500 Boylston Infill | 500 Boylston St | Back Bay

I love that Berkie is breaking news via development!
 
That had to be in works before all this infill talk, correct?
 
statler said:
That had to be in works before all this infill talk, correct?
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May not have been in the works at the time Blackstone first floated it, but certainly was in the works when they went before the BRA. There are no approvals that would carry over to the new owners. I suppose the new owners might be willing to buy the plans for a pence or two.
 
I am secretly releaved the plaza might be staying as is, except it's not a secret because I just wrote I am releaved.
 
This plan was done by Boston Property to act as a "sweetener" to their potential (now realized) sale. The new owner now gets to decide if they want to execute the plans ... sit on the plans or redesign.

This ain't a thing yet.

cca
 
davem said:
It's CBT. This is basically what I expected from them. They are the crate and barrell of architecture.
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Davem -- No -- that would be Benjamin Thompson and Associates, at 48 Brattle Street in Cambridge -- the original DR glass box that eventually re-emerged as a Crate & Barrel
 
All I want is for them to put the urns back on top. I never liked the barren plaza and at street level I don't think anyone will really notice the infill facade, as long as something busy and retail goes into the ground floor....and not just another naked marble lobby.
 
Why should the courtyard have to have “a point”? So we can “activate” the space? More “street level retail”? “Good urbanism?” No. I like the courtyard and the building exactly how it is... and to amend it would ruin it. Count me in as strong opposition to this.
 
BeeLine said:
Looks like some activity has begun according to the BBJ.

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Beeline -- those columns -- Johnson just did them so he could steal McKim's fabulously appropriate light brackets from the BPL [appropriate to the BPL]
but nothing Johnson ever did was appropriate --- so anything being done at 500 Boylston is going to be better than what is already there



temp_view_04.jpg
 
Just migrating here since a discussion was starting in the Hub on Causeway thread.
I wasn't aware of this project. What a mistake to remove the only interesting feature of this building... Instead of preserving the iconic columns, they're ripping them down in putting in some generic planters. That rendering is a mess of overly optimistic tacky lighting and full bloom spring foliage. The only piece of architecture Elkus is proposing to add is blown out and obscured in the background, which seems to have zero relation to anything else in the plaza.

Yes to more greenery. No to lame anonymizing of spaces.
 
That render kinda reminds of something you would see in LA.
 
What happened to this? Was it VE’d? This is what the lobby upgrade was supposed to be.
500boylston.jpg
 
goody said:
I am pretty sure the community freaked out about getting ride of the open space... though this is clearly soo much better.
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It is a bit bizarre that the community objected to enclosing the space, since the space was totally inhospitable due to wind whipping around; it was very poorly utilized.

When I think of that courtyard, I don't think people enjoying the outdoor space, I think swirls of trash spinning in the wind.
 
budman3 said:
2/26
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Put me down for someone who is stoked about taking out those columns and enlivening that courtyard. This will make the streetscape far more dynamic and will be a great turn-in for pedestrians! Seriously, this will be a much more welcoming gift for walkers. Those columns were a deterrant.

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