Re: South Station Tower
There sure is a lot of confidence out there about why things are the way they are.
IMO, the development of the car was a significant factor. Over the past 30 years, this City deserved better planning in public transit -- as an example, there is and was no excuse for CAT/Tunnel not creating a North Station-South Station rail link along a portion of the tunnels.
My #1 issue with the BRA (under the Mayor's direction) is that it has pushed Boston far in the direction of being a work and entertainment destination for suburban residents rather than ensuring residential growth to coincide with the trend toward development of new office space and destination commercial.
This "destination City" and car-centric approach was entirely a political decision at the Mayor's office and City Council (predominately fear of demographic shifts caused if large blocs of new residents moved in) and has been hastened by the advocacy of organizations and agencies including the Chamber of Commerce, NAIOP, Artery Business Committee (defunct), BCEC, et. al. The result has been a loss of street life -- particularly on nights and weekends.
The excuse that developers were hamstrung by the economics of financing is a load of BS. We've gone through decades of bullish and bear markets. There was plenty to be made building residential towers considering the margin between land purchase price and zoning changes available if some progressive planning had been done by the BRA with the Mayor's support, but we've seen offices and hotels. That is predominately what was built, and that is what will be built.
And in the small pockets where a modicum of residential was built -- Millenium Place for example, the area is thriving far better than say, Downtown Crossing closer to Summer Street.
There sure is a lot of confidence out there about why things are the way they are.
IMO, the development of the car was a significant factor. Over the past 30 years, this City deserved better planning in public transit -- as an example, there is and was no excuse for CAT/Tunnel not creating a North Station-South Station rail link along a portion of the tunnels.
My #1 issue with the BRA (under the Mayor's direction) is that it has pushed Boston far in the direction of being a work and entertainment destination for suburban residents rather than ensuring residential growth to coincide with the trend toward development of new office space and destination commercial.
This "destination City" and car-centric approach was entirely a political decision at the Mayor's office and City Council (predominately fear of demographic shifts caused if large blocs of new residents moved in) and has been hastened by the advocacy of organizations and agencies including the Chamber of Commerce, NAIOP, Artery Business Committee (defunct), BCEC, et. al. The result has been a loss of street life -- particularly on nights and weekends.
The excuse that developers were hamstrung by the economics of financing is a load of BS. We've gone through decades of bullish and bear markets. There was plenty to be made building residential towers considering the margin between land purchase price and zoning changes available if some progressive planning had been done by the BRA with the Mayor's support, but we've seen offices and hotels. That is predominately what was built, and that is what will be built.
And in the small pockets where a modicum of residential was built -- Millenium Place for example, the area is thriving far better than say, Downtown Crossing closer to Summer Street.
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