Copley Place Expansion and Tower | Back Bay

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Suffolk 83 said:
Also there's brownstones on the south end side of the midtown. I really doubt the neighborhood is going to allow for some big project to go thru there
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Agree. I think something larger, say the size of Colonnade Hotel, could be built at the midtown site. But even so, that would be a large increase in density. As someone said, CCC has another tower proposal floating around at the corner of Huntington and Mass Ave.
 
Reznor said:
Agree. I think something larger, say the size of Colonnade Hotel, could be built at the midtown site. But even so, that would be a large increase in density. As someone said, CCC has another tower proposal floating around at the corner of Huntington and Mass Ave.
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Midtown site is zoned for a structure like the Colonnade or Greenhouse Apartments. Proposals have been floated in the past (15-20 years ago!). There is always some opposition, so the neighborhood needs to be bought off (mitigation payments).

Big challenge is all the restrictions the Christian Science Church puts on use.
 
It was my understanding the Christian Science folks bought the hotel for the purpose of not having any tall structure/s go up there, for reasons of shade. How i came to this understanding - is elusive. i didn't know the corner (above grade section of the garage?) parcel had been rezoned for 400'. Previous zoning was 291' of occupied height. Am i confusing parcels? It would be epic if it could go 650~700' to give us another high point for Back Bay.
 
odurandina said:
It was my understanding the Christian Science folks bought the hotel for the purpose of not having any tall structure/s go up there, for reasons of shade. How i came to this understanding - is elusive. i didn't know the corner (above grade section of the garage?) parcel had been rezoned for 400'. Previous zoning was 291' of occupied height. Am i confusing parcels? It would be epic if it could go 650~700' to give us another high point for Back Bay.
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Site Master Plan has always included an 11 story structure at the Midtown Motel site. It goes all the way back to the original plans for the plaza. Also, I believe that was Church property before the motel was built. Whole area has been owned by the Christian Science Church for a long time.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Site Master Plan has always included an 11 story structure at the Midtown Motel site. It goes all the way back to the original plans for the plaza. Also, I believe that was Church property before the motel was built. Whole area has been owned by the Christian Science Church for a long time.
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FCCS was granted incredible power over property they directly owned already, and then equally incredible power over property divested to them during "urban blight" back in the awful days of BRA's Urban Renewal. For example, the Section 9 Church Park designation expired a few years back-- the obvious result is those same Section 9 apartments are now condos for absentee tenants from sand land-- but FCCS still has a shady control over the land, e.g. a 99 year lease, so that [EDIT FOR CLARITY in quotes] "the Church Park building" can be recovered in XX years time by the church unless another 99 is executed within the term limits of the original BRA/Urban Renewal agreement. (I so don't have it quite right, but it's shady AF.) The Midtown is also shady AF in slightly different ways.

After attending many public meetings and having some OTR conversations with church officials-- many who no longer work there due to bizarre turover during the last year-- I always get the feeling Midtown is a landbank they're reluctant to use until it's a means of last resort*. Dreaded shadows over the reflecting pool after they restore the historical main entrance lawn thing (which will cut across the current reflecting pool) to the Mother Church seems to be an important consideration I just can't wrap my eyes around. I were a lapsed Catholic some 20-yrs + back and don't get religion tho.


* All that aside I ALSO can't reconcile FCCS's reluctance to accelerate a so stupidly, obviously $$$-generating, Colonnade Hotel-height at the Midtown parcel. Instead, they seem to want to hold development at Midtown until long, long after their proposed tower at the Sunday School Building is built. Why is shadows from Midtown development worse than shadows from the much taller Sunday School Building Tower? Not a single person at FCCS has answered me that with a straight face-- on or off the record, or really with-- any answer at all, on it.

EDIT: ANNOTATED FOR CLARITY
 
I come bearing gifts not seen on this forum thus far.



























This looks INCREDIBLE.
 
Those curves tho! And maybe I've just never seen an east-facing rendering before, but did the roofline get a bit more pronounced? Thumbs waaaay up!
 
You'd have thought by now, that since the plans for the tower were revealed ten years ago, that construction would've begun before or by now.

What seems to be the problem here? :confused:
 
Jahvon09 said:
You'd have thought by now, that since the plans for the tower were revealed ten years ago, that construction would've begun before or by now.

What seems to be the problem here? :confused:
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The sequencing and timing here has been explained numerous times up thread.

Before tower construction can begin, they have to complete the reconfiguration of the Dartmouth Street entrance to the mall at the Southwest Corridor, into a fully ADA compliant entrance (which it was not previously). Then they can begin construction of the tower, which will close the current ADA compliant entrance at Dartmouth and Stuart Street for the duration of the construction.

The new ADA compliant construction at Dartmouth and the Southwest Corridor is underway.
 
Anyone ever seen a night-render of this? Wondering if the top is going to be lit up at night?
 
Anyone have an idea of timing? Wasn't this approved in like 2013?
 
datadyne007 said:
Weird claim to just make out of nowhere. I (& others) have posted all of these plus way more.
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Youre thinking of the older renders. These were released a month ago showing how the tower now looks after they rotated it to reduce shadows and also made a few tweaks to the base. Theyre similar but if you look at them side by side youll see the difference.
 
Im sure a few of them have but heres an example of what Im saying. If some have my apologies, but its still never a bad thing to get a refresher.

old

Copley-Place-Tower-Boston-11.jpg


vs new

 
FWIW, Simon Properties posted a job that will be responsible for getting this project moving. Sign of good things to come.

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

Copley place is one of Simon Property Group’s most premiere properties in the thriving Back Bay area of Boston. SPG is looking to maximize its properties value by intensifying its use. That intensification includes the addition of a 52 story residential tower which will consist of both luxury rental and for sale units. The tower itself is designed to be constructed over an operating interstate highway, rail lines and the mall itself. This primary project consists of multiple sub-projects including renovations to an existing mall, reconstruction of a secondary entrance, and complete modernization of an existing chilled water plant. This position will be accountable for certain aspects of the various sub projects including the planning, organization, scheduling, budgeting, and execution of the Copley Place Retail Expansion and Residential Addition.
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https://chj.tbe.taleo.net/chj04/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=SIMON&cws=47&rid=5600&source=JobsMap
 
I'm very skeptical about this one, I'll believe it when it's 10+ floors out of the ground. The remodel of the existing building is taking quiet some time, there never seems to be anybody working on it. I understand its complexes but There's no rush from what I can see. Simon doesn't develop towers they do malls. I think they're waiting for other shoe to drop (the economy) or they don't believe the Boston market can sustain more luxury units just yet. I know I'm being negative but thats my .02
 
While it's oddly nice to actually hear Simon say "52 story tower" for once, it is not a good sign that whomever this person is still needs to be hired. Then again, this is clearly one of many PM-types on the job, so unless someone is an insider on this, tough to know whether this is a major void or not. Either way, let's get this show on the road.

As far as mall business vs. tower business, it's all $$ business. If you're sitting on property that can be worth more w/ more development work, just hire someone else to run it if you don't want to. There's a check to be cashed here (and no, we're not running out of residential potential in this city. Nowhere close. Offices, maybe, kinda, but not residences).
 
^^ You're absolutely right on the residential. The spectrum of luxury residential projects are coming on line with sufficient spacing, so, we should continue to see a strong market.

The loss of big bank tenants in recent years sure hurt the office market. Still, conidering Boston's overall market, is it possible Boston could build several more 20~25-story office towers in the Seaport, Cambridge, Back Bay, and Downtown, and fill them within a few years??

Would it surprise anyone if some combination of GCG/1 Congress, SST and even (the lower half of) Harbor Garage secure innovation/tech/biotech tenants in the coming months (on top of the current Seaport construction), and everything fills up? It will be very interesting to see how much more expansion lies just ahead. Sure would be great to see 1 or 2 more corporate moves come this way.

With all the residential construction happening within a 1 mile radius of TD Garden, and being so close to Mass General, would this not be a good candidate for medical offices, + directly or indirectly adding capacity to Mass General?
 
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