South Station Tower | South Station Air Rights | Downtown

Re: South Station Tower

stoweker said:
HInes has literally nothing to do with Columbus Center nor did they abandon anything on copley not sure what that is about? It also doesn’t matter how skilled you are as a developer if your counter party is a government bureaucracy that can’t get out of its own way.
Click to expand...

Yeah I messed up on that one. I think I transitioned from thinking specifically about Hines to generally and forgot to actually show that in my writing.
 
Re: South Station Tower

I am sorry being both naive and lazy, but how does the MBTA hold this up again?
 
Re: South Station Tower

isn't it the post office what/who is holding things up and this extension being proposed by the mbta is just being done in order to not kill the current proposal outright?
 
Re: South Station Tower

type001 said:
how does the MBTA hold this up again?
Click to expand...

i assume the answer involves

What parts/details of the construction plan don't satisfy the MBTA, Amtrak, DOT, etc.... ??

Having dozens of trains and 1,000s of pedestrians passing underneath with a skyscraper rising, all while acting basically invisible presents an extraordinarily delicate and complex task, no?
 
Re: South Station Tower

^Thanks, that sounds right/familiar.
 
Re: South Station Tower

Is the MBTA even really the hold up here, though? I thought it has been mainly on the developer and the MBTA simply has been continuing to grant them more time for the air rights while they try to get it together.
 
Re: South Station Tower

bakgwailo said:
Is the MBTA even really the hold up here, though? I thought it has been mainly on the developer and the MBTA simply has been continuing to grant them more time for the air rights while they try to get it together.
Click to expand...

It's tough to say where the hold up is. They are dealing with multiple government agencies. Often times one change starts the process all over again. And no one has decision authority, everything has to go up. And then someone retires, or there is an election, or a reorganization or it has to go to committee, and the committee only meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, except this month the 3rd Tuesday follows a full moon so they don't meet until next month. And then next month there is no qourum because Suzy-Q's kid is sick so she had to leave... and then once it is approved it goes over to the next agency and they reject something or make a change ...and on and on and on it goes.

I was in a company once that went into a death spiral waiting 3 years for a complex deal with multiple government agencies and their respective unions. It's unbelievably frustrating and inefficient.
 
Re: South Station Tower

Weren't the piles already put in place with the big dig here, so when its time to go its go time and you dont have to wait through 6 months of pile driving before anything happens?
 
Re: South Station Tower

Weren't the piles already put in place with the big dig here, so when its time to go its go time and you dont have to wait through 6 months of pile driving before anything happens?
Click to expand...

You're still going to need to close down platforms for some period of time while construction work is active directly above. You can't have pedestrians directly wandering under spots where multi-ton steel beams are being hoisted.
 
Re: South Station Tower

meddlepal said:
You're still going to need to close down platforms for some period of time while construction work is active directly above. You can't have pedestrians directly wandering under spots where multi-ton steel beams are being hoisted.
Click to expand...

Yea obviously if your building an entire skyscraper over train tracks, I never implied otherwise. Just saying we shouldn't have it where it takes half a year to drive piles before anything even leaves the ground.
 
Re: South Station Tower

dotdude78 said:
https://www.bisnow.com/boston/news/...spat-with-city-state-and-hines-87940?rt=57807
Click to expand...

This honestly reads like more MBTA incompetence. This project has been in the works for so long and is providing much needed improvements to the station. Yes, construction will suck but maybe just once the state shouldn't bleed the project dry. And I'm no friend to big developers who clean up when they build crappy buildings, but in this case it's a decent building and will really help an awful train station.
 
Re: South Station Tower

I still have newspaper articles that I saved for this tower from 1998 back when it was over 900' with the spire. And Millennium Place was just getting underway around this time (spring 1998) ... can't believe we're still waiting.
 
Re: South Station Tower

900 feet with the spire in 1998? Wow.

An innocent question from a guy who didn't move to Boston till 2005: how was something for 900' ever allowed or even considered given Logan-related restrictions? Has something changed since then that makes the new limit closer to 700'?

Apologies in advance if I've missed something obvious.
 
Last edited:
Re: South Station Tower

It was considered just like the Belkin 1000’ winthrop sq. tower was considered. Neither were going to happen. Mayor Menino himself was promoting the 1000' winthrop sq. tower.


trans_national_group_133_federal.jpg


1180145581_3533.jpg


070315rudolph2lg.jpg


4202295498_c7be61cc7f_o.jpg


4202295510_46511ffd16_o.jpg









All I can find for the old tower is the version where the spire was removed. Its basically been taken off the internet and my old photos don't work anymore, but Im sure somebody on here has it saved. It was basically this with a massive spire off to one side of the crown.

bstn-wtrfrnt.jpg


1151582522_1271.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: South Station Tower

I also remember the new tallest proposal from 1998. I thought it was 840' though. I know there are pics of it somewhere online but I can't seem to find them right now.

However, I did find this one from 1990! Dodged a bullet! Credit to Getty Images and the Boston Globe.

Capture by David Z, on Flickr
 
Re: South Station Tower

If you want to see the 840 version, just go to skyscraperpage and look at the old diagram model for SST. It will give you a good idea how it was supposed to look.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top