Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

I haven't been to either of those stores, and while I'm sure they're great, my gut tells me that they're a bit crunchy. The reason I said a Times Square type Toys 'R Us is b/c I think that extravagant, flashing light, mindless fun is what would go best downtown. These other stores sound like they might focus on fun ways to educate children...and that's not at all what I'm thinking of. I'm shooting for big-time stupid. Giant Lego models of the Green Monster, and the Zakim Bridge, formula one go-carts, arcade style video games, Enormous TVs, retractable stripper poles. Some good old-fashioned flashy, shiny stuff.
Basically, I think you have to put something downtown that you can only get downtown. There are Targets everywhere, someone that wouldn't go to DTX now, wouldn't go just b/c of a Target? Put something DT that will make kids bug the shit out of their parents until they have to take them to see it.
 
I agree with nico on that point. If a toy store is placed in the Downtown Crossing area (or any other major part of Boston, for that matter) it should be flashy, well-known, and edgy. Downtown is not a place designed for smaller children. Do we want it to be suitable so that families can go there? Absolutely, but I don't want my hub of the city to be geared around kids.
 
The Herald said:
Midtown on the Common? Hub sites get marketing moniker
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Thursday, June 14, 2007

Goodbye Downtown Crossing, hello Midtown on the Common?
That is the upscale name given a group of turn-of-the-century retail buildings in the struggling shopping district, now being marketed as Boston?s next big development opportunity.
The seven-building portfolio, at 33-41 West St. and 21-43 Temple Place, is being billed, in a teaser sent out to prospective buyers, as having the potential to be the site of Boston?s next big residential tower, among other things.
Some Bostonians might snicker at the faux-uppity Midtown on the Common name. But to investors looking to buy the portfolio, some of whom may be from out of state, it may be a moniker that rings true, said Elizabeth Carrillo Thomas, an executive in the Boston office of commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.


After all, one can walk out the front door of these buildings and look over to nearby Boston Common, Thomas said. She added that there has already been interest from hotels.
?Anyone who will come from outside Boston and look at these properties would see the Common as a huge selling point,? she said. ?Any development would have fabulous views of the Common.?
The buildings are now home to a number of smaller retailers and businesses, including Windsor Button, Massachusetts Lawyer?s Weekly, High Voltage and Wig World.
Developer Core Investments bought the buildings a year ago from the Levin family, a longtime Downtown Crossing area landlord. They are now being marketed in the $20 million-plus range, according to a real estate executive familiar with the offering.
Along with its potential for a tower, the site could also work as student housing, a hotel or Class B office, according to Cushman?s marketing brochure. The buildings are next door to where Suffolk has proposed renovating a West Street residential building into a new dorm.
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Link
 
Cheesy. It would never be heeded by locals, and it sounds too much like a desperate rebranding to truly convince anyone to buy there on that basis.

Plus, if Boston has a "midtown," it's Back Bay/Copley.
 
'Midtown Cultural District' is a BRA zoning designation dating back to the 1980s.
 
...and it's barely been used outside a BRA planning document since.
 
any info on how big the residential tower will be?
 
Whatever the height, I hope it doesn't outright replace these buildings. I like the character of the streets between Washington and Tremont just off the Common. Hopefully it'll be relegated to a position behind their facades, if it's realized.
 
no way

That price is an absolute joke and so is the concept. Any developer would be foolish to bet that a tower proposal will fly in that location. The Boston Landmarks commission will torpedo that deal.
 
Going back to an older post in this thread...

I think Downtown Crossing would be an amazing stretch for a live music district. You could pick one side street with two corner bars on Washington St. and make sure they spill out into the street. Imagine how it would be in the summer.
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This is an excellent idea, and it works well in Istanbul. In the 90s, that city pedestrianized a dilapidated shopping street, Istiklal Caddesi, and ran a nostalgic tram down the middle. Since then, it's developed a healthy mix - mostly major retailers with some multilevel restaurants on the main street, with the dozens of small feeder streets (partly pedestrianized, as in, you think you're walking on a cobblestone pedestrian street until the occasional taxi with the temerity to come into the area honks at you) choked with rock clubs and bars. It keeps the street lively twenty-four hours, with shoppers during the day and early evening and bar-hoppers and club kids using it to get between the various side streets at night.

Here are some pics:

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Looking up a side street:

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Istanbul has pushcarts, too:

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It may help that the area also has quite a few hotels and consulates (there are even a few schools along the street) and generally has a reputation as one of the more cosmopolitan parts of the city. Still, there are several wealthier shopping districts elsewhere in the city more akin to Back Bay, and Istiklal caters to an "H&M" crowd along the same lines as DT Crossing (and attracts similar hordes of teenagers, to boot). It's considered the place to be in the city, morning, noon, and night.
 
For the record:

here's 10 West Street
img4489mv1.jpg


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And from today's news, 33-41 West Street.. expendable

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They're in the middle-left of this funky block

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21-43 Temple Place.. These (facades) are worth saving, and hopefully that's what's already going on

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img4502mo0.jpg
 
As much as I would like it to be true, not another tower will be built in this area, especially at that proposed location. Maybe something small, but anything more than adding a few additional stories to the current buildings would shock me if they were passed.
 
Truly splendid buildings in this area. Fix 'em up and make big bucks.
 
If there was any district of beautiful buildings that needed landmarking, Washington St would be it.
 
Ron Newman said:
I would hate to see any demolition in the 'ladder blocks'.
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Needs lots of street-level rethinking, however.

Repaving, street furniture, better streetlights, some judicious planting, reconfigured sidewalks, designated outdoor seating, awnings, better signage and a drastically-revised tenant-mix concept could do wonders.
 
ablarc said:
Ron Newman said:
I would hate to see any demolition in the 'ladder blocks'.
Click to expand...
Needs lots of street-level rethinking, however.

Repaving, street furniture, better streetlights, some judicious planting, reconfigured sidewalks, designated outdoor seating, awnings, better signage and a drastically-revised tenant-mix concept could do wonders.
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Brattle book shop did a nice external browse set up in the empty lot next door, at least on weekends. not that the lot was a good idea in itself.

kz, the lot is just to the right of your shot of the brattle, right? is it still empty?
 
Needs lots of street-level rethinking, however.

Repaving, street furniture, better streetlights, some judicious planting, reconfigured sidewalks, designated outdoor seating, awnings, better signage and a drastically-revised tenant-mix concept could do wonders.
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These are prime candidates for nightlife streets, as I discussed in my Istanbul example above. Outdoor seating would be a great idea, perhaps alternating sides in order to force cars to weave and turn as they made their way down.

Connecting some of the streets mid-block via pedestrian alleys would give the streets a character all their own, as one wouldn't have to return to Washington or Tremont to move between them.

Brattle book shop did a nice external browse set up in the empty lot next door, at least on weekends. not that the lot was a good idea in itself.
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Yes; I used to enjoy browsing there. It wasn't just on weekends, as I recall...I went on lunch breaks. That was five years ago, though. One of the few vacant lots downtown I might advocate keeping...
 
singbat said:
Brattle book shop did a nice external browse set up in the empty lot next door, at least on weekends. not that the lot was a good idea in itself.

kz, the lot is just to the right of your shot of the brattle, right? is it still empty?
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The empty lot next to the Brattle book shop was an old building that housed the Brattle Book Shop after it moved from Brattle Street in Scollay Sq. George Gloss, the proprietor (now it's run by his son, Ken) had a priceless collection of books, etc. and they all went up in smoke. (I think arson was the cause.) The entire building burned sometime in the 70's and he lost everything. It was a sad day for bibliophiles in Boston. George, however bought the building next door and started all over again. Thus, the empty lot is still owned by Brattle Book shop and they use it daily to display less expensive books.
 
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