Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

Wait, that was the BID they proposed? No wonder people are opting out, that is ridiculous.
 
That map is absurd. I have worked at 101 Federal for more than 10 years now and not one single time in 10 years has anyone referred to my office as being in Downtown Crossing.
 
The boundary is really meaningless.

Once they sink their teeth in with the first BID, the next will follow soon after. The Director of the Downtown Crossing Partnership hinted as much on NPR when she mentioned the dozens or hundreds of BIDs in NYC that are so incredibly successful.

I'd like to learn more about the DCP. Is this another $200k+ directorship along the lines of the Greenway Conservancy? And on what experience does the staff draw its expertise?

If I were emperor, the only property owners subject to an improvement fee would be for-profit commercial owners exempted by the Mayor / BRA from paying property taxes. Beyond that, it seems like extortion and possibly another disincentive for outsiders to invest in buying property within the district.
 
Sicilian said:
The boundary is really meaningless.

Once they sink their teeth in with the first BID, the next will follow soon after. The Director of the Downtown Crossing Partnership hinted as much on NPR when she mentioned the dozens or hundreds of BIDs in NYC that are so incredibly successful.

I'd like to learn more about the DCP. Is this another $200k+ directorship along the lines of the Greenway Conservancy? And on what experience does the staff draw its expertise?

If I were emperor, the only property owners subject to an improvement fee would be for-profit commercial owners exempted by the Mayor / BRA from paying property taxes. Beyond that, it seems like extortion and possibly another disincentive for outsiders to invest in buying property within the district.
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^^
Great post
Stuff like this keeps companies from growing, expanded or even relocating to our city. Why would you take the chance in any of those 3 things when your facing raising taxes, BID, NPR, Greenway special taxes, Menino special taxes. It's absolutely insane what is going on in this city.

The politicans are the only ones smothering anytype of economic activity in the city.

Is NYC as corrupt as BOSTON? Bloomberg is a billionaire does he really need 10k white envelopes?
 
BIDs are supposed to be small districts such that all the property owners share the same interests in funding neighborhood improvements. These borders are a blatant money grab aimed at having office hi-rises pay for improvements in the unrelated shopping district that the city doesn't feel like paying for itself.
 
Re: Filene's

Anybody on this board have a solutions for DOWNTOWN? Selling it off to the colleges would be a simple solution. I'm not sure if you really want to make our Downtown shopping district another college zone. But it would probably solve Menino's headaches.

What about what I suggested in my back posts.........persuading fashion companies to head to downtown Boston?
 
Re: Filene's

TheRifleman said:
Anybody on this board have a solutions for DOWNTOWN? Selling it off to the colleges would be a simple solution. I'm not sure if you really want to make our Downtown shopping district another college zone. But it would probably solve Menino's headaches.

What about what I suggested in my back posts.........persuading fashion companies to head to downtown Boston?
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I think we should give up on the idea that DTX must be this sacred retail mecca. I would like to see a plan that encourages more people to live there, perhaps modeled after the example set by Emerson and Suffolk in which they erected an additional layer of set-back residential buildings behind existing historic buildings. I would also carve a few streets through Lafayette and line them with mixed use, humanly scaled buildings. But I think once we get lots of people living in Downtown Crossing, we'll see many of its chronic problems disappear quickly.
 
Re: Filene's

briv said:
I think we should give up on the idea that DTX must be this sacred retail mecca. I would like to see a plan that encourages more people to live there, perhaps modeled after the example set by Emerson and Suffolk in which they erected an additional layer of set-back residential buildings behind existing historic buildings. I would also carve a few streets through Lafayette and line them with mixed use, humanly scaled buildings. But I think once we get lots of people living in Downtown Crossing, we'll see many of its chronic problems disappear quickly.
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I would agree with this, if the entire city wasn't a college dorm at this point. So I'm still going to hope for a retail mecca in this area. I'm sure it will never happen because their is just too much economic and political risk for private industry to move forward in the city of Boston.
 
There's a case to keep - or revive - DTC as a "retail mecca". Before South Bay was built, it managed to retain that function for many people living in Roxbury, Dorchester, JP, and other places accessible on the Red and Orange lines. DTC is convenient to all major transit lines - it makes more sense to have a retail center here than abutting I-93 in a location that's only really accessible by bus and car.

Ideally, South Bay would be phased out of existence, and serious incentives made to lure its tenants (and customers) back downtown.

The best part - none of this means you have to sacrifice the inclusion of more residents or college kids in apartments behind or above.
 
You'll have to find a lot of space to house these big box stores.
 
The challenge isn't space, Kent. It's "reorienting the shopping experience" for a big-box store. It's all about the shopping cart at Target and Walmart and Kohls. How to make that work in a vertical environment?

czsz -- What to do with with the "big-box Stonehenge" in South Bay?
 
How to make that work in a vertical environment?
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Yeah. These stores have been more than successful with relatively small ground floor spaces in NY. Install those shopping cart escalators and you're good to go.

czsz -- What to do with with the "big-box Stonehenge" in South Bay?
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Cheap housing? Room for the less savory / dangerous biotech labs? Open space that can be cited in statistics to get Bostonians to stop complaining about how overcrowded / shadowy the city is? You could do almost anything with it.
 
czsz said:
Room for the less savory / dangerous biotech labs?
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I drive through the area sometimes and I see the next frontier for BUMC and the LMA institutions. I'd like to see a centralized shipping, receiving, warehousing, and cryostorage facility somewhere along the Melnea Cass corridor. The South Bay site would be perfect for a large, shared facility for BI/DMC, BWH, CHB, Joslin, DFCI, HMS/HSPH, and BUMC. It would create a few jobs, I'm sure. It makes too much sense...
 
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Beton Brut said:
czsz -- What to do with with the "big-box Stonehenge" in South Bay?
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Though it's treated like an exurban highway exit, South Bay is actually the same distance from City Hall as West Fenway. I'd love to see the city's fabric extended to South Bay right down along 93, incorporating the dead zone created by the highway along with it.
 
czsz said:
Yeah. These stores have been more than successful with relatively small ground floor spaces in NY. Install those shopping cart escalators and you're good to go.



Cheap housing? Room for the less savory / dangerous biotech labs? Open space that can be cited in statistics to get Bostonians to stop complaining about how overcrowded / shadowy the city is? You could do almost anything with it.
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Nah. South Bay will become the new Seaport with acres of parking lot space being redeveloped.
 
Er, I doubt it. There hasn't exactly been a scramble to develop the Seaport, and that's waterfront property. South Bay's biggest asset is quick access to 93...
 
http://www.wbur.org/2010/12/21/washington-street-revival

December is when the ghosts of Christmas past haunt Downtown Crossing and Washington Street. Jordan?s and Filene?s are gone, and with them went the Enchanted Village and Christmas tree lighting.

But this year has also brought a rebirth of two historic theaters. The Paramount and the Modern Theatre now join the restored Opera House.

City and business leaders call these the ?Three Sisters? ? the jewels that will make Washington Street and Downtown Crossing shine once again.

WBUR?s Andrea Shea and David Boeri took a walking tour of the area ? and they took a look back at the kind of excitement the city would like to revive. Here are their stories.

We started on the corner of Washington and Water Streets. Nearby we could see a Starbucks, a Toys ?R? Us and the Vitamin Shoppe.

These are the landmarks for what was once Newspaper Row. The Starbucks is on the site of the old Boston Globe, the Toys ?R? Us was the Boston Post, and the Vitamin Shoppe used to be the Boston Journal. There were once as many as 17 newspapers operating in this narrow strip. Back in the 1950s, this place was jumping.

?It was the center of the city, the center,? says Ron Wysocki as we stroll where the Row once stood.

In 1954, Wysocki was a quick study of a copy boy for the Boston Globe at 244 Washington Street, which is now the Devonshire Building. He was on a fast track to a byline on the front pages.
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Story continues, with photos, current and past-day.
 
Downtown Borders may write last chapter
By Thomas Grillo
Saturday, January 8, 2011 - Updated 12 hours ago
+ Recent Articles


Troubled retailer Borders Group could close the book on its Downtown Crossing store sooner rather than later, adding another black eye to Boston?s struggling retail district.

The bookseller, which may be teetering toward bankruptcy, extended its lease at 10-24 School St. last summer for just two years - an unusually short time for any retailer.

?A two-year lease is very abnormal, most deals are five, 10 or more years,? said Michael Tesler, a partner at consulting firm Retail Concepts. ?Borders may want an out and the situation with a hole across the street at Filene?s isn?t helping.?

A Borders spokeswoman would not confirm or deny whether the company is considering closing its Downtown Crossing store.

Borders, the nation?s second-largest bookstore chain behind Barnes & Noble, has been struggling for years because of plummeting sales and high debt. Last month, the company said it was delaying payments to some of its vendors to preserve cash.

Some analysts are skeptical about Borders? ability to avoid bankruptcy. The company said Thursday it is not considering a bankruptcy filing and it is working to restore its finances.

Borders recently shuttered its store at the Mall at Chestnut Hill. The chain also has a store in Boston?s Back Bay.

Closing the Borders in Downtown Crossing would be the latest scar in the retail district, which has been hurt by a 14 percent vacancy rate and the redevelopment disaster at the Filene?s block. That hole-in-the-ground site is up for sale.

?If Borders closes, it would be a huge blow to Downtown Crossing,? said Tesler. ?It?s a great location and a busy corner, but what retailer would move in with the uncertainty of what will happen to the Filene?s block??


http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1308032

Not good, I could see Macy's calling it quits.
 
Let's face it,most folk's shop online,the day of the big department store's downtown are over,or soon will be,The city should let the college's continue to take over this area,they've done a great job so far!
 
I love going to this borders, I go there maybe once a week during the semesters and flip through the "Images of America" books of the Boston area. I hate buying books online or going very far to get books. I like to be able to just stop in and hold one in my hands and flip through it.

:(
 
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