So with the new building going up behind it, how much life does everyone think the Harvard Square Hotel has left?
1) It's horribly anti-urban, with a ground floor parking garage and ramps on all sides
2) It doesn't make nearly the maximum use of the site, with a parking podium and only 6ish floors (most nearby buildings are as tall, if not taller)
3) It's ugly as sin.
A new building on that site could double, if not triple the amount of square footage available. There's also the potential for the bus waiting experience to be improved, the two shelters are okay but aren't that great. An architecturally significant building could also do a lot to enliven Eliot Square. The legacy block with Charlies, etc does a great job on the south side of the street, and the Charles Hotel is pretty good with programming it's plaza, but it still feels like a lot more could be happening there that isn't.
In a similar vein, as much as I love the single story art deco building that fronts Brattle Square, I feel like it's begging for another two or three floors on top of it. The only argument I'd have against that happening is it's one of the last bastions of independent businesses in the area, the majority of new construction are banks and chain shops with terrible storefronts (I'm looking at you, One Brattle).
1) It's horribly anti-urban, with a ground floor parking garage and ramps on all sides
2) It doesn't make nearly the maximum use of the site, with a parking podium and only 6ish floors (most nearby buildings are as tall, if not taller)
3) It's ugly as sin.
A new building on that site could double, if not triple the amount of square footage available. There's also the potential for the bus waiting experience to be improved, the two shelters are okay but aren't that great. An architecturally significant building could also do a lot to enliven Eliot Square. The legacy block with Charlies, etc does a great job on the south side of the street, and the Charles Hotel is pretty good with programming it's plaza, but it still feels like a lot more could be happening there that isn't.
In a similar vein, as much as I love the single story art deco building that fronts Brattle Square, I feel like it's begging for another two or three floors on top of it. The only argument I'd have against that happening is it's one of the last bastions of independent businesses in the area, the majority of new construction are banks and chain shops with terrible storefronts (I'm looking at you, One Brattle).