South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

[shmessy]

Re: South Station Tower

It looks a little better in the high-res render, But I still don't like it (from this angle). The setback could be either higher or lower and look better. As of right now, it really looks awkward.

I also love how pleasant the rendering makes the space in front of the Fed look. Inviting even.

One word.

And one word only.

Spire.

 

[TheRifleman]

Re: South Station Tower

I don't like it.

 

[dirtywater]

Re: South Station Tower

One word.

And one word only.

Spire.

I was thinking the same thing. A spire on this one would help to balance out the transition from the wide bottom to the more slender top. Can someone try their hand at a photoshopped image with a spire? Of course, the FAA restrictions probably dooms this to an academic exercise.

 

[Jahvon09]

Re: South Station Tower

Does anyone have a map plan showing just exactly where the planned footprint is for the tower to be built on?

 

[novacat]

Re: South Station Tower

I wonder if the general trend for larger more open work spaces that promote interaction is the driving force of the change...it looks like the office floor plans are substantially larger. I'm sure this is tenant driven but this trend for more productive work spaces come at the expense of visually appealing.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Re: South Station Tower

Sort of looks like this building is giving us the finger.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Re: South Station Tower

Oh, and I am pleasantly stunned that this thing is finally moving forward. I bet it will look great coming north on I-93.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Re: South Station Tower

Does anyone have a map plan showing just exactly where the planned footprint is for the tower to be built on?

Right over the tracks between the bus terminal building and the headhouse. When the station was rebuilt in the mid-90's, all of the space between tracks between the island platforms had stubby concrete columns built at regular intervals in the middle. Those are the pilings, driven deep into the ground, that would be extended upward to hold the air rights deck for building the tower. You can trace the footprint of the parcel by the alignment of those pegs. It's basically a right trapezoid shape going from the north wall of the bus terminal to the station terminal overhang. Go on Google maps, take this shape, spin it 90 degrees counterclockwise, and overlay it on top of the open-air platforms and you've traced out the extent of the air rights provision:

Whether they use all of the space set aside in the decking provision is up to the developer, but that's what was set aside for air rights 20 years ago.


BTW...the extra platforms being designed on the Post Office land for South Station Expansion are not going to be part of this tower parcel. That's either another completely different air rights parcel altogether next door to the tower that they can bid out at later date, or something they can plop a nice pedestrian plaza on top of for spanning the tower and the backs of the new row of Dot Ave.-facing buildings expected to go up on the non-station portion of the Post Office land. All of that still TBD with however SSX design shakes out, but it's not all that costly to drive more of those between-track pilings so they'll probably cover their bases same as before.

Also...the pilings don't impact the North-South Rail Link tunnel and station siting, which are 100 ft. below ground way way below any load-bearing base. The tunnel/station alignment is most likely going to pass right underneath Dot Ave., the seawall for the Channel, and the new building row on Dot Ave. With those buildings being more of a squat storefront/office row with shallow basement not much taller than the current Post Office.

 

[TheRifleman]

Re: South Station Tower

It would be a GREAT place for a SOUTH STATION CASINO.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: South Station Tower

Like with most people it got a little fatter over the last decade.

 

[Mike]

Re: South Station Tower

The Globe article says construction to start later this year wow. Who would have thought just a few months ago that this project would get underway before Winthrop Square or even One Broomfield? Not a fan of the awkward design though. I'm glad it changed from the old one - I thought it looked dated - but this is not what I was hoping for.

 

[stick n move]

Re: South Station Tower

Its essentially the same tower design just thinned out a ton up top and widened at the bottom. Im guessing this is because theyre resubmitting to get office on the lower floors and condos on top?

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Re: South Station Tower

The Globe article says construction to start later this year wow. Who would have thought just a few months ago that this project would get underway before Winthrop Square or even One Broomfield? Not a fan of the awkward design though. I'm glad it changed from the old one - I thought it looked dated - but this is not what I was hoping for.

Construction could just mean the necessary first steps at lengthening the pre-existing piling stubs into 20 ft. tall columns or whatever. Something they can peck away at nice and slow, column-by-column on the night shift with absolutely no impact to trains. It could be years before they actually get around to erecting the deck on top of the pegs, much less have anything ready for construction starts on top. And lengthening the pilings is low-risk prep that involves negligible sunk cost if the developer backs out and the project vanishes like so many preceding tower proposals that ended up total teases.

 

[whighlander]

Re: South Station Tower

Construction could just mean the necessary first steps at lengthening the pre-existing piling stubs into 20 ft. tall columns or whatever. Something they can peck away at nice and slow, column-by-column on the night shift with absolutely no impact to trains. It could be years before they actually get around to erecting the deck on top of the pegs, much less have anything ready for construction starts on top. And lengthening the pilings is low-risk prep that involves negligible sunk cost if the developer backs out and the project vanishes like so many preceding tower proposals that ended up total teases.

F-Line -- You are completely off-base on this prediction -- its not even close -- just like you headed for 2nd before the pitcher started the motion and he just turned and threw to 2nd

The Chinese Investors coming into the mix says -- this is happening very very soon

Senior Chinese money is getting nervous and the best defense is a good offense -- i.e. buy or build in the USA

Expect that since the foundation work is essentially done that the tower begins to rise this time next year

Although I will concede that the challenge is getting to the status of a completed deck so that work can go on while the trains run underneath

By the way do we know if its a steel frame or is it poured concrete ?

 

[whighlander]

Re: South Station Tower

I wonder if the general trend for larger more open work spaces that promote interaction is the driving force of the change...it looks like the office floor plans are substantially larger. I'm sure this is tenant driven but this trend for more productive work spaces come at the expense of visually appealing.

Novacat -- Exactly that's why the winning design for 111 federal is the one that incorporates the adjacent brutalist monstrosity footprint -- aka TransNational / Belkin

 

[whighlander]

Re: South Station Tower

I was thinking the same thing. A spire on this one would help to balance out the transition from the wide bottom to the more slender top. Can someone try their hand at a photoshopped image with a spire? Of course, the FAA restrictions probably dooms this to an academic exercise.

Dirtywater -- here are two potential patents that I'll give away freely that solve the problem of architectural features and building height

1) It's a balloon -- if a plane comes -- you just deflate it -- this one doesn't work for radar obstruction
1a) added after further thought -- Actually -- you can make the balloon radar obstruction free -- It can be cloaked as in Star Trek -- this has been done in 3D already for radar wavelengths -- the radar sees nothing as the beams all pass around the spire as if it was not there

2) its a Hologram -- there is nothing there but a 3D image -- you can make a spire or even a faux structure taller than anything in Dubai and the FAA can't object

Indeed with invention #2 -- the entire building could be underground, or there might not even be a real structure at all --- except for a small footprint for the projection system

 

[citylover94]

Re: South Station Tower

The abrupt thinning on this reminds me of a centered version of the FMC Tower which also happens to be a Pelli design and has a huge setback part of the way up at the transition to residential from office.

FMC Tower

New South Station Render

 

[odurandina]

Re: South Station Tower

....Although I will concede that the challenge is getting to the status of a completed deck so that work can go on while the trains run underneath....

This is going to be amazing watching them work that ballet.

Does the fattened footprint mean the other 2 towers have been sacked?

 

[stellarfun]

Re: South Station Tower

First nine floors seem related to transportation, retail, mechanicals? etc.

then 26 floors of office

16 top floors are condos.

^^^^ Phase 1

Phase 2 is to expand bus station capacity.

_____________________________

I'll bet a high percentage of the condo buyers have frequent flyer miles on Cathay Pacific, Hainan, etc.

 

[citylover94]

Re: South Station Tower

After looking more closely I don't think the bottom got any fatter I think the top got thinner. Just compare the buildings in these renderings to South Station.

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