Four Seasons Tower @ CSC | 1 Dalton Street | Back Bay

35' more and you have the tallest building in New England. As a developer, wouldn't you just go for it? Boggles my mind.

No, because that means 35 ft of extra cost. Developers don't develop for height, they develop for money. It's the same reason why developers are not proposing 800 ft towers for every project in Boston. It's simple.

The only thing I disagree with Kent on is it being simple. They choose how many units to build based on complicated models of expected sales price, construction cost, and the risk of units sitting unsold or selling below expectation. At some point they have to lock-in their best guess design based on all those tradeoffs. Every day after that they find out some new information that makes the design sub-optimal. If the market gets more favorable, they didn't build tall enough. Less favorable, then they overbuilt. By definition, everything build is sub-optimal because you can't change the plans right up to the last minute.

Clearly on the day they put the pencils down on this tower getting to claim "tallest building in Boston" didn't carry enough upside for sales to offset costs and risks.

The developers' egos are tied to size of their P&L and subsequently their bank accounts. They don't care one iota about tallest bragging rights or how the skyline looks.
 
Anticipating the construction of this more so than MP. It will be visible during its accent skyward much earlier, ( with its location vs. downtown) from the S.E. expressway and other points west and north.
 
^^ And the title of "Boston's new tallest building" would probably bring about an increased level of community opposition and regulatory scrutiny that makes it not worth it. Basically, "The Back Bay's third tallest building" will skate through the approval process much more smoothly than "THE TALLEST TOWER IN ALL OF NEW ENGLAND!".
 
The only thing I disagree with Kent on is it being simple. They choose how many units to build based on complicated models of expected sales price, construction cost, and the risk of units sitting unsold or selling below expectation. At some point they have to lock-in their best guess design based on all those tradeoffs. Every day after that they find out some new information that makes the design sub-optimal. If the market gets more favorable, they didn't build tall enough. Less favorable, then they overbuilt. By definition, everything build is sub-optimal because you can't change the plans right up to the last minute.

Clearly on the day they put the pencils down on this tower getting to claim "tallest building in Boston" didn't carry enough upside for sales to offset costs and risks.

The developers' egos are tied to size of their P&L and subsequently their bank accounts. They don't care one iota about tallest bragging rights or how the skyline looks.

When I said it's simple, I'm referring to the fact that a simple explanation for why they build it as tall as they propose is because it is based off of costs and risks analysis as you mentioned. Dot basically says that this is a mind boggling concept.
 
Lets all just be happy this is being built at all. 99.9% of the time this doesn't happen in Boston. This is u/c. Thats huge.
 
Bostons been here long before us and will be here long after. Theres a finite amount of space. Enjoy the boom while its here, its unprecedented.

True....Mortality is such a downer, hopeful that heaven has a window view overlooking Boston!
 
11/7/2016 - Another crane?


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-dave
 
Is that supposed to be some sort of planter in that plaza in front of the Sheraton?
 
Bostons been here long before us and will be here long after. Theres a finite amount of space. Enjoy the boom while its here, its unprecedented.

We could be breaking through a barrier of sorts. ...Not gonna be as crazy as LA, or San Francisco... but maybe we get this robust build cycle, followed by a significant pause on office/labs, etc, but a steady demand for residential for years.
 
It looks like the 1 Dalton Construction website was updated last week with August - October 2016 Progress information. Better late than never, I suppose...
During the these three months, the excavation will be completed, the underground drainage will be installed and waterproofing will also commence under the B3 slab. The first concrete slab pour will also commence on B3 and forming for the concrete slab pour will begin.

Some of the highlights for the next 3 months are:

- Finish pouring the concrete slab for B2 and B1

- Frame and prepare for concrete slab pour for Ground Floor

- Prepare paving on Dalton and Belvidere

- Install the climber for concrete pours

- Erect second smaller tower crane

Behind the scenes the project team continues to coordinate to be prepared for the commencement of concrete work and the rise of One Dalton into the Skyline.

Images are included as well.
 
Forgive me if I'm wrong when I'm reading the Construction Management Plan, but there's nothing about a second crane, and as somebody earlier pointed out, (I forget who) the larger red crane isn't in the position indicated by either Plan A or B.
 
Forgive me if I'm wrong when I'm reading the Construction Management Plan, but there's nothing about a second crane, and as somebody earlier pointed out, (I forget who) the larger red crane isn't in the position indicated by either Plan A or B.

AS is typical in construction, things change. That CMP is dated December 2014. There have undoubtedly been numerous revisions since then. My guess is, by looking through the CMP, the main location for the delivery of materials will be viat the north side of the building, and it made more sense to put the man & material hoist with the loading dock there. I think it also has something to do with the construction of 30 Dalton. It seems that when the CMP was initially drawn up, they expected the schedules of 30 Dalton & 1 Dalton to have a greater over lap. Where the crane is located now for 1 Dalton would have likely interfered with the laydown area of 30 Dalton.

As far as the blue tower going up, the mast is too small to be a crane, and I don't see any track that would suggest it were for a man & material hoist. My best guess is this is the mast that will support the piping that will pump concrete up through the building as this thing grows.
 
AS is typical in construction, things change. That CMP is dated December 2014. There have undoubtedly been numerous revisions since then. My guess is, by looking through the CMP, the main location for the delivery of materials will be viat the north side of the building, and it made more sense to put the man & material hoist with the loading dock there. I think it also has something to do with the construction of 30 Dalton. It seems that when the CMP was initially drawn up, they expected the schedules of 30 Dalton & 1 Dalton to have a greater over lap. Where the crane is located now for 1 Dalton would have likely interfered with the laydown area of 30 Dalton.

As far as the blue tower going up, the mast is too small to be a crane, and I don't see any track that would suggest it were for a man & material hoist. My best guess is this is the mast that will support the piping that will pump concrete up through the building as this thing grows.

That's correct. They had planned to share the crane between 1 & 30 Dalton, iirc. 30 ended up getting accelerated, so it had its own crane placed in the best location for its immediate construction.
 
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I keep seeing these cranes that are within the footing of the buildings but always forget to ask: how do they handle these as the towers go up? Are they always secured to the ground and there's holes in each floor? Does the crane get anchored to new floors each time and the bottom part dissembled? Do they do it every ten floors or something?
 
AS is typical in construction, things change. That CMP is dated December 2014. There have undoubtedly been numerous revisions since then. My guess is, by looking through the CMP, the main location for the delivery of materials will be viat the north side of the building, and it made more sense to put the man & material hoist with the loading dock there. I think it also has something to do with the construction of 30 Dalton. It seems that when the CMP was initially drawn up, they expected the schedules of 30 Dalton & 1 Dalton to have a greater over lap. Where the crane is located now for 1 Dalton would have likely interfered with the laydown area of 30 Dalton.

As far as the blue tower going up, the mast is too small to be a crane, and I don't see any track that would suggest it were for a man & material hoist. My best guess is this is the mast that will support the piping that will pump concrete up through the building as this thing grows.

Makes sense, and I thought the blue tower was thinner than normal, but I have little experience in the construction side of buildings, so a support for concrete pumping makes a lot more sense than a very skinny tower crane.
 
FWIW, the 1daltonconstruction website indicates in their August-October update that there will be a second, smaller tower crane.
 
Its a crane.. look back at Beeline's first photo from that update. There is a jib, trolley, and counterweight. Its hard to see the cab from that angle but it definitely is hoisting some type of form work.
 

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