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

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Arch101 said:
Or, an "ionic" Boston view, if you are Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
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Arch -- well said -- we have lots of ionic views -- indeed there once was a company in East Cambridge called Ionics

The whole discussion reminds me of the test applied to the attendees to the annual MIT APO party. The test was used to separate the true Gnurds^1 from their invitees or the pretenders from miscellaneous non-hard-science+engineering courses of study

Coffee was labeled Regular and Unionized

1 -- added for additional credit -- why must Gnurd, to be authentic, be spelled with a u?
 
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Stands out pretty good from the West.
 
Re: Filene's

12345 said:
New developer to take control of former Filene’s site

By Casey Ross, Globe staff

Developer Millennium Partners will take control of the long-idle Filene’s property in Downtown Crossing and build a tower on the site with retail stores, office space and hundreds of residences, city officials said tonight.

The firm, which developed the nearby Ritz Carlton Hotel and Towers, will team up in the redevelopment with the property’s existing owner, Vornado Realty Trust of New York, which has come under fire from Boston Mayor Thomas Menino since it stopped construction on the site more than three years ago, leaving a big hole in the center of the city’s shopping district.

City officials emphasized Millennium Partners will lead the project, with Vornado taking a more passive role in the property’s development. They said Millennium will file a revised development plan within 60 days and that they hope to see construction resume on the property within a year.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/busine...filene-site/g39JpqqKGaeKf2z0DIyVsJ/index.html
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.....Sometimes, good things happen after bad. This project went from being an underwhelming and long-failed proposal, to the gleaming tower in front of us now. Thank you Millennium Partners!
 
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I agree this thing really changed downtown forever. We had a bunch of role players but nothing that shined. It wasn't bad but wasn't great either. Now Millennium tower becomes the focal point an all of the supporting cast do their jobs well around it. This tower makes the rest of the towers look better because they are not trying to be the main focus anymore, and they are a very good supporting cast.

Its kind of like how downtown manhattan looked amazing with the twin towers, but once they were gone none of the towers there were really enough to hold it up on their own. They are nice buildings but without the contrast of the twins they kind of fell off. Now downtown looks much better with 1wtc tucked behind them. Im not comparing our skylines but just drawing a comparison of how a good focal point can make the other buildings around it look better.
 
stick n move said:
Its kind of like how downtown manhattan looked amazing with the twin towers, but once they were gone none of the towers there were really enough to hold it up on their own. They are nice buildings but without the contrast of the twins they kind of fell off. Now downtown looks much better with 1wtc tucked behind them. Im not comparing our skylines but just drawing a comparison of how a good focal point can make the other buildings around it look better.
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I've been quietly making the same comparison, too. I've been watching the WTC EarthCam for almost 13 years and you could watch the quality of the skyline slowly change after they added the view from Exchange Place in Jersey City.

There are definitely buildings like Harbor Towers in Battery Park City at the foot of 1WTC. There's even another Millennium Partners property - 2 West Street. So I think your comparison definitely stands.

As an aside, I actually do like a lot of the development in Battery Park City more than MT's neighbours here. Granted, it's largely development that has been built in the last decade and a half and somewhat ironically, much of it looks to me like the stuff people on here complain about, except with a lot more brick and less precast...and PTACs EVERYWHERE... Again, maybe my layperson eyes are disallowing me from seeing the subtle differences a professional might see.
 
stick n move said:
I agree this thing really changed downtown forever. We had a bunch of role players but nothing that shined. It wasn't bad but wasn't great either. Now Millennium tower becomes the focal point an all of the supporting cast do their jobs well around it. This tower makes the rest of the towers look better because they are not trying to be the main focus anymore, and they are a very good supporting cast.

Its kind of like how downtown manhattan looked amazing with the twin towers, but once they were gone none of the towers there were really enough to hold it up on their own. They are nice buildings but without the contrast of the twins they kind of fell off. Now downtown looks much better with 1wtc tucked behind them. Im not comparing our skylines but just drawing a comparison of how a good focal point can make the other buildings around it look better.
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This is true but only from certain angles, such as Memorial Drive in Cambridge. WTC dominates lower Manhattan from everywhere due to it's overwhelming height. There are numerous angles of downtown Boston where MT is practically a non factor.
 
pixelsand8 said:
This is true but only from certain angles, such as Memorial Drive in Cambridge. WTC dominates lower Manhattan from everywhere due to it's overwhelming height. There are numerous angles of downtown Boston where MT is practically a non factor.
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Pixelsand -- kind of a meaningless statement for a couple of reasons

there are a number of principal [iconic] views of Downtown Boston such as from Mem Dr. toward the dome of the State House and you can be sure that Handel and MP made sure that it looked good in the renders -- and it does

However, you can always find angles at which any building disappears or becomes insignificant -- just get close enough and my west highland terrier can block the view of the Pru. One of the keys to Boston's photophilic quality is that because streets keep twisting and turning so do the buildings.

Thus as opposed to a boring West Texas kind of view where the mountains in the distance just get a bit bigger hour by hour -- or a long straight street -- in Boston a major street like Franklin gives you continuing changing perspectives on the MT as you walk from the Greenway toward DTX you nearly turn by ninety degrees
 
whighlander said:
Pixelsand -- kind of a meaningless statement for a couple of reasons

there are a number of principal [iconic] views of Downtown Boston such as from Mem Dr. toward the dome of the State House and you can be sure that Handel and MP made sure that it looked good in the renders -- and it does

However, you can always find angles at which any building disappears or becomes insignificant -- just get close enough and my west highland terrier can block the view of the Pru. One of the keys to Boston's photophilic quality is that because streets keep twisting and turning so do the buildings.

Thus as opposed to a boring West Texas kind of view where the mountains in the distance just get a bit bigger hour by hour -- or a long straight street -- in Boston a major street like Franklin gives you continuing changing perspectives on the MT as you walk from the Greenway toward DTX you nearly turn by ninety degrees
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^Good points.....The Boston skyline is unique, and former Mayor Kevin White's "High Spine" initiative many years ago is a big reason. There are many different perspectives to the skyline, depending on where you are viewing it. My favorite is from Memorial Drive, at night....MT is a nice addition to it.
 
Agreed on all counts. Just wish it was lit up at night on top/had some kind of "crown." At night, it's dark and disappears, just like the Hancock. Boston really lags behind many other cities in terms of lighting up their buildings well at night.
 
dotdude78 said:
Agreed on all counts. Just wish it was lit up at night on top/had some kind of "crown." At night, it's dark and disappears, just like the Hancock. Boston really lags behind many other cities in terms of lighting up their buildings well at night.
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What he said. PLEASE light this and others up!
 
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