Gov't Center Station Rebuild

Jahvon09 said:
I think that the "gutting out" if you will, is still ongoing beneath City Hall Plaza.

No mention as of yet of anything new being put in, except for maybe the frame for the headhouse that you see in the pic .

Guess before or by this coming March, that'll start adding some of the new things below ground. :cool:
Click to expand...

The escalator structures went in a couple months ago.
 
datadyne007 said:
The escalator structures went in a couple months ago.
Click to expand...


But the only pics that seem obtainable are the ones that show the station being gutted out after it closed. Would be nice if they posted new pics from down there on the platforms.

I rode the Blue & Green Lines past there, but I couldn't see a thing! It is all partitioned off.

Last week, I went down to City Hall to renew my resident parking sticker, and when I came out, I tried to take a pic of the headhouse frame, but I couldn't because the micro card in my phone was full. Went to Radio Shack & got an 8-gig one. :sad:
 
As we've gone over on here before, Radio Shack actually has everything you need on a whim - batteries, memory cards, keyboards, mouses, wires, chargers, etc. They're still highly relevant in the urban environment.
 
datadyne007 said:
As we've gone over on here before, Radio Shack actually has everything you need on a whim - batteries, memory cards, keyboards, mouses, wires, chargers, etc. They're still highly relevant in the urban environment.
Click to expand...

Not for much longer. They're gone.
 
They said that they reached a deal with Sprint. That Sprint will help bail them out, but also, that Sprint will occupy about 1/3 the floor space in their stores to sell their products and services.

Sprint has their own services as all as Virgin Mobile & Boost Mobile, which RS was already sponsoring & selling. :cool:
 
The news just came out yesterday!

Anyway, I think that we're getting a little bit of topic talking about Radio Shack. I merely mentioned that I went there because I needed a new larger 8-gig micro card for the cell phone. :cool:
 
Fantastic pix from:
https://twitter.com/mike_kix/status/563757104675438594

B9LeGGBIAAEjWwZ.jpg

B9LeGQcIQAAkGby.jpg

B9LeGSYIAAAm4B2.jpg

B9LeGWVIgAUOtoy.jpg
 
Calatrava lite?

FWIW I think the headhouse looks pretty decent. That's some quality glass, though I'm not sold on the shade.
 
Downburst said:
Calatrava lite?

FWIW I think the headhouse looks pretty decent. That's some quality glass, though I'm not sold on the shade.
Click to expand...

Scale seems pretty massive against the Sears Crescent. I had not noted that scale comparison before.
 
I'm assuming the top will be glass as well?

If so, doesn't it seem like that flat top will quickly and constantly be covered with pigeon droppings? What a pain to keep clean. And kind of a gross thing to look up at as you ride the escalator up to the plaza.
 
MBTAddict said:
Agreed - if it were half or 2/3 as tall, I think it would work 10x better.
Click to expand...

Agreed... Ive been worried since the scaffold went up... although most of it is transparent glass, Im not a huge fan of how tall it is.
 
Gotta go tall. There's a lot of empty plaza to fill, and it is certainly an important enough node that it's worthy of a little bit of place-making.
 
I like it big, too, and the overall design grows on me the more I see it. That plaza is so bleak and weird, it calls for something odd. Seen on renderings, i found this design sort of bland. In place, it has an angularity that plays well with city hall's extreme angularity, while at the same time swinging to the far extreme from city hall on transparency. That's meant as a physical observation, not a political one.

In the post by datadyne at 1:16 PM on 2/6, the second picture down, i really like the juxtaposition of this building with Sears Crescent. And I've seen other angles I like, too. I think smaller would have been not good.

All subjective. I can't remember the last time the construction of a building changed my mind on the design as much as this one. I've gone from "meh" to pretty positive, getting more positive as it goes up.

The pigeon shit on the roof will be a drag. There's a wee slight pitch, maybe enough for rain to work at clearing it off? Maybe not. Wait, could they get some electronic bird repellent thing going? Do those things even work? Or would it bring out the bird lover NIMBYs? Ah well, pigeon shit's not the end of the world.
 
I'm happy with the headhouse design.

Personally, I wouldn't have spent all of this time/money on a dedicated headhouse, when the Gov't Center T outlet really should be in the base of a building. We should have gotten a development stretching from Cambridge Street almost to City Hall, following the curve of the Sears Cresent, with T outlets on the base floor in addition to retail.

My worry is, do we keep the headhouse indefinitely, or are we OK with tearing it out and putting a building there at some point? I know it's going to be difficult to develop the site since it's over the T stop, but I'm sure it can be done.

Edit: Because it's relevant, here is my rough plan for City Hall Plaza, including the headhouse:



Red = demolish

Yellow = the new sight line between Fanueil Hall and the Pemberton Court House.

Green = new development. The current headhouse would be demolished and incorporated into the base floor of new development

Blue = upzone. Since I want to demolish part of 1-2-3 Center plaza, we can upzone the remaining portion and build as tall as we want here. The city would have to buy the building.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top