^ I agree, that doesn't mean I like it though. I actually think what makes redevelopment most challenging isn't the engineering of the tower per se, its the fact that the site wouldn't be able to have sufficient parking. That and the value of the asset in place would make the land basis a very high bar to overcome.
South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown
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The building sucks from an urbanism perspective. Save your love of form over function for sculpture not places where there should be an active and engaged street scape.
Back to South Station.... it amazes me that they are starting this very complex development project, of close to 3M square feet, when we are 'supposedly' this late in the cycle.... and on spec.!!! Utmost confidence in the Boston market.
I doubt it is fully on spec we just dont know who they are speaking with. Wasn't Salesforce floating around a while back?
Czervik.Construction
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Office space rents are at an all-time high, condos are still selling, apartment rents are high, hotels prices are high, so I bet there is faith that the demand from all those markets is a good indicator for the developers and as Goody mentioned, they may be close to signing a big tenant.
odurandina
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^^i wonder if the confidence in Boston has anything to do with
1. a major tenant/s (but, who?)
2. uncertainty w/ housing capacity+dysfunction elsewhere,
not that the T, doesn't bring its own uncertainty.
a. SF is experiencing something profound. i'll just call it that.
3. our large supply of graduates.
Still nothing in the Globe but Curbed has this.....
boston.curbed.com
1. a major tenant/s (but, who?)
2. uncertainty w/ housing capacity+dysfunction elsewhere,
not that the T, doesn't bring its own uncertainty.
a. SF is experiencing something profound. i'll just call it that.
3. our large supply of graduates.
Still nothing in the Globe but Curbed has this.....
South Station tower advances—again
Other big development news of the week includes a milestone for The Hub On Causeway and a potential milestone for that big South Station project.
boston.curbed.com
More specifically regarding South Station, what would construction phasing look like? In all of the presentations to MassDOT and MBTA we have still never seen their plan for maintaining railroad operations while in construction.
jdrinboston
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If I'm not mistaken, Millennium hasn't announced any office tenants for the Winthrop Center project? Hot market or not, to see two, sizeable office projects going up on spec is still pretty extraordinary, isn't it? Granted I was a child at the time, but from what I know of history, this seems to have the whiff of the late-1980s real estate market.
Equilibria
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I believe the towers go tall -> small by phase. The 675' is first.
There was speculation that connected Salesforce to this building.
Salesforce In Talks To Anchor South Station Skyscraper
Boston's real estate community expects Salesforce to be the anchor office tenant at Hines' planned tower at South Station.
www.bisnow.com
I was thinking on a more granular scale. If they start with the central tower, a portion of that will have its foundation supports where the waiting area is now and some over tracks 4 through 10 (maybe). Would they begin by building up the stub columns between the tracks? Then what about the waiting area? It is a crowded space to begin with. How do they work between tracks with moving trains?
odurandina
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They will be doing demo and some type of excavating and foundation work late nights (of course) for a year or so..... then, eventually get to building the first couple of floors (also in the wee hours).
Then some massive added layers of protection. But the trains will run with only a few track shutdowns....
Slow beginnings for sure.
re; Tim Logan
Fast turnaround
www.bostonglobe.com
Tim Logan - GLOBE
It has been two decades in the planning, but a skyscraper atop South Station is finally set to start construction next month.
Developer Hines closed this week on an $870 million construction loan from a British hedge fund, according to documents filed in Suffolk County. That would finance a three-phase project that would eventually put 2.5 million square feet of office space, condos, and a hotel atop the station’s railbed and bus terminal — a fantastically complex endeavor that could turn Boston’s busiest rail hub into a construction site for years. But when completed it would transform a whole corner of downtown.
contd
Then some massive added layers of protection. But the trains will run with only a few track shutdowns....
Slow beginnings for sure.
re; Tim Logan
Fast turnaround
A skyscraper is headed for South Station in downtown Boston. Work starts next month - The Boston Globe
The project will be fantastically complex and it will take years to complete. When it’s finished, a 678-foot tower of condos and office space will rise above the platform between South Station’s historic terminal and its rail lines.
www.bostonglobe.com
Tim Logan - GLOBE
It has been two decades in the planning, but a skyscraper atop South Station is finally set to start construction next month.
Developer Hines closed this week on an $870 million construction loan from a British hedge fund, according to documents filed in Suffolk County. That would finance a three-phase project that would eventually put 2.5 million square feet of office space, condos, and a hotel atop the station’s railbed and bus terminal — a fantastically complex endeavor that could turn Boston’s busiest rail hub into a construction site for years. But when completed it would transform a whole corner of downtown.
contd
whighlander
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What I saw recently was that the original Chinese funding source Hines was working with is out -- Dutch funding source is in. The story above says British -- well Brits or Dutch its more solid at this point than Chinese moneyThey will be doing demo and some type of excavating and foundation work late nights (of course) for a year or so..... then, eventually get to building the first couple of floors (also in the wee hours).
Then some massive added layers of protection. But the trains will run with only a few track shutdowns....
Slow beginnings for sure.
re; Tim Logan
Fast turnaround
A skyscraper is headed for South Station in downtown Boston. Work starts next month - The Boston Globe
The project will be fantastically complex and it will take years to complete. When it’s finished, a 678-foot tower of condos and office space will rise above the platform between South Station’s historic terminal and its rail lines.
Tim Logan - GLOBE
It has been two decades in the planning, but a skyscraper atop South Station is finally set to start construction next month.
Developer Hines closed this week on an $870 million construction loan from a British hedge fund, according to documents filed in Suffolk County. That would finance a three-phase project that would eventually put 2.5 million square feet of office space, condos, and a hotel atop the station’s railbed and bus terminal — a fantastically complex endeavor that could turn Boston’s busiest rail hub into a construction site for years. But when completed it would transform a whole corner of downtown.
contd
odurandina
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Is any type of slurry wall installation required with the site prep?
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HelloBostonHi
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Globe:
"A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said the agency and Hines are still finalizing how best to phase in construction. A plan is expected “within weeks,” said spokesman Joe Pesaturo, who noted that work “will begin on the far end of the platforms, having little or no impact on T operations.”
“As the project enters future phases, there will be some changes in pedestrian paths of travel within the station but train schedules will not be impacted,” Pesaturo said in an e-mail. “Changes to paths of travel will be communicated to South Station customers well in advance.”
The tower, which is expected to take four years to build, is designed to minimize disruption, rising from a podium that will be built above the passenger platform, with a series of archways that tie into a foundation built beneath the station when it was renovated in the 1980s."
"A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said the agency and Hines are still finalizing how best to phase in construction. A plan is expected “within weeks,” said spokesman Joe Pesaturo, who noted that work “will begin on the far end of the platforms, having little or no impact on T operations.”
“As the project enters future phases, there will be some changes in pedestrian paths of travel within the station but train schedules will not be impacted,” Pesaturo said in an e-mail. “Changes to paths of travel will be communicated to South Station customers well in advance.”
The tower, which is expected to take four years to build, is designed to minimize disruption, rising from a podium that will be built above the passenger platform, with a series of archways that tie into a foundation built beneath the station when it was renovated in the 1980s."
F-Line to Dudley
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No. The air rights support anchors were poured at track level during the 1989 station renovation. They're spaced at 35 ft. intervals between each track, non-platform side. See them here:
The deep-poured concrete medians between tracks support the weight of the overbuild, and the support beams plug over and are fixed to those visible anchor stumps like lego bricks. No subterranean work required. They can bring in the pegs on freight rail flatcars and install/affix them entirely on the overnight shift. That's the easy part. The temp protective podium over the station so they can start working above is where it gets a bit more complicated in terms of staging around pairs of track outages.
whighlander
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HelloBos -- makes sense
Also -- thanks to F-Line for the update on the old foundation work and the use of rail at night for the materials delivery -- still have to store the materials somewhere near ---- somewhere*1
Big question there need to be materials brought in and staged so that the eventual BIG Crane(s) can access them -- so where does that occur
and while we are on the topic [one of my and I'm sure several others favorites] -- How about Cranes -- where will they go??
Further unanswered question -- I'm assuming that the raised podium which is the "Foundation" for much of the project -- not just the main tower -- will all be constructed at one time [at least until the podium reaches the Bus Station]
Perhaps that is to what old-Joe of the T is referring when he talks about the ends of the platforms being effected first
*1
Sure would make life easier if the PO was to finally surrender and move to the other Side of Summer St. down by the Reserve Channel
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odurandina
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The main tower/Office & Residential looks speculative, taking years might work to their advantage. Figure the hotel & retail to be a smash hit; therefore, reducing the risk. They can always delay or slow the pace for Phase 3.
My God, the amount of track going under cover for the retail hotel & is incredible.
Bring EMU's.
Have you seen the layout for the amenities and retail? imo, this project is going to radically transform how people live & interact with the rail and bus transit hub. It could be the catalyst for Parcels 25 & 26a/b to join 150 Kneeland, 1 Greenway & possibly 125 Lincoln--thus, expanding the urban core into the Leather District.
This building is probably harder to gauge in terms of its visual impact on this area of Downtown....... 7 >180m skyscrapers all within a stone's throw of each other is going to be insane. Have we fully considered how it'll interact with the fully built out Station, Kneeland St parcels and Winthrop Square?
Looking at the above render, i don't necessarily think people, but the most rabid nimby's/(and they can pound eternal sand) will sling much negativity toward this building at all.
One thing i wonder more about, is the street wall running up to the Bus Terminal, and how it changes the aesthetic of Atlantic Ave.
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whighlander
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The office portion is phase 3. Residential, Hotel & retail (Phases 1 & 2), expected to take years is probably will probably go a long way to managing risk. Figure the hotel & retail to be a smash hit. They can always delay or slow the pace for Phase 3.
Have you seen the layout for the amenities and retail? imo, this project is going to radically transform how people live & interact with this rail and bus transit hub. It coul be a catalyst for Parcels 25 & 26a/b to join 150 Kneeland, 1 Greenway & possibly 125 Lincoln, expanding the urban core into the Leather District.
This building is probably harder to gauge in terms of its visual impact on this area of Downtown 7 >180m skyscrapers all within a stone's throw of each other is going to be insane. Have we fully considered how it'll interact with the fully built out Station, Kneeland St parcels and Winthrop Square?
Looking at the above render, i don't necessarily think people, but the most rabid nimby's/(and who gives a rats ass about them) will sling much negativity toward this building at all.
Odurandina -- South Station -- Winthrop, Verizon and State Street will provide vistiors arriving at Logan a whole new First view of Boston -- of course the old standbyes of Customs House, International Place, etc., and the lower stuff will still be there -- but the new Big Kids on the Block will transform the view
Only need the Aquarium Garage Tower to complete the transformation