Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

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Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

It's not "dead" at night, but it's pretty quiet and empty compared to, say, Boylston Street in Back Bay or Tremont Street in the South End or Hanover Street in the North End.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Ron Newman said:
It's not "dead" at night, but it's pretty quiet and empty compared to, say, Boylston Street in Back Bay or Tremont Street in the South End or Hanover Street in the North End.
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100%. I usually get out of class around 8:00, and will get off at DTX many of those nights to walk to my transfer or a bar for the game. It is almost empty every time. Particularly in comparison to other areas as you mentioned.

I recall going to Felt not long after it opened thinking it was the new happening place, but being a week night I could get in easy enough. Yeah, very easy it turned out, there was about 10 - 20 people there spread out over 3 floors.

The area will continue to get better, and is much better later this time of year. Mainly due to the weather and the sun being out later. The theatre district which is very much part of downtown in my mind, but separate from DTX is always much more hopping after hours in my mind.

Daytime DTX is packed. Why? Because it's the nexus of the T. It better be busy, it's forced to. Its the carryover to night time that is still lacking, but is getting better with each new addition.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

BussesAin'tTrains said:
DTX is never dead.
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What a false statement. I lived in the area for 6 years. Try walking through downtown crossing after 8pm during the week. It's completely dead. Hopefully that will change in the coming years. It has already gotten better. Years ago it was pretty quiet after 6:30-7:00pm.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

I'd love it if it were completely dead. Then I might be able to get a seat at Curley's again.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

BosDevelop said:
What a false statement. I lived in the area for 6 years. Try walking through downtown crossing after 8pm during the week. It's completely dead. Hopefully that will change in the coming years. It has already gotten better. Years ago it was pretty quiet after 6:30-7:00pm.
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Fair enough. The Opera House gets foot traffic going through it in the evening. The problem is that after retail closes, there aren't many restaurants on Washington to keep people around. It doesn't help that to the southeast it bleeds into the Financial District which is infinitely deader after commuters leave.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

I'm sorry that I derailed this thread for a bit. I just made the dead comment as a tongue-in-cheek remark.

It is truly dead at night though and still can feel really sketchy. Part of the problem is the hole that is just a pit of darkness. Once that streetwall is restored, it should be better.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Suffolk has also hung their giant banner up on the fence of the hole too.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Current resident of Downtown Crossing: it's pretty dead, not entirely because of the hole-in-the-ground construction zone, but also because of the blank, dead Macy's facade and the empty storefronts across the street from it. Macy's has a server farm occupying the floors above it, which I understand brings about 25 people daily into the area - not a very suitable use for prime downtown space, and certainly not a "destination." Still, we are cheering every new bit of activity. Lots of construction, storefronts being cleared out and cleaned up... looking forward to revitalization in hopefully not that many years...
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

DTX is definitely a bit sketchy after dark. The St. Francis House on Boylston between Tremont and Washington oozes problems.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

JudieLHB1 said:
Macy's has a server farm occupying the floors above it, which I understand brings about 25 people daily into the area - not a very suitable use for prime downtown space, and certainly not a "destination."
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The data center is actually in a critical location for telecommunications for the city. It's where nearly all the internet and telco providers converge and connect with one another. It would be a Herculean effort to relocate that to another location.

While an office or residential use would draw more people, the need for telecom infrastructure downtown is pretty critical for the city's businesses.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Would it be possible to build a residential or office tower over the Macy's building and keep the server farm?
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

citylover94 said:
Would it be possible to build a residential or office tower over the Macy's building and keep the server farm?
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Totally. The good thing about Macy*s occupying the lower floors is that the floorplates are wide open and can easily accomodate larger or beefed up columns.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

In addition, just a few blocks away there are some major intercontinental / undersea fiber optic cables come into the US.

elemenoh said:
The data center is actually in a critical location for telecommunications for the city. It's where nearly all the internet and telco providers converge and connect with one another. It would be a Herculean effort to relocate that to another location.

While an office or residential use would draw more people, the need for telecom infrastructure downtown is pretty critical for the city's businesses.
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Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Walked by the site today. The wrap on the Franklin Street facade has come off!
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Czervik.Construction said:
In addition, just a few blocks away there are some major intercontinental / undersea fiber optic cables come into the US.
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Not sure what you mean. The center above Macy's *is* where the fiber optic cable is received. It comes ashore somewhere in Lynn, MA.
 
Re: Millennium Tower - Filene's

Rick said:
Short video on Filene's and the Millennium Tower.

http://vimeo.com/67840709
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Thanks for sharing this! Those renders look so nice.

One thing though: They goofed on the demise of Filene's by incorrectly blaming the closure of Filene's Basement. It was actually Macy*s that dealt the fatal blow to the Burnham Building's future during the Allied-Federated Merger when they decided to keep their Jordan Marsh store and sold Filene's back to the city. Filene's Basement only closed in 2007 because Vornado had promised FB they would have a brand new store in One Franklin.
 
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