Copley Place Expansion and Tower | Back Bay

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Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Yeah but that alien thingamajig isn't casting a shadow, has a house in the Berkshires next to Deval's, plays golf with Druker, cooks for the mayor, and donated generously to every Democrats' campaign in Boston.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Yeah but that alien thingamajig isn't casting a shadow, has a house in the Berkshires next to Deval's, plays golf with Druker, cooks for the mayor, and donated generously to every Democrats' campaign in Boston.

Have to be careful about cooking for the mayor though - Boloco could tell you the moral to that story.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Is Neimanwatch actually Bob Feldman who wrote a lengthy letter to the Boston Courant in 2008 complaining about the Simon Group? Mr Neimanwatch?
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Anyone on archBOSTON like arithmetic?

Let's approximate the property taxes that would be collected on a project of this scale on an annualized basis. Then let's divide that amount among the residential property owners in the communities that would be adversely impacted by this project.

Think about it -- the good people of the Back Bay and South End get their freedom from shadows and Manhattanization, and the City can put teachers in classrooms and cops on the streets. Everybody wins!

Please note: I would never suggest increasing the property taxes of only those residents opposed to the project -- that would be unfair, as they're raising their voices on behalf of their silent brethren...
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Hmmmm... Kind of like carbon trading?
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

^ Yes, with a potentially opposite result.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Need something reasonably tall

Stand on the edge of Mem. Dr. square with the center of Killian Court just after sunset -- best view of Boston except from the harbor

above the Back Bay foreground >> You SEE -- a panorama of (Right to Left) >> Hilton...Sheraton, Pru, 111 Huntngton, .. boring boxes (including 101 Huntington, and Pru Apartments ti Marriott Copley).... Westin Copley......Hancock Tower.. weather top of old Hancock..........Downtown & Beacon Hill

This view could definitely use a Tower or two between the Hancock and the Westin with distinctive shapes or at least tops
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Thanks -- it is an addiction and I guess I'm off the wagon
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

So did anyone see or hear about the crazy coked-up guy that was taken down by rubber bullets by an army of policemen in front on NM yesterday morning (06-30-2011) at 8:30am. I saw it, and it was very a serious situation.

Of course in my mind, I was wondering if it was NMWatch protesting the tower.

You can find a video of the incident on BarStoolSports.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Of course in my mind, I was wondering if it was NMWatch protesting the tower.

I thought the same thing, LOL.

Apparently he was just some suicidal guy, though. He had a knife and was going to hurt himself, then he demanded that the police shoot.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Reconstructing a retail department store building into a 47-story luxury residential skyscraper on behalf of special private corporate interests--like other examples of overdevelopment and Manhattanization in neighborhoods like the Back Bay and South End--can sometimes be stopped by litigation if there's enough resident opposition to such overdevelopment projects before the cranes and trucks invade the neighborhood.

Regarding the City not yet bringing up the "public land" issue: If you check out the individual local campaign contributions made by certain executives in the Back Bay Association group (that's been pushing for this project) to certain local Boston politicians, you might discover one reason why the relevant legal documents probably won't be analyzed very closely by certain City officials. But if the now-public space where the Indianapolis-based Simon family wants to build its skyscraper to house more potential customers for Neiman Marcus gets turned into some kind of "People's Park" by Back Bay and South End residents (before its converted into a crane-filled construction site for 3 years), perhaps the City officials will then begin to examine some of the legal documents from the 1980s more closely?

Speaking of Neiman Marcus's alleged need for more retail space in the Back Bay, as the following February 2011 internet posting by a former disgruntled employee at this store seems to indicate, the store is apparently "constantly empty," ironically:

"The employees at Neiman Marcus act as though they never left high school. All during training we are told to greet everyone, and never judge by appearances, yet the other employees do exactly that and are rude to newer employees- and are CONSTANTLY talking badly behind each others backs. Working with such expensive product had made most employees jaded, and to put more bluntly- superficial a**holes. Selling outside of your own department is encouraged by management- but don't cross the employees of the department you are moving in on- they are like vultures protecting their carcasses, and in my experience, the carcasses were the handbags.

"At first everyone seems really nice and smiley and great, surrounded by beautiful designer products and getting to talk to people all day, not too shabby!. But you quickly come to find, if you are doing well- making lots of commissions, management is pleased but co-associates are pissed, and will bad mouth you. On the other hand, if you aren't selling a lot (even if it is at no fault of your own, for example, if the store is constantly EMPTY), then management is upset, and oh yeah, your co-associates are still talking behind your back. Also, even management would bad-mouth other employees to associates. Very unprofessional.

"As for the executives and HR department- they are the absolute WORST! They appear all inviting and friendly at first, but they are cut-throat and have no problem firing people on the spot. I truly believe the people who have been at Neiman's for a long period of time are mean and miserable people. I used to be a big fan of the store, but I will never shop there again, and will happily bring my business else where. DO NOT WORK THERE."
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

How many 47 story towers are built by anything other than "private corporate interests"? You make the everyday banal sound like a devious conspiracy. Welcome to reality: this is the norm.

Oh I forgot, the conspiracy is headed by a high end retailer with at least one disgruntled former employee. That really changes things.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

^um, have you ever worked a full time job? People talk behind peoples' backs all the time, that's life.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

So I'm in the city of brotherly-love, aka Philly, where there are towers in excess in of 800 ft. and oh, the city isn't plunged into shadows, traffic isn't backed up for miles even though the SEPTA is less than perfect and a smaller percentage use it, and the city isn't sprawled out like LA or Houston. Yup in fact, the shadows were so intense that my girlfriend has sunburns throughout her shoulders and back and we were traveling through City Center. Imagine if Boston did the same. The world would end.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

^^ Yea that's what gets me, we are very comparable to Philly in a lot of ways. They have built some legit sky scrapper latley and we have not (in 40 years). Have any of the usual NIMBY complaints proven to be true. Of course not.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

I love it. Because an employee isnt happy (welcome to every store and office in america!) then theres no need to expand the store.

Im sure Neimanmarcuswatch is more informed about the sales and sales potential of the location than the store itself.

Its amazing.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Just playing devil's advocate - that NM (every NM, pretty much) IS constantly empty.

*This is in no way saying that the tower should not be built, though.
 
Re: Copley Place plan calls for condo tower

Neimanmarcuswatch most likely lives in Tent City on a high floor with north-facing windows. He/she is desperately throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this development hoping something sticks. Don't take the bait.

Shepard said it best:
...
What's the point of him/her coming here into a pro-development community? Is it to try and convince us? No. The reason is to shape the discourse, the way we and Boston at large talk about the project. Suddenly it's gone from a slam dunk to something that is "disputed" or "controversial" or "a target of local activists" ... and no doubt that if NMWatch continues to draw attention here and on other forums/media, that the Globe and Herald will begin reporting about the project using exactly these terms. So, by fanning the debate, we are playing in entirely into this.

The solution? NOT to nitpick the points ...
 
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