High hopes raised for Government Center Garage site
By Casey Ross | GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 02, 2014
If architect Cesar Pelli has his way, Government Center’s brutish concrete buildings will be getting a fashionable new neighbor.
A glass skyscraper designed by Pelli would bring 528 feet of curvy glass to the corner of Congress and New Sudbury streets, where developers are preparing to build a cluster of high-rises to replace portions of the Government Center Garage.
Pelli’s office tower, the centerpiece of the project, would be an unusually dramatic building for Boston, a city that has shied away from the kind of eye-popping architecture that defines the skylines of cities such as Shanghai and Abu Dhabi.
“It’s very important for this building to be unusual for Boston,” said architect Alex Krieger, a principal of the firm NBBJ. “People often complain how tall buildings here tend to be more dour. This could be a chance to enjoy something else.”
Developer HYM Investment Group said it wants to begin construction next year. The project, estimated to cost well over $1 billion, would start with a 42-story residential tower planned to contain 450 units of rental and ownership housing. That would be followed by removal of the part of the garage that hangs over Congress Street and the construction of the 47-story office building.
