Pierce Boston (née The Point )| Boylston St/Brookline Av | Fenway

I'm still disappointed in this project, not as a piece of architecture in and of itself (I think it's decent compared to its contemporaries in the city), but RELATIVE to its potential. I wasn't expecting it to be the Flatiron in Manhattan, but the combination of 1.) the shape of the parcel 2.) its location in the city, and 3.) the zoning privilege to stand as the zenith of its new, changing neighborhood begged for something more iconic than the "blue and/or green glass" tower popular in growing cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Iconic is probably an overused word on this site. I'm not an architect myself, but like many other non-architects on this site, I recognize special when I see it, and to me, this isn't special. I feel like this building, while a fantastic addition to the skyline, is a missed chance at greatness. Anyone else feel the same?
 
I feel like I need to wait until it's finished, but this is so visible from so many vantages and it's pretty generic. Just looks like an atypically shaped version of corporate buildings we see all over the country. I was driving down Beacon outbound into and through Kenmore this morning and it just... isn't that great. I'll get used it, it's just... not that great.

I do think once the ground level stuff is finished, though, that element will be a very big improvement and we haven't seen that part yet. So, it's still a net benefit, I think.
 
Deetroyt said:
I'm still disappointed.... I feel like this building, while a fantastic addition to the skyline, is a missed chance at greatness. Anyone else feel the same?
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VE City/dribble/rinse cycle in 3...2...1....

Yeah, and half every other damn building that's gone up since the JHT. You see the words 'rich/evil developers' used in every other Globe post. Some developers deserve it, but in our liberal utopia, politicians were tempted long ago to set about enabling everyone to either have their hands out, or be cooking the stew to the point where.... –except, we don't have San Francisco/New York pricing/sq ft + height allowances that would leave open great design to be priced in.

Then there's our warped sense of what actually constitutes a tall (re; unreasonable) building: that bar is set very low here. There are exceptions of, course (MT, Rowes, Lovejoy Wharfs) but the low-hanging fruit is gone. Next, the same crap happens at the Harbor Garage, and the air-rights projects coming up are gonna be threading through the needle.

In a few years when our tall proposals wrap up, with the state and city endlessly 'broke' we should be surprised if our next phase of cool (re; air-rights) will find any takers. Expect another 2 state administrations to come and go before these idiots ask if they went about it 'ass backwards.'

We just had another potential show stopper (save for it's lousy cantilever design). Midwood should hold out; before long, it might end be the last tall building with a sitting proposal. We're doing fantastic things in filling our city's spaces with lots of people. ...but, as far as the actual buildings go, most everything will continue to be squat, VE'd crap.

The grey panels look like crap. But, i'm glad it isn't a modernism/deco type thing. i doubt it would have looked good for a 375' tower.
 
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This thing beats the D'Angelo's and the crummy liquor store that used to be there. I would never have thought a ~350 foot glass condo tower would ever be built in the Fenway. This easily could have been 10 stories of alucobond.

I think you all are getting a bit spoiled.
 
Agreed. I remember when the Clarendon went up everyone was excited to get something like that built in the back bay. Now we have 1 dalton going up. This building is a million times better than what gets built here 99% of the time until a few years ago.
 
I walked by this yesterday. Pictures dont do it justice. It is massive.
 
One of the penthouse units was just posted to the MLS system asking $4.7M. They're still keeping the floorplans hidden which is a bit annoying but it's a big 3br/3.5ba. The condo fee is $2,600/month - higher than the average 1br rent in Boston.
 
FenwayResident said:
One of the penthouse units was just posted to the MLS system asking $4.7M. They're still keeping the floorplans hidden which is a bit annoying but it's a big 3br/3.5ba. The condo fee is $2,600/month - higher than the average 1br rent in Boston.
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This is a function of the painfully slow and expensive construction process in Boston.

I'll never understand how Chicago does it at a 1/5 of the price.
 
FenwayResident said:
One of the penthouse units was just posted to the MLS system asking $4.7M. They're still keeping the floorplans hidden which is a bit annoying but it's a big 3br/3.5ba. The condo fee is $2,600/month - higher than the average 1br rent in Boston.
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$2600 a month condo fee? Do I get a 6' blonde showgirl with that?
 
617 said:
This is a function of the painfully slow and expensive construction process in Boston.

I'll never understand how Chicago does it at a 1/5 of the price.
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I think it comes down to the fact that:
Chicago is laid out to be a massive city with lots of land to work with.
Boston is a midsized city that is close to build out. Buildings like the Pierce breadground on a monthly basis in Chicago.

On the plus side, the quality of Boston buildings is far higher. Chicago has tons of cheaply built high rises with parking podiums.
 
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