South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

A separate thought:
Didn't Phil Eng recently appoint a Chief of Stations (or some such title)? In that case I am curious the bounds of that person's purview, in particular with regard to the larger stations that have a public/private partnership component for their concourses and retail areas (SS, NS, Back Bay, etc). It could be those areas are entirely outside this person's job scope, but I think that would be a mistake -- even if private leasing agreements restrict this person from having any official authority over those areas, they could still have an reviewing/reporting/recommending job function to call attention to issues with those areas. I hope that's the case.
 
That's an interesting question. The Globe's and WBUR's coverage at the time was 100% focused on preventing any more of the Harvard Square ceiling from falling down, so I'm not sure if Eng's had to answer that question publicly.

Does anyone know how that chief of stations position deals with leased real estate? Like, would his purview run from the Silver/Red mezzanine to the doors of the stairs up to South Station, and from the CR platforms to the doors of the waiting area? Or does he get to push the real estate division around, too?
 
Java King said:
I had to travel down to NYC for business last week. After arriving and departing at the new Moyniham Train Hall in NYC, South Station seemed tired, dark, and a little dirty. I had about 30 minutes to walk around South Station Concourse while waiting for my Greenbush train. I used to just love hanging out at South Station, but this time, I wasn't impressed. However, I realize that so much is walled off and under construction because of the tower. A Cafe Nero Express has replaced the Starbucks, but all the other food vendors seemed like they needed a refresh.

I sure hope that something is done AFTER the South Station Tower is completed to spruce up the South Station Concourse so it's a pleasant waiting area again. :)

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I included this photo of Nantasket Junction just for fun. Both West Hingham and Nantasket Junction have these big solar panels over the parking area.
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Moynihan is indeed much sleeker, but I'll take the fundamentals of having a gd place to sit.
 
Aprehensive_Words said:
I doubt it. Michelle Wu's office looks out on Faneuil Hall, and there's a quote in the Globe's story where she says, essentially how staring at the place every day made her mad given the deferred maintenance and her *creative differences* with Ashkenazy. Seems like the kind of crazy-making thing that would motivate you to pull every lever you've got, if you were a politician. And neither Maura Healey nor Monica Tibbits-Nutt have to look at the South Station waiting area every day.

Which is all to say, the people who matter most here probably have bigger fish to fry at the moment!
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.....but there will be alot of rich residents and white collar workers in that skyscraper going up over it. I would give this some patience - I can't imagine the station would not get improved big time.
 
bigpicture7 said:
A separate thought:
Didn't Phil Eng recently appoint a Chief of Stations (or some such title)? In that case I am curious the bounds of that person's purview, in particular with regard to the larger stations that have a public/private partnership component for their concourses and retail areas (SS, NS, Back Bay, etc). It could be those areas are entirely outside this person's job scope, but I think that would be a mistake -- even if private leasing agreements restrict this person from having any official authority over those areas, they could still have an reviewing/reporting/recommending job function to call attention to issues with those areas. I hope that's the case.
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Dennis Varley - - he seems to be a mover (not a placeholder) - and given it is a brand new job position created by Eng, I'd say they are as serious as a heart attack on this. I'm guardedly optimistic.:

"With over 30 years in the transit industry, Dennis Varley is the MBTA’s new Chief of Stations, a newly created role with the critical responsibility of ensuring all MBTA stations provide riders and employees with the safest and best user experience. The Chief of Stations ensures station safety, security, and cleanliness. The role will also address station concerns raised by riders and employees and ensure in-station customer communications are clear, timely, and informative. The Chief of Stations’ efforts will help to avert recent station issues such as the ceiling incidents on the Red Line and the standpipe issue at Charles/MGH station.

With diverse managerial experience in both operations and administration, Varley comes to the MBTA most recently from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), where he served in high-level engineering leadership roles, including Deputy Chief Engineer, Assistant Chief Engineer-Structures, and Assistant Chief Facilities Operations Officer. Within these previous roles, Varley ensured a number of different Authority goals, including that department-wide safety programs were in place and adhered to, that daily operational issues were managed, and by directing and supporting the development of departmental strategies and goals. Varley also brings to the T robust experience in rider, public, municipal, and stakeholder engagement. Previous to his time at the MBTA LIRR, Varley began his career in the public transit sector in various roles for the MTA New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA)’s Facilities & Environmental Operations team and Division of Material. Varley holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Adelphi University.

“I’m excited to join the MBTA and look forward to assisting General Manager Eng and the team in their continued efforts to improve the T’s stations and infrastructure,” said Varley. “Together, we can help bring the system into a state of good repair that riders, the public, and the workforce are proud of.”
 
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Sorry I don't have a picture but the structure for the escalator in to the bus station extension from the arches has been installed.
 
I really like the tower from most angles, but from this one I almost wish it was closer to the street corner. Visually it looks kind of thin compared to how wide the big South Station entrance is.

Something else I've always wondered, is the masonry for SS intentionally that color? It looks almost like you could power wash it and make it ten shades brighter.
 
That’s that color of (that type of) granite. Doesn’t look especially “dirty” to me, but like all buildings of a certain age it probably could do with a wash I guess? It looks way brighter/cleaner than it was pre-renovation in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. Like the rest of the station it could use a refresh as that was 35 years ago now but it’s not over the top discolored on the exterior imo. That’s just pink granite.
 
Java King said:
A few more from this past Thursday. I like the way they framed the tower coming through the pedestrian passage in the first photo. Do you think they thought about that, or is it a happy accident? LOL

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Great pix! “Happy accident” (of those to options) I’d guess.

Great proportions. V nice to not have another fat, squat “tower” downtown. I’m glad it’s as skinny as it is and doesn’t follow the width of the station itself. The PanAm/Met Life tower is as wide as Grand Central and that looks like shit.
 
chrisbrat said:
Great pix! “Happy accident” (of those to options) I’d guess.

Great proportions. V nice to not have another fat, squat “tower” downtown. I’m glad it’s as skinny as it is and doesn’t follow the width of the station itself. The PanAm/Met Life tower is as wide as Grand Central and that looks like shit.
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Agreed, though it's also worth noting that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, there's going to be 'mid-rise towers' (by Boston standards) flanking much of SS's length to the right of the tower. Will be interesting to see how those structures look from that vantage point:

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rjacobs said:
Agreed, though it's also worth noting that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, there's going to be 'mid-rise towers' (by Boston standards) flanking much of SS's length to the right of the tower. Will be interesting to see how those structures look from that vantage point:

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I hope the 2 mid-rise towers don't end up as lab or office space. One of them was supposed to be residences or a hotel, which is much more desirable than lab or office space IMO.
 
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themissinglink said:
I hope the 2 mid-rise towers don't end up as lab or office space. One of them was supposed to be residences or a hotel, which is much more desirable than lab or office space IMO.
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idk, this seems like the place I would most want lab or office--directly on top of one of the major commuting hubs from the suburbs. It's a more efficient use of space than residential given all the suburban train lines that converge there, and would likely drive more ridership than a few hundred additional housing units (and that's coming from someone who thinks there should be way more housing downtown)!
 
Don't you think have a hotel immediately adjacent to Amtrak services would be a nice thing for tourists wanting to stay in Boston?

The fact that both of those are probably desirable uses shows just how important South Station is--and this is before a hypothetical, so-obvious-that-of-course-they-won't-do-it-in-our-lifetimes NSRL. Boston could be even taller and denser; makes me miss it, and all of New England, all the more.
 
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