Dorm Tower @ Emerson College | 1-3 Boylston Place | Downtown

itchy said:
A huge loss. This is one of Boston's most serendipitous, Old World spots.
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And with this remark, you've captured just how mediocre of a city Boston is in the grand scheme of things.
 
^ That's what contempt for the city looks like.
 
itchy said:
^ That's what contempt for the city looks like.
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If you'll pardon some knee-jerk contrarianism for just a moment, it would be equally easy to say that this is what "respect for the city looks like."

This is a dorm/student housing project, no? Being done to bring Emerson into compliance with the Mayor's mandate that X percentage of Boston college students be housed on-campus by Z year, right?

I'm guessing Emerson is beating BU, NU, etc., etc. pretty handily on this requirement, once this tower is finished--thus it is "respecting the city" more than any other college within our city limits, by that very narrow definition.

It all depends on how you define "city"...
 
itchy said:
^ That's what contempt for the city looks like.
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I'm going to reserve that judgment until we see how the alley looks and feels when this is done. It's not automatically "contempt for the city" to tear down an unloved old building. Old buildings aren't inherently beautiful, and they're saving a beautiful one as a part of the project. What matters is whether the character of the alley is harmed or enhanced, and the renders don't look bad.
 
^ +1

I think at times some people on this board can have a knee jerk reaction to old buildings being torn down that says "oh thats always bad". I am not saying this is definitely good but it has the potential to be a good thing. I think some of the knee jerk reaction comes from the fact that a lot of people really like this place and it is nice, but they are not tearing out the whole alley it will still exist and what they are building looks like it will be nice and well designed. The question comes down to will it keep the area activated. I think it will. No it won't be a bar but students will be coming and going and there will still be activity. My view as an outsider is that this will overall be positive although it would have been nice if they included retail/restaurant space on the ground floor.
 
Equilibria said:
I'm going to reserve that judgment until we see how the alley looks and feels when this is done. It's not automatically "contempt for the city" to tear down an unloved old building. Old buildings aren't inherently beautiful, and they're saving a beautiful one as a part of the project. What matters is whether the character of the alley is harmed or enhanced, and the renders don't look bad.
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I think the sentiment is lost focusing on the physical loss of an old building. It's much bigger than that; it is the institutional creep of schools like Emerson continually taking something away from the urban fabric for EVERYONE. Obviously higher education is a life blood to the city; it brings money and vitality that would otherwise have made Boston a Buffalo, Cleveland, or Detroit. Emerson has some amazing things in the past 15 years, so not going to scapegoat them as Public Enemy # 1, but it's reaching a point where they are taking over everything. These buildings are coming down, and now we potentially lose the Colonial to become a student center? When do we stop handing over the city to students, and the rest of us get to keep enjoying it too?

So many cities are losing their live music venues, the hole in the wall bar, cheesy nightclubs we don't want to admit we went to, and the worn out buildings that give variety of character...what I think it means to live in a city. In this case, the replacement is high gloss student housing handed over to a small bit of the population. It's a gated community, safe in every way possible, and done so every university risk manager and helicopter parent can sleep better at night.
 
I'm not going to defend Emerson for the Colonial. They need to get that reopened, pronto. They claim that the whole student center thing was never serious and shouldn't have been released, and I'm not sure I believe that.

I'm not sure about blaming Emerson equally for the Colonial and this, though. That building wasn't a public asset before, other than the bar. The bar can and should be replicated in the new building, or maybe Emerson can come up with some other public space for the lobby. It's not like the public had access to the upper floors - it was just a brick wall on the alley, and Emerson is replacing it with a more interesting brick and glass wall.

FWIW, that alley was dominated by Emerson as it was - I've been there regularly for the last 2 years. It's Emerson and MassDOT. If you want beautiful European old-style shopping streets, it's not like that neighborhood doesn't have you covered.
 
First Walker's then the Colonial -- somethings not right ... and when we say OKLAHOMA......
 
If you want beautiful European old-style shopping streets, it's not like that neighborhood doesn't have you covered.
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Yeah, but on those beautiful European old-style shopping streets there's no mechanical bull, which is the real loss here.
 
Not telling anyone to switch threads, but there is a new general thread for the relationship between the universities and the city here. If things start to take a turn to the general, maybe pick up conversation over there to keep this about the project and Emerson rather than "instiutional creep" in to urban spaces generally.

I will say about the Alley... it's not just about the old buildings. It's about Emerson's sterilization of the Alley. Were the clubs trashy? Yes. Were the bars divey? Yes. But they were local business attractions that are now gone in favor of blah student housing, which of course will offer no replacement night life. Student housing is good and needed, but the universities have an incentive to make their areas as boring as possible for liability purposes. And that incentive is bad for urban life. Look at BU's campus. It's a disaster for urbanism.
 
DBM said:
If you'll pardon some knee-jerk contrarianism for just a moment, it would be equally easy to say that this is what "respect for the city looks like."

This is a dorm/student housing project, no? Being done to bring Emerson into compliance with the Mayor's mandate that X percentage of Boston college students be housed on-campus by Z year, right?

I'm guessing Emerson is beating BU, NU, etc., etc. pretty handily on this requirement, once this tower is finished--thus it is "respecting the city" more than any other college within our city limits, by that very narrow definition.

It all depends on how you define "city"...
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Based on the DND's report, I think this will get them to 63%, so within spitting distance of BU and NU. Once the Little Building is done, they'll be up to 71%, passing BU and NU. (Assuming of course that BU and NU make no moves on their own projects).

http://dnd.cityofboston.gov/portal/...ston-Student-Housing-Trends-AY14-15-FINAL.pdf
 
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