šŸ”¹ What's Happening With Project X?

i just drove through South Central. The view of the construction is INSANE.

R rated; but that felt really good. :)
 
odurandina said:
Projects like this make me wonder if there was too little investment in Boston real estate for too long.... and possibly why there was so little investment in Boston real estate for so long. and possibly if there is still too little investment in Boston real estate.

Take all the approved projects in Downtown/West End that still aren't moving. The deficit is still absolutely stunning. When are we going to get some honest to goodness reckless real estate speculation? Our developers are effing cowards.... We need 10 more Joe Larkin's named "Chung or Wong." Somebody get China or somebody with some cash and a clue on the phone....

It also makes me wonder the extent to which we lost the tech war in the late '80s, and how it shaped 3 decades of nil to paltry development. Take that piece of s__t Copley Place, and what a piece of s__t that property still is. Look at the Sheraton in Back Bay. How is there not a 66 story hotel wing on that god-forsaken thing we should see in an actual city?

It shouldn't take 35 years to build out the parcels near or on the Greenway in a city with the magnitude of Boston's economic footprint.

another rusted example; What the ___ is that piece of absolute s__t masquerading as the Northern Ave Bridge? Why can't we build more than 3 or 4 god-____ed actual >450' highrises?

You just have to laugh at the people who post in the Globe about a bubble within 500 miles of Boston, when the biggest thing that breaks ground is some stunted nimby-friendly thing called Ink Block... even where there's not a nimby to be found within a half mile.

It also makes me wonder if there really were a lot of so-called jobs in the late 80s. Or if local politicians were just hyping it. That boom sure ended with a thud. The 'empirical' results make it seem like the boom was so insanely lopsided, it defies description....

Somebody with a name like "John" will shoot me in a drive-by in 3... 2.... 1.... (or maybe the whole gallery).

do your worst. i brought it all on.
Click to expand...

It wasnā€™t just hype in ā€˜80ā€™s. There were plenty of tech jobs, however they were heavily placed along the 128 and 495 belts. DEC, Prime, Data General, Apollo and Wang were computer industry heavyweights, locally employing well over 100K at their peak, but they all missed the PC revolution and in turn, the software and internet booms. Ken Olson the founder of DEC famously said (something to the effect of) ā€œWho would ever need a computer in their house?ā€ The only local company to be on the forefront of the emergence of PCs was Leading Edge which had an eccentric founder and famously crashed. Lotus was the best software company to emerge, only to be gobbled up and bastardized by IBM. And it was much more than just missing the market. All of those hardware companies were top to bottom manufacturers and made almost everything in-house for their respective machines, unlike the companies that set up in Silicon Valley at the time, which created all sorts of component driven companies which complimented each other and still do.

In many other respects the Mass based companies were simply advanced manufacturing outfits but based on mid-century structure, albeit high tech designed ones.

It wasnā€™t until the late 90ā€™s networking and subsequent internet boom did the region really start to see some diversity in its high tech business portfolio, but the damage was done. If we didnā€™t have bio tech, you would be begging for a 400 footer. Another huge advantage that Silicon Valley had is the lack of non-competes. It really allowed for an emergence of off-shoot technologies that Mass never saw.

If you are interested, here is a really good easy read book about it:
https://www.amazon.com/Regional-Adv...UTF8&qid=1508265507&sr=8-3&keywords=route+128

In a nutshell, Mass had a huge lead in the tech game and royally fucked up (sorry CBC).
 
"Developer Says Exchange South End Could Be Amazon HQ2 Contender"

59c3dd6d04f7a_RroDmSah.jpeg


https://www.bisnow.com/boston/news/office/in-hq2-hunt-boston-turns-to-amazon-dot-ave-79414

Lol 0 transit here, top 3 ares for worst traffic on planet earth, basically nothing exists over here yet until this area gets built up. Its like a development desert over here. I don't think anything besides the colors screams Amazon about this area. They want to be "hip" and at the forefront of innovation and definitely near transit but this is an empty area with parking lots, parking garages, random warehouses, a hospital, a SHIT HOLE highway right next to it that will make everyone want to kill themselves 3 days after locating here, and absolutely 0 transit. Terrible location unless they build a new red line station between broadway and andrew and then its still a hike down the 1 road to said new unnecessary station. Horrible.
 
An area entirely made up of crumbling parking lots and old warehouses sounds like a pretty good spot for a large company to build a custom development. Also if a huge development goes up here I imagine better pedestrian connections could be made to both the Broadway and Andrew stations.
I thought it might be cool to see amazon occupy space at the Hub on Causeway, Bullfinch crossing and SST giving them a downtown campus located near lots of awesome public spaces, adjacent to a major highway and with direct connections to multiple subway lines and the commuter rail.
 
Stick and Move's description is a little shadowy... its still in the south end. Its not exactly Chelsea.
 
Mayor = no more Mr Nice Guy in his second term?

He obviously took one look at that glass fatty and jumped out of his seat!

Maybe he's really pitching a 2nd plan for Dot Ave including the edge of the South End.....

to go along with a Downtown parcel or 2.
 
odurandina said:
Mayor = no more Mr Nice Guy in his second term.
Click to expand...

I have been anxiously awaiting this election! Hopefully it will be the impetus to move along some of the larger projects stuck in the pipeline. (and bring about even bolder proposals, including that ~860' at Martha Road or whatever that you always talk about)

Anybody have a prediction for the South Station Tower? Is that going to get started by the end of this year, get further delayed, or miss the boat completely and send this project back to square 1?
 
More construction fencing and jersey barriers installed around the Winthrop Square parking garage - another step I'm assuming prepping the site for demolition.

Can't post to the Winthrop Sq thread as it has been closed.
 
Also we have still never received the final height or design of 111 fed... the plot thickens.
 
DZH22 said:
I have been anxiously awaiting this election! Hopefully it will be the impetus to move along some of the larger projects stuck in the pipeline. (and bring about even bolder proposals, including that ~860' at Martha Road or whatever that you always talk about)
Click to expand...

Walsh's admn would offer guidance about what can be done at this site... the limiting factor would be nimby's and traffic.

no details except possibly an out of town player, 'looking.'
 
odurandina said:
Walsh's admn would offer guidance about what can be done at this site... the limiting factor would be nimby's and traffic.

no details except possibly an out of town player, 'looking.'
Click to expand...

It's still right by North Station, and plenty of units seem to have been left on the table already in that area.

Hopefully Dalton Street Garage will be the other big one, and Hancock ends up as our 3rd tallest building by 2025. The city would feel HUGE.
 
I really hope this gets a massive redesign....which is usually par for the course anyways. Wasnt as big of a deal with Copley tower but with that gone this now needs to be much better. They slipped 40 trinity in the render as well, I think that starts in the spring if my memory serves me right.
 
stick n move said:
I really hope this gets a massive redesign....which is usually par for the course anyways. Wasnt as big of a deal with Copley tower but with that gone this now needs to be much better. They slipped 40 trinity in the render as well, I think that starts in the spring if my memory serves me right.
Click to expand...

I still think it's awesome. I have a feeling this building is going to be a great divider for years to come.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top