Rose Kennedy Greenway

^^
If Seaport Square was "fast-tracked," you're making my point - that even if the developer is not "well-liked" at city hall, he/she can still get projects done by putting his/her nose to the grindstone and doing their homework.

And there are very specific architectural plans for many of the Seaport Square blocks.

But hey, if 19 buildings on 23 acres totaling 6 million SF can get done in 2 years by a developer who is supposedly on the outs with city hall but actually spends the time and money to follow the Article 80 process, the 1 or 2 buildings proposed for the Harbor Garage site should be a breeze to get approved?
 
greenwayguy1982 said:
^^
If Seaport Square was "fast-tracked," you're making my point - that even if the developer is not "well-liked" at city hall, he/she can still get projects done by putting his/her nose to the grindstone and doing their homework.
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HYNES is very liked by CITY HALL. Menino and the Filenes situation is a big SHOW. Maybe Vornado can't stand Menino. Why hasn't the city pulled the permits?

About the LINCOLN ST DEAL: HYNES claims that he built that building on spec and he got very lucky with the situation. No tenants. We'll if that is true, why doesn't he build Filenes on spec. These developers are dealing with 100?s of millions of dollars. Hynes is claiming he got lucky. This why HYNES is full shit
I'm assuming, Chiofaro sued Hynes and the minority investors on the Lincoln St deal because Chiofaro already lined up State Street for the deal.
There is always some truth on both sides.
 
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^^
"I'm assuming, Chiofaro sued Hynes and the minority investors on the Lincoln St deal because Chiofaro already lined up State Street for the deal."

That's not what the courts found, Rifleman...are you saying the judgment was wrong?
 
TheRifleman said:
.....
I'm assuming, Chiofaro sued Hynes and the minority investors on the Lincoln St deal because Chiofaro already lined up State Street for the deal.
There is always some truth on both sides.
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Chiofaro sued in court saying he had been squeezed out, and wanted his cut of the profit. The defendants, Hynes et al, said Chiofaro had been unable to find any tenants for the property. Case went to trial. Chiofaro lost.

What you seem to have trouble accepting is that Chiofaro is not a popular fellow in corporate Boston, or government Boston, and he takes a measure of pride in being that.

Anyway, back to the Greenway. Here is a May 2006 article from the Globe in which Chiofaro says he plans a 400 feet residential tower for the garage property.

http://www.boston.com/realestate/ne...chiofaro_plans_high_rise_housing_on_greenway/
 
greenwayguy1982 said:
^^
"I'm assuming, Chiofaro sued Hynes and the minority investors on the Lincoln St deal because Chiofaro already lined up State Street for the deal."

That's not what the courts found, Rifleman...are you saying the judgment was wrong?
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No, I'm assuming what Chiofaro sued Hynes for the Lincoln deal. I'm not saying who is right, I could careless. But Hynes made that quote saying he built Lincoln St purely on spec which is BULLSHIT.
I'm saying I don't know anybody who would risk 400 Million dollars to build purely on luck. And if this guy builds on luck why not try it for FILENES project?

That is all I'm saying.
 
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TheRifleman said:
HYNES is very liked by CITY HALL. Menino and the Filenes situation is a big SHOW. Maybe Vornado can't stand Menino. Why hasn't the city pulled the permits?
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Tha's actually quite true. After reading through past articles, Menino is directing most of his anger and blame on VORNADO, not on Hynes himself. Now I can see why Seaport Square was approved, fast tracked or not. If Greenwayguy is correct that Seaport Square took only a couple of years, it provides more proof of biasness.

In fact, a key difference between SPS and Filene's is that Vornado is not part of the former project. Though, not a definitive proof, it does raise eyebrows.
 
Back in the Day

5189648482_0c72c13476_z.jpg


http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmack24/5189648482/

you can see a few more in my stream here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmack24/
 
Cool pictures, gmack24. I've been telling myself for a few years that the old elevated artery was kind of cool. It's good to get this reality check. The RKG is without question much better.
 
i really liked the leaf sculpture. just wish it was in a spot that made it easier to see.
 
while yes, the greenway has many faults that have been explored ad nauseum on this thread, these pictures by Gmack24 just make me realize just how much better it is now.
 
found5dollar said:
while yes, the greenway has many faults that have been explored ad nauseum on this thread, these pictures by Gmack24 just make me realize just how much better it is now.
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This was a great idea and supported it 100% but the staggering cost $22 of billion in the 80's & 90's. Possibly could have colonized the moon at the time.
Adjusted inflation for todays dollar would be interesting.

It should have been planned better and should have done worse case scenarios.

Next time they need a Audit watchdog for a project of this magintude. Forget the overtime for the workers what about stealing going on from shoddy cemet, and materials to sending the steal over to China with the taxpayers completely blindsided. If the Federal Govt did not step in our political hacks would still be working on the dig.
 
It's important not to confuse what the Artery looked like pre-Big Dig with what it looked like during the madness of construction. The twenty years of blue barriers were an awful mess. Earlier there was a lot of empty space under there that had some potential.

Arguably Boston could have had some pretty creative/interesting public space and/or even retail under the elevated expressway which could have knit the city as much, if not more effectively than the current six surface lanes / median, and used the savings to expand transit aggressively.

After all, Tokyo has plenty of elevated expressways that don't seem to intrude on the urban fabric. It's all in the treatment of the underside.
 
czsz said:
It's important not to confuse what the Artery looked like pre-Big Dig with what it looked like during the madness of construction. The twenty years of blue barriers were an awful mess. Earlier there was a lot of empty space under there that had some potential.

Arguably Boston could have had some pretty creative/interesting public space and/or even retail under the elevated expressway which could have knit the city as much, if not more effectively than the current six surface lanes / median, and used the savings to expand transit aggressively.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree: let's not confuse dark/noisy/dirty/smelly with hopeful.

I work on Canal Street; our office faced the mountain of ramps that ascended to the Charles River crossing...there's no amount of retail that could have been jammed under those structures that could have been superior to the empty grass parcels that exist today.

I can't compare Boston with Tokyo (and shouldn't), but I can attest that the raised artery had an utterly divisive affect on the fabric between the Bulfinch Triangle and the North End. Today's arguably compromised fabric is an enormous improvement in our experience of the city...literally night and day.
 
ledjes said:
Yes, I agree: let's not confuse dark/noisy/dirty/smelly with hopeful.

I work on Canal Street; our office faced the mountain of ramps that ascended to the Charles River crossing...there's no amount of retail that could have been jammed under those structures that could have been superior to the empty grass parcels that exist today.

I can't compare Boston with Tokyo (and shouldn't), but I can attest that the raised artery had an utterly divisive affect on the fabric between the Bulfinch Triangle and the North End. Today's arguably compromised fabric is an enormous improvement in our experience of the city...literally night and day.
Click to expand...


I actually miss the Green Line at North Station the elevated T. I thought it gave the area more character going to the celts and bruins games. Just felt like BOSTON at it's best.
 
The Bulfinch Triangle was given distinct treatment by the Dig, though. Ideally, all of downtown would have been divided into reconstituted blocks, with some serving as parks and others as building sites, with nary an on or offramp remaining. But the rest of downtown didn't make out so well: where they exist, the ramps to the underground artery are still very disruptive today, and the parks are, in many places, still an urban scar.

For the city as a whole, it might have been better to repair the underside of the Artery and used the rest of the money for something else. The project in its current form wasn't worth reconstituting the Bulfinch Triangle alone.
 
I also agree with Rifleman, I liked causeway more w/ the El tracks.
 
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