Boston Properties Office Tower | 888 Boylston Street | Back Bay

Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

7% vacancy rate in the Back Bay is quite healthy, and is in the ballpark for a developer to consider building on spec. But tech companies are the only ones expanding and they traditionally have looked anywhere but the Back Bay (which probably won't change as long as the innovation district has everyone's attention).

As for 888 Boylston, that design they showed a few years back was rubbish. I hope it gets built later than sooner and in the process gets a good reworking.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

kz1000ps said:
As for 888 Boylston, that design they showed a few years back was rubbish. I hope it gets built later than sooner and in the process gets a good reworking.
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I hope it never gets built. I like that view of the Pru looming over Boylston. We don't need to become like Philadelphia, where their best buildings (Liberty Place) are obscured from every angle by garbage that removed their sense of verticality. This is one of the few cases where I think adding a building would detract from the overall skyline. How about we find some demand for a larger office tower (SST? Filenes? Christian Science Center?) and let this piece of shit die.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

DZH22 said:
I hope it never gets built. I like that view of the Pru looming over Boylston. We don't need to become like Philadelphia, where their best buildings (Liberty Place) are obscured from every angle by garbage that removed their sense of verticality. This is one of the few cases where I think adding a building would detract from the overall skyline. How about we find some demand for a larger office tower (SST? Filenes? Christian Science Center?) and let this piece of shit die.
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Disagree

Hancock needs a "little brother" just as the Pru has R2-D2
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

I agree with your comment Westy, but DHZ was talking about 888 Boylston, which would rise off the Pru food court's plaza, not the Copley Place tower that this thread is supposed to be about. The conversation veered off track a little while back....
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

whighlander said:
Disagree

Hancock needs a "little brother" just as the Pru has R2-D2
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I want the Copley Place tower to be built probably more than any other building in the city. What we don't need are 17 floor fat stumps blocking the landmark towers from street level!

Also, as long as we are a little off topic, I remember another condo tower ~300'-315' was supposed to be built in Back Bay. Like, it was literally about to be U/C (last year?) and then all trace of it disappeared. Anybody know what happened? That's actually something I was at least moderately looking forward to...
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

"Hancock needs a "little brother" just as the Pru has R2-D2"

I'm 100% for this project, but don't agree that the Hancock needs a "little brother" (it already has an older, little brother by the same name). While the Pru works well surrounded by other significant, yet shorter buildings, Hancock, especially it’s slim side, looks good in relative isolation. I think the view might even be improved w/out the high-rise portion of 500 Boylston.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

I for one would miss the Pru plaza out front - especially with Towne's patio, it could turn into a lively outdoor space that really works. But, with these plans in place, it's been neglected and become a large outdoor billboard for the shopping center. So, if built, I really hope they maintain a nice setback. And in any case, I agree with the comment made about the negative impact of hiding the Pru's verticality. That was well said.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Shepard said:
I for one would miss the Pru plaza out front - especially with Towne's patio, it could turn into a lively outdoor space that really works.
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It DOES work well when Pru management actually bothers to let groups use the space. Just last weekend my band played a show there as part of Ben & Jerry's annual Joyride festival, and it's the perfect size for these kind of events, drawing people off the sidewalk, into the food court, and vice versa. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't build a tower here, just that I don't think the space is all that broken.

Here's a shot from last weekend. Ben Kweller is the dude in the foreground, and he headlined the event:

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So, if built, I really hope they maintain a nice setback.
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If I remember correctly, the setback averaged out to about 85 feet.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

What I hope for is a change in the proposal to have the first 3 floor act as a open space indoor atrium that they can use for events such as the post above.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

KentXie said:
What I hope for is a change in the proposal to have the first 3 floor act as a open space indoor atrium that they can use for events such as the post above.
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You want a project that's not economically viable?
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

I really like Prudential Plaza II. It's a fantastic venue space. Being linked to a major food court and mall is a big plus for the space too.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

The Pru plaza is great when it's being being used to its full potential, like when it hosts concerts or other events, but most of the time it's just dumb empty space. Like most bad urban spaces, IMO, its deficiencies have little to do with the space itself and more to do with its edges. They're pretty dead -- all blank walls, staircases and planted buffers. This is beginning to change a bit with Towne's new outdoor space, but it still needs a lot more.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

briv said:
The Pru plaza is great when it's being being used to its full potential, like when it hosts concerts or other events, but most of the time it's just dumb empty space. Like most bad urban spaces, IMO, its deficiencies have little to do with the space itself and more to do with its edges. They're pretty dead -- all blank walls, staircases and planted buffers. This is beginning to change a bit with Towne's new outdoor space, but it still needs a lot more.
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Amen about the edges! It's something that The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (I've posted a thread about it) stresses so heavily.

Btw - can you please move this discussion into an 888 Boylston thread? It shouldn't be in the Copley thread.
 
Re: 888 Boylston Street

To finish the off topic disusion of the Pru Plazza -- when you can fill it with people with a meaningful common intent -- then it works remarkably well

Last Christmas time I ws there when Kieth Lockhart tried and failed to set the Guiness Book of World Records Christmas Charoling Choir -- but even with free hot chocolate provided by Towne Stove and Spirits we fell short

Perhaps if the aforemetioned establshement had been able to enhance the chocolate with some spirits -- then it might have succeeded -- but anyway we had about 5,000 people standing and singing for almost 30 minutes -- a very communal exprience -- not to be missed
 
Re: 888 Boylston Street

My biggest concern is where they are going to put the bicycle parking/storage. There's already few enough bicycle racks in this part of Boylston as it is (especially across the street by the Apple Store), and judging from that picture it doesn't appear that 888 will do anything to address the dire need for more bike racks.
 
Re: 888 Boylston Street

^^^I for one, believe that more bikers would be bad for the city. They are a nuisance to the 99% of us that choose to drive or walk instead.

As a pedestrian, I have repeatedly had to dodge out of the way of packs of d-bags flying down the sidewalks in droves (think crowded places such as faneuil hall) and once, I was even sideswiped while crossing a 1 way street by a woman biking from the other direction!

As a driver, bikes are often in the way or veer into the lanes, causing backups as well as cars swerving into the oncoming lanes to avoid them. Just the other day, I witnessed a car taking a right turn as a bike came up on its blind spot and attempted to pass it on the right. Luckily, nobody got hurt, but why should a driver have to live with the guilt of a biker being a total idiot? The worst for me is when the roads are a little faster, say a 40 mph road but there are bikes in the way that can't push themselves past 20 (even slower uphill). Bikers only follow the rules of the road when it is convenient, otherwise they blow through red lights, harass pedestrians, go the wrong way down 1-ways...

The worst is the dumb monthly thing where a couple hundred of you get together to purposely block traffic. Is that still going on? Instead of more racks for bikes, what we need are more TICKETS for bikes. Also, for those of you terrorizing pedestrians, may your street justice be swift and brutal...

Rant over :)
 
Re: 888 Boylston Street

I agree with more ticketing, but I think there should be more bikes, too. BPD needs to get them under control, but so long as they do that, there's no reason to have more.
 
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