[ARCHIVED] Harbor Garage Redevelopment | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

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Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

1) It's bold
2) It's tall
3) It's interesting
4) It's Boston - so it won't happen.

It will either get cut down in size, redesigned, or won't happen at all.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The best thing about this building is that it completely distracts from the Harbor Towers

I mean you take a quick glance at the skyline and your eyes just jump those two pieces of poo to look at the new Bird Tower.

The Tower is interesting because the design is not immediately graspable or intuitive to the viewer.
 
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Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

I know it is early and we haven't seen better renderings, or renderings from other angles, but I have to admit, I am not blown away. I like the height and slenderness of the tower closest to the Harbor Towers. This is what Boston needs more of. The other tower is just a box, with no appeal or anything that may draw your eye. Why do both towers need the same color and brick scheme? Mix it up a little. They are part of the same development, but why not make them look like they were built at seperate times with different planners? The idea of an arch is neat, but if this is to be the tallest tower in downtown, why not have a deck? They views looking out to the ocean are priceless, and looking west towards the rest of the city....I for one could spend a long time taking pics with a view like that!
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

They could also put a giant Christmas tree on top of the connector...

think of the possibilites.....
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Well, that didn't take long...

Critics blast Boston Harbor Garage towers proposal
By Thomas Grillo | Tuesday, February 3, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Real Estate
Photo

A proposal to replace the Boston Harbor Garage with a pair of skyscrapers on the waterfront is facing a tidal wave of criticism.

?It?s a disaster,? said Leonard Halpert, a longtime condominium owner at Harbor Towers, a pair of 40-story high-rises adjacent to the garage. ?It will not only block our views, but more importantly, it will destroy the waterfront.?

The Chiofaro Co., co-owner of International Place, is seeking the Boston Redevelopment Authority?s approval for a 1.5 million-square-foot development adjacent to the New England Aquarium on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. If approved, the seven-story garage would be demolished to make way for a $900 million mixed-use development including two towers with 860,000 square feet of office space, a 200-room hotel and 100 condominiums.

Prudential Real Estate and Chiofaro purchased the garage for $153 million in 2007 and floated a plan for an 85-story building. The developer won?t reveal the height of his latest version, but a rendering appears to show towers at 40 and 60 stories tall.

Jane Forrestall, a West End resident and member of the Downtown North Association said the buildings are too tall and too dense. ?I don?t like them,? she said. ?They are much taller than the Harbor Towers buildings and that?s a huge problem.?

Christopher J. Fincham, treasurer of the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park, a nonprofit group comprised of North End and waterfront neighbors whose mission is to preserve the park near the proposed development site, said residents are worried about shadows that such large buildings would cast on the green space.

He also noted that the proposal is ?totally premature? given that the BRA?s study to determine height and density for Greenway parcels is six months away from completion.

?The BRA?s Greenway study has not been completed and it will determine appropriate zoning for parcels along the Greenway,? Fincham said. ?Why is this being presented now??

The trustees of Harbor Towers have hired Colliers, Meredith & Grew as an advisor on the development?s impact. ?The project clearly does not reflect planning or regulatory context of Boston waterfront neighborhoods,? said Yanni Tsipis, a Colliers senior vice president.

David Kubiac, a member of the North End Waterfront Residents? Association exclaimed, ?Oh my God. It greatly violates the planning for the waterfront zoning which calls for 150-foot height limit. Can this kind of a development be built without harming the public access and use and enjoyment of the waterfront? That?s my concern.?

Duane Lucia, president of the West End Civic Association, said he?s confused about why a proposal for such tall buildings is being floated. ?Mayor Menino has said the city will limit the height of any new construction on the waterfront, so why Chiofaro is talking about a huge building doesn?t make sense,? he said.

In 2004, Chiofaro nearly lost International Place to a New York-based firm. He took International Place into bankruptcy and Prudential Real Estate Investors refinanced the project. Additionally, Chiofaro won and later lost development rights to build the headquarters for State Street Corp. He also lost the rights to develop the Seaport site that became Manulife Financial?s headquarters.

Chiofaro did not return a call seeking comment. He is scheduled to meet with several neighborhood groups on Feb. 11 to present the proposal, which he has first floated to the press, to neighbors.

One prominent Boston architect, who declined to be identified, said Boston?s skyline is stuck in the 1980s and could use a bold design. ?Whether this is the bold design remains to be seen,? he said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1149768
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

"The trustees of Harbor Towers have hired Colliers, Meredith & Grew as an advisor on the development?s impact. ?The project clearly does not reflect planning or regulatory context of Boston waterfront neighborhoods,? said Yanni Tsipis, a Colliers senior vice president."

Yeah I would trust Harbor Tower trustees with their awful decision making. They cost the residents a 400,000 dollar bill and their buildings seems to be built with a little bit of sand, cement and stone. JUNK development
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

"?It?s a disaster,? said Leonard Halpert, a longtime condominium owner at Harbor Towers, a pair of 40-story high-rises adjacent to the garage. ?It will not only block our views, but more importantly, it will destroy the waterfront.?

This is retarded. Block our views. Your views are toward the sea or into the financial center. Either way, your view is either not blocked or it is blocked already.

"David Kubiac, a member of the North End Waterfront Residents? Association exclaimed, ?Oh my God. It greatly violates the planning for the waterfront zoning which calls for 150-foot height limit. Can this kind of a development be built without harming the public access and use and enjoyment of the waterfront? That?s my concern.?"

Harming public access and use and enjoyment of the waterfront? There is no activity down at the waterfront. The proposal plans to include retail and restaurants that will help bring activity there.

Stupid people please go die in a dying hole.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

I could, as I expect anyone with sense could, go through that article and point out the clear logical errors in each one of those objections. My favorite, though, was the one about the project hurting public enjoyment of the waterfront. I'm not sure what waterfront he's talking about, but I would generally take a public arcade and shopping space, architectural icon for the city, ground floor retail and dining with increased on-site residents (and thus life), and a new path and public open space connecting waterfront segments and the Aquarium over a 9-story concrete parking garage.

By his logic, perhaps we should demolish the Rowe's Wharf complex in favor of a prison, or perhaps pick up Boston City Hall and simply move it to the SBW.

I don't love this design, but it's modern without being pretentious or ugly, so I'll take it. I'd like to see that arch a little more interesting, though. Maybe make the top out of decorative glass trusses or some such thing. I'm sure future renderings will be more elaborate.

BTW, whoever said on the last page that the video screens should have live feeds from the Aquarium tanks, if we could guarantee those cameras would be capturing action all the time (instead of empty water): Brilliant. WGBH will be totally outclassed.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Why do these laymen schmucks get such prominent press space?

It's one thing if they are preaching facts, stats, and even tempered opinions but these clowns are just ridiculous.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Why do these laymen schmucks get such prominent press space?

It's one thing if they are preaching facts, stats, and even tempered opinions but these clowns are just ridiculous.

Yes, it is absurd.

Perhaps this thread is not the best place to discuss this, or perhaps it has been discussed elsewhere already, but have the powers-that-be here at archBoston considered giving the website a more public face? A blog/news site that would allow the aB community to make its opinions more available to the public?
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

its like angelina jolie and adriana lima on the waterfront, except they are conjoined at the right eye so they have this big ugly thing between them. If they got rid of that weird terracotta arch thing this would be spectacular!

edit: after watching the video, i'm a little bit more comfortable with the arch, but still, the whole "pure wall of brick/terra cotta" scares me. Are the walls on the side completely terracotta or are there windows?
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

well, that was quick.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

They really must have nothing better to do. We all knew this was going to happen.
I have to agree that the Harbor Towers and a 9 story garage do far more to disprupt whatever fabric there is down along this site. The single most important thing, even beyond how it looks, it how it will interact at ground level.
And views being blocked?? This is diagonally situated from the residents in the closest tower, so nothing will be blocked.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The arch makes this design.

It is architecture as modern art.

Without the arch we have simply two disparate glass towers that resemble the movie poster for Twins.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The arch creates a third building with the cladding a real time projection of the city beyond....perhaps that was a bit obvious, but I think its genius. In particular, I hope the "arch" is lit up at night so the illusion continues then as well.

I second (or third) the suggestion the the LCD monitors act as webcams for some of the fish tanks.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

This looks like it was designed by M. C. Escher.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

well, that was quick.

The outrage of a "neighbor" to a new project is oft inversely proportionate to the architectural merit of his/her own residence.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

its like angelina jolie and adriana lima on the waterfront, except they are conjoined at the right eye so they have this big ugly thing between them. If they got rid of that weird terracotta arch thing this would be spectacular!

edit: after watching the video, i'm a little bit more comfortable with the arch, but still, the whole "pure wall of brick/terra cotta" scares me. Are the walls on the side completely terracotta or are there windows?

If you look at the video, right at 4:00 Chiofaro turns the model so you can see the side. From that view it looks like there will be thin terra cotta strips coming down a glass wall. However others here think this may not be accurate, so we're going to have to wait for other renderings. It makes no sense for it to be a giant terra cotta wall...I don't know who would ever think that would be good looking.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The arch creates a third building with the cladding a real time projection of the city beyond....perhaps that was a bit obvious, but I think its genius. In particular, I hope the "arch" is lit up at night so the illusion continues then as well.

I second (or third) the suggestion the the LCD monitors act as webcams for some of the fish tanks.

That would be really cool...as I said before, it took me four or five glances to realize there was no building in the middle.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Observatory for what, Avian genocide?!!?! I knew that bird-hating bastard Chiofaro had some alterior motive for this building.

Aha! We've got him now.

?It?s a disaster,? said Leonard Halpert, a longtime condominium owner at Harbor Towers, a pair of 40-story high-rises adjacent to the garage. ?It will not only block our views, but more importantly, it will destroy the waterfront.?

This is retarded. Block our views. Your views are toward the sea or into the financial center. Either way, your view is either not blocked or it is blocked already.

David Kubiac, a member of the North End Waterfront Residents? Association exclaimed, ?Oh my God. It greatly violates the planning for the waterfront zoning which calls for 150-foot height limit. Can this kind of a development be built without harming the public access and use and enjoyment of the waterfront? That?s my concern.?

Harming public access and use and enjoyment of the waterfront? There is no activity down at the waterfront. The proposal plans to include retail and restaurants that will help bring activity there.

Stupid people please go die in a dying hole.

Yes. Mr. Halpert, I was under the impression that what mattered for the city was not your views, but rather lots of money being invested. Which I doubt your view does. I was also under the impression that it was your building that ruined the waterfront, but hey, I could be wrong. And I'm also pretty sure that Harbor Towers are above the height limit...so they don't get to pull that argument. Off to the intellectual death ditch for you.

Mr. Kubiac, putting a mixed-use development in place of a parking garage cannot possibly hurt public access, use, and enjoyment. If there is an architect who could possibly create a worse inhibitor to public use as that garage, he/she should be stoned. You are dumb. Put on a dunce cap and go sit in the dying hole.

As for the design. Not awful, and as a concept I like it. I want to see more detailed renderings before I make my final decision, but I do like the 'arch'. I don't like all the terra cotta. I think they should put an observatory at the top, and wind turbines in the arch, like what they're doing in (Singapore?).
 
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