11-21 Bromfield Street | DTX | Downtown

Yes, I heard $20M and they refused. I think they do very well selling sandwiches there in normal times. Bet they wished they sold.
 
They note a material for the facade has not yet been selected, but they want to respect the warm colors of Boston's copper, wood, terra cotta, etc.

thankfully is won't be another reflective glass box.

btw: I didn't realize this thread started July 2008 .... classic!
 
I wish they'd keep the Payless corner too. A varied street wall is more interesting, and more Boston. Agree with DZ, can we protect the little things that help define our city?
 
The building is wicked pretty and probably would've fallen into disrepair like the others on the block if it had been sold, so color me glad that it wasn't.

Or it wouldn't have (fallen into disrepair)? It has a pending Landmarks designation on it, so, officially, the City bureaucracy is eyeing this building's status rather carefully. (Officially, at least.)

(See row 134, the Hutchinson Building)
 
The PNF is up.

View attachment 8052

They note a material for the facade has not yet been selected, but they want to respect the warm colors of Boston's copper, wood, terra cotta, etc.

Hope they really push for some pretty drastic redesigns here, overall...

Very unusual to see the coveted 'corner office' space taken up by egress stairways.
 
Very unusual to see the coveted 'corner office' space taken up by egress stairways.

I'll go through the plans again later, but I have a feeling all of the circulation is moved to that wall. i.e. the elevators are next to the stairs in that render. It may have added some more usable square footage than a traditional layout, perhaps.
 
Very unusual to see the coveted 'corner office' space taken up by egress stairways.

I think this is anticipating some neighbor complaints.

The "egress corner" of the building is the part that is directly across from 45 province.

This should hopefully keep complaints about the new building looking into people's condos to a minimum.
 
I'll go through the plans again later, but I have a feeling all of the circulation is moved to that wall. i.e. the elevators are next to the stairs in that render. It may have added some more usable square footage than a traditional layout, perhaps.
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Typical upper floor office layout, kind of unusual but maybe it does create more usable space and addresses neighbors concerns.
 
Only 4 elevators... Banking big on WFH going forward?? /s
 
LaGrassa's should have sold. Their product is incredible but they could very easily have rented nearby and all of their catering (the vast majority of their business) would continue (post-COVID, of course). Any walk-ups would have been fine.

They do ~$10MM a year in sales is what I heard. And they're only open Mon-Fri for lunch only. Crazy.
 
This iteration is pretty - but the previous building was awesome IMO. I wish they'd show renders without the greenery.
 
LaGrassa's should have sold. Their product is incredible but they could very easily have rented nearby and all of their catering (the vast majority of their business) would continue (post-COVID, of course). Any walk-ups would have been fine.

They do ~$10MM a year in sales is what I heard. And they're only open Mon-Fri for lunch only. Crazy.

I appreciate they stood firm and that another pre-war building survives. I can respect not selling out.
 
Yeah it's too bad we're not demolishing this building too./s

Boston would be better off having this and the Payless building removed from DTX and replaced with a fat blob box that has one cool side but absolutely horrendous proportions./s

I'm glad we decided that the housing crisis was solved./s

I'm glad we're deciding to underbuild on a spot that's a 5 minute walk from all 4 major subway lines./s

I'm glad that facadectomies are never even mentioned by the BPDA as a preferred solution./s

I'm glad that preventing shadows is more important to our city's future than historical preservation./s

 
I appreciate they stood firm and that another pre-war building survives. I can respect not selling out.
Something tells me it was a business move on their part - not their attempt to preserve architecture. But hey, you never know. I always sort of wonder when people in this situation (or in the case of KO Pies in Southie) don't sell -- they have a gigantic development around them -- and who else will buy their parcel/property in the future?

With that said, I'm thrilled an older building lives on. But by them not selling, a facadectomy is not possible, and the overall development is blah. Wish it all could have been integrated...that kind of stuff REALLY needs to be suggested by the BPDA going forward (as DZH mentions) -- and an overarching push toward strong design would be much appreciated.

It baffles me that major architects don't bring their "A" game to Boston. Why not try to knock it out of the park and do unique things vs. glass boxes with fake trees on the renders?
 
Sometimes the refusal to sell out means you get two buildings instead of one and increased density. Worked for that KO space in Southie, iirc, but dubious here.
 

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