Bulfinch Crossing | Congress Street Garage | West End

Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

Downtown North Association is mostly businesses rather than residents, I think.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

24 stories? It always looked so much taller, but then it is on a hill and surrounded by open space. I don't think you really need anything taller than that here.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

These past few posts crystallized it for me:

The Government Center Garage stays for at least ten more years.

Sigh.

I love Boston, I do, but I wish we had some real leadership in this city.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

^ Really? When you consider the amount of square footage that is to be replaced, plus the cost of the property to begin with, isn't some element(s) going to have to be taller than 24 stories?
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

I think this location presents an opportunity for height, meaning more than 24 floors. A slender (!) tower going up 40 or 50 floors might work here. I would not favor a wide tower.

It might act as a boundary for Quincy Market/City Hall -- balancing the business district towers on the southern end.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

You people are far to obsessed with height.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

There is no reason that tall should be prohibited here....it's not in a flight path, it has EXCELLENT transit coverage, the moat of the Greenway already protects North End, and West End should have no dog in this fight, as it is a collection of poor urban highrises separated by the Courthouse and Policestation, that are far more damaging to a neighborhood that a highrise could ever be.

Bullfinch Triangle residents would have the most side-affects, but I'd prefer them to speak for themselves and not be represented by someone who choses to live a faux-urban existance.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

You people are far to obsessed with height.

Mr. Moderator, I may be the least height-obsessed contributor to this site. I am often the contrary voice regarding height (Piano's tower a perfect example). However, there are a few places in the city where height might be desirable, the Congress Street garage is one. I think the aquarium garage is another, though there may be flight pattern issues with that one.

In any case, I believe your point is: it's not about height, it's about good design. We are birds of a feather in that belief.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

...who went to the polls and elected Ms. Forrestall in charge of anything at all.

West End residency ought to debar one from comment on design or taste.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

There was literally a woman from the Downtown North Business Club/Cocktail Set who sent an angry letter about Equity scrapping the Charles River Park name for "the West End Apartments" name. She was proud to live in Charles River Park and incensed that this "historic" name was being scrapped!!!!!!!!!!
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

In any case, I believe your point is: it's not about height, it's about good design. We are birds of a feather in that belief.

Yes. Although I would kill for this in Boston.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

Banker & Tradesman - October 23, 2008
Pru-Sized Tower Proposed For Gov?t Center Garage

By Thomas Grillo
Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

Owners of the Government Center Garage want to replace the concrete eyesore with a skyscraper that would rival the Prudential tower in height.

The 3.3 million-square-foot, mixed-use development proposal includes a pair of glass office towers on a parcel closer to Government Center. The tallest tower would be 52 stories, the same height as the Prudential Building at 800 Boylston. The other would reach 42 floors.

Boston?s Raymond Property Co., developer of the project, revealed its plans to North and West End neighbors at a meeting in the garage offices on Thursday night, after a series of community meetings held over the summer.
?When we bought the garage we always envisioned it as a prime location to expand the Financial District,? said Stephen G. Kasnet, chief executive officer of the Raymond Property Co. ?This is a very large site and it?s comparable in terms of mass and height to what exists in the Financial District.?

On the parcel closer to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, four buildings are proposed for housing and retail, ranging from 8-14 stories. The buildings would be wrapped around a garage masked by the project.

In addition, District A-1 Police Headquarters and another city-owned building on nearby New Sudbury Street would be razed to make way for the $2 billion transit-oriented development adjacent to Haymarket MBTA station.

John F. Palmieri, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said while the developer has talked to his staff about the project, the city has not made any decisions about the height of the tower.

?It?s an aggressive development and there?s no question that it contains height and density,? he said. ?We have not weighed in on what we believe is the appropriate height for the tower. We are familiar with the approach that they have presented and we understand that they are making the case for height. We will keep an open mind and want to hear what the neighborhood has to say.?

Prior to the meeting, some residents had expressed reservations about a proposal that would include buildings taller than existing neighborhood towers.

?If they propose something taller than the JFK Building, that would upset the community,? said Jane Forrestall, a West End resident and member of the Downtown North Association, a group of businesses, condominium associations and community organizations.

The John F. Kennedy Federal Office Building at City Hall Plaza stands 24 stories tall.

Last year, Bulfinch Congress Holdings, a subsidiary of the Boston developer, paid $243 million for the garage. In addition to the parking spaces, it includes 275,000 square feet of office space and several retailers.

Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2008 (Archive on Thursday, November 27, 2008)
 
Pru-Sized Tower Proposed For Gov't Center Garage

Looks like a great plan that will get hammered down in a long, drawn-out CAC process. I'm sure they expect to lose lots of those floors.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

Honestly, this is a mite short for my tastes... I'd have preferred they call it 900 feet and then let 150 or so get lopped off. That still leaves a Pru-sized building when they're done.

Somehow, I feel like if a thousand-footer were proposed and hyped for this site, you'd have an easier time getting this through the permitting process (hear me out on this). With a context-heavy 50-floor proposal and prominently mentioned shorter buildings, this is just some huge development. Boston needs someone other than the Mayor to hype up a defining project for the city, and actually work toward getting it done, like Chicago has done with the Spire.

If a building (a single building, however many there actually are in the development) is promoted as a symbol of Boston's future, and if people buy in, neighborhood whiners organizations will have a much harder time stopping the project. Instead of innocent victims, they can be unmasked a little for what they usually are, selfish attention hogs placing their own ego before the good of the city and region.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

I suppose I could be persuaded otherwise, but I really don't feel this is a good location for height. But we will see when the renderings are released.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

Did anyone here go to the meeting?


btw - this thread could use a name change.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

Let the NIMBYs have it...we don't need the World's Tallest Skyscraper on this site, just something that daylights Congress St. and breathes some life back into the area.

Although I ought to hold my tongue...it could turn out like the ugly new brick garage next door.
 
Re: Congress St Garage is being sold.

The taking of the police station are gives this a pretty large footprint (and the loss of another alley if i remember previously). Is there a reason (both towers on this footprint)? Maybe they want another mall inside?
 

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