Downtown/Financial district infill and small developments

DBM said:
15 Court Square now proposed for a residential conversion.

Bizarrely asymmetrical window pattern on the north facade--I'm guessing that was done during Boston's Great Stagnation era ca. 1929-1965 when owners could get away with all kinds of bizarre cheapo alterations. Presumably it will be remedied during the conversion. Otherwise, it's a handsome building, if extremely obscured by the huge mass of One Boston Place.

(Also, of course, it is quite buried within labyrinth-like Court Square, though there is something gloriously DTX about that. "How do you get there?" "Well, you can cut through Pi Alley for about 100 yards, or you can navigate through the horseshoe-shaped Court Square, or you can cut through Old City Hall Ave. for about 100 yards. Really, there's no normal way to get there--welcome to DTX!"
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This being next to the thought experiment posted on here a few years back, along with a nice Pi Alley Parking Garage redevelopment, would make this little corner an urban gem.

https://archboston.com/community/threads/residential-tower-26-court-st-government-center.5671/
 
Jeremi said:
It would be almost trivial to fit homes for 1200 people on the Pi Alley Garage site.
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Not sure you understand the word “trivial”. Fitting 1,200 homes on that site would be a lot of things (potentially good or bad) ……..none of them “almost trivial”.
 
shmessy said:
Not sure you understand the word “trivial”. Fitting 1,200 homes on that site would be a lot of things (potentially good or bad) ……..none of them “almost trivial”.
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Well I did say almost trivial but I bet I could pencil it out in a half hour or so. Two towers on a shared podium, 40 stories each, wouldn’t be too crazy.
 
Jeremi said:
Well I did say almost trivial but I bet I could pencil it out in a half hour or so. Two towers on a shared podium, 40 stories each, wouldn’t be too crazy.
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You don't need 'a half hour or so to pencil it out'- your subsequent post makes it obvious you meant "easy". "Trivial" means something else. 1,200 homes on that site would not be "trivial". It'd be impactful, and would be a great benefit to the city.
 
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shmessy said:
You don't need 'a half hour or so to pencil it out'- your subsequent post makes it obvious you meant "easy". "Trivial" means something else. 1,200 homes on that site would not be "trivial". It'd be impactful, and would be a great benefit to the city.
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6 of one half dozen of the other.
 
54459085441_9859e94425_3k.jpg
 
kz1000ps said:
54459085441_9859e94425_3k.jpg
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Why are there different types of brick coursing and different types of brick? Why are the quoins different on each side? Why is there efflorescence already? This is a fucking mess.
 
You can’t allow public architecture, even for a utilitarian building, look this bad.
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Macy’s is closing 150 stores nationwide. Downtown Boston’s may survive, thanks to the data center upstairs. - The Boston Globe

A 1990s real estate deal helped make the downtown block more about computing power than clothing sales.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
It‘s a good thing for Boston that Macy’s doesn‘t own the block. Real estate sales are often viewed by struggling retail chains as a quick way to make a decent buck. On a recent earnings call, Macy’s chief executive Tony Spring boasted of “asset sale gains” of $144 million in the past year thanks to store closings, presumably reflecting sales of shuttered properties.
No such fast money can be made by selling off Downtown Crossing, though. At least not by Macy’s.
Data center operator Markley acquired the block-sized building and built a large “colocation” facility on the upper levels above the Macy’s in the late 1990s, as the dot-com era was in full boom, creating a central spot where many of Boston‘s biggest employers rent space to host computer servers and networking equipment.
JLL executive Barry Hynes says the site is ideal for a data center because of all the telecom infrastructure buried in the streets below, not to mention the large floorplates and access to copious amounts of electricity. Markley set aside the bottom three floors for Macy’s, for what‘s believed to be favorable lease terms.
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www.bostonglobe.com

As feds look to downsize, downtown Coast Guard building could go up for sale - The Boston Globe

The eight-story Coast Guard building is next to the James Hook & Co. lobster restaurant along the Fort Point Channel.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
The federal government’s Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) has selected the Captain John Foster Williams Coast Guard Building at 408 Atlantic Ave. as among 10 federal properties across the country that could be sold, in an effort to tap into private-sector interest, further downsize the federal government’s real estate portfolio, and cut down on the high cost of deferred maintenance and other upkeep.
[...]
“The property is potentially suitable for conversion to residential use and the building could accommodate 110 housing units,” the PBRB report said.
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themissinglink said:
www.bostonglobe.com

As feds look to downsize, downtown Coast Guard building could go up for sale - The Boston Globe

The eight-story Coast Guard building is next to the James Hook & Co. lobster restaurant along the Fort Point Channel.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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There is some really strange wording in that post -- wonder if it came from our incompetent DOGE types:

"cut down on the high cost of deferred maintenance" -- deferred maintenance is not immediately high cost -- it is done to avoid costs now. But if you are telling the market that this building has a lot of deferred maintenance, it should go at a fire sale price.
 
JeffDowntown said:
There is some really strange wording in that post -- wonder if it came from our incompetent DOGE types:

"cut down on the high cost of deferred maintenance" -- deferred maintenance is not immediately high cost -- it is done to avoid costs now. But if you are telling the market that this building has a lot of deferred maintenance, it should go at a fire sale price.
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They want to get rid of the building because NOAA has offices there and because science is fake and gay and communist. That’s the entire logic behind it.
 
Jeremi said:
They want to get rid of the building because NOAA has offices there and because science is fake and gay and communist. That’s the entire logic behind it.
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The federal government has over 1.5 million square feet of office space in Downtown Boston between the Tip O'Neil (Causeway St) and JFK (Government Center) complexes alone. And that says nothing of the USCG complex in the North End, the Barnes Building next to the BCEC, various courthouse complexes (Post Office Square & Moakley, for example), the new Volpe complex in Cambridge, the new-ish FBI complex in Chelsea, various military (e.g., Hanscom, Natick) and research complexes (including one at Tufts MC), and more, all in the area.

Assessing Search Results - City of Boston

www.cityofboston.gov www.cityofboston.gov

Assessing Search Results - City of Boston

www.cityofboston.gov www.cityofboston.gov

Practically every office employer in the country needs less space now than they did pre-COVID. I hate Trump as much as anybody but I have a very hard time believing that the Federal government doesn't have enough available office space across all their Boston properties to absorb the workers at 408 Atlantic Ave.

Of all of the facilities the federal government owns and operates in the area, the one at Atlantic Ave seems easiest to close down operationally and most appealing to the market. This would be a great building for ground floor commercial activation + hotel or residential. It's literally on the Harborwalk with a hotel conversion happening next door and the Boston Harbor Hotel next door down.

Putting this to market seems like a win-win to me...
 
I'm not saying it's a bad idea from an urban planning front. However, the idea is probably to move the NOAA offices to Madawaska Maine and require in-office presence, then, when the workers cannot do that, they can be fired for cause.
 
Jeremi said:
I'm not saying it's a bad idea from an urban planning front. However, the idea is probably to move the NOAA offices to Madawaska Maine and require in-office presence, then, when the workers cannot do that, they can be fired for cause.
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My ex-GF works for NOAA, has already lost more than half her staff, now 100% in-office requirements, and -- as you say -- threats to close all brick-and-mortar offices (she's in Gloucester) in MA and move them to (again, as you say) ME or to Western MA (because where better to study the ocean than... a few 100 miles from it) while still requiring 100% return to in-office.
 
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