City Hall Discussion - Redevelopment - Preservation - Relocation

the fact that any parcel they choose to build on won't have to pay any taxes as they are, in fact, a municipal building makes any air rights project feasible. All they'll pay for is some hashed out lease.

Cronies can work it out amongst themselves, but I predict any construction will be a disaster, on the same level as the big dig, unless they can work something out with whoever is buying the parcel to build the new city hall.

This makes too much sense to be brushed aside.
 
I think renovating City Hall and building an annex along the Congress Street side to handle most of the face to face public business makes sense. A new Boston history museum/National Park Service visitor center within the annex would make sense, or an outpost of the City Archives. The Cambridge Street edge could be given over to private development to help finance the renovations/annex.

While the idea of a new City Hall is appealing, the Seaport is a lousy location.

http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/12/you_go_out_of_t.html
 
Boston Business Journal said:
City Hall proposal raises zoning and access questions

Boston Business Journal - 8:34 AM EST Wednesday
by Michelle Hillman - Boston Business Journal

The head of the Boston Harbor association is questioning whether Mayor Thomas M. Menino's proposal to build a new City Hall on a South Boston waterfront parcel is feasible given the area's zoning and access issues.

The site, Drydock Four, is currently zoned for maritime uses. In addition to requiring a change of zoning, the site is not easily accessible to the public, and it is unclear whether existing transportation infrastructure such as the Silver Line would suffice in getting employees, and the public, to the future City Hall site.

Vivien Li, executive director of the harbor association, said transportation is an issue that will need to be addressed.

"Do you know anyone who drives to City Hall?" Li asked. "So I think that's the big issue. How do people get there?"

In addition, she said the zoning will need to be changed to allow for an office building not directly related to the waterfront uses, and the Chapter 91 agreement, which protects the public's interest in the commonwealths waterways, will need to be amended or overridden. In order to override Chapter 91, the city could file legislation or enter into a formal review with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said Li.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority, in an e-mail, said the area falls within the South Boston Maritime Economy Reserve Subdistrict of Harborpark. It has a height limit of 55'. Uses are limited to maritime dependent industrial operations. "We'll have to go through the state regulatory process, which is something we know we have to do. There's no surprise to that," said BRA spokeswoman Susan Elsbree.

The parcel is the current home of the Bank of America Pavilion. In February 1999, the state DEP signed an agreement with the Bank of America Pavilion -- then called Harbor Lights -- for 10 years giving the concert venue permission to operate on the land. The agreement stated that the site could not be rezoned from a maritime use for at least 10 years, said Li.

Even though City Hall is not a typical commercial office building and is a municipal structure open to the public, "it's not a water-dependent use," said Li. "I think this particular (location) may -- or may not -- be the best site."

Dan Kenary, president of Harpoon Brewery located in the nearby Boston Marine Industrial Park and head of the park's business association, said he wants to know more about Menino's proposal -- whether the mayor wants to build a high-rise, how many employees will work at the building, how much parking will be built on site and whether public access issues will addressed.

"Mayor Menino is a longtime friend of the park so I trust him," said Kenary. "I'm sure he would take our concerns into consideration."

Processing plant scuttled

Menino's proposal has also scuttled a proposal to build a seafood processing plant on the site.

The development group Fisherman's Park LLC had planned to build a 500,000-square-foot seafood processing and storage building at Drydock Four and move the Bank of America Pavilion, which currently occupies the site, to the roof of the new facility. The team, headed by Conroy Development Corp. of Stoughton, was granted tentative designation to develop the site by the Boston Redevelopment Authority earlier this year.

The BRA board will now move to yank the designation to make room for Menino's new City Hall, confirmed Elsbree. Elsbree said the city notified Conroy of the pending move and that Conroy was aware from the start that the designation was tentative.

Terence "Terry" Conroy Jr., president and co-director of Conroy Development, said he received a call earlier this week from Tom Miller, the BRA's director of economic development, informing him of the mayor's intentions. Conroy said he will instead look for another site for the seafood center.

"It's a great site, it's a fantastic site for office use," said Conroy.

The city owns the Drydock Four site, which is located on the historic Boston Fish Pier and is currently zoned for maritime uses. It was unclear whether the maritime zoning allowed for commercial office development.

"We're in the very beginning stages of this," said Elsbree in reference to the plan to build a new City Hall on the waterfront. She said the city first needs to begin the designation process to sell the current City Hall property in Government Center.
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Displacing an already-planned fishing-related use in a maritime zone doesn't sound like a great idea.
 
cityrecord said:
I think renovating City Hall and building an annex along the Congress Street side to handle most of the face to face public business makes sense.
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To do this, you'd have to narrow Congress Street -- but that's a good idea, too.
 
The Silver Line should somehow be connected to Airport Station on the Blue Line. I know this would be difficult because of the set up of the airport roads. And Phase III of the SL would surely also increase the accessibility of the proposed site.

I rode the Silver Line during Monday morning rush hour to take a look at the new ICA and the buses were packed. I ride the SL every couple months or so, and each time it is more heavily used.
 
I actually like the underground part of the Silver Line, but I wonder if it can actually handle all of the passengers that a new City Hall and other future development will add to it.
 
I don't think anyone has posted this piece by Campbell (sorry if it has been) Note that some of the ideas for fixing City Hall are pretty cool.

THE ARCHITECTURE
Brutal, powerful structure of 1969 is now out of style

By Robert Campbell, Globe Correspondent | December 13, 2006

As much as any building in the world, Boston City Hall is a measure of changing fashions in architecture.

It's hard to believe now, but in a poll of architects and historians in the bicentennial year of 1976, the building was voted one of the 10 greatest works of architecture in American history.

No way would that happen today. And even back then, the building was a lot more popular with architects than it was with the public.

The design for the building was chosen by a panel of expert jurors in an open design competition. Any architect in the United States could enter. The winners were two Columbia University architecture professors, Gerhard Kallmann and Noel Michael McKinnell. Both were inexperienced -- McKinnell was still in his 20s -- and neither had actually built a building before.

City Hall opened in 1969. And 1969 was the era of what is called Brutalism.

Brutalism was an architectural style of massive, powerful, raw concrete buildings. The term comes not from the English word "brutal" but from the French "beton brut," which means raw or unfinished concrete.

The style was derived from the late work of the most famous architect of that era, Le Corbusier. Boston City Hall, in fact, is pretty closely modeled on what is perhaps the French architect's greatest building, the monastery of La Tourette in southern France.

Corbusier's love of raw concrete was inspired by his discovery of World War II pillboxes on the coast of France, concrete buildings thrown up quickly for defense. They seemed very real, very honest, not like something a sophisticated architect had fussed over.

But La Tourette is modest in scale. Blown up to the proportions of City Hall, Brutalism does become brutal. From the beginning, most people found it intimidating.

The powerful outward thrust of the middle floors, as seen from outside, is the architects' way of letting you know that these floors are occupied by the important people, namely the mayor and the city council. But they look not so much important as aggressive, even threatening.

The biggest problem with City Hall, though, is the interiors. Indoor walls made of gray concrete, often without much natural daylight, are depressing. And there are a lot of them.

Those who admire the building sometimes argue that architecture doesn't have to be beautiful to be great. For them, City Hall is an ugly, wonderful, powerful, unforgettable building.

But fashions come and go in architecture, as in any field. City Hall today is definitely out.

One thing everyone agrees on is that the building could easily be improved. Even the original architects, who now run a very successful national practice out of Boston, say they would welcome some changes.

The multistory atrium, which is now open at the top to the sky, and therefore the rain, could be glassed in to become a delightful winter garden. A restaurant at the top of the great entry staircase could be a place for staff and public to meet and schmooze.

Even a bit of ivy on the exterior wouldn't hurt. The architects' original idea of a beer hall in the basement, like those in many German city halls, could be revived.

Mayor Menino would like the site and the plaza sold for redevelopment. The city could make a profit that way. But City Hall, whatever you think of it, is in an ideal location, easy to reach by subway. They mayor's been talking about tearing it down for years. He should be thinking instead of making it the best that it can be.
 
The idea of modifying this building appeals to me. Funky glass enclosure of the open entryway of the huge concrete Fine Arts Center at Umass Amherst was a very nice update. I'm struggling with this issue and the more I think about it the more I am leaning toward preferring keeping it as city hall.
 
It is a great location for City Hall, but I still think the building would work better as a museum or school. Perhaps a BU Art Museum and/or Art & Architecture School?
 
Enclosing the open center with glass would be neat no matter what the building is used for.
 
Given our climate I have to wonder why it wasn't glassed in from the very beginning.
 
For the amount of money it would cost to build a new city hall I bet they could really make the current one nicer.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
For the amount of money it would cost to build a new city hall I bet they could really make the current one nicer.
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Steve Bailey said:
But it is ultimately the builders, not the fixers, who are remembered.
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Even with making the current building nicer, which could be a good alternative, it still doesn't solve the plaza problem. The plaza is definitely the thing that must be the primary focus for development, redesign, and linking of neighborhoods.
 
^^ Agreed, but how the plaza is redeveloped is going to be entirely dependent on whether or not City Hall is razed or reused. City Hall is the biggest piece of the Gov't Center puzzle and it needs to be solved before the rest of the pieces can be put in place.
 
statler said:
vanshnookenraggen said:
For the amount of money it would cost to build a new city hall I bet they could really make the current one nicer.
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Steve Bailey said:
But it is ultimately the builders, not the fixers, who are remembered.
Click to expand...
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You say it best when you say nothing at all.
 
Putting City Hall on the waterfront is a terrible idea. But if it spurs Silver Line phase 3 to be built, then so be it. I'd also like to see the Silver Line not even rise above ground until it gets out of the Ted Williams Tunnel. This could be done by extending the tunnel, curving it towards the new City Hall to replace Silver Line Way with a City Hall Waterfront stop, then having the buses continue into the T.W.T. dedicated State Police lane. Frequency of the buses could easily be doubled, as the Airport section is already overcrowded and City Hall would bring many more people. I would be interested in seeing how much a light rail conversion would cost, but I don't think it is the best solution here.
 
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