's definition includes Fort Point. How many 1000s are coming in with PwC and State Street alone? I can understand that if you are standing in the middle of the Seaport Square blocks things feel a bit undeveloped at...

Agree. And since it looks like every developer in town is seeking permits before Menino leaves office, wouldn't the only slowdown be from projects that have yet to get approval? In other words, if everyone rushes to get approval now, the Mayoral "transition" slowdown might not have much of an...

Very exciting. The rendering confuses me though. Is the building supposed to be bounded by Boston Wharf Road, Seaport Blvd and E. Service Road? Or is it just half or so of that description, so bounded by BWR, Seaport Blvd and remaining parking lot to its left (if you were facing it)? The...

Re: 319 A Street Rear Not to get too off topic, but how the hell did Abbey Group get away with the god-awful and windowless black-bar back on 45 province? It's very visible from the Charles River and Cambridge and ruins an otherwise great building for me.

Re: Residences at Kensington The pedestrian-level front of the building (with the brown surfacing) is the worst looking thing on Washington Street in DTX (yes, even worse than the abandoned Barnes and Noble storefront and the Lafayette Corp. Center). To me that's the most offensive thing...