Bulfinch Crossing | Congress Street Garage | West End

[RandomWalk]

They should just stick a banner up on the replacement building with “How do like them labs?”

 

[goody]

^ I am pretty sure following the years long hole in DTX the city requires developers to provide an bond for demo work such that if they fail to complete it the city, in theory, has sufficient money on hand to complete the work itself. Whether that would ever happen is a different story.

 

[awood91]

Is this sign like some kind of guerilla trolling campaign? Can't imagine HYM put it there themselves...

 

[DZH22]

I'd rather have a hole here for the next 500 years than the lab building that's supposed to replace it.

 

[DwnTwnr]

I shared it before, but idk how they first changed the building to look like this.
View attachment 29486
Which is nothing spectacular, but is also a pretty acceptable background building, and then changed it again into the final superturd configuration. One congress is pretty clearly the star of the show here, why throw up a jumbled disaster right at its door step at the last minute?

Background and filler buildings get a lot of hate on architectural forums, but theres definitely a lot of skill required to create something that seamlessly blends into the color pallette and architectural fabric of a city, disappearing in plain view to allow the better buildings to stand out. Its why Dubai’s sheikh zayed road supertalls look like a bag of ass, with every tower screaming look at me, and why nyc’s skyline which arguably has 1000 times more “shitty” filler buildings than Dubai is arguably the best skyline on earth.

Those hundreds of crappy 1950’s brick and concrete towers are anonymous, the correct color/shape etc, and dont try too hard to stand out. The net effect is they create a general white noise that is soft and disarming that allows appropriately crafted spikes in the noise to shine through. This building takes all of that and throws it in the trash. Building this thing directly against the greenway is like placing a permanent trash bin directly in the best sight line of the empire state building, blocking it from view. Its ridiculous. I agree that if they cant get it right the city should take it and build a park.

This is so much better than the rewarmed 585 Kendall. It is a solid background building, which is good in this location.

 

[Bos77]

Is this sign like some kind of guerilla trolling campaign? Can't imagine HYM put it there themselves...

It's an edit, see the original post just above it: #2,736

 

[thepianoperson]

I‘m guessing the lack of demo recently is because they need to close the Haymarket tunnels to finish the remaining portion and the last thing the T wants to do is shut down any part of the orange line anytime soon, so it’s probably in limbo for the moment - just speculation though.

 

[393b40]

Some of ya'll need to take a xanax or something. Chill, it'll get done. It's a complicated project.

 

[DBM]

How long was Vornado allowed to leave the hole in DTC where One Franklin is now? This is heading for the same type of thing.

Except it's almost certainly not. As AB's wonderfully detailed & comprehensive thread on the epic(ally convoluted, controversial, and complicated) redevelopment of the Burnham Bldg/Filene's basement site chronicles:

--Oct. 2008: Hynes/Vornado's financing collapses, leaving the infamous "hole-in-the-ground"
--Feb. 2012: Hynes/Vornado sells the development rights to Millennium Partners, which immediately gets to work developing a dramatically different development/design scheme for the gutted Burnham Bldg/adjacent "hole in the ground," as compared to what Hynes/Vornado would've done.
--April 2013: with the BPDA having approved of the revised development plan and financing secured, Millennium Partners simultaneously begins renovation of the gutted Burnham Bldg./building 1 Franklin St. (aka Millennium Tower) from within the "hole in the ground"
--May 2016: development complete; all tenants already moved in (or have moved in)

So... unless the BPDA is going to force HYM to sell the property/development rights for the Government Ctr. Garage parcel to... who?!?.... then, there's only the most superficial resemblance here.

HOWEVER!: you more than make up for your grievously flawed analogy with that wonderfully cheeky fake "Aerial Bombardment" banner--especially because it echoes what City Councilor Charles "Five Car" Flaherty said about the stalled Filene's development site, when he was running for Mayor and desperately seeking any kind of traction against the indomitable Menino juggernaut.

(for those who can't be bothered to click on the link, Five Car said: "the abandoned Filene's site looks like a missile hit it--like Fallujah (Iraq) or something."

 

[Hardisx]

My understanding is they can’t get a certificate of occupancy for the State Street tower until the garage demo is completed.

 

[Bruins11363]

My understanding is they can’t get a certificate of occupancy for the State Street tower until the garage demo is completed.

This is correct

 

[BeyondRevenue]

Some of ya'll need to take a xanax or something. Chill, it'll get done. It's a complicated project.

The only people who need to adjust their xanax levels are the resource managers at HYM (less).
This demo was started in 2019. Entering year 4. I'm saying it's dragging out much longer than it needs to.
Add more bodies from worksites that aren't shutting down a major boulevard in the heart of my city!
If there are any jackhammer jockeys at Suffolk Downs or anywhere else on the HYM payroll, get their asses down here tout suite!

 

[BeyondRevenue]

I'd rather have a hole here for the next 500 years than the lab building that's supposed to replace it.

I guess you don't have to hear people constantly bitch about the Congress Street detours, the longer walk to North Station, the constant horn-honking, or you basically don't have to look at it.
While I am one to appreciate hyperbole, that's like comparing a gangrenous festering missing limb wound (GCG) to a kid with a crappy wardrobe (new lab building). We can always change the exterior panels on the lab replacement. The GCG is/was/will continue to be hideous until it is sent fittingly to a landfill.

 

[DZH22]

We can always change the exterior panels on the lab replacement.

I don't care about the panels. I care about the form, a brutal blob wall blocking off a newly created iconic view. Wide/fat labs do not belong in DOWNTOWN Boston. They can finish taking down the garage, open the street back up, and go back to the drawing board on the lab parcel.

 

[jdrinboston]

The only people who need to adjust their xanax levels are the resource managers at HYM (less).
This demo was started in 2019. Entering year 4. I'm saying it's dragging out much longer than it needs to.
Add more bodies from worksites that aren't shutting down a major boulevard in the heart of my city!
If there are any jackhammer jockeys at Suffolk Downs or anywhere else on the HYM payroll, get their asses down here tout suite!

The demo of the garage in earnest (not tied directly to a specific building site) started in late 2021, barely a year ago at this point. At one point earlier this year, the demolition was proceeding at such a pace, a portion of the garage let go prematurely and killed a worker and crippled the core of the transit system for a period of time. You believe they aren't going fast enough?

 

[king_vibe]

Let's just hope HYM's financing on the lab collapses.

 

[stick n move]

Id love to see something closer to this built on the footprint.

 

[Bruins11363]

The demo of the garage in earnest (not tied directly to a specific building site) started in late 2021, barely a year ago at this point. At one point earlier this year, the demolition was proceeding at such a pace, a portion of the garage let go prematurely and killed a worker and crippled the core of the transit system for a period of time. You believe they aren't going fast enough?

Not true, it started closer to beginning of 2021 with enabling work for the demo

 

[BeyondRevenue]

The demo of the garage in earnest (not tied directly to a specific building site) started in late 2021, barely a year ago at this point. At one point earlier this year, the demolition was proceeding at such a pace, a portion of the garage let go prematurely and killed a worker and crippled the core of the transit system for a period of time. You believe they aren't going fast enough?

Oh, I remember.
Yes. They are not going fast enough.
In earnest? That's hair splitting. If we want to get picky - and we should since the GCG is/was one single building - this demo started years before that. Please note that 100 Sudbury AND the State Street tower sit on half of the former parking garage footprint. 100 Sudbury is largely occupied. State Street is calling around for moving companies. We can forgive a few weeks of schedule drag for the worker fatality in March and the ensuing accident... but come ON!
HYM PR definitely takes a punch on this one. Boston wanted HYM to step it up and closed Congress Street - which would have been opened by Labor Day. My white pants have been put away for 3 months now. Congress is still closed.
They say Covid? I say bullshit. There's an entire region of this nation populated by rock-breaking specialists waiting for their phones to ring.

 

[stick n move]

Phase 3 of bulfinch crossing was just approved.

This entails:

“Phase 3 of the Government Center Garage Redevelopment project, also known as Bulfinch Crossing, will fully remove the existing garage and construct new lab, office, and retail space. The project will bring approximately 2,500 workers downtown, generate over $3 million in contributions to fund affordable housing through linkage, and make significant public realm improvements, including a large public plaza that will tie Canal Street, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and Boston Public Market together. The project will create a new and improved Haymarket MBTA bus station.”

https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/bpda-approves-nine-new-development-projects/