115 Federal St. (Winthrop Square)

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Hey guys...it looks to me like that might be a cartoonish version of the Hancock Tower. Isn't it too far south to be Winthrop Sq? It would be extremely weird for them to use a graphic with a non-existent building in it...
 
On the HD version of the broadcast, it didn't look anything like the Hancock Tower. It really looked much more like the renderings of Winthrop Square.
 
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i don't know.... if one were to put a cartoon figure on a real bomb, does that then render that bomb as "obviously not a danger"?

We should be proud of the way our emergency personell handled everything, remembering that two fake pipe bombs (unrelated to the ad campaign) were also found.

Of course, I have yet to hear exactly how long they were up for; from what I understand, it could have been up to two weeks, which is a bit scary because a real bomb could forseably only need a couple of minutes before doing its damage.
 
i hafta say, as a ATHF watcher, i knew immediately what those characters were. i think the situation is pretty silly. but i think it was dumb for the mooninites to be looking all angry and giving the finger. definately could be misconstrued especially to those who dont know the show.
 
You're missing the obvious ...

You're missing the obvious ... NBC and the rest of the media is controlled by the Government. They feed them these stories. In this case, the Government just sent them the wrong graphic.

The media is in on this, too!!
 
Obviously the electronic devices/bombs/secret advertisements were considered dangerous once they were discovered partially obscured in difficult to reach public places by officials in Boston, otherwise all the other cities would have left them alone. The fact that they were removed in all cities shows that they were considered to be a threat on a national scale.

An embarrassment? Hardly. If only they had checked and acted on the no fly list on 9/11. That minor oversight and inaction resulted in thousands of deaths.
 
tocoto said:
Obviously the electronic devices/bombs/secret advertisements were considered dangerous once they were discovered partially obscured in difficult to reach public places by officials in Boston, otherwise all the other cities would have left them alone. The fact that they were removed in all cities shows that they were considered to be a threat on a national scale.

An embarrassment? Hardly. If only they had checked and acted on the no fly list on 9/11. That minor oversight and inaction resulted in thousands of deaths.

Agree 100%. I'd rather be "embarassed" at something like this as opposed to what went on during 9/11. So they might have overreated a bit, I'd rather take measures and have nothing be wrong than not take measures and have something go horribly wrong.

I'm not worried about being laughed at either. I'm so scared of what the Aqua Teen Hunger Force watchers think of the city and the people who live here.
 
While over on SkyscraperCity I decided to check out some of the projects going up in Paris. While there I saw a supertall (1,073 ft. I believe) that also had a base that was open with the building being supported on stilts. It looks really really impressive, maybe Renzo Piano can get some inspiration from this base:

Paris.jpg
 
I know this is the thread that the conversation was originally in, but it has been dead for months, so bear with me.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

Boston's Cityscape on the Emporis website has FINALLY been changed to the Bowesst picture!!! It has not been updated on the public site yet, but it is updated on the members part (or at least my part).

Jeez, that took forever!

515114.jpg
 
So i remember when the menino was talking about this building for the first time other city officials said that 115 winthrop may not be the only 1,000 footer they would be willing to consider, if other developers stepped forward. Have any other developers showed any interest or are they waiting to see how 115 goes? also, whats the status of 115?

btw - that emporis pic looks pretty good bowest.
 
Commission Concerned About Tower Proposal
By Thomas Grillo



A city watchdog agency is questioning a plan to turn the Winthrop Square Garage in Boston?s Financial District into the city?s tallest skyscraper.


Not so fast. Those are the three words that a city watchdog agency has for Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his plan to turn a parking garage into the Hub?s tallest skyscraper.

In a report expected to be released next month by the Boston Finance Commission, an independent agency that monitors the city?s finances, the terms of the Boston Redevelopment Authority?s Request for Proposals for a 1,000-foot skyscraper in the Financial District raise questions about the deal.

?The biggest problem with the RFP is that it does not comply with the law,? said commission Executive Director Jeffrey W. Conley in reference to Chapter 30B, the Uniformed Procurement Procedures Law, which requires an open and fair competition when municipal property is disposed. ?The project could be a good deal for the city, but not the way the RFP is written.?

In November, Steven B. Belkin, chairman of Boston-based Trans National Properties, was the sole developer to respond to an RFP for an 80-story building to be constructed at 115 Winthrop Square, the site of a city-owned parking garage. If approved, it would tower over the John Hancock Tower by 18 stories.

At issue is potentially millions of dollars in future revenues from the city-owned parking garage. Under the provisions of the RFP issued last spring, the city plans to transfer ownership of the Winthrop Square Garage ? located at the intersection of Franklin, Federal Summer and Devonshire streets? to the BRA, the city?s planning and development agency.

?A Red Herring?
But Conley argues that if the BRA owns the garage until the parcel is sold to a developer, the planning agency ? not the city ? will be the beneficiary of millions of dollars in parking fees until construction begins on the tower. The BRA is a quasi-government entity that has its own budget and generates much of its own revenues through ground leases and facilities.

?We think the money should go to the city and not the BRA,? said Conley. ?There should be two separate transactions: one bid for who will operate the garage, separate from who builds the tower. It could be the same person, but a bid is still required.?

The amount at stake is huge, Conley noted. The lease agreement negotiated in the 1950s provides the city with $75,000 annually from the 4-story garage operated by the First Federal Parking Corp. Since then, parking revenues at the facility have soared. Today the garage brings in $2.5 million annually.

?The lease expires on June 30 and should be rebid,? Conley said. ?Given that it can take years before the tower is built, we?re talking about $20 million that could be in the city?s coffers.?

In an interview with Banker & Tradesman, Menino dismissed the criticism. ?Jeff Conley doesn?t understand the project and it?s unfortunate that he?s throwing a red herring out there,? said Menino. ?He can do that, but we will continue to move the city forward legally and everything we do will be aboveboard.?

Still, Conley said he fears a repeat of Hayward Place, a city-owned surface parking lot on Washington Street that the BRA took by eminent domain in 2001. The BRA sold the lot to Millennium Partners-Boston for $23 million, which plans to construct a 155-foot-high building with 225 loft-style condominiums and ground-floor retail, Conley noted.

Millennium made a down payment to the BRA of $13 million that was intended to be used for construction of a new school in Chinatown. The other $10 million has not been paid and the school has not been built, Conley said.

For the first two years of the lease, Millennium made annual payments of $532,000 to the city. Now, Conley said, the company operates the parking lot but the city receives none of the proceeds.

?When you look at Hayward Place, it?s been six years and it?s still a parking lot and the developer is still operating it, taking all the money,? Conley said. ?Millennium has still not paid the full purchase price and no taxes are being paid on it because it is owned by the BRA. It?s ridiculous. We estimate the city has lost as much as $7 million. The same thing can happen again if the BRA is in control of the Winthrop Square parcel.?

Last month, the BRA?s board of directors recommended the tentative designation of Trans National to develop the 115 Winthrop Square site. The board?s recommendation is the first milestone for the downtown project, which is expected to carry the distinction of being Boston?s tallest building and would boast a total of 1.5 million square feet of office and retail space, as well as an acre of public space. The locally based development team includes world-renowned architect Renzo Piano.

Trans National has 90 days to submit a financing plan to the BRA that should include an acquisition fee established by an appraisal of the site. The project plan then will be reviewed to determine whether it is financially viable. A recommendation could then be made to the BRA to grant the final designation, setting into motion the Article 80 public review process.

?There are lots of questions that remain,? said Conley. ?Who will do what and when will they do it??
 
theculprit said:
Commission Concerned About Tower Proposal
By Thomas Grillo


?The lease expires on June 30 and should be rebid,? Conley said. ?Given that it can take years before the tower is built, we?re talking about $20 million that could be in the city?s coffers.?

Maybe, just maybe, thats the problem!!!!!!!!!
 
palindrome said:
Maybe, just maybe, thats the problem!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, but the Hayward Place example is showing one of the sources of that delay problem -- namely that for developers, holding on to parking facilities can be a simple, modestly profitable and very low-risk proposition.

See also: Fan Pier

not to say that the approval schedule isn't also ridiculously long ....
 
This was in the New York Times today along with a picture of Rudolph's building and the harborside rendering of 115. This is an interesting debate as it is the first instance where the possibility of a redesign has come up. Also, note the short paragraph about the 115's width....could it possibly lead to even more height??

Architecture
Another Building by a Noted Modernist Comes Under Threat, This Time in Boston
By DAVID HAY

BOSTON, March 1 ? A plan to demolish a 1960 office tower by the influential architect Paul Rudolph threatens to pit a prominent developer backed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino against preservationists who see the building as a seminal example of midcentury Modernism.

If the developer, Steve Belkin, prevails, Mr. Rudolph?s 13-story structure will be supplanted by an 80-story skyscraper designed by one of today?s biggest names, the Italian architect Renzo Piano.

On March 13 the Boston Landmarks Commission plans to consider Mr. Belkin?s application for a demolition permit for the Rudolph building, at 133 Federal Street, in the city?s financial district. The commission, whose jurisdiction covers all buildings in downtown Boston and in other neighborhoods more than 50 years old, can order a 90-day delay during which it can ask the applicant to consider alternatives to demolition.

Several groups, including Docomomo, an international organization devoted to preserving Modernist buildings, plan to submit statements at the hearing urging the commission to recommend that the city delay issuing the permit by 90 days.

?We are not opposed to the new development, but we would like to think there is a solution that could accommodate the preservation of Mr. Rudolph?s building,? David Fixler, president of Docomomo?s New England branch, said. ?It is a very significant piece of Boston?s architectural heritage and deserves a complete hearing.?

Similar battles to prevent demolition of Rudolph residences have been unsuccessfully waged in Sarasota, Fla., and Westport, Conn., in recent years; preservationists are now fighting to save his Riverview High School in Sarasota.

The squat tower in Boston, originally called the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building, was the first Modernist office building to rise in this city?s downtown, according to Docomomo. Its ornately intricate concrete exterior was viewed as a controversial rejoinder to the prevailing International Style of the 1950s, in which high-rises were typically wrapped in glass.

Currently owned by Mr. Belkin?s company, Trans National Properties, it is part of the Winthrop Square redevelopment, whose biggest portion is occupied by a city-owned parking garage. At the urging of Mayor Menino, Mr. Belkin submitted the sole proposal in November to build the 80-story tower on the site. Preliminary drawings for the Piano tower call for it to be topped by a ?lookout garden? and to strive for certification as an environmentally sensitive green building. Also planned are an adjoining covered plaza and an indoor public garden. The board of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which must approve projects larger than 20,000 square feet, endorsed the proposal in late January with Mr. Piano in attendance. The developer has until April 25 to submit a financing plan to the authority.

James W. Hunt, chief of environmental and energy services for the city, said that Mayor Menino was committed to the Piano tower. ?It furthers his vision of Boston becoming a contemporary architecture hub,? he said.

But preservationists argue that the Rudolph building need not be sacrificed to make way for the Piano tower. Ideally, they say, the 1960 structure might even enter into a visual dialogue with a bold new tower.

In this month?s issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Timothy M. Rohan, an assistant professor of art history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, says the building received a mixed reception upon its completion. It drew praise from the architect Philip Johnson and later from the architectural historian Vincent J. Scully Jr., who applauded its ?excellent relationship to the pre-existing street? and said it prefigured the progressive urbanist schemes of Alison and Peter Smithson in London.

But Architectural Forum called the building ?one of the most controversial structures put up in the U.S. in some time.?

Unlike many of his Modernist peers, Mr. Rohan said in an interview, Mr. Rudolph ?felt the need to respond to the mainly 19th-century historic styles then surrounding the site.?

?He thus decided against a glass-paneled facade, opting for this richly detailed but still Modern shell,? he said. ?In this appreciation of urban context, he was far ahead of his time.?

Some architecture enthusiasts detect a paradox. For them, Mr. Rudolph?s architectural experiment offers parallels to some of Mr. Piano?s early triumphs, like the 1977 Pompidou Center in Paris (designed with Richard Rogers), with its exposed mechanical systems.

Many of the precast concrete piers that line the exterior of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building, for example, are hollow to accommodate the building?s engineering systems, including its heating and cooling. ?By moving the structural systems to the exterior, he added to the spaciousness and flexibility of the interior,? Mr. Rohan said.

Mr. Fixler of Docomomo said: ?There is a spirit of structural and system experimentation associated with the Rudolph building that is very close to Renzo Piano?s. If it could be saved, it would make a good neighbor to his tower.?

In an interview, Mr. Piano said he wanted his tower to have a ?light presence,? hovering above the proposed 70-foot-high public plaza. Without the vast open space, he said, his tower will seem too aggressive, and only demolition of the Rudolph building will make that wide plaza possible.

?I am a great admirer of Rudolph?s and I always ask myself, ?Can we try to keep a building as a piece of architectural memory?? ? he said. ?But if it is not demolished, we lose the opportunity to create a city square.?

Yet Mr. Piano added that he was under pressure from Mr. Belkin to increase the tower?s width, something he said he could not agree to do. That conflict leaves the project?s outcome even more unclear.

Mr. Piano also designed the new headquarters of The New York Times Company, which is scheduled to open this spring.

In a letter he plans to submit to the Landmarks Commission, Mr. Rohan points out that in 1986 Mr. Rudolph was hired by a former owner of 133 Federal Street to produce a plan for developing that site. Mr. Rudolph, who died in 1997, proposed doubling the building?s size, an idea never realized.

One solution, Mr. Rohan suggested, ?might be to use Rudolph?s schemes as the inspiration for the expansion rather than demolition of the structure.?
 
I don't think they should tear down 133 Federal Street. It may be (IMO) a cheap concrete monstrosity, but it is significant enough to deserve preservation like City Hall.
 
This is sickening ...

This is sickening.

Will it ever cease???

Tear it down.
 
I'm for tearing it down if it means we get 115 Winthrop in its place, but it really is a superbly designed building.

img0548ju1.jpg


And about making 115 wider, that request from Belkin doesn't surprise me one bit. 140 x 140 ft (20ksf) does not provide for the floor plates that tenants prefer these days, which are usually more up around 40ksf.
 
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