Bulfinch Crossing | Congress Street Garage | West End

Re: Congress Street Garage Development

How do we know they're going to be redesigned? This was one of the projects I was hopeful for a quality design from.

As for the city, a police station, social service offices, and a 97,000 sq. ft. school? Isn't that a tiny bit much?
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

Well the police station will be demolished to make way for this project so asking for two additional things isn't too much.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

kennedy said:
How do we know they're going to be redesigned?
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Well the design we've seen is only the first rendering. Every building goes through redesigns whether total re-dos or simple material changes. You don't build a building in a vacuum; things change all the time that require new designs.

That isn't to say that the buildings will be RADICALLY redesigned.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

boston herald checks in:
Garage plan needs work

City asks for smaller project, new school

By Thomas Grillo
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - Updated 10h ago

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The city wants the proposed $2.3 billion redevelopment of the Government Center Garage to be smaller and to include an elementary school.

?That?s very exciting news,? said Chiara Rhouate, a West End parent of two school-age children. ?The school won?t be built in time for our children, but a neighborhood school is an important option for families who want to stay in Boston rather than move to the suburbs.?

Rhouate and the Coalition for Public Education, a group of 165 parents from the downtown neighborhoods, have met with Mayor Thomas Menino to lobby for an elementary school at the site.


In a 47-page finding by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the agency recommends that Raymond Property Co. resubmit plans for the mixed-use project with inclusion of a K-8 school on- or off-site.

Earlier this year, Raymond filed plans to replace the 11-story garage with 42- and 52-story towers as well as a hotel, stores, restaurants and smaller residential buildings. During a series of community meetings, parents called upon the developer to build a school as part a community benefits package.

Steven Kasnet, Raymond?s chief executive, repeatedly told the crowd that he was waiting for guidance from the BRA on how to proceed.

The proposal for the 4-acre site has been controversial from the start. West End, Beacon Hill and North End residents have said the project is too massive, the towers are too tall and the MBTA cannot handle an influx of thousands of additional office workers.

Last month, the Impact Advisory Group, a 12-member panel appointed by Menino to review the 3 million-square-foot proposal adjacent to the John F. Kennedy building, said the project?s height and density are unacceptable.

The BRA yesterday called on Raymond to reduce the project?s size but did not specify how many stories would be acceptable to the city.

Kasnet declined comment.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/busines...ool:_Garage_plan_a_no-go/srvc=home&position=5
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

PaulC said:
boston herald checks in:

http://www.bostonherald.com/busines...ool:_Garage_plan_a_no-go/srvc=home&position=5
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Who says the MBTA cannot handle the influx of office workers and on what basis? Did they do a simulation, or is it just typical NIMBY rabble? The location of this tower is located in the vicinity of multiple T stations, i.e. Haymarket, North Station, and Government Center, (you can count Bowdoin during the time it is opened). I'm pretty sure it can handle the influx of workers, not to mention many of these workers will arrive from cars. Of course, as of now, it seems from the article the community doesn't have much power to change the height or size of the project. The plan for a new school seem to have tamed them.

Also, how much do you want to bet the 12-panel group appointed by "don't piss me off" Menino went into the meeting, took a look at the rendering, declared it unacceptable in the first 5 minutes, and spent the rest of the meeting drinking coffee, eating donuts and snack, and talking about how to waste more of the taxpayer's money?
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

Kent, I suggest (and PaulC will affirm) that the content of the article posted above does not reflect the reality of what was discussed at last night's meeting. To be frank, this is an example of irresponsible journalism, barely suitable for the polar regions of the blogosphere.

The presentation by Raymond's team showed an array of evidence (census data, used at the behest of the City and MBTA) that suggests that the T can more than manage the necessary commuter throughput to this site, with the expectation of a 10-year build-out for the entire project.
 
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Re: Congress Street Garage Development

I hope Raymond issues an ultimatum on this one: "If you want the school, the social services, the new police station, then let me build to the proposed height. Otherwise, I'll scrap the entire project and leave the garage as is."

He should not compromise on this one...I have a feeling even the NIMBYs would rather have their school + some shadows than no school + the garage. Wouldn't that put Menino in an interesting position?
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

lexicon506 said:
I hope Raymond issues an ultimatum on this one: "If you want the school, the social services, the new police station, then let me build to the proposed height. Otherwise, I'll scrap the entire project and leave the garage as is."

He should not compromise on this one...I have a feeling even the NIMBYs would rather have their school + some shadows than no school + the garage. Wouldn't that put Menino in an interesting position?
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+1
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

lexicon506 said:
I hope Raymond issues an ultimatum on this one: "If you want the school, the social services, the new police station, then let me build to the proposed height. Otherwise, I'll scrap the entire project and leave the garage as is."

He should not compromise on this one...I have a feeling even the NIMBYs would rather have their school + some shadows than no school + the garage. Wouldn't that put Menino in an interesting position?
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When I read that article, I thought the same exact thing. I would think that Raymond has some leverage since they would be providing so many good things to the neighborhood.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

The leverage that the residents and city have is that Raymond wants to build on some property that belongs to the city rather than to Raymond itself.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

Ron Newman said:
The leverage that the residents and city have is that Raymond wants to build on some property that belongs to the city rather than to Raymond itself.
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That's very true, I forgot about that.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

I understand how that gives the city leverage, but how does that give the residents (who aren't actually residents of this non-existent neighborhood) leverage?

The replaced (and I'm sure bigger and better police station is a no brainer, Raymond has to do this if they want to build here. The NStar vault or whatever is another must inclusion. The school is a "It would be real nice if you could do this for our 300 kids" addition which I'm not against, but should never be a make or break to a piece of property that a developer basically owns (besides the other 2 items mentioned.) Otherwise that would be borderline extortion.

Also, funny how the T used to operate in a city with 200,000 more people living in it at one point. Many of them in the downtown/west end area. Probably even at a profit back then.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

SeamusMcFly said:
Otherwise that would be borderline extortion.
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Where have you been man? Extortion seems to be a specialty of NIMBYs. Whether it's more parks, schools or what-have-you. They're always trying to get their piece of the pie. In a way, NIMBYs trying to get height restrictions knocked down is a form of extortion. "If this project isn't XXX stories shorter than it already is, we will do everything in our power to stop it from being built". It's not always bad though. I'm all for more parks in the city and at times, cutting a buildings height down can be more appropriate (though this is a rarity in my opinion).
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

"Also, funny how the T used to operate in a city with 200,000 more people living in it at one point. Many of them in the downtown/west end area. Probably even at a profit back then."

^^good point^^

The T can more than handel the increase, and if the demand is that strong then all they would really have to do is increase the frequency of trains. Nimbys make minor marginal issues into major concerns. If this were to get built nobody's lives would change at all.

Actually I think people should be interviewed in nieghborhoods where developments have recently been done, and ask them: "has your life changed b/c of this development?" I guarentee most would say "not really" or if anything think things actually improved a bit.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

When the city contained 200,000 more people, the trains were shorter, and there weren't as many lines, so claiming that this project would put a burden on the public transportaion system seems very ingenuous.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

Maybe more people, will lead to more funding and better service. A weird concept, I know.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

Actually there were more transit lines than there are now.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

^The T as we know it did not exist until mid-century, when the many trolley, bus, subway, and rapid transit companies were consolidated and merged into the MTA. The history of it all is fascinating and can be found in an Arcadia publication on Boston transportation. Each company had its own routes, fares and equipment, not to mention horse barns before electricity came into play.
 
Re: Congress Street Garage Development

It's pretty sad to think that the T today handles way less traffic and way less lines than the original subway system yet is barely keeping it's head above water. Although it really isn't fair to compare today with 100 years ago.
 
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