Millennium (Hayward) Place | 580 Washington Street | Downtown

Re: Hayward Place

The design is a bore but the development is seriously needed.
 
Re: Hayward Place

I wish I could be a fly on the wall during the internal development process. Is this 15 stories because they can only get a combo of loans and cash of $200 million and they want something started asap? Is this all the market can bear? Or is it the path of least resistance from the BRA and neighborhood groups? And why now?
 
Re: Hayward Place

Boring even by Northeastern's standards! Would it be acceptable on Huntington Ave? Alright, I suppose. But as an entire block of a major city's central business district? I repeat: an entire block! Four different streets in Boston's central business district may well be deadened by this.

Obvious pros include more residential in this area, as well as filling in a parking lot. Whether it's worth it for this remains an open question.
 
Re: Hayward Place

B....but where is the Alucobond!
 
Re: Hayward Place

Suffolk 83 said:
I wish I could be a fly on the wall during the internal development process. Is this 15 stories because they can only get a combo of loans and cash of $200 million and they want something started asap? Is this all the market can bear? Or is it the path of least resistance from the BRA and neighborhood groups? And why now?
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Menino promised Millenium that this project would not block the views from the Ritz condos.
 
Re: Hayward Place

Mayor Menino's Crohn's said:
I'm not big on the brick...looks outdated
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Would you prefer yet another Alucobond and precast palace?
 
Re: Hayward Place

One thing I'm very concerned about is the way this building will meet Washington St.--and the other three streets bordering it as well for that matter. Handel's two other nearby projects, One Charles and the Millennium Towers, lead me to believe that they have absolutely no clue how to design an active street-level of a building. They're both, for the most part, quite deadening at the street.
 
Re: Hayward Place

How does the other side look? Looks like Willis Hall with updated windows.
 
Re: Hayward Place

Is that the old rendering or the new one?

haywardplace3ah6.jpg
 
Re: Hayward Place

Mayor Menino's Crohn's said:
Precast would be a godsend at this point
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Well I can only hope you're not a practicing architect.
 
Re: Hayward Place

I'll take either one at this site at this point.

I don't mind the brick version at all, at least at this scale. Boston's been overcompensating for 90s traditionalism with a lot of cheap glass and a break (especially in this area) is welcome.
 
Re: Hayward Place

The design is fine, I actually prefer it to another glass box.

It's the 15 stories that bothers me. That area can support 40 easily.

For crying out loud, the boylston/fenway buildings are taller.
 
Re: Hayward Place

Well, for once I'm going to the one to say that I'd rather the parking lot than that steaming pile of horse dung.

For starters, 15 stories is an insult to that area where literally across the street you have two 500 foot buildings. Sorry to the condo owners there, but they own bricks and mortar. Last I checked, condo fee didn't cover the view. Frankly, if we can't build up where tall buildings are already part of the landscape, what hope do we have for any projects that push the envelope a bit?

Second, that first rendering is awful. The second one isn't too bad but it still should be 20 stories taller.

Sorry, but many of the same here accepting this yet who decry building for building's sake in other situations, this one is a dud. I'll be happy to see this one remain (criminally) a parking lot until a serious proposal comes along.
 
Re: Hayward Place

FWIW, I think a height limit was always a condition for building on this lot, imposed by some contractual limitation having to do with the views of Millennium Place's tenants.

There are plenty of older structures in the area about that size or smaller. It doesn't bother me at all that it's not being built taller; it bothers me that people feel so gung ho about pressing for a taller building here, mostly because it's indicative of the fact that it's become impossible to build big elsewhere in the city.
 
Re: Hayward Place

Size is fine. The brick fits in with DTX much nicer, but I would have preferred that shiny glass tower complex. I like the lower, more expansive roof terrace of that project. That strip of terrace all the way on the top floor of the revised brick rendering is a poor excuse for green space.
 
Re: Hayward Place

^ If you want green space, there's a really big one a block away.

Again, with me, this building will really come down to how it meets the street. I would have preferred this parcel to be broken up, but as it is it has a comparable footprint to it's neighbor at 6xx Washington (the former RKO) and that building doesn't seem too disruptive, especially considering the recent construction around it.

What I don't want to see are auto entrances and blank walls on Washington or other streets with heavy pedestrian-traffic. Considering Archstone Boston Common and the Millennium project--among many others--it's pretty clear the BRA is totally oblivious to these considerations.
 
Re: Hayward Place

briv said:
^ If you want green space, there's a really big one a block away.
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I want to enjoy green space (raised up too) without having to leave my building. Tenants would as well. It looks like an interesting space where residents of the individual towers could come together and meet.
 
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