BU Development Thread

underground said:
Bigger issue is why does it have to be so dead on the street level?
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I brought this up in person at a BU Task Force meeting a while back.

They blew me off with talk about how it will have open windows and such. But "it can't support retail" according to them, for whatever reason.

I will tell you at least one of the reasons why BU has been steadily deadening their institutional turf over time: it's Dining Services and internal politics. They do not want competition. Period.

Even stuff like Subway in Warren Towers is staffed by Dining Services personnel. The new "food truck" that parks on Cummington is operated by Dining Services.

This is not just a BU issue, by the way, so I'm not picking on them in particular here. It's a problem with just about every college and university, or large institution generally, in the city. They get control of this "turf" and push out everything else. The city doesn't push back and insist on diversity. As a result we end up not with city-based campuses, but rather, a set of campuses that happen to be adjacent or contained within a city.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
It looks like some random piece of new construction from China. And not in a good way. This is precisely what gets built in zero-street-life "hi-tech parks". Why does it have to look so bland and "international"?
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While the street level may not be ideal I'll take "international" any day over inept attempts at regionalism that so often end up as red brick cartoons. The School of Management across the street is a classic example of this (big, ugly, dumb.)
 
What I am missing? That doesn't evoke "ugly" to me. Sleek, vertical lines on narrow lot. This should be a nice little building.
 
For the record, you guys can all see your reactions on Page 60 when this was initially posted.
 
Dead at street level?? Ever walk through Northeastern? As an academic building it will be enlivened by...students. Every building built doesn't require space as a consumer marketplace.
 
Dead at street level?? Ever walk through Northeastern? As an academic building it will be enlivened by...students. Every building built doesn't require space as a consumer marketplace.
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That's right. Most of this stretch of Comm has no street level retail and not every inch of every road needs it. Comm Ave is plenty lively here nonetheless. Also, this is LAB building in a college. Im fine with it. It could look crappy but this is one that will have to wait until built to really weigh in on.
 
Yes, enlivened by students. And only students. Because as every year goes by, there are fewer and fewer reasons for non-students to come to Comm Ave.

That's not a good thing. That's a very bad thing, from the point of view of the city at-large. That's how "turf" develops and parts of the city get figuratively 'walled' off and turned into monocultures.

Don't get me started on Northeastern and Huntington Ave.
 
Matthew said:
Yes, enlivened by students. And only students. Because as every year goes by, there are fewer and fewer reasons for non-students to come to Comm Ave.

That's not a good thing. That's a very bad thing, from the point of view of the city at-large. That's how "turf" develops and parts of the city get figuratively 'walled' off and turned into monocultures.

Don't get me started on Northeastern and Huntington Ave.
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Mathew -- One size seems to fit all when you are concerned about the history of enlivenment and urbanity

The great, building highly enlivened [by a museum] on the corner of Com Ave across from the BU Bridge used to be an auto dealership -- hardly something the average person would wander into on a daily basis

Today -- Boston / Cambridge is a World Class City -- a major part of which is the "University Culture" -- not everything in Boston / Cambridge has to look like the Arlington - Berkeley block of Newbury St to be interesting to a pedestrian and considered "Urban"
 
Replacement of one monoculture (Auto Mile) by another (institutional) isn't much progress.

It doesn't have to look like Newbury Street. Whatever it looks like, here's a simple question to ask:

Do people have any reason to go to anything along Comm Ave between Amory Street and Blandford Street aside from BU-related activities?

The answer is pretty much "no" already.
 
jass said:
Time is an infinite loop Also, this is page 32, so you must be referring to a future loop.
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You must have changed your posts per page setting. I've always just used the default. Point is, we've already been through the initial freak out phase once.
 
HenryAlan said:
Precisely my reaction. Oddly enough, it reminds me of the old nursing school building that used to be diagonally across the street (replaced by the school of management).
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No, the old School of Nursing building is now Sargent. Sargent is not a new building. It is the SON building reclad in brick. SMG was built on a parking lot.
 
Matthew said:
Replacement of one monoculture (Auto Mile) by another (institutional) isn't much progress.

It doesn't have to look like Newbury Street. Whatever it looks like, here's a simple question to ask:

Do people have any reason to go to anything along Comm Ave between Amory Street and Blandford Street aside from BU-related activities?

The answer is pretty much "no" already.
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Yes, to go to espresso royale - great coffee. Or to get a haircut (many of my friends still go here, place near the dugout). Or to just walk around or bike around, because it's a nice area. I totally disagree with you.
 
TomOfBoston said:
No, the old School of Nursing building is now Sargent. Sargent is not a new building. It is the SON building reclad in brick. SMG was built on a parking lot.
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Ah yes, that's right. Funny, I was there when that all happened, but many years later, it's a blur. But the comparison with the nursing school building (pre re-clad) still works to me.
 
FK4 said:
Yes, to go to espresso royale - great coffee. Or to get a haircut (many of my friends still go here, place near the dugout). Or to just walk around or bike around, because it's a nice area. I totally disagree with you.
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I can tell you don't go there much because it's not called Espresso Royale anymore: the company changed the name to Pavement, to match the other branches.

Also you'll find that just about everyone inside that coffee shop is a BU student, staff or faculty.

Yeah, there's the barber shops, and if you like the Dugout, great for you. But the reasons for non-BU-affiliated people to go to that part of Comm Ave are few and dwindling.
 
Matthew said:
I can tell you don't go there much because it's not called Espresso Royale anymore: the company changed the name to Pavement, to match the other branches.

Also you'll find that just about everyone inside that coffee shop is a BU student, staff or faculty.

Yeah, there's the barber shops, and if you like the Dugout, great for you. But the reasons for non-BU-affiliated people to go to that part of Comm Ave are few and dwindling.
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Burn.. so true though.
 
Matthew said:
Replacement of one monoculture (Auto Mile) by another (institutional) isn't much progress.

It doesn't have to look like Newbury Street. Whatever it looks like, here's a simple question to ask:

Do people have any reason to go to anything along Comm Ave between Amory Street and Blandford Street aside from BU-related activities?

The answer is pretty much "no" already.
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Mathew -- the tem is local as in neighborhood

I'm pretty sure from my experience in a couple of arrondissements in Paris -- most people in Paris don't travel from across the city to frequent the local shops in say the Place d'italie

Similarly, most people only go to the aforementioned section of Comm Ave because of something related to BU
 
Matthew said:
I can tell you don't go there much because it's not called Espresso Royale anymore: the company changed the name to Pavement, to match the other branches.

Also you'll find that just about everyone inside that coffee shop is a BU student, staff or faculty.

Yeah, there's the barber shops, and if you like the Dugout, great for you. But the reasons for non-BU-affiliated people to go to that part of Comm Ave are few and dwindling.
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Relax. I dont live anywhere near here but when Im in the area, yes, I do go to that coffee shop; last time was within the last six months and if it was Pavement then, so what? As whighlander articulately said, like anyone else, Im not traveling all the way across town to go to this coffee shop. It's not a destination, but a place I go to when Im in the area, which happens less now because most people I know dont live nearby anymore and I dont work up the street like I used to. (For the record, I never said I like the dugout, so just chill out, ok?)

That stretch of Comm is never going to be a major destination for anyone not affiliated with BU. That doesnt mean its a failed space. If it had no life and nothing but monumental buildings, maybe. But it's full of life, and just because people arent flocking from all over town to use the commercial ameities here doesnt mean they dont exist. I dont know what dwinlding youre referring to - when I was in high school, there was a Taco Bell, a Burger King, and Guitar Center, I have no recollection of anything else that has gone away. Not every strip has to be like Central Square. And BU employs thousands of people of all ages. It's not like the only people here are college kids.

What do you want? For the city to reclaim the entire stretch of street level and force in dozens of restaurants and stores?
 
FK4 said:
Relax. I dont live anywhere near here but when Im in the area, yes, I do go to that coffee shop; last time was within the last six months and if it was Pavement then, so what? As whighlander articulately said, like anyone else, Im not traveling all the way across town to go to this coffee shop. It's not a destination, but a place I go to when Im in the area, which happens less now because most people I know dont live nearby anymore and I dont work up the street like I used to. (For the record, I never said I like the dugout, so just chill out, ok?)

That stretch of Comm is never going to be a major destination for anyone not affiliated with BU. That doesnt mean its a failed space. If it had no life and nothing but monumental buildings, maybe. But it's full of life, and just because people arent flocking from all over town to use the commercial ameities here doesnt mean they dont exist. I dont know what dwinlding youre referring to - when I was in high school, there was a Taco Bell, a Burger King, and Guitar Center, I have no recollection of anything else that has gone away. Not every strip has to be like Central Square. And BU employs thousands of people of all ages. It's not like the only people here are college kids.

What do you want? For the city to reclaim the entire stretch of street level and force in dozens of restaurants and stores?
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FK -- Precisely!

The city is much more like a vegetable patch than a wheat field in Kansas

It is composed of many differently focused and themed if you will "mono-cultures" --- But the key point of why Boston / Cambridge is successful is the the totality of combining and integrating in some fashion a lot of "monocultures" :

  • some technical focused university communities -- themselves composed of a diverse mix
    some artistically focused university / college communities
    some medical schools
    some law schools
    a bit of financial types,
    some venture capital,
    some high tech start-ups,
    some old line traditional industry,
    some tourist trade,
    some working waterfront,
    some media,
    general commerce

and a whole lot of people of all sorts of backgrounds living in the midst of the above and lots of folks of all backgrounds visiting from everywhere on the planet

That is why we are here and why we stay here
 
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