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

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Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

el raval said:
I?m not sure if anyone who is posting here lives down to the waterfront, but the one single area of the waterfront that is ?teeming? with people is the aquarium plaza and Christopher Columbus Park. I have no sympathy for those from Harbor Towers. Blocking views is not a legally defensible position, but blocking of sun however, is. And yes, a 60 story tower would cast shadows on the Greenway in the morning, but more egregiously, it would block sun to the aquarium plaza and Columbus Park most of the afternoon.
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Unless the sun starts setting in the South, I don't see how this would ever affect Christopher Columbus Park. The Greenway would see shadows for part of the morning, but it looks like they worked really hard to minimize the shadows on the greenway. I don't think the "shadow" argument is a valid one in regards to the Greenway (it would be if it affected CC Park) since this project should bring so much more life to the area.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Unfortunately in this instance.... it's pretty close to true. Not too many things could actually be worse. A parking garage with no street level retail, another park, a gas station, City Hall (or any government building really but since someone floated the idea in the press....), a Gehry building.... and that's my short list.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Obviously this building is creating a buzz but lets try to keep it civil. Telling people who don't agree with you to go off and die is really childish. The residents of Harbor Towers have every right to complain about a GIANT FUCKING TOWER being built right next door to them, regardless of the architectural merits of the buildings in which they live. Since I'm sure none of you live there I'll take your comments with a grain of salt.

Lets be realistic here, this building is not going to be built like this. The economy, the proposed Greenway zoning, the NIMBYs, etc. This would be an interesting building, no doubt, but I think the cards are stacked against it (though I really wish it could be built in DTX, that would be bad ass).
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

tmac9wr said:
Unless the sun starts setting in the South, I don't see how this would ever affect Christopher Columbus Park. The Greenway would see shadows for part of the morning, but it looks like they worked really hard to minimize the shadows on the greenway. I don't think the "shadow" argument is a valid one in regards to the Greenway (it would be if it affected CC Park) since this project should bring so much more life to the area.
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If you go to Google maps, the satellite image was taken probably around 7AM - 8AM on a summer weekday morning. The Harbor Towers shadows stretch across the Greenway, east to west. (The One Financial Center shadow reaches Kingston St and perhaps beyond.) In the early Spring and late Fall, I'd guess the mid-day sun angle might be low enough that Chiofaro's building could shadow the southern part of CC park. Most definitely, this building would leave Central Wharf and much of Long Wharf / lower State St. in shadow for large portions of the day from Spring through Fall.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

"This is the CITY. Go move to Somerville if you don't want your views blocked." This should apply to all proposed projects! This is a city ,cities have tall buildings,if thats not what you want in a city move!!!
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Plusses:
1. Innovative massing;
2. bold height;
3. replaces the garage.

Minuses:
1. Massing is reminiscent of a 1950's room divider;
2. Too much "slab"; not enough definition of fenestration;
3. "Arch" will be interpreted simply as negative space having no real meaning;
4. It will be a decade before he gets funding for condos.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

vanshnookenraggen said:
Obviously this building is creating a buzz but lets try to keep it civil. Telling people who don't agree with you to go off and die is really childish. The residents of Harbor Towers have every right to complain about a GIANT FUCKING TOWER being built right next door to them, regardless of the architectural merits of the buildings in which they live. Since I'm sure none of you live there I'll take your comments with a grain of salt.

Lets be realistic here, this building is not going to be built like this. The economy, the proposed Greenway zoning, the NIMBYs, etc. This would be an interesting building, no doubt, but I think the cards are stacked against it (though I really wish it could be built in DTX, that would be bad ass).
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I'm not telling them to go die [sarcasm] because they disagree, I'm telling them their reasons for complaining are not realistic. Let's look here. The Harbor tower on one side faces the sea which mean no matter what happens, if the person lives there, no view can be blocked. If they live on the otherside, their views are already blocked by other skyscrapers in the Financial District. From the picture of the newspaper, the propose tower is set back from the waterfront enough that it blocks the view of the side facing toward so that it cannot see GC but that's pretty much it. We don't need to worry about the other side. The whole it might damage the activity at the waterfront is also unrealistic. So until they bring something that makes sense, then their complaints should be taken with a grain of salt.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

I don't like the Harbor Towers, but the residents need to be taken somewhat seriously because their HVAC system is in the garage to be demolished. If the project isn't staged correctly they could really get screwed.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The "arch" is absolutely atrocious. The project would be barely acceptable if they removed it, but right now it is a bold move that unfortunately just doesn't work out aesthetically.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

vanshnookenraggen said:
Telling people who don't agree with you to go off and die is really childish.
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In this case, the people in question probably aren't forum members, and therefore it's not a whole lot worse than directing that sentiment at, say, Kim Jong Il.

To attack a forum member like this, however, should be cause for a week or two of banning.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

ablarc, any thoughts on the project in question?
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The last several posts here are all off-topic.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Where is Ned when you need him!
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

This project is better than the garage, I guess, though I was never bothered by the garage as much as some other folks; it has ground floor shops and OK massing and detailing. It was never my No. 1 candidate for demolition.

Chiofaro's scheme: I like the shopping link between the Greenway and the Aquarium. The arch and the skinny building are weirdly attenuated to my eye. Give it a B for achievement and an A for effort.

The BRA has no business holding up this project while they cook up [entirely arguable] specifications. If there are no criteria in place right now ... well, there are no criteria.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The "arch" is absolutely atrocious. The project would be barely acceptable if they removed it, but right now it is a bold move that unfortunately just doesn't work out aesthetically.
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I like the arch, but it only works due to the sheer height. If the towers get cut down to 400'-500' foot boxes, ouch...
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The garage looks like it was intended to have first-floor shops on both sides, but in practice the water side ended up as office space or auxiliary exhibit space for the Aquarium, never generating much foot traffic.

Even on the Atlantic Avenue side, a Century Bank branch closed and wasn't replaced with anything.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

The agreement with the city states that the arcade on the waterside will be permanently open for pedestrian use. Mayor White violated this very quickly when he allowed a restaurant to build into the arcade. This is now occupied by the New England Aquarium.
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

As far as I know, the Harborwalk is open for pedestrian use and wraps around the Aquarium. Am I not understanding something here?
 
Re: New tower at Aquarium parking garage.

Somehow, I wish the Greenway was the Harborwalk itself (as in the waterfront itself) and not a separate parkway.
 
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