South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

castevens

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Much more optimistic title than "South Station Tower - Dead Forever??" :)

Article from about a month ago:

Final reports filed for 1.8M-square-foot South Station project
Boston Business Journal


Hines Interests LP and TUDC LLC have filed final impact reports with the state and city for the 1.8 million-square-foot mixed-use project proposed at South Station Transportation Center.

The development partners filed an environmental impact report with the state and the final project impact report with the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The final reports respond to issues raised by the state and city in permits filed in 2000 and 2002.

The filings represent a major step forward in the development of the site, according to an announcement by the development partners.

The documents represent revisions to the proposal in response to comments and concerns raised from such neighbors as the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak, the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The revised project includes a proposed 40-story office tower, a 13-story hotel and residential building and a nine-story office building to be built on air rights between the back of South Station and the bus terminal. Hines has proposed $40 million in transportation-related improvements to South Station. The transportation improvements would connect the train station and bus terminal and expand the terminal by 40 percent.

David Perry, senior vice president at Hines, said in a statement the South Station project will generate approximately 2,600 jobs during construction and approximately 6,000 permanent jobs in the hotel and office buildings after completion.

Linkage payments will total approximately $10 million, and real estate taxes are anticipated to be approximately $12 million per year, according to the statement, which said the total private investment in the project is expected to exceed $800 million.

The plan to redevelop South Station first came about in 1963. In 1984 the MBTA, BRA and Federal Railroad Administration announced the plan to redevelop the site into a major transportation and commercial center. In 1991, the BRA designated TUDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tufts University, as the developer of the air rights above South Station.

TUDC selected Hines to be its co-developer in October 1997 and later selected Cesar Pelli & Associates Inc. of New Haven, Conn. as the design architect.

Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide with assets valued at $11.7 billion. Hines has been active in the Boston real estate market since 1980, and is the developer and property manager of 500 Hundred Boylston and 222 Berkeley St.
 
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...

... is that 'officially' the final design though?
 
Re: ...

Merper said:
... is that 'officially' the final design though?

You never know. Until they start construction I wouldn't call anything the "final design" because with this project something seems to always be changing. I really like that design though, it's different from everything in that part of the city. I hope that the top lights up, like the Bloomberg Tower in NY (am I thinking of the right building--tall, slender with a lit top?).
 
Even the crown part of 111 Huntington was added AFTER construction started. It completes that building, I love it :)
 
castevens said:
Even the crown part of 111 Huntington was added AFTER construction started. It completes that building, I love it :)
I love that building too! I was under the impression that a lotof people didn't like it.

I think it's really cool looking as you walk towards it from the Christian Science Center.
 
I am an editor at Emporis.com (skyscrapers.com), the largest real estate and skyscraper database in the world, and it got 2nd place in our "Skyscraper Awards" the year it was built. That puts it with amazing company.

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That's cool you edit for Emporis. It's a great website. The Emporis awards section, though, doesn't have much info or pictures. I know it's all there elsewhere on the site, but it'd be nice if it was all there. Also, the site says 111 Huntington came in 3rd to the Kingdom Centre in Riyadh and the Post Tower in Bonn, Germany.
 
What do you know, you're right! I know I voted for it to be 1st, and I remembered it getting 2nd, but my brains getting fried in its old age
 
^ The Post Tower seems unremarkable. A nice building, for sure, but not better than 111 Huntington. And at a completely inappropriate scale for its neighborhood! :wink:

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Wait, this is the SST thread. Oops. I wonder what year that'll win the Emporis awards. Is there a completion date on SST?
 
It'll be interesting, if this thing ever gets going, to see how they're going to build a tower over about 8 railroad tracks without disturbing flow. If it becomes a big deal, couldn't they just stop the trains 200 feet down the track?
 
The bus station was built over the tracks without interrupting service.
 
Think Columbus Center and building over the Pike (non-stop traffic flow) plus rail!! Then think the Big Dig; digging around, under, above, active subway lines, rail, foundations of existing buildings, etc! For me, it boggles the mind; for an engineer it's just another cool challenge!
 
castevens said:
40 storey skyskraper > bus station
I would think it is the building over the tracks part that is the challenge here, not so much the height, whether it be forty stories or one story.
 
Yes, but when you're trying to put equipment next to the building site to lift it up to the 40th floor, which you'll agree with me that there is a bit more just general material in a 40 storey building, you cant put it directly next to the building because tracks are there. For a 3 storey building, you could probably get away with putting those machines on the tracks during the 4 hours that the trains don't use those tracks. Or shutting that track down for 1 day.
 
castevens said:
It'll be interesting, if this thing ever gets going, to see how they're going to build a tower over about 8 railroad tracks without disturbing flow. If it becomes a big deal, couldn't they just stop the trains 200 feet down the track?

I think they are going to be moving the bulkheads farther down the tracks similar to the two tracks near the postal annex. This will get them out of the way for the tower foundations.

The other building (hotel?) will be built over the tracks.
 
South Station office high-rise gets BRA?s OK
By Scott Van Voorhis
Wednesday, June 7, 2006


An $800 million skyscraper complex would soar into the Hub skyline above South Station under plans approved yesterday by City Hall.

After years of debate and reviews, Hines, a top Texas builder, won a green light from the Boston Redevelopment Authority for a new, 40-story office tower that would anchor an ambitious redevelopment of South Station.

David Perry, a top Hines executive, said he hopes to begin construction next year on the new tower, which would rise 680 feet into the air, with South Station in its shadow.

Hines, which is working with TUDC, an affiliate of Tufts University on the project, said ?conversations? are already under way with potential corporate tenants. A final sign-off by the city?s Zoning Commission is also needed next month.

?Now we have something to show,? Perry said, referring to planning on the project that dates to the late 1990s.

Along with a new tower, later phases call for a separate, a 13-story condo and hotel high-rise complex, as well as an additional nine-story office building. The developer has also committed to $40 million worth of improvements to South Station and its neighboring bus terminal, which is slated for a 40 percent increase in capacity.



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