Kenmore Square North (WHOOP) | 533-541 Commonwealth Ave | Fenway

RandomWalk said:
Even in photos from arguably the best photographer on this board, the building look cheap in the context of its neighbors. Perhaps the developer is gambling that those neighbors will be replaced in time with equally cheap buildings.
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The developer owns the neighboring buildings, so that would be like saying "I can't wait until I get a chance to replace my Rolls-Royce with a Kia so my other Kia will look better next to it"
 
Man, from only like 20' away all semblance of texture is gone and it's left looking like a construction paper facade.
 
mdd said:
Man, from only like 20' away all semblance of texture is gone and it's left looking like a construction paper facade.
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Regarding "texture"........

Here's the texture of what this Potemkin Village building replaced and did not restore/update:

1629403983399.png
 
stefal said:
They were too focused on keeping the precious Venezuelan Oil Company's Sign that lights up to realize the resulting pile of garbage on the ground.
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Another, more legitimate, reason is that I think every nearby resident/local avoids Kenmore like the plague when there's a Red Sox game, and when there's not a game, there's no real appeal to go to Kenmore, and no reason to fight a building. Also, I believe the height was cut early in the process to avoid those precious Citgo Sign sightlines, so their usual Number 1 gripe was taken care of.
 
Weren’t the buildings in question owned by BU, or is it just their outsized influence on the development?
 
RandomWalk said:
Weren’t the buildings in question owned by BU, or is it just their outsized influence on the development?
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My understanding is that BU owns the land but leased the buildings to a developer, much like they did with the Hotel Commonwealth.
 
RandomWalk said:
BU looks at Harvard’s shepherding the hollowing out of Harvard Square and thinks “Hold my beer…”
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Institutions look at these parcels as assets. They're losing the forest for the trees. These squares were the bigger assets.

I'm sure the institutions think they're being strategically valid, along the lines of "nostalgia and aesthetics are all well and good, but they're not monetizable."
Yet, there's an experiment going on in Kendall, with the new mixed use complexes the retain that historic facades along the south side of Main st. and include augmented leasable space in/behind/above them. Let's see if MIT makes that work (I hope so).
 
Rover said:
This is like reason 1 billion why these NIMBY citizen groups are a joke. They'll go to the mat to save a parking garage and a power plant but not a peep out of them here.
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Rover said:
My understanding is that BU owns the land but leased the buildings to a developer, much like they did with the Hotel Commonwealth.
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I beg your pardon, but some of us did speak out very clearly for preservation or adaptive reuse as part of Beal’s plan.

The loss of this building is an object lesson in manufactured blight. How ironic that John Silber spent so much time and effort bemoaning modernism, yet this finely detailed building, purchased on his watch, was allowed to fall into ruin and die an ignoble death; they should replace Silber’s tombstone with a urinal.
 
Beton Brut said:
I beg your pardon, but some of us did speak out very clearly for preservation or adaptive reuse as part of Beal’s plan.

The loss of this building is an object lesson in manufactured blight. How ironic that John Silber spent so much time and effort bemoaning modernism, yet this finely detailed building, purchased on his watch, was allowed to fall into ruin and die an ignoble death; they should replace Silber’s tombstone with a urinal.
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Yes, but preservationists, architecture fans, and those who care about the built environment (i.e., you, as a best guess) are not NIMBYs.
 
^ Understood, but I’ve been called that and worse in my own neighborhood, during public debates on matters of historic and community preservation.

A broad brush covers over fine details no matter whose hand swings it. We’re living through an age where nuance is put to the torch in the interest of profit motivations. And I’m not just talking about the built environment…
 
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Beton Brut said:
^ Understood, but I’ve been called that and worse in my own neighborhood, during public debates on matters of historic and community preservation.

A broad brush covers over fine details no matter whose hand swings it. We’re living through an age where nuance is put to the torch in the interest of profit motivations. And I’m not just talking about the built environment…
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Professional NIMBY'S= CLF, Shirley Kressel,etc. If you are in CLF then yes you are part of the problem.
 
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