North Station Gateway | 251 Causeway St | Bulfinch Triangle

shmessy said:
It still won't happen at that height. The North Enders will kill it if it's above 320-350'.

The best possibility for 700'ers would be Rappaport City (The West End Park).
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completely agree and even 300' may be pushing the limits of what is tolerable.
 
shmessy said:
It still won't happen at that height. The North Enders will kill it if it's above 320-350'.

The best possibility for 700'ers would be Rappaport City (The West End Park).
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The lower height suggests the BPDA is already on board with this. I doubt RMR would have filed an LOI if they were going to lose another 200 feet in height during the permitting process.
 
FWIW, several property owners (including the developers trying to build this tower) have been advocating for upzoning in this area to pave the way for taller buildings. Here's a Boston Business Journal article about the upzoning effort from last year.
The RMR Group and other commercial property owners in Boston's Bulfinch Triangle are quietly lining up behind an effort to rezone the neighborhood to allow for taller buildings, encourage more housing, and make its streets more aesthetically pleasing and pedestrian-friendly.
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If the upzoning effort ends up being successful, the approval process for skyscraper proposals in the Bulfinch Triangle will be simplified and proposals like this one will have a better chance of getting built.
 
SuffolkHeights11 said:
I doubt RMR would have filed an LOI if they were going to lose another 200 feet in height during the permitting process.
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Thats how it usually works though. The developers propose 15-20% higher than they think they can get that way during the community review process when the neighbors demand that the height gets reduced they can knock 15-20% off and end up around where they need to be. Winthrop center was proposed initially at over 1000 ft and south station tower had a few hundred foot tall spire on its roof. The residential at hub on causeway was proposed at 600 something feet and the verizon tower had a spire at one point. One bromfield hasnt been built yet but the latest proposal is damn near half as tall as the first proposal. The two I can think of that actually got taller as time went on are millennium (filenes tower) and 1 dalton which had an early placeholder around the height of the r2d2 building, but these are exceptions to the rule.
 
stick n move said:
Thats how it usually works though. The developers propose 15-20% higher than they think they can get that way during the community review process when the neighbors demand that the height gets reduced they can knock 15-20% off and end up around where they need to be. Winthrop center was proposed initially at over 1000 ft and south station tower had a few hundred foot tall spire on its roof. The residential at hub on causeway was proposed at 600 something feet and the verizon tower had a spire at one point. One bromfield hasnt been built yet but the latest proposal is damn near half as tall as the first proposal. The two I can think of that actually got taller as time went on are millennium (filenes tower) and 1 dalton which had an early placeholder around the height of the r2d2 building, but these are exceptions to the rule.
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That definitely could be the case. Just my guess though, by the way this project was floated out last year at 700, followed by the mayor's office not outright saying no to the height but suggesting a "re-zoning", and then now coming in near 500 suggests to me they got some assurance of regulatory support for that height. Essentially, the 500 is the compromise. If they are playing the 15-20% game, why not come in at 700 and end up at 500?
 
251 Causeway's owner has been trying to get the VA Clinic out of there for several years now. The VA had difficulty finding a replacement lease in the vicinity and has recently decided to give up on that front and move those services to the JP campus. I knew the owner must have had reasons to get the VA to leave, but I didn't realize they were so ambitious. The existing building is quite nice and it will be something of a shame to lose it in the name of progress.
 
goldenretrievers said:
I wish focus was less on rebuilding the "general area" which is already developed and more on filling in the 7 (as I count) surface parking lots throughout the rest of Bulfinch Triangle.
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That large triangle lot directly next to one congress comes to mind. It already has a 600 foot tall tower across the street so… I feel like trying to convert the brick mid rise to residential would be a more efficient use. The building already exists but is largely empty. Throw the high rise on an empty lot.
 
Thats how it usually works though. The developers propose 15-20% higher than they think they can get that way during the community review process when the neighbors demand that the height gets reduced they can knock 15-20% off and end up around where they need to be. Winthrop center was proposed initially at over 1000 ft and south station tower had a few hundred foot tall spire on its roof. The residential at hub on causeway was proposed at 600 something feet and the verizon tower had a spire at one point. One bromfield hasnt been built yet but the latest proposal is damn near half as tall as the first proposal. The two I can think of that actually got taller as time went on are millennium (filenes tower) and 1 dalton which had an early placeholder around the height of the r2d2 building, but these are exceptions to the rule.
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I'm not sure those are the best examples. Winthrop Square and SST were cut by the FAA, the Hub on Causeway towers just shrank during value engineering, and One Bromfield wasn't a realistic proposal.

One example that springs to mind is the unbuilt 1000 Boylston, which I think lost 100-200 feet to the Back Bay neighbors before developer infighting killed it.

I wonder if one ace these guys have planned is that they've proposed both hotel and residential, and they can threaten to cut the residential if they're forced to shrink it. The North End would be happy, but that wouldn't work for Mayor Wu.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing how Mayor Wu handles this one.
 
PNF: https://bpda.app.box.com/s/ct0mqxzmqnl4op593n562adr5urnop89

This now has a name: "North Station Gateway Project". It's a shame this will never get built, because it looks really nice.

Since someone brought up earlier the fact that the BPD has the wrong neighborhood assigned to this, I'd propose a title change to: "North Station Gateway | 251 Causeway Street | Bulfinch Triangle".

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Equilibria said:
It's a shame this will never get built, because it looks really nice.
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On the one hand, I understand your calibrated pragmatism...
On the other hand, if a city can't build a perfectly reasonable mixed-use tower like this steps away from a major transit hub, major office skyscrapers, largest-in-region multi-sports arena and concert/events venue, then Boston's got a ways to go as a city...
 
bigpicture7 said:
On the one hand, I understand your calibrated pragmatism...
On the other hand, if a city can't build a perfectly reasonable mixed-use tower like this steps away from a major transit hub, major office skyscrapers, largest-in-region multi-sports arena and concert/events venue, then Boston's got a ways to go as a city...
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The North End neighbors would say "if a city can't maintain the sanctity of a beautifully-preserved urban neighborhood dating back 300 years, it has a ways to go as a city... build this over in the West End or Back Bay where towers belong."
 
Equilibria said:
The North End neighbors would say "if a city can't maintain the sanctity of a beautifully-preserved urban neighborhood dating back 300 years, it has a ways to go as a city... build this over in the West End or Back Bay where towers belong."
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Well, a reasoned discussion on what is place-breaking encroachment on the North End? ought to ensue. This really is one block from north station, which has been a major transit hub for at least 150 years as well, and not in the historic part of the North End you refer to. I think most of us know this is not place-breaking encroachment.
 
Love the North End, love the historic feeling of the place and they've made it clear that they want mini-home rule on everything from parking to outdoor dining to...more parking. It seems a fair trade to leave the North End however they want to be left, and build without hesitation outside of their borders.

I didn't follow the 1 Congress permitting or if there was an issue from the North End, but borders are helpful guides for a reason. Really hope BPDA is open to judging this on the merits. Would be a great addition but I'm skeptical.
 
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