Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

Boston's entertainment options are pitifully sparse. I live in New Haven and if there's one thing they've done right it is create a legitimate bustling entertainment district with tons of bars, clubs, live music venues, restaurants, and theatres. Yup, full of "urban youth" and rowdy types that some hate but it's a fucking city and it's supposed to be exciting. Boston's too pussy to even allow something close despite being >5x the size. Bring on the vibrancy this is the fucking downtown of a major city!
 
If Filene's wasn't getting off the ground again I would have wanted it to become some kind of outdoor concert/dance space. With tons of neon strobe lights, extremely loud music, well-designed grounds, etc... Make it an inviting spot in the center of the city. The hard part would be the programming but I would rather have things that are not usually done around here...yes, rap concerts, electronic music mini-raves, outdoor beer festivals, and much, much more.

But yeah, since that isn't happening, why not just drag Boston into the 21st century and allow a ton more clubs and non Irish pub bars (just anything that's different) to open. There certainly is the demand and it won't even be hard to implement considering much smaller cities doing it successfully. Bring on the urban youths!
 
When the discussion has been going back and forth on the safety of DTX, saying that Boston should do things more like New Haven, probably won't win a lot of people over.
 
I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people who dislike cities spend so much time on aB.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
If Filene's wasn't getting off the ground again I would have wanted it to become some kind of outdoor concert/dance space. With tons of neon strobe lights, extremely loud music, well-designed grounds, etc... Make it an inviting spot in the center of the city. The hard part would be the programming but I would rather have things that are not usually done around here...yes, rap concerts, electronic music mini-raves, outdoor beer festivals, and much, much more.
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Here's a better idea: let's never do this.

News flash, what you consider to be inviting is not necessarily what everyone considers to be inviting, and there's a huge middle ground between what we've got now and a never-ending party scene.

Cities attract and take in most types of people, and there's more than one type of urban lifestyle than 'rowdy all-hours partygoer.'

We can have a bustling, vibrant 24-hour city that everyone can enjoy, but that means opening up new venues for everyone - not ripping down a beautiful building so that you can have what you think is "inviting" and everyone who doesn't agree with your tastes can just fuck right off because they're the wrong type of person.

I'd be happy to see more nightclubs open in Boston, even though I fucking despise the club scene and will never set foot in a club, ever. And I'm right there with you on a larger variety of bar venues, but a larger variety includes just as many upscale establishments as downscale ones.

Here's the thing - we're not New Haven, and aspiring to be more like New Haven is setting our standards pretty fucking low.
 
The outdoor space is a good idea, but not here. Why not put it on the Greenway? Or seasonally repurpose City Hall Plaza for it?
 
Ron Newman said:
The outdoor space is a good idea, but not here. Why not put it on the Greenway? Or seasonally repurpose City Hall Plaza for it?
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The Greenway would be a great Idea........Restaurants, Bars, Jazz Club right down the street on both sides then the park right in the middle. The real problems. The Greenway has the potential of being the Red Carpet of the Real Estate Strip on the East Coast.

#1 Political Corruption at the Greenway Conservancy is a joke
#2 Political standoff with a private developers about knocking down garages and building something higher than 200ft-400ft which 2 buildings next door are 400ft tall.

#3 Political corruption with the ENTIRE new Greenway Tax (BID) they are trying to entact on the private corporations in the area.

Should I keep going down the list. The Vision is there to make the Greenway a success the problem is the POLITICAL CORRUPTION just won't go away.
 
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Ron Newman said:
The outdoor space is a good idea, but not here. Why not put it on the Greenway? Or seasonally repurpose City Hall Plaza for it?
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The Greenway is probably the best place for it, even though I still hope for a Greenway restructuring - I'd like to see the existing frontage roads made developable real estate, a four-lane Atlantic Avenue paved down the Greenway to replace the destroyed roads, and a Green Line branch from North Station to South Station run right down the middle. That's probably never going to happen mostly because of the [scary]!!PAVING OVER THE GREENWAY!![/scary] though, even though it certainly results in more available space for development just on the basis of dropping the number of lanes by two.

Failing that, I'd accept City Hall Plaza as long as anyone was able to grab the space for their event. I'd also accept Lansdowne Street.
 
I've never been to New Haven, but if they've built something that other larger cities should emulate, what's wrong with that?
 
It's sounds like another Faneuil Hall, which has some pluses and minuses.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
If Filene's wasn't getting off the ground again I would have wanted it to become some kind of outdoor concert/dance space. With tons of neon strobe lights, extremely loud music, well-designed grounds, etc... Make it an inviting spot in the center of the city. The hard part would be the programming but I would rather have things that are not usually done around here...yes, rap concerts, electronic music mini-raves, outdoor beer festivals, and much, much more.

But yeah, since that isn't happening, why not just drag Boston into the 21st century and allow a ton more clubs and non Irish pub bars (just anything that's different) to open. There certainly is the demand and it won't even be hard to implement considering much smaller cities doing it successfully. Bring on the urban youths!
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Do you do stand-up?
 
From 06/06/06

So, what's changed since then?

philip said:
:roll: I don't see how the pushcarts affect the shopping atmosphere. I think they add great character to the area. That comment seems silly to me. And NO CARS!!

More "upscale" stores without becoming Copley or even the Pru would help also. Other than Filene's and Macy's there seems to be alot of low end stores down there selling crap. Stores with better quality products are needed.

The Virgin Megastore (as someone suggested here before) or another giant music co. would fit the mix greatly. Or the city could even encourage Apple to look around. A few brands such as these (smartly chosen) would add greatly to the area.

I remember a while ago a proposal for creating a BID fizzled or was shot down. Downtown could definitely benefit from this. BID's have been very successful in other cities.

I think encouraging more businesses to open further down Washington or having "anchor" tenants on both ends of Washington and Summer and Winter could help with traffic flow and allow "fill-in" businesses to be more successful.

Physically, the area itself could also use a good hosedown too. Even for a very urban place its very bland, grimy and univiting. I believe Macy's was to redo the facade on their building adding windows and making the street level more inviting. That's a good start. But, the city or BID could do much more to make the area more attractive and inviting.

A couple residential towers and some activity later in the evening (restaurants, nightlife) perhaps connecting it more to Chinatown and the
the theatre district creating a more 24hr. area would be a huge+++.

I don't think this is the end of Downtown Crossing. If its managed properly it could definitely make a comeback
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BarbaricManchurian said:
If Filene's wasn't getting off the ground again I would have wanted it to become some kind of outdoor concert/dance space. With tons of neon strobe lights, extremely loud music, well-designed grounds, etc... Make it an inviting spot in the center of the city. The hard part would be the programming but I would rather have things that are not usually done around here...yes, rap concerts, electronic music mini-raves, outdoor beer festivals, and much, much more.
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Yes. Lets forsake the financial/hoteling/residential markets for a rave with a beer tent.
 
What's changed since 2006?

The good:
- Suffolk University and Emerson College have greatly increased their presence in the area, (re)opening the Modern and Paramount theatres and attaching new dormitories to both theatres
- Archstone Boston Common apartment building finished and open, on a long-time vacant lot
- Kensington Place and Millennium Place III (Hayward Place) are under construction on two other long-time vacant lots. Even if we don't like the design or quality of these buildings, they will knit the district back together.
- The BID was created and is in operation
- Macy's has added a book department

The bad:
- Filene's and Filene's Basement closed. The building was torn down except for two exterior walls, leaving a huge empty lot and hole in the ground. No construction has occurred since then (but hopefully Millennium's new project will start soon)
- The Filene's Basement corporation subsequently went bankrupt twice, closing all of their other stores and thereby making a future return to DTX impossible.
- Barnes & Noble closed and remains vacant 6(!) years later
- Borders Books has closed (but Super Walgreens will replace it)
- Strawberries/f.y.e. has closed, and remains vacant
- Locke-Ober has closed (but a new restaurant will replace it)

Anything else I've missed?
 
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Proposal for Commonwealth Center, circa 1980.

commonwealth_center.png
 
This would have gone where the Millennium (Ritz-Carlton) towers are today. It fell victim to the early 1990s recession, as did Robert Campeau's 'Boston Crossing' further up Washington.

Had this been built on schedule, perhaps the Paramount theatre might have been saved in its original form, instead of having to be mostly demolished and re-created by Emerson College.
 
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