Ritzy downtown daycare

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cool any more updates on this one ?
Another fun one to watch unfold.
I am at 185 Franklin Street and have great views of both this as well as the Russia Wharf and Fan Pier Projects and also come to think of it FP3 as well.

Lots of stuff going on in this area that's for sure
 
Gosh, I wish a developer would do something like this to the old hardware store just down the street. Talk about an eyesore. How about a Greenway curtain wall punctuated with a bunch of these towerettes?
 
Awww. I LOVE that old hardware store! Especially the High St side.

A little bit of old Boston fighting tooth and nail against the glass and the precast and it's spiffed-up cousins.

Adds character to an otherwise dull, dull street.
 
Ouch! The "glass and precast" part hurts! I used to buy stuff in there, but it is closed isn't it? You are right that it is a relic. Man, the whole area used to be full of stuff like this. The One Financial block had a cool cigar store on the corner of Essex and Atlantic (bought my first cigar there in 1969), next to that on Essex a cafeteria right out of Hopper (not the Waldorf Caf. on the corner of Atlantic and the "surface artery"), and next to that, the coolest hobby shop full of the latest Hawk, Lindberg and Guillow airplane kits. The Federal Reserve bank was a gas station, and its (Gulf?) sign was about 8 stories tall painted on the wall of the adjoining brick building. All gone.
You are making me feel guilty. But the hardware is closed and gone, isn't it?
 
To be honest, I'm not too sure.
I'll try to take a walk by tomorrow to check it out.
Hopefully not though.
I don't have any real memories of 'old Boston' that you describe so vividly, so these places are like a window to the past for me.
 
The hardware store is closed. The man who owned it, and owned the building, passed away about a year ago I believe. He was an interesting character, and I've been told he actually owned several buildings around town.

Regarding this daycare building--the size and height are very nice. Frankly, with the footprint that size, I don't really care what the building looks like above the fifth floor. My one quibble would be I would really like to see the ally, which is an ancient original street from early Boston, utilized. Right now, it's all dumpsters and exhaust vents, but I think it could make an excellent little cobbled walking street lined with bars.
 
chumbolly said:
but I think it could make an excellent little cobbled walking street lined with bars.
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Sort of like they've done with Wharf Street in Portland, ME? That sounds like a good idea.
 
tobyjug said:
But the hardware is closed and gone, isn't it?
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As chumbolly said, it is closed. But it's not really gone, in that if you look in the windows you can see there's still a decent stock of items inside.

And I'm with Statler: I too love the character it adds to this strip.

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If anything, the buildings surrounding this one are more offensive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they a T operations building and a substation? If so, they probably won't be going anywhere for some time. (rats).
 
If only it could be preserved! Unfortunately, it will probably go the way of the holdout townhouse near North Station.
 
kz1000ps said:
And I'm with Statler: I too love the character it adds to this strip.

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If anything, the buildings surrounding this one are more offensive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they a T operations building and a substation? If so, they probably won't be going anywhere for some time. (rats).
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Yeah, the MBTA Operations Control Center (OCC) is the ugly 10 story, pink granite and green steel building. However, the red brick substation to the right in that photo has NSTAR logos all over it, so I'm not sure it's a T substation.

Also, sad to say, they've literally just removed the big yellow sign from the old hardware store next to the T OCC, so consider that photo evidence of the past.
 
Ah yes, I knew it was an NSTAR substation.. just forgot to mention it by name.
 
Damn, I liked that sign. What is going to happen to this building?
 
Ron Newman said:
Damn, I liked that sign. What is going to happen to this building?
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They're also removing the fire escape as well.

I wish I could tell you, Ron. Little changes have been happening to this building here and there for about a year. There used to be a satellite dish and cell phone repeater on the roof which were removed around the end of last summer.

When they took down the sign, clods of dirt fell onto the sidewalk below. I mean, theres a sapling growing between some bricks near the 4th floor. Something tells me their removing it largely for safety reasons. I imagine the signs on the High Street side won't be far behind.

Does anyone know how long the hardware store has been closed? Just a few years, right? So continues the dullification of this part downtown.
 
This part of downtown has been dull for decades - the hardware store was a hyper-anomaly. I'm assuming the building is being renovated because of its newly fortuitous situation on the Greenway; of course, not long from now it'll just be facing the blank wall of the new performing arts center.
 
At the risk of incurring someone's wrath, I'll add that the MBTA building is miles better than its previous incarnation (if you can imagine it!) Not that I'd miss it...
 
tobyjug said:
At the risk of incurring someone's wrath, I'll add that the MBTA building is miles better than its previous incarnation (if you can imagine it!) Not that I'd miss it...
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What was the previous incarnation?
 
Joe, it was a butt ugly utilitarian thing. It got glammed up about 15 years ago (?) as part of some new T control and signalling project. At the time, the rebuild looked intoxicating by comparison. Nowadays you can see it clearly, and with the old one forgotten, the "beer goggles" are off and the rating is falling!
 
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