AVA North Point II | Archtone phase II | East Cambridge

I want to pile on and say more nasty things, but.... it is very close to bus and train transpo, across the street from a mall and a lot of the Kendall tech / bio, quick to downtown Boston and easy to get out of the city.
 
I, on the other hand, will say something really short and to the point...garbage.
 
Looks like a shanty town: tacked together piles of crap.
 
That might be the single most embarrassing building of the current cycle.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
I want to pile on and say more nasty things, but.... it is very close to bus and train transpo, across the street from a mall and a lot of the Kendall tech / bio, quick to downtown Boston and easy to get out of the city.
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So, what you are saying is that it was given a plum/smart-growth/transportation location that it frittered away with a 6 story landscraper?

Czervik, your post actually makes an even STRONGER case to pile on and say more nasty things about it.

I have to agree with Odurandina's previous post - - this is urban planning malpractice.
 
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Boston makes a lot of boneheaded development decisions, but Cambridge often feels like it is another tier of stupidity.

Bad architecture and bad urban planning.
 
shmessy said:
So, what you are saying is that it was given a plum/smart-growth/transportation location that it frittered away with a 6 story landscraper?

Czervik, your post actually makes an even STRONGER case to pile on and say more nasty things about it.

I have to agree with Odurandina's previous post - - this is urban planning malpractice.
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It is however something they won't mind knocking down in 30 years to build something better.
 
Jouhou said:
It is however something they won't mind knocking down in 30 years to build something better.
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I can't imagine any situation where that is the goal for a building.

Maybe Belichick threw this last Super Bowl away by not playing Butler so that the next one will seem like such a big success in contrast?
 
shmessy said:
I can't imagine any situation where that is the goal for a building.?
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I actually can see a developer thinking "disposable building". A lot of suburban houses are built that way, why not an urban landscraper?

Use the cheapest construction technique. Grab the money from the current building cycle. Run away before it falls down. Sounds like a sleazy developer's mantra to me.
 
Just like the MIT dorms Vassar Street,

this could be redone as a 16 story building in 15 years.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I actually can see a developer thinking "disposable building". A lot of suburban houses are built that way, why not an urban landscraper?

Use the cheapest construction technique. Grab the money from the current building cycle. Run away before it falls down. Sounds like a sleazy developer's mantra to me.
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Because many years from now, when Cambridge is desperate for buildable land, this may be very viable. Meanwhile they get to make money while sitting on it.
 
Given the poor fitment of various panels, it certainly leaves something to be desired. Like hood/door gaps on a Plymouth Reliant.

It's better than the empty lot (and the various messes that plagued it), though.
 
Jouhou said:
Because many years from now, when Cambridge is desperate for buildable land, this may be very viable. Meanwhile they get to make money while sitting on it.
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You lost me at "many years from now".
 
JeffDowntown said:
I actually can see a developer thinking "disposable building". A lot of suburban houses are built that way, why not an urban landscraper?

Use the cheapest construction technique. Grab the money from the current building cycle. Run away before it falls down. Sounds like a sleazy developer's mantra to me.
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I will agree with this statement. Bottom line building.

cca
 
Jouhou said:
They have 6 sq mi. I was thinking Hong Kong kind of desperate.
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It's all relative.

The space need is plenty high in East Cambridge.

This building belongs, however, belongs along Route 128.
 
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