City Hall Discussion - Redevelopment - Preservation - Relocation

No Time To Leave Downtown Boston
January 21, 2007
By ANTHONY FLINT


Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's proposal to move City Hall to the industrial waterfront in South Boston is a little like moving out of the neighborhood just at the moment real estate prices shoot up.

Just steps away, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, on the surface of the Big Dig, is finally taking shape. The first finished park parcels of the Greenway, at Hanover Street in the North End, are set to open this year. The new public buildings, museums and parks of the Wharf District section of the Greenway will follow. At the northern end of the Greenway, in the area known as Bulfinch Triangle, new mixed-use development will stitch together the urban fabric that was disrupted not only by the hulking Central Artery, but the elevated Green Line tracks as well. Both the highway and the subway are underground now. Urbanism will soon flourish in their place.

The complaint about Boston City Hall is its Brutalist architecture, gloomy interior and location on the barren City Hall Plaza, a problematic public space created in the days of urban renewal, which replaced the West End and Scollay Square with Government Center.

But the one thing the master builders of that era did get right was the name. The city seat of government is indeed at the center of Boston's downtown, a true crossroads. It's between the State House and Fanueil Hall, Downtown Crossing and Bulfinch Triangle. And soon, it will be adjacent to one of the most promising transformations of a downtown anywhere in America.

The mayor's proposal is to sell City Hall for private redevelopment and use the proceeds to build a new City Hall at the site of the Bank of America summer music tent, at an old pier on the eastern section of the South Boston waterfront. That area also is an emerging urban transformation, to be sure. The new home of the Institute for Contemporary Art by Diller + Scofidio just opened, between Henry Cobb's Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse and the World Trade Center. Condominium and office towers are rising on former industrial parcels, set amid new parks, Raphael Vinoly's new convention center and the Silver Line bus rapid transit route.

But downtown Boston, with a few hundred years' worth of a running start on the South Boston waterfront, is undergoing a different, and in many ways more profound, reinvention. Buildings that once had an elevated highway outside their windows are in high demand, in anticipation of the Greenway being the new front yard. Homes overlooking the Greenway are commanding prices in many cases higher than those with views of the harbor.

It's been a long time coming. The $15 billion Big Dig has been a tortured public works project, dogged by overruns, delays, leaks and a fatal ceiling collapse. The restoration of the surface hasn't been a flawless civic exercise, either. The highway's footprint is a difficult urban design challenge, and immediate neighbors and the rest of the city battled over what should go there. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society has been so badly delayed trying to put botanical gardens on a southern section of the Greenway, the mayor finally had to pull the plug on that project in December.

Staggering costs similarly waylaid a YMCA community center, and special interests, like those that convinced the state legislature to approve an Armenian memorial, threaten to gerrymander the space like Washington's Mall. Bostonians look with envy at what Chicago has been able to do, by contrast, with Millennium Park, itself a reinvention of former railyards.

But all that notwithstanding, the surface restoration of the now-depressed Interstate 93 - the raison d'etre, along with smoother traffic flow, for this mega-project in the first place - is finally happening. The elevated highway structure is gone. Construction and staging areas are being cleared away. You can stand at Summer Street and look across Dewey Square, and begin to imagine the possibilities.

The architecture of the signature public buildings of the Greenway is a work in progress. There are doubts about the engineering plausibility of Moshe Safdie's Boston Museum, a cartoonish ship's hull on stilts over one of the exit/entrance ramp parcels. If the team led by Daniel Libeskind can tone it down in the aftermath of the dizzying Denver Art Museum, the proposed New Center for Arts and Culture, over another ramp parcel, could be a new landmark. A Harbor Park Pavilion, run by the National Park Service, will be a new gateway to the riches of the harbor islands, and will orient the uninitiated amid the meandering 300-year-old streets crisscrossing the Greenway.

The main advantage to the disappearance of the highway, however, is the well-framed open space, set to become a new common ground for the city. In the style of Bryant Park in New York City, the swaths of green, gardens and tasteful paving can be understated and still be wildly successful. Some movable chairs, a fountain anud strategic programming, and Boston will soon enjoy a unique new public realm.

Nowhere is the promise richer than at the North End parks - which just so happen to be closest to City Hall, and which just so happen to open first, later this year. Designed by Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge with Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, the matched set of rectangular lawns, gardens, reflecting pools and gently curving trellis will be a gift to downtown.

The adjacent Haymarket, Boston's farmer's market, could get a lift from the new environs and rival Seattle's Pike Place.

Perhaps most important, Hanover Street will run right between the new park parcels, from the cafes of the North End to the historic Blackstone Block to Congress Street. The intersection of these parks and Hanover Street is going to become some of the most valuable real estate in the city. And think of it: this is a place that's been in gloomy shadows for a half-century.

Jane Jacobs scorned big plans and fought urban renewal. The Big Dig is an infrastructure project that her nemesis, Robert Moses, would have loved. This is a case where they were both right. The project has allowed a flourishing of public space and urbanism that some Bostonians may already be too jaded to appreciate.

Rather than move City Hall just when this party is getting started, the mayor could order a top-to-bottom renovation of the Kallman, McKinnell and Knowles structure, which opened in 1969, and add the beer hall originally envisioned for the basement and a winter garden on the rooftop. Outside on the plaza, restore the beams of light that were supposed to come out of the top of the masts in Chan, Krieger's manufactured edge on Cambridge Street; make sure the new headhouse for the Green and Blue lines at Government Center obliterates the memory of the current bunker; and extend Hanover Street along its original path through City Hall Plaza from Congress up to Cambridge Street. The street and sidewalk is actually still there, in darkness under the failed brick piazza.

Daylighting and restoring Hanover Street would make it two corrections of urban renewal blunders - the elevated highway and City Hall Plaza - instead of just one. The connection to the Greenway - part of the "crossroads" work the mayor himself commissioned and that Ken Greenberg has been sketching out for other spots along the new public space - would be complete.

Move City Hall? This is no time to quit the scene. If the mantra was to renovate, restore and reinvent instead, City Hall could be part of a true 21st-century renewal.


Anthony Flint, public affairs manager at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Mass., is author of "This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America," and a forthcoming book on Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses to be published in 2008 by Random House.



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Is there anyone else that feels there's enough space on city hall plaza that they could simply build a new city hall there - in the form of a tower - and then demolish the old city hall and sell it and all of the remaining land? I'd bet that it would still pay for the cost of the new city hall, and then some.
 
DudeUrSistersHot said:
Is there anyone else that feels there's enough space on city hall plaza that they could simply build a new city hall there - in the form of a tower - and then demolish the old city hall and sell it and all of the remaining land? I'd bet that it would still pay for the cost of the new city hall, and then some.
That would probably create an opportunity to extend Washington St. northbound, beyond State St. and through the center of City Hall Plaza. If Hanover St. was extended westbound to Cambridge St., the Washington St. extension would terminate at its intersection with Hanover. The reduced traffic pressure could make Congress, Cambridge and State Streets more pedestrian friendly.
 
What a boring article ...

That was one of the most boring articles I have read in a long time.

Zzzzzzz
 
The Herald said:
Menino mighty mum over new City Hall
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - Updated: 06:40 AM EST

You have to hand it to Mayor Thomas M. Menino for never being afraid to champion a proposal he is hot on.
So Menino?s sudden silence on his grand plan to sell off City Hall and build a new city government headquarters on the South Boston waterfront is telling.
The mayor?s sealed lips have left some downtown executives wondering whether Menino is having second thoughts on what many consider to be the weak link in his plan - building a ?state-of-the-art? municipal complex on Southie?s valuable harborfront.
Dot Joyce, the mayor?s press secretary, insists the mayor is moving full steam ahead with all parts of his City Hall vision.
Yet, so far, there appears to be precious little planning going on by city officials to back up such an ambitious proposal.
Meanwhile, Tom Miller - the key city development official charged with overseeing Menino?s monumental project - could be headed for the door after being passed over for the top job at the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
But even with the right planners in place, it could be a difficult idea to pull off.
Menino?s proposal for a waterfront replacement has been hammered for putting a building that needs to be accessible to all Bostonians on a seemingly remote stretch of waterfront. If you think trudging to City Hall Plaza is a hassle, wait till you have to trek out to Drydock No. 4 to pay a parking ticket.
One executive with close ties to City Hall argues that Menino jumped too quickly at the idea - without the cover of a study or other research - and now finds himself in a bind.
?I think he jammed himself up,? the executive said.
That doesn?t mean the plan to sell City Hall is dead.
The idea of auctioning off City Hall and the ugly plaza in front has a ready-made cheerleading club. That 1960s concrete bunker sits on some of the most valuable and underused downtown real estate on the East Coast.
Top developers in Boston are salivating at the prospect of building a new neighborhood here. Some, like Hub tower builder Dean Stratouly, say they would even build a new City Hall to boot.
But there?s no comparable buzz around the mayor?s idea of a waterfront City Hall.
Maybe the mayor will have the last laugh. But if he wants to let the contentious idea of a waterfront City Hall just quietly fade away, he?s off to a good start.
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City Hall Market

CITY HALL MARKET UPDATE:

The possibilities with stock price/percentage likelihood on the City Hall Market are as follows (dollar amount corresponds with percent likelihood):

1. Government Center Without Renovation $28.20
2. Government Center with Renovation $24.32
3. South Boston Waterfront $22.46
4. Filene's Building $5.23
5. Hynes Convention Center $4.64
6. Dudley Square $4.28
7. Hayward Place $4.20
8. Somewhere Else $3.78
9. Air Rights Somewhere In Boston $2.85

The top 5 (of 18) traders on the City Hall Market are as follows:

1. bostonhistory
2. kmp1284
3. merper
4. statler
5. CH stinks

Get over there and get involved!

http://home.inklingmarkets.com/market/show/2851

[Note: I have no incentive whatsoever to promote this. I just think it's kind of fun. If it's getting annoying, let me know and I'll stop pushing it.]
 
Menino lays out vision for new City Hall area
Boston Business Journal - 2:12 PM EST Friday, March 2, 2007
by Michelle Hillman
Journal staff


Mayor Thomas M. Menino, pushing forward with his plan to build a new City Hall along the South Boston waterfront, said Friday the city could fetch up to $500 million for the existing building and that he is in the process of picking an architect to design the new one.

Addressing the Boston Muncipal Research Bureau, a business-funded watchdog group, Menino also said he wants to build a "cutting edge cultural center" near the new City Hall. The site is now the Bank of America Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue.

"By creating a more exciting mix of uses, we will help this area become as much of a destination as Copley Square," Menino said.

The mayor added that he is "100 percent committed to working with the MBTA to complete the Silver Line" to the waterfront.

"Once that happens, the waterfront will be widely accessible for people from all over Greater Boston. It's a rare opportunity for a city nearly 400 years old to be able to extend its downtown by 1,000 acres," he said. "We must make the most of it."

Developer John Drew, a Southie waterfront pioneer who built the Seaport Hotel at the World Trade Center, called Menino's civic center proposal "more good news."

"A civic center will bring more people down (to the waterfront). It's something we don't have right now," he said.



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I haven't posted for months, until yesterday. I had to re register. But I have definite opinions on this. I think it is stupid.

The Southie Waterfront is no place for City Hall. It is farther from the economic, and financial center of the city which will hamper interaction with between the business community and City government.

It will be a further hurdle for the people of the City to access. Never mind the weather issues for residents going to City Hall, should it be relocated there. It is not far but it is a world away in Winter.

It is further from the Federal and State agencies that occupy offices in the Government Center area.

It is not a centralized seat of government. That City Hall is in the heart of the City is a metaphor worth preserving.

I could go on and on. I am AGAINST IT.

The vanity and arrogance of this administration is beyond pale.

I drive by the new Police Headquarters very often, and can't help but notice almost every time that the majority of columns on that building do not connect the sidewalk with the structure. As though the community reaches up and the City rejects its support and soars about it. Unconnected, unaffected, unapologetic. I would be curious what the design team's claim for these posts symbolism is.



Now, Menino wants to move City Hall from the city center shared by all to a frontier. were the posts a springboard for a larger concept? I am not that much of a cynic. But it seems like more of the same. Mennino has been out of the neighborhood too long.

I think that a new City Hall is not uncalled for. The existing Plaza should offer more than enough of a footprint for a new structure to house City Officials and Agencies.

Much as I dislike City Hall and the Plaza. Moving the City Hall to Southie is the wrong answer in my opinion.

I am all for building. But not just for building's sake. Tommy wants to create a legacy. Legacies are not built of steel and stone. They are built on acts. This act, is one of vanity. It does not stand alone, in or of, itself. He seems committed to putting his name on something.

Sorry for the tirade. This is wrong, in my opinion.
 
I am in complete agreement with JoeSixPack. The opportunities to redevelop City Hall into something quite grand and useful to the community have been overlooked. Where have been the serious architectural studies of this building and the possibilities for its renovation?
Yet, I can only wonder if security concerns are stopping the redo of this building. The ground floor entrance is closed off. I wish the brick sections of the building could be opened up, expanded and made more available to the public for various uses. Are the offices above as inhospitable as some city employees say? Is reconfiguration of the top floors possible, or is everything done in poured concrete? Wouldn't selling the building practically insure it's being torn down completely? Much of the plaza is the roof of underground parking. Would that be torn out and the hill that used to be Cornhill be replaced with a smaller-scale street pattern and buildings? Or will we end up with another "signature skyscraper" in its place?
So many questions have been left unanswered. Instead we get the Mayor's grand vision of a waterfront temple of bureaucracy....which is bound to cost gazillions and probably add so much new space that the powers that be will fill the space with additional bureaucrats. Ugh. For an example, check out Miami City Hall. It is located near Coconut Grove on a wharf, isolated by itself. So out of place and so out of touch with the vibrancy of downtown Miami.
 
The Globe said:
Mayor envisions an architectural gem for next City Hall

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 3, 2007

Mayor Thomas M. Menino , defending his plan to move City Hall to the waterfront, told business and political leaders yesterday that he wants to create an architectural gem on par with the Sydney Opera House.

The 14-acre property would also include a cultural center that could be used year-round for concerts and civic events.

Menino also said he wants to establish a new city services center at the Ferdinand Building in Dudley Square by relocating hundreds of employees from the School Department and the Department of Neighborhood Development.

The two city facilities, in Dudley Square and along the waterfront, would allow the city to rethink the way services are provided by downsizing and putting greater emphasis on technology.

"More people are doing their business online than going to an actual location," Menino told reporters after his address at the 75th annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. "You can't think about today . You have to think about how you plan for the future."

Menino initially announced his plan to sell the current City Hall and build a new one on the South Boston waterfront in December. Some have questioned whether he would actually move forward with the plan, and others have been critical because municipal offices would be moved from the heart of the city to a less central area.

Councilor at Large Felix Arroyo has recently announced plans to put together a team of architects to come up with plans to remodel the current building.

But yesterday Menino said he is determined to move forward and sought to squelch fears that the site would be too out-of-the-way for residents to conduct city business.

"By creating a more exciting mix of uses, we will help this area become as much of a destination as Copley Square -- which itself was once considered the outer limits of downtown," Menino said.

He also said he plans to work with the MBTA to better integrate the Silver Line into the subway system so that residents could more easily use public transportation to get to the waterfront.

Menino said city architects are working on designs for the plans, which will be presented later this year. The city will then seek a developer to purchase the current building and City Hall Plaza, which have been valued at between $300 million and $400 million.

To build a new City Hall at Menino's proposed site on the harbor would require approval from the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. He also would probably need approval from the City Council, though there are procedural ways that he could sidestep the council.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.
? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
 
"Architectural gem on par with the Sydney Opera House"

in Boston? In this day and age? I really don't see that happening.
 
The only plus side I see to this is Silver Line phase 3 happening...and quickly.
 
a few comments

1. When the new Harvard dorm opened a few years back Menino said his taste in architecture was domes and arches.

2 Menino made it a big priority of his tenure to fix city hall plaza. He failed so now he wants to hide his failure

How embarrassing will it be to have airplanes flying right over city hall?
 
Thats the first valid argument I've heard IMO. about the airplanes that is.

this crap about it being too far away is a joke first off, and second it will most definitely push them to improve the silver line to phase 3 or whatever the hell it is.

who actually needs to go there anymore? cant u just pay stuff online? this is the 21st century. the current gov't center BLOWS. my old man worked in there and says its godawful and a terrible use of office space, i heard there were rats in there, the building is hideous, the plaza is just as bad. stop bitchin just to bitch. (though id probably miss it bein there just cuz ive always known it to be there.... where else am i gonna stumble around drunk after gettin out of fanuel hall?)

i see it bein an anchor for the waterfront because right now there's not alot of reason to go down there. (other than the ICA, pffffffffff.)

and finally, its good use of land... you cant build a tower there cuz of FAA, but you could in gov't center.

Oh yea and whats up my peoples? glad to be on the board.
 
I for one am not bitching to bitch.

The Silver Line and Ferdinand Building are nice carrots. I am curious why those projects could not be pursued on their own merits.

In case I have missed something, why has the Plaza itself not been given as a place to relocate City Hall?
 
It's great that we have a visionary mayor. Boston really needs to break out of the doldrums with some bold new projects.
 
Mayor Menino said:
"It's a rare opportunity for a city nearly 400 years old to be able to extend its downtown by 1,000 acres..."

It most certainly is! It's too bad we've largely squandered this amazing opportunity. Before a single shovel went into the ground, the city, property owners, Big Dig highway engineers, the T, architects and urban planners should have gotten together and worked out a compelling, and comprehensive plan for this neighborhood. The fact that this did not happen is truly heartbreaking.

The Seaport couldve been a twenty-first century Back Bay -- a real showcase of modern Boston -- rather than Kendal Square By The Sea. Menino's grand plans are just too little, too late. He shouldve proposed this 10-15 years ago as a central, integrated feature of a far more reaching plan for the Seaport.
 
I agree its a little late, but its never TOO late. I for one like all of Menino's grand ideas these days... about time someone stepped up and tried to pull Boston into the 21st century. He might be self-serving, or maybe he just loves Boston and doesnt want it to continue to fall into obscurity. I'm not really sure we are the big world class city some people think we are anymore.

We need a better city hall, we need winthrop square, and we need gov't center developed as another 1,000 footer. I dont want winthrop square to be some gimmick like what sounds like is happenin in nashville and baltimore. we need 3 or 4 intimidating buildings to show that we're still big boys.

and the rose kennedy greenway needs to be the shit
 

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