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

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Re: Filene's

ShawnA said:
If you go to New York you wont see a big hole in the middle of the city.
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There was a big hole in the ground at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in NYC for a few years. That's a block from Times Square. The hole was dug in 2003, and it's just now getting built on. Granted it was just a parking lot before.
 
Re: Filene's

It is my understanding that the "financing" problem is an inability to secure a hotel chain to lease and run the 1912 space. A prospect came close, but chickened out a couple of months ago when oil looked to be heading to $200 a barrel. Until the hotel component is set, there is just too much of a vacancy drag to move forward at anything other than a slow pace. The work crew has been cut to a skeleton level to maintain the appearance of activity, but not so much activity as to blot the balance sheet. Supposedly, the Mayor is quite angered, and is soliciting his hotel contacts to help out.

The project will happen, but do not be surprised if the anchor hotel and tenants turn out to be, uh, modest in their market aspirations.
 
Re: Filene's

tobyjug said:
The project will happen, but do not be surprised if the anchor hotel and tenants turn out to be, uh, modest in their market aspirations.
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Would that mean that the condos would be more modest in price then say 45 prov? I wouldn't think people would pay up to live in "the residence at holiday inn", right?
 
Re: Filene's

If nothing else, I saw all the heavy machinery moving around today when I was in the area around 1pm. So I guess it's good that there seems to be more activity than a couple weeks ago.

What's the problem with mid-market stores/hotels/whatnot in Downtown Crossing? Isn't the area's aim more blue-collar than Newbery St?
 
Re: Filene's

Battery Wharf also lost the hotel chain that had supposedly committed to it. Fortunately this didn't happen until construction was nearly finished.
 
Re: Filene's

Hynes wanted a top, top tier hotel with an international-level spa. He wanted a Whole Foods to anchor one side and a Nordstrom flagship to anchor the other side. He wanted ultra-luxury condos and he wanted first-class Financial District office space.

Then he marketed the fairly generic-looking glass/steel, flat-top property like a lonely financial district office building.

Now he's going to end up with a Hilton Place/Hampton Inn style hotel. I'd expect retailers like JC Penny, Linens & Things, etc.

Many will scoff at this post (and I know I repeat myself often on this thread) but it's only in the commercial real estate industry that an $800M product launch is taken without even a modicum of brand strategy. I believe this product could have been much more successful if it had a compelling story to tell and a strongly-defined position in the marketplace.
 
Re: Filene's

AdamBC said:
What's the problem with mid-market stores/hotels/whatnot in Downtown Crossing? Isn't the area's aim more blue-collar than Newbery St?
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Not anymore. Almost everything needs to be up-upscale.
 
Re: Filene's

I still think Loews Hotels would be the perfect fit here. Upscale enough for the developers and potential condo owners, but not too upscale for the area. and I really think this project needs to have a supermarket component of some kind even if it is a smaller one like a Whole Foods or the even nicer Fresh Market.
 
Re: Filene's

Was there this morning - They were trucking all the rubble out of the site. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
 
Re: Filene's

There is an entire thread over at SSP about projects across the country that are in the same condition as Filene's.

As much as we like to think that Boston is unique, its problem isn't that it sucks more than other cities but rather it is just average (when it should be much better).

If you want to live in a truly dysfunctional city, move to Detroit.
 
Re: Filene's

Detroit isn't a city, it's a ruin.
 
Re: Filene's

It has a lot of older beautiful buildings that put anything in Boston to shame!
 
Re: Filene's

Don't the developers have to pay a substantial penalty to Filene's Basement if the store cannot reopen as scheduled next year?
 
Re: Filene's

Boston02124 said:
It has a lot of older beautiful buildings that put anything in Boston to shame!
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You are kidding right? Have you never observed the architecture ofCommonwealth Avenue, or Beacon or Marlborough Street? Have you never seen the buildings on Beacon Hill? I find it very hard to believe that any building in Boston would be shamed by any such building in Detroit. Please post pictures of such buildings, I'd love to see them.
 
Re: Filene's

Detroit had entire neighborhoods that looked like and were every bit as grand as Back Bay. These areas are now completely overgrown urban prairie with the rare tottering ruin here and there. You wouldn't know it was a neighborhood if it weren't for rusting fire hydrants, pull boxes, and street signs.

Take a look specifically at this link for a tour of what was Detroit's Back Bay
http://detroityes.com/gild/01bp-gillis.htm

Other links of interest
http://www.forgottendetroit.com/
http://detroityes.com/home.htm

If Downtown Crossing starts looking like downtown Detroit, crime goes through the roof, a mega-developer promises to save the city, and a crazy half dead Irish Catholic cop starts patrolling in powered armor, then I'd really worry. We are only 3/4ths of the way there....
 
Re: Filene's

I've live here(Boston )for 46 years,So yes I,ve been on Comm ave ,I,m talking about office buildings,Buffalo NY has better older office buildings! I will post pix,s soon! But this is off topic!!
 
Re: Filene's

Okay, while Detroit may have had stunning individual buildings, it never had the contextural fabric that makes Boston so unique.
 
Re: Filene's

Considering both my parents were born and raised on the east side of Detroit and I have been back many of times I can say that Detroit and Boston can't be compared. Detroit is more like post Katrina New Orleans than any thing else. And the neighborhoods that still have people living in them are ghetto as all hell. The house my sister was born in had a rusted stripped down car on cinder blocks in front of it. It was boarded up but a few houses down people where still living in some of the houses. Its a pretty shocking experience to drive around that city and then remind yourself your still in the continental U.S.
 
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