Motor Mart Tower | 201 Stuart Str. | Park Sq | Boston

I went to the presentation for the motormart garage residential project yesterday. It's one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. It looks like it was lifted from the set of a city in Star Wars. It's a post modern mish mash of incongruous elements. It rises 290 feet above the maggiano's side of the building. Sadly, my iphone froze up while the image was on the screen.
 
Ugliness aside. There would be fantastic views from the top floors of this at 280-290 feet.
 
Did you gasp audibly and ask "What the fuck is that?"

I should start going to these meetings and doing that.
 
I just hope the BPDA and BCDC tell them to scrap it and go back to the drawing board. It was slapdash. They tried to incorporate the vertical limestone elements of the garage, but that seemed to peter out about halfway up...the glass looked kind of dark green but maybe that was just the rendering. The top 1/3 had these bizarre balconies that cut into the building on one side and balconies that emerged from the building on the other side. The building is curved in kind of an elliptical shape. The effect was abysmal imho.
 
KentXie said:
Did you gasp audibly and ask "What the fuck is that?"

I should start going to these meetings and doing that.
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Ah, the old reaction to the unveiling of the winning Boston City Hall design in 1962--a time-honored classic!

"When the sheet was lifted to reveal their model, there were gasps in the room. One person reportedly exclaimed, “What the hell is that?” Dazed and elated, the winning architects went to shake hands with a no less befuddled [Mayor] Collins."
 
sidewalks said:
I just hope the BPDA and BCDC tell them to scrap it and go back to the drawing board. It was slapdash. They tried to incorporate the vertical limestone elements of the garage, but that seemed to peter out about halfway up...the glass looked kind of dark green but maybe that was just the rendering. The top 1/3 had these bizarre balconies that cut into the building on one side and balconies that emerged from the building on the other side. The building is curved in kind of an elliptical shape. The effect was abysmal imho.
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Maybe it's shaped for creative shadow avoidance?
 
A render would be nice... though I'm already expecting shit show.
 
The owners of the Motor Mart Garage in Park Square - once the largest auto garage in the world, with a helipad on top - have filed their formal plans for sticking a 20-story residential tower atop it.

If approved by the BPDA - and possibly the Board of Appeals - the proposal by CIM Group and Boston Global Investors would add 306 apartments and condos while preserving 672 dowdier parking spaces, 528 for public parking and the remaining 144 set aside for residents. The ground floor would gain about 46,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.
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https://www.universalhub.com/2018/motor-mart-developers-let-city-kick-tires-new
 
12345 said:
https://www.universalhub.com/2018/motor-mart-developers-let-city-kick-tires-new
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motormart.jpg


PNF (pdf)
 
iamdjmichael said:
I love it, could they have gone taller here though?
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I do have to say, this would look more proportional if it were taller. Right now it looks a little awkward, and some height could even it out. The top looks cut off, almost. As to whether they could or couldn't add some height, I'll let somebody more familiar with the shadow bank answer that.

I don't know how I feel about the columns going up the sides. They're warranted, but I'm not sure they executed quite right. Perhaps they could have extended these elements up toward the first setback, eliminating the angled "cut" they have. It reads wrong, in my opinion. I do respect the fact they are incorporating the stone-looking/stone facade into this, as it will not only complement the base, but 212 Stuart right across the street, which will have what looks to be one of the best stone facades coming to Boston recently.

The ground floor looks to be an improvement, and they livened up part of the garage floors with residential units.

Some more renders:

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It's certainly better than expected. Looks a bit like a flattened version of the ill-fated Copley Place condo tower. I appreciate the masonry(?) "grooves" that carry the garage's colossal pilasters up the tower's facade; I hope the next iteration brings them all the way up to the top. Make this look as tall as it really is...

iamdjmichael said:
I love it, could they have gone taller here though?
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Unlikely:
UHub said:
The developers add that "the Project does not cast new shadow on the Boston Common or the Boston Public Garden on any day from March 21 through October 21," in compliance with the new state law aimed at minimizing shadows on the two historic parks.
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Does this mean Maggiano's will be closing? If so, will they open up somewhere else in Boston?
 
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