Avalon Exeter | 77 Exeter Street | Back Bay

Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

One argument I am sympathetic to is what Eliot Laffer of NABB said at the meeting. Basically, the people who live in those buildings have been subjected to NON STOP CONSTRUCTION for YEARS. And now, when its finally ending, here comes another major project that will also take years, and be a noisy disruption of life for all.

Now, I don't know if that is a reason not to build it, but I do sympathize.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

Boston02124 said:
these have been on here for months!
xxxxxhullseagull2008053.jpg
xxxxxhullseagull2008051.jpg
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In the first, I don't see anything new. I mean, I know whats new, but it just doesn't make any impact at all it seems.

The one in the second looks like a bloated, convex Intercontinental.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

The housing tower along Exeter would probably help, however the office project on Boylston adds nothing.

With the Mandarin completed, they have finally filled in the Boylston streetwall to the point where the plaza in front of the Pru is well defined on three sides, with the Pru as a backdrop there's potential for some real urban drama. With a bit of cosmetic work and some active retail it could really become one of Boston's best urban spaces, but now they want to fill it in with another insipid building.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

The tower on Boylston looks like some South Boston Waterfront generic trash architecture, and the billowing front just looks ridiculous.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

With today's economy both of these buildings are toast for the forseeable future.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

kz1000ps said:
How reasonable is she to talk to? I once had a pleasant conversation with her back at a meeting for the Apple Store, but at the time we were in agreement on where the process was at, and I didn't know of her standing in the community. So I feel like I don't really know how zealous her anti-development bias is, despite what she says at meetings and in the papers.
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I think she's one of the most reasonable of the NIMBY/NABB bunch, and also think is genuinely interested in hearing all points of view. I think she's respected, but wonder how effective she was as president of NABB (didn't she just finish a term last spring?) I never joined NABB, but nearly every time I see her, she extends the invitation and reminds me NABB "does more than argue with people about buildings." I just nearly always happen to see her in a professional capacity when....there's arguments about buildings.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

That's great to hear; next time I'm at a meeting with her I'll be sure to strike up a conversation (for sure, it couldn't be worse than talking to Marty W.). And as for her standing within NABB, the last public meeting I attended was for the Copley Place tower back in late July and she was president then.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

From what I understand 111 Huntington is 100% leased, and has two tenants that are growing.

One, Bain Capital, is growing a lot and will need to either move out, or Boston Properties will need to move another 111 Huntington out to make room for a growing Bain.

Enter this squat piece of crap on Boylston Street... if Boston Properties can find 250k-500k worth of space in their very popular Pru Complex, they can move a tenant out of 111 Huntington, name this little crap building after that tenant, and allow 111 Huntington to become Bain Tower - giving them all the space they could want.

The problem is that none of the tenants in 111 Huntington have any interest in moving from that great building into this squat little office turd... thus, the (failed) attempt to make it into a 20-story building - to try to make 888 special. But it isn't, and nobody at 111 is budging... yet.

Even in this economy, this little blue box is a good bet for Boston Properties because of the active tenant roster they control at the Pru. The Pru remains extremely popular - which I find funny because I can't imagine being a serious business executive and having to go to work at a mall. The crowds at Christmas alone are enough to make me never want to work there. The lines at the parking lot, the lines to buy a newspaper or cup of coffee.

To me, it would be nice to work near the Pru mall, just not in it.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

My father used to work in the Pru, and he loved it. Always had parking, it was easy to run errands in the city at lunch, and there was a Dunks right at the bottom of the elevators. And it was always fun to see the tree light up from his office.

All in all, for any commuter, the Pru complex is an excellent place to work. But then again, we're talking commuting which has been decided evil.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

^Commuting isn't evil... it's encouraging people to DRIVE that's evil.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

Commuting equals driving, 90% of the time. Unless you extend the T or Amtrak becomes more accessible.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

It wouldn't be too bad if Shambala on Boylston had the inner light shown in the rendering. It won't. It is illusion.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

Providing roads and parking isn't evil. It's giving them priority of space that is evil. Sometimes it is a necessary evil. Oftentimes not.

It's odd we have about 4 or 5 threads going on centering on the same topic.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

statler said:
Providing roads and parking isn't evil. It's giving them priority of space that is evil. Sometimes it is a necessary evil. Oftentimes not.

It's odd we have about 4 or 5 threads going on centering on the same topic.
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Agreed.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

I think the ideal office building would be 116 Huntington - the pink little PoMo thing behind the Pru... no mixed use crowds, no kids screaming and yelling, just a private little office building, only a few steps and you're right in the middle of the Pru craziness.
116_huntington_2.jpg


The Hancock Tower is good too - private and secluded, but in the middle of the Back Bay. I worked in a sprawling mixed-use campus in Miami for a few months while on-project. I hated it. I missed my own little corporate cafe, not the neighborhood Starbucks with the neighborhood lines.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

statler said:
Providing roads and parking isn't evil. It's giving them priority of space that is evil. Sometimes it is a necessary evil. Oftentimes not.

It's odd we have about 4 or 5 threads going on centering on the same topic.
Click to expand...

Right. That's the correct way to put it.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

In all fairness I'm just parroting (and paraphrasing (and probably misinterpreting)) what ablarc has said a million times. I'm not clever enough to come up with this stuff on my own.
 
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Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

I was reminded the BRA is holding a public hearing tomorrow at 2:00 PM at City Hall re: this project.

Did anyone spot the "viewpoint" by Jackie Yessian and Ann Gleason in Tuesday's Back Bay Sun urging the neighborhood to show up and protest this terrible injustice?
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

I wish I could somehow get into these people's heads to figure out why they are so bothered by this.
 
Re: New Tower(s) Planned For Prudential Center

Prudential towers win city approval
By Thomas Grillo
Friday, December 5, 2008 - Updated 3h ago


The Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday approved two controversial Prudential Center towers.

In a unanimous vote, the BRA OK?d a 17-story office building at 888 Boylston St. and a 27-story apartment tower on Exeter Street.

The votes came after nearly four hours of testimony, as proponents including Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who was represented by a spokesperson, union officials, residents and business representatives said the buildings would create jobs and bring needed affordable housing to the Back Bay.

?The process worked,? said Michael A. Cantalupa, senior vice president of Boston Properties, the developer of the $192 million office building at the Pru. ?We have a good development. We will start construction when we find a tenant.?

The Exeter Residences, to be built by Avalon Bay Communities, will include 188 units. Of that number, 52 affordable apartments will be located in Avalon?s four buildings at the Pru including six units at the new tower.

Yesterday?s vote in a packed hearing room at City Hall was the culmination of more than 17 months of contentious meetings. The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and state Rep. Martha M. Walz asked the BRA board to reject the proposals, saying they believed both buildings would be too tall.

?These buildings do not fit the scale of the Prudential Center,? said Ann Gleason of the neighborhood association. ?They are out of character.?

But the BRA board rejected the claims. The 888 Boylston St. project, to be built between the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, has been in the works for years.

http://bostonherald.com/business/re...ers_win_city_approval/srvc=home&position=also
 
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