South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

Re: South Station Tower

Yeah, does someone with inside knowledge have an explanation for this?
 
Re: South Station Tower

Part of a (failed) pitch for GE's HQ?

The building looks dreadfully bland. I also dislike how it relegates the train station to a chair rail.
 
Re: South Station Tower

I disagree I think the tower looks great, we don't really have anther tower like this that is glass with step backs leading into a crown. That being said..... 1. Ill believe it when I see it. 2. This is still tangled in the NSRL mess so....Ill believe it when I see it.

Also..... LIT CROWN! (whenever tf it happens)

bstn-wtrfrnt.jpg


Here is the "new" (better quality) render that is up now.

south-station-rendering_hres_web.jpg


IF this ever gets built Boston will be the city of slanted crowns, which is cool in a way because its distinguishable. Kind of how Chicago has a lot of twin spires, nyc has a lot of single spires, I guess well be the city with these. Works for me.
 
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Re: South Station Tower

Is someone from here running that buildup site? It seemed to get updated right after this
 
Re: South Station Tower

davem said:
I agree the tower should go along the fort point, with a train shed reconstructed above the tracks. I'd also like to see that park along Atlantic Ave between the train and bus terminals developed as a midrise, with an actual concourse to connect the two instead of narrow track 1's platform.


IIRC, the train shed's demise was the mixture of the sea air with corrosive soot from the engines, along with lack of maintenance. Personally, I'd love to see the shed reconstructed using galvanized steel and low-e glass. It would be beyond gorgeous. I've yet to do it, but I've been tossing around the idea of virtually rebuilding it according to those plans. I also wish they would restore the awning that used to run along Summer and Atlantic. They were integral to the structure and there from day one, and would provide a great waiting area for buses and taxis. Not to mention some awesome signage could be placed on top.
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Davem -- Expansive and thoroughly enjoyable romp through an era in history we shan't see again

Note at the time of its dedication, a bit over a century ago, South Station was the largest and busiest railroad station in the world with up to 1200 trains per day using the myriad of tracks


Ultimately to bring back the train shed today the problem posed by corrosion on exposed steel is still severe. While the corrosion of the steel wouldn't be extra severe as the coal smoke is gone, unless you electrify everything coming into the station you still need to deal with salt air with some aerosol acids accelerated corrosion on exposed metal. No one would recommend galvanized steel -- it needs to be stainless steel or some expensive cupro-nickel marine alloy.

The best mix of the past and the future is to recreate the train shed in electrochromic glass with a structure of Titanium alloy which is resistant to sea air and acids
 
Re: South Station Tower

617 said:
I agree with this assessment but two things I want to add. 1. USPS appears to be planted where they are with no plans to move. 2. There seem to be many other parcels of land in and around the seaport that are currently used as surface lots...directly next to 315 on A is a random parking lot (I think it's usps employee parking, so again more land wasted by one entity) plus numerous other lots near necco st and Gillette that could support thousand of housing units IMO. Boston needs to start building more aggressively.
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617 you accidentally contradicted your main point about USPS

No one was ever going to make the World Shaving HQ site smaller either -- and then along came GE and voila -- suddenly it was great to chose your neighbors

I'll bet GE can help with moving the USPS along in their decision process seeing as GE would much rather look at something except the back end of USPS 18 wheelers

2 years and USPS is gone
 
Re: South Station Tower

From the Hines page:

"With commencement of construction anticipated in early 2017, South Station is destined to become a future landmark in Boston."
 
Re: South Station Tower

Im waiting on an official announcement before I believe anything. That being said when this was under construction before didn't they start the pilling work? If they did hopefully that means there isn't a ton of prep work before this goes into the air.
 
Re: South Station Tower

Neither the USPS relocation or NSL is required for the construction of the tower. It was all about landing a tenant, and I bet that the GE move across the channel has something to do with it. Hines's website was definitely updated in the last couple of weeks at the very most.
 
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If thats true I wonder if they will house some of there employees here across the street and keep the big whigs in the world hQ on fort point with the sign, helipad, public art space...etc. They are within walking distance of one another so who knows. I realize this is grasping at straws, time will tell.
 
Re: South Station Tower

What was the height on this? I kind of remember something around 623'...can anyone refresh what the "rooftop" (including mechanicals) height is....
 
Re: South Station Tower

gravedigger4444 said:
What was the height on this? I kind of remember something around 623'...can anyone refresh what the "rooftop" (including mechanicals) height is....
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The 2006 proposal had 621 Feet as the height with 41 stories. The new proposal has 49 floors so it will probably a good bit higher. If I had to make a guess it will be somewhere around 700 feet. In comparison the Pru tower has 52 floors. The renders on the Hines site are the same as the ones that were proposed in 2006. I can't wait for the official announcement on this to see the new renders.
 
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Re: South Station Tower

TheBostonian said:
From the Hines page:

"With commencement of construction anticipated in early 2017, South Station is destined to become a future landmark in Boston."
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As far as i know this was beer approved by the bra or design commission and I'm highly skeptical that this website "update" was anything other than some dutiful worker brushing up the portfolio to look like they mean business on all their projects. 2017? Puh-leaze.
 
Re: South Station Tower

Maybe not everyone sees the ridiculousness of this statement. It is some silly developerspeak to say that South Station will only become a landmark when this is built.

TheBostonian said:
From the Hines page:

"With commencement of construction anticipated in early 2017, South Station is destined to become a future landmark in Boston."
Click to expand...
 
Re: South Station Tower

May need to email the BRA if by the end of this week there is no official announcement. Honestly this is one place I don't think higher is better seeing that it is the furthest point of the skyline. Would look weird if this was around 700' and then the skyline just dropped off a cliff to the seaport on the other side. Either way I don't really think this is anything, but well find out.
 
Re: South Station Tower

As far as i know this was beer approved by the bra or design commission and I'm highly skeptical that this website "update" was anything other than some dutiful worker brushing up the portfolio to look like they mean business on all their projects. 2017? Puh-leaze.
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Read the FAA report which is fairly recent (Feb 1, 2016). Sounds like things are moving in the background on this one. It also seems that it is height maxed out at 677 feet.

From Page 1 the FAA determination letter:

Any height exceeding 677 feet above ground level (690 feet above mean sea level), will result in a substantial
adverse effect and would warrant a Determination of Hazard to Air Navigation.
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May need to email the BRA if by the end of this week there is no official announcement. Honestly this is one place I don't think higher is better seeing that it is the furthest point of the skyline. Would look weird if this was around 700' and then the skyline just dropped off a cliff to the seaport on the other side. Either way I don't really think this is anything, but well find out.
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You people are fucking ridiculous sometimes. Are we now in the let's decide what should be tall / not tall phase of aB based on it's appearance from 10 miles outside the city?
 
Re: South Station Tower

^ Hmmm interesting. Type001 may have just unearthed some huge news before it even had time to make it to the public.
 
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