BU Development Thread

jass said:
Actually, no, that depends entirely on the individual.

Why do you think GE moved into the city?

If you are a top tier employee, you have choices.....

FYI: I work at a major research university. I know half my department would not be working here if our building was located at the suburban campus rather than the urban location we are in.
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Jass -- No -offense -- but what I was reacting to was --
Want to attract world class faculty and staff? Location is important, and location includes the micro-level - where do I get to go to lunch every day?
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Now you are saying
FYI: I work at a major research university. I know half my department would not be working here if our building was located at the suburban campus rather than the urban location we are in.
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My response to your original statement was that in my experience a much higher spot on the priority list of "World Class Faculty ofr Staff" in choosing a place is reserved for being able to walk down the hall and interact with others.

Very few of the top people with whom I've worked, in several fields where we can legitimately say "It's not nuclear physics or its not rocket science" , would put at the top of their list the specific surroundings of your building, or how good are the local bagels. tapas, gyros, dim sum, or even the craft beer.

Ultimately it all kind of derives from the old lab personnel hiring adage:
A people hire A people -- they need the intellectual challenge
B people hire C people -- they fear the intellectual challenge
C people hire D people -- they don't know what an intellectual challenge is

GE mostly came here because their staff can take a bike or the Red Line to MIT or Harvard not a plane nor even Amtrak -- some might even be able to catch a seminar on the way home.
 
whighlander said:
My response to your original statement was that in my experience a much higher spot on the priority list of "World Class Faculty ofr Staff" in choosing a place is reserved for being able to walk down the hall and interact with others.

Very few of the top people with whom I've worked, in several fields where we can legitimately say "It's not nuclear physics or its not rocket science" , would put at the top of their list the specific surroundings of your building, or how good are the local bagels. tapas, gyros, dim sum, or even the craft beer.
.
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Youre not making sense here. Yes, being in close proximity to other world class researchers and facilities is obviously important. But BU is competing with 50 other world-class research centers.

So if Option A means great pay, world class coworkers, top line facilities....but Im surrounded by a desolate wasteland

And option B means great pay, world class coworkers, top line facilities....and 20 lovely lunch spots

Suddenly option A isnt so great.

Keeping retail does not and never has meant a trade off on excellent facilities and coworkers.

A competent institution could you know, do both
 
The synergistic qualities associated with all those world class research centers in close proximity far outweighs any competition between them. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a healthy dose of competition, and when I think of what that competition might be, it isn't lovely lunch spots.
 
jass said:
Youre not making sense here. Yes, being in close proximity to other world class researchers and facilities is obviously important. But BU is competing with 50 other world-class research centers.

So if Option A means great pay, world class coworkers, top line facilities....but Im surrounded by a desolate wasteland

And option B means great pay, world class coworkers, top line facilities....and 20 lovely lunch spots

Suddenly option A isnt so great.

Keeping retail does not and never has meant a trade off on excellent facilities and coworkers.

A competent institution could you know, do both
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Jass -- you are still missing the point -- obviously all other things being equal you want the best office, the best view for quite contemplation, the best coffee shop, clean floors, no mosquitos and no ticks -- Sure

But way above all the rest in priority -- you want to be able to walk down the hall and talk to someone who has the ability to comprehend your latest and greatest -- sure you can talk to them on Skype -- However, its just not the same

PS: No BU is not competing with 50 other research centers -- in reality BU is competing with the half dozen just above and trying to stay ahead of the half dozen just below


That's why its hard to move upward dramatically in the pecking order -- However, its easy to move down -- just fall asleep for a couple of years
 
bdurden said:
The synergistic qualities associated with all those world class research centers in close proximity far outweighs any competition between them. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a healthy dose of competition, and when I think of what that competition might be, it isn't lovely lunch spots.
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Bdurden -- that is quite close

For a while two of the top 3 or 4 places doing work on Ultracold Matter were just a couple of stops on the Red Line or a short row on the Charles from each other

After my brother left and Wolfgang got the Nobel -- Harvard conceded and the two formed a joint center HQ at MIT with Wolfgang as the lead
22-researchteam.jpg


Now the coldest place in the entire Universe may just be right behind the Stata Center
https://youtu.be/WQrjxd-ej_M
 
^^Wow and wow! Sound's amazing.


Back to my lowly Banks of the Charles bottomfeeding...

TomOfBoston said:
...If Comm Ave was lined with retail it would destroy what semblance BU has of defining its campus as a university and not just "a bunch of buildings on a busy street" as one applicant called it.

Retail can be encouraged in Kenmore Square or west of the BU Bridge but not in the central campus.

And as for rational arguments can those claiming that retail is necessary for a world class university cite any studies that support that?
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Not trying to be snide, but how bad are the retail options within say 5,000~10,000 feet of a given millennial tenement block? If the answer is 'not bad,' can i walk back my crocodile tears?
 
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TomOfBoston said:
Retail can be encouraged in Kenmore Square or west of the BU Bridge but not in the central campus.
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I know that is pretty much all I was saying. Not even Manhattan supports ground level retail on every building, so anyone pushing for every building to have ground level retail isn't serious.

Just need to focus on a few places where people can congregate. BU has some key properties in Kenmore Sq that really could be used to further enliven Kenmore. Although in central campus the Warren Towers street level already has Starbucks/Subway, but they could use a better ground level facade than the mostly wall of brick that is there now. Other than that I agree with you on Central campus.
 
tangent said:
BU has some key properties in Kenmore Sq that really could be used to further enliven Kenmore.
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BU has put three large buildings on the north side of Kenmore up for sale, including the building housing the BU Bookstore and the CITGO sign.
 
Thank you for the pics Beeline - and getting this thread back on topic. This building is weird - it looks pretty good from across the river, but fairly intimidating from across the street. We'll see how it looks after the glazing is all in.
 
They should have installed glass all around this building - the side facing the Morse Auditorium and the back-side of this building look completely different. Shiny in the front, budget on the back...
 
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