Lab Building (née Hotel Hampshire) | 34-40 Hampshire St. | Cambridge

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Just about the only flattering angle for this stinker.
 
RandomWalk said:
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This one is done, with all the personality of a loading dock. The elevator lobbies are the size of a half bath, with a comically oversized sculpture hanging from the ceiling.
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ground level experience inspired by the sort of temporary construction cladding you see when sidewalks are blocked off for construction.

Also how on earth did they get away with not reconstructing the sidewalk and putting in curb ramps and push buttons? The asphalt sidewalk is the cherry on top of making this whole thing look like an unfinished building site. Heck there's an entire signal control cabinet in that left curb ramp. They can't seriously be leaving that there right?
 
Best guess is that they were leaving it for a city sidewalk project.
 
RandomWalk said:
Best guess is that they were leaving it for a city sidewalk project.
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.....hopefully to support immediate demolition equipment. Fuck every misanthrope responsible for defecating this thing onto Cambridge.
 
Actually, this morning both the Portland and Hampshire sidewalks were fenced off and there were trucks and excavation equipment being moved here. Also, protective sheathing was being installed overlaying the building facade.

So it looks like they were getting ready to dig all this up. As crappy as this project is, I'd be doubtful anyone intended that sidewalk to be permanent.
 
What are those white doors on the ground level? They look so temporary. On the rendering, they at least blend in a bit.

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My guess is that 30 Hampshire St. will go belly-up.

Three years ago, in the depths of the pandemic, only around 1 percent of existing lab space in the [Boston] region was vacant or available via sublease. Today, commercial real estate brokerage Colliers reported last week, that number is 21.5 percent, and vacancies are expected to grow in the coming months as more buildings open.
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www.bostonglobe.com

By one key measure, Bostonâs lab market is in as rough shape as the pandemic-battered office market - The Boston Globe

Amid a wave of new construction and an industry slowdown, the vacancy rate for life sciences buildings has exploded in recent years.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

....more of a problem within the real estate industry than in life sciences, because so many developers pursued lab projects at the same time. The amount of Greater Boston lab space occupied by tenants has climbed by more than one-fifth over the last two years. But because of so much new construction and office-to-lab conversions, the amount of empty lab space has climbed even faster, hitting an all-time high of 11 million square feet. And for lab landlords, the scene will likely get worse before it gets better.
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bigpicture7 said:
What does that even mean? The building already exists. I don't think the structure's buoyancy is the issue here.
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From investopedia,
"Belly up" is an idiomatic expression in American English used to describe a business, organization, or institution that has ceased to exist or gone bankrupt.
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[Emphasis in the original]
 
stellarfun said:
From investopedia,

[Emphasis in the original]
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I am well aware of what the expression means, lol. I am giving you a hard time because you named the building. Sure, the developer may fail at this project.

But for those of us who live here and care about our built environment, as opposed to reveling in developer schadenfreude, "what's to come of this site/property/etc?" is an interesting question that is not aptly answered by "it's going to go belly-up"
 
bigpicture7 said:
I am well aware of what the expression means, lol. I am giving you a hard time because you named the building. Sure, the developer may fail at this project.

But for those of us who live here and care about our built environment, as opposed to reveling in developer schadenfreude, "what's to come of this site/property/etc?" is an interesting question that is not aptly answered by "it's going to go belly-up"
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How about 'I hope it collapses in a heap, late at night, when no one is inside'?

.
 
shmessy said:
How about 'I hope it collapses in a heap, late at night, when no one is inside'?

.
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Tough to hope for that if it were actually in one's own neighborhood...
How about NO, coming from a person who passes by here daily. I hate blank walls, but blank walls are a hell of a lot better than a heaping pile of mangled scrap metal and shattered concrete in the neighborhood. I too hate this project, but regardless of how much I hate a given project in someone else's neighborhood, I am not going to wish upon someone else a smoldering pit of debris just because hyperbole is super fun in comments sections.

Once we're all done wishing financial ruin upon this developer, we are nonetheless left with this building occupying this plot of land, so how about we have some constructive fun and actually think about what it might be used for:
  • STEM lab for kids?
  • A school?
  • A maker space?
  • A more affordable rent option for a science-related startup?
  • A gutsy investor ponies up, strips the facade, and converts it to the hotel it was supposed to be?
I hope we can agree that any of those things is better than a smoldering pit.

edit: toned down a tad
 
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bigpicture7 said:
Easily spoken from an armchair commenter who doesn't live in the neighborhood and lobs comments from the greater-DC area.
How about NO, coming from a person who passes by here daily. I hate blank walls, but blank walls are a hell of a lot better than a heaping pile of mangled scrap metal and shattered concrete in the neighborhood.
Some commentary is more legit from people who inhabit and must live with a neighborhood.
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Wow. Going personal. Will try to not to make eye contact with the angry person.

So you're saying anyone not living locally, currently, is not entitled to an opinion here. Nice.

(and by the way, the post was made in jest - - no person in their right mind would think "a heaping pile of mangled scrap metal and shattered concrete " was seriously being advocated).

I wish you a calm and peaceful day.
 
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shmessy said:
Wow. Going personal. Will try to not to make eye contact with the angry person.

So you're saying anyone not living locally currently is not entitled to an opinion here. Nice.

(and by the way, the post was made in jest - - no person in their right mind would think it was serious).
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I am indeed saying that no one should wish a collapsed building upon someone else's neighborhood. Yes, I am saying that.
 
bigpicture7 said:
I am indeed saying that no one should wish a collapsed building upon someone else's neighborhood. Yes, I am saying that.
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It was in jest - - as I said in that last line (that you, obviously chose to ignore in your last post) "no person in their right mind would think it was serious".

Put down the boxing gloves, relax, and enjoy a cold drink, Killah. Seems you were spoiling for a fight this afternoon. Whatever may be bothering you, again, I wish you a calm and peaceful day.
 
shmessy said:
It was in jest - - as I said in that last line "no person in their right mind would think it was serious".

Relax, have a cold soda, Killah.
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dude, what you were doing was trivializing someone else's neighborhood. No sh!t you weren't serious about actual structural collapse.

Honestly, regarding aB in general, I love 50% of the projects and dislike 50% of them (or thereabouts), but, from the heart, one thing I never do on here is joke about wishing failure upon projects because such failure affects actual innocent humans surrounding them who had nothing to do with investing in the projects (e.g., "haha, that developer went bankrupt and left a hole in the ground with a barbed wire fence around it," "heehee, those units will never sell," "hope that thing rots in place").

Example: I am significantly more distanced from that stalled lab project on McGrath, and I never wanted there to be more labs build there in the first pace, but it brings me pain to see a hole left in the ground there and I refrain from sh!itting on that situation. It genuinely sucks for people near it to have to live by a pit for (probably) years.

I am sharing my values here not because I expect you to share them precisely, or feel the same way as me about posting etiquette. I'm sharing them because I respect you as a forumer and share a lot of other opinions with you about urbanism and development, and so wanted you to understand the nature of my reaction here. I am glad to chalk it up to a joke whose humor I don't share. Onward and upward to the next discussion.
 
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