11-21 Bromfield Street | DTX | Downtown

I found this in the DPIR.

The Project, as shown in Table 2-1, will be an approximately 605,000 sf, 59-story mixeduse building that includes approximately 419 residential units and approximately 30,000 sf of retail space on three levels, one below-grade. The height of the Project will be 683 feet, conservatively measured from the lowest elevation of the Project Site 1 . The mechanical floor and equipment (plus enclosures) above reflect a total building height of 705 feet. This is below the 710 foot high threshold set forth in Massport’s “Composite of Critical Airspaces,” and thus the Project is expected to meet all applicable FAA and Massport requirements with respect to navigational safety.
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There has been a lot of fuss about cantilevers. I got some cantilevers for you, from the west side of Manhattan. The building is literally going to hang over part of West End Ave.

Oh, and look at that nasty cladding on the other new building the foreground, too. :)


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I walked by that a couple of weeks ago. That block just doesn't look good.
 
The former IRT powerhouse next door is headed for landmarking. Stanford White was the architect. The single chimney, 1967, replaced six chimneys of lesser height.

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Impact advisory group meeting tomorrow night 6-8 BRA Boardroom...anyone going?

Anyone know what this meeting is for?
 
Developer getting hammered by the 45 Province St residents. They lobbed a few zingers.
 
I arrived a bit late. The objectors were well prepared spokespersons speaking on behalf of friends of the Public Garden, Ladder District and 45 Province residents' interests; They made numerous plausible arguments that the project will 'introduce far too much traffic for Bromfield St and 45 Province abutter,' '...this corner of the Ladder District ain't DXT - and has inadequate staging for valet parking, deliveries, trash pickup, etc...' ...Then a couple of nice people from the public added the 'we're building all these towers and there's no end in sight/gonna trigger a tidal wave of skyscraper proposals that will transform our city's treasures into endless steel and glass canyons' mantra.....

I came with the intention of debunking that false narrative. I spoke for about a minute and kindly shut them down. Hopefully my calm assurance/s did some good. Everyone was nice. Added a bit of follow up to a couple of friendly concerned neighbors (afterwards) with my mantra of '...land's mostly (no, really) all gone...' and 'you'll see it more clearly as the current wave crests, and there's no proposals but for a few 300-325' resident towers off Washington St and elsewhere throughout the city blah blah blah...'
 
Your mantra of land being gone has been debunked repeatedly, and is getting as old as Westie's sign seen from Mars reference over and over.

It isn't true, so it is not the best argument against what you believe to be baseless arguments. Fighting misconceptions with your own misconceptions doesn't really help to further the cause.
 
odurandina said:
inadequate staging for valet parking, deliveries, trash pickup
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These sound like legit concerns to me. Hopefully they are solvable problems and not show stoppers, but you can't dismiss them as "false narrative". Disdain for the carport on Bromfield was nearly universal on this board, so I think even many of us have similar concerns.

(For the record, I like the design. With cantilevers.)
 
SeamusMcFly said:
Your mantra of land being gone has been debunked repeatedly
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One Bromfield represents an opportunity for smart density, and its value proposition shouldn't need to depend on something as simple and one-dimensional as land availability. There is a system of factors that makes it unlikely boston will become a forest of glass and steel towers (e.g., yes there are legitimate limitations to buildable land - not as dire as odurandina states, there are indeed keep-out zones for this type of development that are near-universally agreed upon, and we are indeed at the mercy of economic cycles - this system of checks should assuage any fear of skyscraper zombie apocalypse).

Meanwhile, One Brom is smart because it is transit oriented (major multi-line transit station mere feet away) and its location is compatible with significant height.

I would make the case that the traffic impact can be controlled rather closely: there's likely a business case for most of the units to be disassociated with any on-site parking - they will sell/rent these units to people not planning to use a car - and they can specifically limit the number of vehicle associations. Yes indeed they do need to better plan for how logistics, municipal, and pick-up/drop-off vehicles are managed.

One Brom should proceed for all of these reasons.
 
Once again people that live in the city, forget that they in fact live in a city. Probably the busiest part of the city. What do they expect?
 
:cool:^^ 110m? sure. 150m? unless you're talking about the big monoliths and a few more oddballs near the CSC, Boylston St and Mass Ave.... The BRA has worn out it's welcome in the West End. But steel and glass canyons? (and that's the argument)....

Poolio said:
These sound like legit concerns to me. Hopefully they are solvable problems and not show stoppers, but you can't dismiss them as "false narrative". Disdain for the carport on Bromfield was nearly universal on this board, so I think even many of us have similar concerns.
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I didn't dismiss those concerns as part of the 'false narrative' in my post. The drive through carport appears workable, albeit tight. No way UPS and FEDEX can be making 15 deliveries/day–as they love to do elsewhere. Maybe 3 deliveries. Move-ins/outs are a daunting challenge. Seems, imo, those would need to take place after hours. But, is that realistic? Might have to be.
 
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Isn't there an additional driveway access from province st ?
 
odurandina said:
The drive through carport appears workable, albeit tight. No way UPS and FEDEX can be making 15 deliveries/day–as they love to do elsewhere. Maybe 3 deliveries. Move-ins/outs are a daunting challenge. Seems, imo, those would need to take place after hours. But, is that realistic? Might have to be.
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You are totally missing the point. We aren't concerned with the carport because of its dimensions & being able to bring FedEx/moving trucks in there. We are concerned because of the effect the carport & huge curb cut has on the urban environment, specifically that of Bromfield St. which needs all the help it can get. I suggested to the developer to bring the lobbies flush with the street and possibly slip in a small retail space on Bromfield. They seemed disinterested and further proved that they don't care about the effect this tower has on Bromfield.
 
One Bromfield Public Meeting
Jun 02, 2016 - 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Contact Name: Christopher Tracy
Contact Email Address: Christopher.Tracy@Boston.gov
Contact Phone: 617.918.4259
Location:
Suffolk University Law School's Moot Courtroom
120 Tremont St, 4th floor
Boston, MA 02108
 
Come out and show your support. Let your voices be heard!
 
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