Ferdinand Building Renovation + Addition | Dudley Sq | Roxbury

Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

You're right dave. But I have no idea how it could ever happen. Once those highway-like roads got in there, there's no political way to get them out. Suburbanites would scream. And they hold all the power.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

I believe they are hosting meetings right now to discuss the street patterns although I have no idea how it can be changed in any significant way.
 
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Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

Wow... this building sure is goin to be intresting....
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

I love it. It's unusual, dramatic, and (to me) it doesn't look like they cheaped out on anything. Passed it for the first time in a long while last week and it got a "wow" out of me.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

That is looking beautiful.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

Downburst said:
I love it. It's unusual, dramatic, and (to me) it doesn't look like they cheaped out on anything. Passed it for the first time in a long while last week and it got a "wow" out of me.
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Know why? The firm isn't American. Mecanoo is a renowned Netherlands-based global firm. This is pure Euro-quality. This project in Dudley Sq is actually relatively tame for them. I was shocked in awe and celebration when they were selected as the architects.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

datadyne007 said:
Know why? The firm isn't American. Mecanoo is a renowned Netherlands-based global firm.
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Also because the City is paying for it, and it doesn't care what things cost since it doesn't have its own money (only yours!).

Not that I want to defend cheap materials, but the fact that the City doesn't really care how much of your money it wastes is very relevant in the use of expensive materials here.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

^ Should we really be considering the use of quality materials a waste?
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

Is there any evidence the materials are inappropriate, or are we just axe grinding here? Because I can't help but notice you do a lot of grinding.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

Plus, you'd have to compare it to what the cost of the other responsive bids were.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

underground said:
Is there any evidence the materials are inappropriate, or are we just axe grinding here? Because I can't help but notice you do a lot of grinding.
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Underground, you find the insinuation that a very expensively constructed building (conspicuously so, even) does not seem to be cost conscious in part because its developer only ever spends other people's money to be more contentious than the statement that only a non-American architectural firm can design a good building, and that any such firm does so?

Seems like you're doing some of your typical "axe-grinding."
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

underground said:
Is there any evidence the materials are inappropriate, or are we just axe grinding here? Because I can't help but notice you do a lot of grinding.
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While there seems to be a considerable amount of Tax Payers $ invested in the this building in the Brussels / Washington DC model

The real test is will this injection of substantial funds into this building with some fine "ole-bones-and skin charm" -- make any difference in the neighborhood....

I hope that it does ... However, I suspect that the only way that Roxbury can return to its once "hot suburb" status is by a reconquista ... private institutions, private investors and the middle-class need to begin to move in

Initially, like the South End ... the process will be slow and on the fringes .. but given 40 years* a lot can happen

* -- reference to the time since South End Bricks and Stone houses were selling for under $10k
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

@ Itchy,

So that would be a no then? No evidence?
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

Anyone see the cover article of the BBJ about Roxbury gentrification? Rents and property values are up something like 30% more than the city average. Some good profiles of pioneering hipsters to boot, and of course the necessary "we'll be priced out of our homes" or "why do we need a store selling craft mayonnaise" coming from the existing residents.

Seems fairly predictable geographically, being basically sandwiched between JP and the South End.
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

Shepard said:
Anyone see the cover article of the BBJ about Roxbury gentrification? Rents and property values are up something like 30% more than the city average. Some good profiles of pioneering hipsters to boot, and of course the necessary "we'll be priced out of our homes" or "why do we need a store selling craft mayonnaise" coming from the existing residents.

Seems fairly predictable geographically, being basically sandwiched between JP and the South End.
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Saw that article and also saw an article about recent gun violence...it's a tough sell imo
 
Re: Dudley Sq's Ferdinand Building to be Restored/ Renovated

whighlander said:
While there seems to be a considerable amount of Tax Payers $ invested in the this building in the Brussels / Washington DC model

The real test is will this injection of substantial funds into this building with some fine "ole-bones-and skin charm" -- make any difference in the neighborhood....

I hope that it does ... However, I suspect that the only way that Roxbury can return to its once "hot suburb" status is by a reconquista ... private institutions, private investors and the middle-class need to begin to move in

Initially, like the South End ... the process will be slow and on the fringes .. but given 40 years* a lot can happen

* -- reference to the time since South End Bricks and Stone houses were selling for under $10k
Click to expand...

The reconquista as you put it is already starting to happen.
 
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