Boston Properties Office Tower | 888 Boylston Street | Back Bay

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Weird seeing the place with no benches or people

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Say bye to this view

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Didn't take long for the squatters to move in...

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And inside the mall, they've put up some uh, perma-temporary walls

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Just for reference, those perma-temporary walls have been up for a few weeks now. They didn't waste any time replacing the temporary barriers.

The people who rent kiosks must be pissed that the mall stuck them against the wall. They're losing a whole side of merchandise. The number of people who are going to stop and circle the whole thing is going to be considerably less than the number of people passing by the other side and impulse shopping like the situation used to be with them in the middle.
 
datadyne007 said:
Just for reference, those perma-temporary walls have been up for a few weeks now. They didn't waste any time replacing the temporary barriers.

The people who rent kiosks must be pissed that the mall stuck them against the wall. They're losing a whole side of merchandise. The number of people who are going to stop and circle the whole thing is going to be considerably less than the number of people passing by the other side and impulse shopping like the situation used to be with them in the middle.
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If I had to guess, Boston Properties (manager of the Prudential shopping center) must have done a reduction on the leases for those push carts as that's the only fair thing to do. In this circumstance, I would've negotiated 30%-40% less than what was paid before this temporary arrangement, but who knows.
 
Wow, it looks like you can actually walk through there now.

Are the windows/doors at the food court blocked up too? It looks like they're starting too from the outside pics
 
datadyne007 said:
Just for reference, those perma-temporary walls have been up for a few weeks now. They didn't waste any time replacing the temporary barriers.
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Dur, and I've been through there at least a couple times since then.

davem said:
Wow, it looks like you can actually walk through there now.

Are the windows/doors at the food court blocked up too? It looks like they're starting too from the outside pics
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Yeah, they left a route open on the Hynes side including one unlocked food court door even though closed signs were up on every one. But the windowed corner of the food court nearest to the mall has temporary walls up (quite the dark little corner now--good thing there's skylights in the middle or the place would be a cavern all through construction).
 
I'm not sure how much of this was already known/confirmed:

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/r...-foods-is-closing-its-pru-restaurant-but.html

1) Construction set to begin "Q3", though if the fencing and temporary walls are up one could construe that it's already begun.

2) Legal Sea Foods will lose their current space and take a floor (presumably the ground floor) of 888 beginning in 2016.

3) Bloomingdale's is confirmed for the other 2 retail floors.
 
BostonObserver said:
I hope they make the food court entrance more prominent than that.
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I disagree. I think the Food Court entrance they've provided is just the right size. Any larger and you're eating up too much retail space. I'm surprised they've even included it at all. They're sacrificing a lot of retail space for what is essentially an awkward hallway with extra escalators and an elevator. The main entrance to the Boylston Arcade would work just as well. I'd argue the food court entrance isn't even necessary, but it's nice that they're providing it.
 
Surprised to see the Legal close without an alternative space. I know the city is littered with Legals, but I remember that it was one of, if not the busiest Legal stores in the entire company.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Surprised to see the Legal close without an alternative space. I know the city is littered with Legals, but I remember that it was one of, if not the busiest Legal stores in the entire company.
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Same here. That news was definitely a surprise. There's a Legal in Copley Place, but Copley Place doesn't get anywhere near the traffic that Legal gets in the Pru's Boylston Arcade. PFC, CPK, and the Cheesecake Factory will probably see a boost in sales!
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Surprised to see the Legal close without an alternative space. I know the city is littered with Legals, but I remember that it was one of, if not the busiest Legal stores in the entire company.
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I bet they're getting one heck of a deal on one heck of a restaurant in 888. There might also have been some other enticements involved - Boston Properties must own other Legal's locations they can give some love to.
 
datadyne007 said:
I disagree. I think the Food Court entrance they've provided is just the right size. Any larger and you're eating up too much retail space. I'm surprised they've even included it at all. They're sacrificing a lot of retail space for what is essentially an awkward hallway with extra escalators and an elevator. The main entrance to the Boylston Arcade would work just as well. I'd argue the food court entrance isn't even necessary, but it's nice that they're providing it.
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I didn't say bigger I said more prominent. Something like the other Boylston entrance would be nice. This entrance will help reduce crowds in the arcade and it does get crowded now and it can only get busier with the additional retail. Having a separate entrance might also pull in more customer who may not know the food court is there.
 
Obviously a new tower > a single restaurant, but I am kind of bummed to see Towne's outdoor patio space gone. I thought that was a great spot for dinner.
 
I wonder if any expansion of food court is planned. That places gets really busy lunch time and with outdoor terrace gone it's going to be even more cramped.
 
Great view! When all is said and done if you take photos on a regular basis, you can make an awesome time-lapse!
 
Just went by and they've got the entire plaza shut down now. There's also an excavator on site and the fencing along Boylston has grown much more substantial.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Surprised to see the Legal close without an alternative space. I know the city is littered with Legals, but I remember that it was one of, if not the busiest Legal stores in the entire company.
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The Pru Legals is really busy. The article stated they were still trying to find a temporary space, but had not come up with any viable options.
 
Why does the Legal need to leave during construction? Isn't it across the hall from the affected wall?
 
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