Maybe so. But the fall-back business case is that hot- desking and frequent reconfiguration make it possible to keep <1 desk per worker ... And that business case still works even if we all hate working in public all the time...
If one goes to the city's assessing map, extending the Broad Canal to the Volpe site would represent a taking of One Broadway, which is assessed for $93 million. So beyond the cost of construction (and who is to pay for that?), who is to pay for One Broadway?
Why would a canal extension disturb One Broadway? It'll eat that bit of parking and Broad Canal Way, but not the whole building. Grant it isn't trivial, but I'm sure there is some size and shape for the canal that fits the available space without imploding the building.
In relation to the Cambridge market, If you stand back and look at the big picture, I would think that the best argument for going tall would be the lack of enough space in this particular market for the burgeoning biotech market. It seems every bio-related company in the world wants in on the Cambridge pool of talent. No matter what, the market could support tall with whatever they put in it. Mixed use may work best....hotel, then office, then housing, then a restaurant at the top. Imagine what the views would be like up there...
dshoost, (its about five slides)
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2515497-hr-amp-a-economic-analysis-17-nov-2015.html
__________________________
The RFQ contained the following provisions as to what type of replacement building GSA was seeking:
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The RFP (not released to the public) contains:
The city's Planning Board and economic consultant voiced concern about what might be revealed by the Environmental Site Assessment. I think its fair to say that GSA will seek to limit its responsibility for cleaning up the site, as would otherwise be required by the 1980 CERCLA (Superfund) law.
Possible ways for minimizing cleanup cost would include putting the new Volpe building on the most contaminated portion of the site, as government retains title to the land. For the non-government portion of the site, maximize the placing of open space where there are other highly contaminated areas, and if one has to excavate, dig where contamination is less. If environmental remediation costs are high, that may dictate either more gsf of building being allowed, and/or a shift to more space being allocated for 'high-rent' uses, i.e., labs.
Office operations including conference rooms and space for collaborative, joint-use activities,
and special use space (i.e., fitness center, child care facility) (approximately 90%);
Flexible, ground-level laboratory space to accommodate simulators and large vehicles and
storage space (approximately 10%); and
Public access to showcase the work of the Volpe Center.
In relation to the Cambridge market, If you stand back and look at the big picture, I would think that the best argument for going tall would be the lack of enough space in this particular market for the burgeoning biotech market. It seems every bio-related company in the world wants in on the Cambridge pool of talent. No matter what, the market could support tall with whatever they put in it. Mixed use may work best....hotel, then office, then housing, then a restaurant at the top. Imagine what the views would be like up there. Why don't they do an RFP like Boston did with 111 Federal St? Even though I'm disappointed with those proposals, it get's people thinking about "highest and best use" of property. Not saying "highest" needs to be taken literally here, but it wouldn't hurt either.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/lighting/history.asp1882
First electric lights installed in Boston’s Scolly [sic] Square.
1890
Oil lamps converted to naphtha gas, a derivative of gasoline.
1899
Open flame gas lamps converted to mantle. Mantle provides 4 times the wattage of open flame. (Manufactured gas is used in all lamps until natural gas is introduced by the Boston Gas Company in 1960.)
1909
First tungsten electric lamps installed. Some are still in use in the North End today.
1912
Naphtha lamps replaced by tungsten electric lamps throughout the entire city due to the rising cost of naphtha. Those that have to remain due to lack of electrical facilities are converted to manufactured gas lights.
1913
Last of the gas lamps in city proper converted to electric.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ge-nears-end-of-hudson-river-cleanup-1447290049FORT EDWARD, N.Y.—After seven years, the removal of 310,000 pounds of pollutants and at least $1.6 billion in costs, General Electric Co. is about to permanently shut down its dredging operation on the Hudson River, a final step in GE’s toughest-ever cleanup job.
Think taking a quarter of the Apple UFO and sticking it on this site. But elevated two stories so people can pass through the archways underneath it and freely access the park on the other side from Broadway.
I'm not sure the open floor plan trend will last forever. The huge productivity leaps we were supposed to see are not materializing; a lot of workers do their best creative work with a bit of privacy/quiet time...interspersed with collaborative teamwork.
The Federal government wants four acres for Volpe, so no squeezing it off onto a corner of the site.
I can attest to that. We're removing open-office arrangements in favor of more creatively-aligned cubicles. Open space is actually quite counterproductive for about 1/2 the personality types out there.
Where does four acres come from? The RFI only states that they want 390,000 GSF, which would fit in about 13 floors for the outline I had and 8 for the outline DigitialSciGuy had.
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/r...ndall-square-soon-be-home-to-the-tallest.html....
* the creation of a minimum of 2.5 acres of open space.
...
Cheung said that, as part of a potential redevelopment deal, the federal government has discussed exchanging development rights on 10 acres of its existing 14-acre site for a 4-acre site with a new government building. The zoning for the Volpe Center site will define what’s allowed to be built, and in what nature and style, on the land that the federal government exchanges for a new building, he said.
I dont know about the acreage the feds are requiring, but there are security offsets from any vehicle space (road, parking, drop off, anything accessible by a car) to the federal building. I believe its 150'.
Unfortunately, the federal building cant fit between Binney and Munroe with those requirements.