South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

rjacobs said:
In terms of taller-than-landscraper buildings (by Boston standards, so... >300', here's my potentially-inaccurate tally of what could be in the pipeline IF these projects get off the wait list':

1. Back Bay Station tower #1 (residences) 34 stories ~413' (approved Nov, 2017)

2. 135 Broadway: MXD Residential Building South (33 stories?) 365’ or 395’ (pending approval)

3. Back Bay Station tower #2 (offices) 24 stories 390' (approved Nov 16, 2017)

4. 380 Stuart Street/JHT #3/Back Bay 26 stories 390' (approved 11 Nov 2015; resold)

5. Residential tower on MIT's Volpe Sq site: 30 stories (382' currently, but possibly up to 500')

6. 290 Tremont St. (Parcel P-12C): 350' (according to BLDUP, but looks like 250, no?)

7. Fenway Center, PHASE 2 (Summer 2021; decking will take 2 years, then 2 more years for vertical construction): 337 to top of mech [but Boston Globe wrote 350’ in April,‘21)

8. One Kenmore Square (560 Commonwealth); hotel: 314’

9. Motor Mart Garage (201 Stuart St) 310’ (not sure if this is to mechanical)

10. The Huntington/Fenway: 400' (allegedly starting tower construction in mid-2022? Time will tell).
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If you're including ones that are proposed but not approved, there's the potential 350-footer at 51 Main in Cambridge...
 
rjacobs said:
In terms of taller-than-landscraper buildings (by Boston standards, so... >300', here's my potentially-inaccurate tally of what could be in the pipeline IF these projects get off the wait list':

1. Back Bay Station tower #1 (residences) 34 stories ~413' (approved Nov, 2017)

2. 135 Broadway: MXD Residential Building South (33 stories?) 365’ or 395’ (pending approval)

3. Back Bay Station tower #2 (offices) 24 stories 390' (approved Nov 16, 2017)

4. 380 Stuart Street/JHT #3/Back Bay 26 stories 390' (approved 11 Nov 2015; resold)

5. Residential tower on MIT's Volpe Sq site: 30 stories (382' currently, but possibly up to 500')

6. 290 Tremont St. (Parcel P-12C): 350' (according to BLDUP, but looks like 250, no?)

7. Fenway Center, PHASE 2 (Summer 2021; decking will take 2 years, then 2 more years for vertical construction): 337 to top of mech [but Boston Globe wrote 350’ in April,‘21)

8. One Kenmore Square (560 Commonwealth); hotel: 314’

9. Motor Mart Garage (201 Stuart St) 310’ (not sure if this is to mechanical)

10. The Huntington/Fenway: 400' (allegedly starting tower construction in mid-2022? Time will tell).
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BU Data Sciences is gonna be 305'
 
bigpicture7 said:
If you're including ones that are proposed but not approved, there's the potential 350-footer at 51 Main in Cambridge...
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True, and to top off the list:
  • 11-21 Bromfield | 23 stories | 345’ (under review)
  • One Mystic | 29 stories | 334’ (under review)
  • 300 Exchange | 23 stories | 321’ (approved, apparently starting this year)
  • Hook Wharf Hotel | 26 stories | 305’ (under review)
  • EDGE Assembly Square | 18 stories | 305’ (under review)
  • MGH CSP – 4B Tower | 12 stories | +/-302’ (under review [the mechanical space seems excessive on this one])
And also since it's early in construction there's the CarGurus tower at 325'.
 
rjacobs said:
In terms of taller-than-landscraper buildings (by Boston standards, so... >300', here's my potentially-inaccurate tally of what could be in the pipeline IF these projects get off the wait list':

1. Back Bay Station tower #1 (residences) 34 stories ~413' (approved Nov, 2017)

2. 135 Broadway: MXD Residential Building South (33 stories?) 365’ or 395’ (pending approval)

3. Back Bay Station tower #2 (offices) 24 stories 390' (approved Nov 16, 2017)

4. 380 Stuart Street/JHT #3/Back Bay 26 stories 390' (approved 11 Nov 2015; resold)

5. Residential tower on MIT's Volpe Sq site: 30 stories (382' currently, but possibly up to 500')

6. 290 Tremont St. (Parcel P-12C): 350' (according to BLDUP, but looks like 250, no?)

7. Fenway Center, PHASE 2 (Summer 2021; decking will take 2 years, then 2 more years for vertical construction): 337 to top of mech [but Boston Globe wrote 350’ in April,‘21)

8. One Kenmore Square (560 Commonwealth); hotel: 314’

9. Motor Mart Garage (201 Stuart St) 310’ (not sure if this is to mechanical)

10. The Huntington/Fenway: 400' (allegedly starting tower construction in mid-2022? Time will tell).
Click to expand...

A lot of 300 footers for the Back Bay. I like it!
 
rjacobs said:
Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing every time I see the steel grid taking shape. Like a living space, it feels like just an extra 5-10 feet of space the current ceiling line would make a major difference (certainly a far cry from the vaulted spaces that define many of Europe's finest train station hubs). Hopefully it won't feel claustrophobia-inducing once it is finished. (I imagine there are architectural constraints at work, but I have no knowledge).

Hopefully the more open-aired entrance archway will be done as well as promised in the visuals.
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Are there visuals of the archway out there other than the 1-2 that have been shown here? I haven't been able to locate any (although I'm sure they are out there).
 
I'm all for infill, but this is depressing... so many 300-400' and nothing significant to stand out and make a statement. I just so desperately want to get something larger than Hancock, approaching 1000'. This city's skyline is great- dense, quite filled-in, but nothing stands above the rest to make a real statement. I dream of one at the garage by Dalton (where Bukowski's is- maybe combined with that open triangular air rights parcel next to it) and one down by North Station area.
 
I'm really sad to see that this current phase and the future phases of this project appear to be encasing the commuter rail platforms in concrete. One of the best experiences I've ever had in train travel is to arrive at a terminal station like South Station and have an airy entrance to a city.

I'm thinking of Gare du Nord, Waterloo and Saint Pancras, hell even Tokyo Station's bullet train platforms have a view to the sky. Nothing in the master plans seems to say that they'll be able to keep that important element to this space.

The Northeast Corridor seems to have this problematic feature at many of its main stations Philadelphia Thirtieth Street, New York Penn, Boston Back Bay and soon Boston South will all be concrete and steel coffins around the platforms with no connections and maybe marginal architecture that signifies an arrival to a place.
 
I wouldn't exactly call the former train arrival point glamorous... especially with the deteriorating condition of the platforms/overhangs and bad patch-jobs. Track 1 had that plywood scaffolding for years!

If you view the platform and new archway area as a prolonged exit of the train, and then the route through South Station and out the front doors as the introduction to Boston, that itself is a pretty nice experience! Exit through an "old world" station with lots of amenities right onto Dewey Square with the Financial District towers around it...
 
MjolnirMan said:
I wouldn't exactly call the former train arrival point glamorous... especially with the deteriorating condition of the platforms/overhangs and bad patch-jobs. Track 1 had that plywood scaffolding for years!

If you view the platform and new archway area as a prolonged exit of the train, and then the route through South Station and out the front doors as the introduction to Boston, that itself is a pretty nice experience! Exit through an "old world" station with lots of amenities right onto Dewey Square with the Financial District towers around it...
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I don't look on with any nostalgia for the state of disrepair. (I have managed to not catch that local bug.) But, with the new developments it seems like yhe progression from platform to concourse to station building and into Boston is like a mad dash into the sunlight and open air. I would hope for a better experience than that.
 
ra84970 said:
I don't look on with any nostalgia for the state of disrepair. (I have managed to not catch that local bug.) But, with the new developments it seems like yhe progression from platform to concourse to station building and into Boston is like a mad dash into the sunlight and open air. I would hope for a better experience than that.
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I would have loved that too! However, the South Station Train Shed was demolished in the 1930's, I believe. I think the hope of having a grand entrance like a European Station died with them removing the shed.

I just hope those large arches that you see in renderings located between the current waiting area and the platforms are nice and airy. I've only seen ONE rendering from that location, and that worries me a bit.

1619895211232.png
 
Java King said:
I would have loved that too! However, the South Station Train Shed was demolished in the 1930's, I believe. I think the hope of having a grand entrance like a European Station died with them removing the shed.

I just hope those large arches that you see in renderings located between the current waiting area and the platforms are nice and airy. I've only seen ONE rendering from that location, and that worries me a bit.

View attachment 12642
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Just imagining that there's all this light coming in from clerestory windows and such. I'm worried that the renderings show all the internal lighting but nothing of the natural light.
 
www-archpaper-com.cdn.ampproject.org

In Boston, the new South Station tower will bring much-needed transit upgrades

The new South Station tower designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli broke ground last year, and once it's finished, will come with a host of infrastructure upgrades
www-archpaper-com.cdn.ampproject.org www-archpaper-com.cdn.ampproject.org

“Renderings by Pelli Clarke Pelli show a grand new concourse for the transportation center with vaulted ceilings, recalling the great American and European trains stations from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

We shall see. The article uses the same ONE image of the concourse.
 
Java King said:
www-archpaper-com.cdn.ampproject.org

In Boston, the new South Station tower will bring much-needed transit upgrades

The new South Station tower designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli broke ground last year, and once it's finished, will come with a host of infrastructure upgrades
www-archpaper-com.cdn.ampproject.org www-archpaper-com.cdn.ampproject.org

“Renderings by Pelli Clarke Pelli show a grand new concourse for the transportation center with vaulted ceilings, recalling the great American and European trains stations from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

We shall see. The article uses the same ONE image of the concourse.
Click to expand...

The rendering of the vaulted ceiling reminds me a bit of a less ornate New York City Hall subway station:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Hall_station_(IRT_Lexington_Avenue_Line)
 
Suffolk 83 said:
REALLY hoping it will come out as nice as the renderings as it seems like it could be a let down irl
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I think the real issue is how many kiosks and advertising crap the MBTA fills the space with. I always think of 30th Street in Philly--it's such a great space, wide open and you can enjoy the scale and the visual clarity of that space. The MBTA is really only interested in putting as much revenue generating stuff everywhere.
 
DwnTwnr said:
I think the real issue is how many kiosks and advertising crap the MBTA fills the space with. I always think of 30th Street in Philly--it's such a great space, wide open and you can enjoy the scale and the visual clarity of that space. The MBTA is really only interested in putting as much revenue generating stuff everywhere.
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I believe, at least at one point. South Station had the most advertising per square foot of every train station in the country. That said - still nowhere near the level of Japanese stations. I'll take all the ad revenue we can get if it gets us closer to that level of service.
 
It can be reserved for private travel.

babblingBrook-3.jpg


https://www.aaprco.com/rail-car/babbling-brook/

I had a friend who formerly owned Tamalpais, a private car, originally used as a business car for the Santa Fe railroad. Link below has photos. (Blog post is not by him and I think is by a subsequent owner.) Blogger's description of these private cars being a financial black hole is very true, as AMTRAK requires these be mechanically maintained to AMTRAK standards.
https://chasingtrains.smugmug.com/Awordaboutyoursponsor/Private-Railway-Car-Tamalpais/

Santa Fe 33, also known as the Tamalpais, is a business car, built by the Pullman Manufacturing Company in 1923 for the Atchison-Topeka Santa Fe (A.T.S.F.) Railroad. It is a heavyweight, riveted all-steel car, with a Mission Revival interior of quarter sawn white oak, built-in cabinets, trim, and paneling.

This car, [Tamalpais] also known as Business Car (BC) 33, was originally used by A.T.S.F. executives in the Los Angeles Coastal Division Office of the A.T.S.F. to conduct railroad business along their routes, to investigate derailments, collisions, track washouts, and to conduct business with shipping clients and financiers. The Business Cars were non-revenue producing cars used strictly for railroad use. The A.T.S.F. railway during the late 1880’s to the early 1920’s was a reliable, expansive transportation network serving the produce and other industries and travelers in California. During this period, business cars were a virtual necessity for railroad Operating Department officials.

BC 33 is the oldest and only non-revenue, Pullman-built BC in existence approved for Amtrak passenger service with interior and exterior restoration integrity. Its Amtrak assign number is 800233.
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I didn't take any pictures, but I gotta say, the expanded outdoor concourse is going to be a huge circulation improvement. I guess I didn't realize it think about them filling in the ends of the existing tracks nearest the existing building. Much better flow.

The fact the I see steel sticking up 20-30 feet out of the ground and columns rising is a sight for sore eyes at this location..

Just rode the train in for the first time in probably at least 10 months.
 
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