Dick’s House of Sports | Prudential Center | Back Bay

dshoost88 said:
If Wayfair maintains profitability moving forward, I could see them proposing Boston's first supertall office tower at this site and consolidating all office space there. I don't think there's an employer that's expanded its office footprint in Back Bay more this generation and would salivate at the opportunity to consolidate HQ into a million+ sq. ft. office tower.

I could even see them using the ground levels as a showroom for their merchandise, including public outdoor spaces.
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Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see this, but is Wayfair really doing that well? Didn’t they have a lot of layoffs within the last year or so?
 
Life Coach Mike said:
HUH?
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ICYMI = In Case You Missed It

I embedded a linked article from Forbes: "Can Wayfair Stay 'Sticky' And Keep Making Money? (LINK: https://www.forbes.com/sites/warren...ayfair-stay-sticky-and-keep-making-money/amp/)

It was a response to Blackbird's question about Wayfair's future. The company recently turned a quarterly profit for the first time since going public in 2014. To my earlier post, I think that if Wayfair is successful maintaining profitability moving forward, they'd be a ripe, homegrown global business in the Back Bay that could redevelop Lord & Taylor into a Class A Signature HQ Office Tower. At the moment, they lease hundreds of thousands of square feet of space across several Back Bay office buildings.
 
StillInTheHood said:
Guys, I believe this site is governed by the Pru Master Plan (negotiated with Back Bay) and whether it is or not, it is going to need to pass muster with Back Bay neighborhood. It may not cast huge shadows on Copley, but it's south of residential Back Bay. Something along the lines of Mandarin Oriental version 2.0? Sure. Tall tower? Nope.
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Agree completely. I'm in favor of tall buildings where possible but this is definitely not an appropriate location. 12 floors at most and a very good design using stone.
 
stoweker said:
actually, here's the thought - BXP builds grocery anchored resi tower on the L&T site, moving the Shaw's over from Ring Rd & Huntington and clearing the way for a parklet & new tower above shaws. Just checked masslandrecords and BXP owns the Shaws so no reason they couldn't move them off the back street and up front to Boylston.

Alternatively as part of plan could be a full re-envisioning of that block starting with moving the Shaws up to clear out the back side; the only catch is that AVB owns the gloucester so that's not going anywhere (and i'd guess the GAV is probably like $150MM [i can't find unit count anywhere so just a swag]) and even if BXP found a way to buy that back from AVB i can't see how the economics woudl work on the super block unless they got to a desnity level that the city wouldn't give them.
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The Shaw's/Star Market is decked over the Pike, while L&T is on terra firma.
 
stoweker said:
roger that - I'm not an engineer and have no idea if the existing decking is such a hindrance to structural weight that low rise is the highest and best use; if that's the case than i guess shaws gets to stay
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From an engineering standpoint, you could probably build a high-rise at the Shaw's/Star site. But it is going to cost a lot more than building at the L&T site. You'd need to use spanning techniques like they planned to deploy at the abandoned Copley Place tower (also planned for across the Pike and rail lines). $$$$
 
dirtywater said:
Perfect spot to relocate Crate and Barrel at the base of a new tower.
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Great location for a tower
as someone posted earlier in August -- only shadows that can be significant on Copley from that location occur when the sun is due West and with the existing medium height plus buildings -- only new shadow will be very rare
The sun would need to be due west and high enough so that the other buildings' shadows didn't encroach on Copley -- I'm guessing late afternoon a couple weeks around the summer solstice
 
There's a lot of potential for transformative development along this stretch of Boylston... basically everything from the Pike parcels to L&T is up for redevelopment.

I'm skeptical well see anything bold or interesting however, this is Boston after all.
 
meddlepal said:
There's a lot of potential for transformative development along this stretch of Boylston... basically everything from the Pike parcels to L&T is up for redevelopment.

I'm skeptical well see anything bold or interesting however, this is Boston after all.
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One thing is that we'll be seeing proposals soon -- Mahty is leaving [most likely] and the developers will want to get things underway before the outcome of the next election
 
First it was TOTH, now it's Lord & Taylor. Who's next to go?
 
dshoost88 said:
stoweker said:
Also to get the rumor mill going but they're looking at a buyout of the last piece of the puzzle at the Pru so that they can go "boston" super tall once they get control...
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If it is Lord & Taylor, can I please get a medal? I've been saying this since 2013. And 2015. And 2016. And 2017.
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Coming on 8 years... don't let me down, Boston Properties! :p
 
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