ACC/NU Residence Hall | 840 Columbus Ave | Northeastern University

Wow - - that's a HUGE architectural detail revision from this in March! The ground level doesn't look as dramatic as the earlier render (one story glass vs. earlier, two+ story glass). Overall looks a bit smaller too.

It's actually ~30' taller... officially a skyscraper as proposed (331' height).
 
It's actually ~30' taller... officially a skyscraper as proposed (331' height).

The first iteration was approximately this height too. It didn't list the mech as part of it. This is from page 34 of the PDF found in the original post.

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As to the design, I think I like it better now, although it also looks quite a bit like the one next door. It might be too much, but it's also a cool effect that this will basically be the big brother on steroids version of the first one. Honestly, wasn't sold on the first design, not totally sold here either. Glad they left the height though! The whole area will be much more visible because of it. Quite a developing skyline of dorms we have going on west of Mass Ave.
 
As to the design, I think I like it better now, although it also looks quite a bit like the one next door. It might be too much, but it's also a cool effect that this will basically be the big brother on steroids version of the first one. Honestly, wasn't sold on the first design, not totally sold here either. Glad they left the height though! The whole area will be much more visible because of it. Quite a developing skyline of dorms we have going on west of Mass Ave.
Agree. The original design looked too monolithic.
 
This is why you always have to wait because everything goes through a couple iterations.
 
But in Boston the iterations usually result in many floors being chopped off. Hope that doesn't happen here.

Hopefully Northeastern holds their ground. I personally liked the old design, but I can see why some might not like it. I was able to join the virtual meeting and it seems some people still weren't happy with the design. Asking Northeastern to "rethink the height" I guess forgetting that the height is necessary to make up for the 800 beds northeastern plans to add back to the city. I'm all for re-designs, but these are the same people that will complain about the height of the dorm and then complain about how northeastern doesn't have enough on-campus housing for students.
 
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Hopefully Northeastern holds their ground. I personally liked the old design, but I can see why some might not like it. I was able to join the virtual meeting and it seems some people still weren't happy with the design. Asking Northeastern to "rethink the height" I guess forgetting that the height is necessary to make up for the 800 beds northeastern plans to add back to the city. I'm all for re-designs, but these are the same people that will complain about the height of the dorm and then complain about how northeastern doesn't have enough on-campus housing for students.

IMHO, the height of the most important part for urban life got cut in half, from 2 stories to 1.

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Just to confirm, this would be another ACC run building, right?


Yes, I believe Northeastern will own and operate the academic part of the building. ACC will own and operate the residential portion. I wonder if Northeastern plans to continue this sort of structure with all future dorms? I guess time will tell.
 
Yes, I believe Northeastern will own and operate the academic part of the building. ACC will own and operate the residential portion. I wonder if Northeastern plans to continue this sort of structure with all future dorms? I guess time will tell.
That's where my mind was at as well. With their plans to add residential housing behind Ryder and potentially expand their residential footprint near Burstein/Rubenstein, one has to wonder if they'll even consider adding anymore traditional university housing.
 
Yes, I believe Northeastern will own and operate the academic part of the building. ACC will own and operate the residential portion. I wonder if Northeastern plans to continue this sort of structure with all future dorms? I guess time will tell.
Northeastern will also own the land, as it does with LightView. Any future Northeastern owned housing would be freshman dorms, when and if they are built.
 

here we go again.
The first task force meeting showed a lot of unhappiness that the building wasn't going to be the hotel originally planned for the plot, there was a lot of concern about the lack of economic development and jobs for the local community in building housing instead of a hotel. I kind of struggle to get on board with that because university housing plus the academic floors will absolutely generate as many jobs as a hotel, just probably not in the skill level the local community is looking for.
 
The first task force meeting showed a lot of unhappiness that the building wasn't going to be the hotel originally planned for the plot, there was a lot of concern about the lack of economic development and jobs for the local community in building housing instead of a hotel. I kind of struggle to get on board with that because university housing plus the academic floors will absolutely generate as many jobs as a hotel, just probably not in the skill level the local community is looking for.
Why not build the affordable housing and other stuff on the Tremont Crossing site? Oh wait, that failed.
 
The first task force meeting showed a lot of unhappiness that the building wasn't going to be the hotel originally planned for the plot, there was a lot of concern about the lack of economic development and jobs for the local community in building housing instead of a hotel. I kind of struggle to get on board with that because university housing plus the academic floors will absolutely generate as many jobs as a hotel, just probably not in the skill level the local community is looking for.
I also remember that a lot of people were unhappy about the height of the building as well. Hopefully Northeastern doesn't change the height and we can move forward with this project
 
Why not build the affordable housing and other stuff on the Tremont Crossing site? Oh wait, that failed.

I wonder if northeastern is eyeing that big plot of land now that Tremont crossing failed. But I think there would be a lot of push back from the community.
 

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