Nov 2015
Tosh said:
The end is near for proposed highrises over 120m/~390' in Boston.
Boston is one of the top 7 or 8 office and residential construction markets in the US. In Seattle; there are something like 65 highrise towers either proposed, u/c or completed in the last few years between 400' and 1100'. Tall Skyscrapers are going up like weeds in every major market in the country.
We are a considerably larger office market than Seattle. Being land starved, Boston continues to approve a fair number of highrises between 200 and ~265'. But relatively few buildings have exceeded that height since 2010.
Unfortunately, anything taller than 230~280' in the neighborhoods incl the Fenway, taller than 400~450' in Back Bay, Downtown and West End is considered extreme height by a small, but organized contingent of nimby activists.
In early 2016, there was a 400' place-setter for Parcel 15 set to move forward. Then came news of a tall, ~625' proposal renamed '1000 Boylston.' In early '16, we began hearing the BPDA was working with a team to build a 400' tower at the Huntington Theater site. At last, some height at Mass Ave! .
So, those tall proposals were advancing since early 2016. Winthrop Square and Harbor Garage continued their process of resurrection. But nothing new. ....Dare i say, we haven't seen a proposal taller than 350' in over three years–in one of the hottest commercial markets in the US. ...Never mind >180m skyscrapers; Will we see a proposal taller than 120m (393') at any point? To anyone who follows development around the US, such a thing would have to be considered an odd state of affairs.
