State Transportation Building Redevelopment | Theater District

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393b40

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So this is probably a long ways off, but if they're starting to talk about it now I assume more news will likely follow over the next few years. Here is a place to track it:

According to the Boston Globe, MassDOT is considering selling the building: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/11/13/transportation-building-holds-interest-for-emerson/0INo9TzVu2YYLViv64lkTN/story.html

The article names Emerson as a potential suitor, but I highly doubt Emerson could afford the property by itself.

Personally, I hate the exterior of this building so much. On the other hand, I've always kind of liked the interior food court with the huge open atrium.

Not sure what could be built here with the concern for shadows on the Common.
 
Not sure what could be built here with the concern for shadows on the Common.
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My guess is that the W and Ritz are good benchmarks. The Transpo's a half block closer than either though and directly south as opposed to the easterly Ritz, so could be a bit shorter. I'd assume Emerson is looking at this as more of a target of opportunity, than as an immediate need to expand. That could give us a decade of same old same old, possibly with a renovation. I don't think we'll see a tower anytime soon.
 
Emerson is already building a dorm on Boylston Place (closer to the common too) which I think is going to be pretty tall.
 
This has the potential to be something great. Hopefully it's sold and knocked down at the first chance...hopefully not to Emerson though. This real estate is way too prime for the whole thing to go to them.
 
Doesn't Suffolk hold art classes there? I believe they have an entire floor to themselves, in which case they could be a potential suitor too.
 
kz1000ps said:
Doesn't Suffolk hold art classes there? I believe they have an entire floor to themselves, in which case they could be a potential suitor too.
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This is actually one time where I agree with the comments on the Globe story: it'd be better to sell it to a private developer since they would pay taxes on the property, whereas Suffolk and Emerson would not.

If a private developer buys this plot, it's going to be mega lux--potentially the place for something like St.Regis or Peninsula to make their entrance into Boston--and then the commenters will be back to whining about the lack of affordable units. But they did have this one good idea/point!
 
Great to hear this is in the (potential) works. Hate this building. It sits on top of former Carver Street (which they should restore), and Edgar Allen Poe's birthplace. It's also a hideous pile.
 
Christ that is a massive building... It would be nice to break up the block a little bit
 


Hopefully, the next one on the auction block! The wasted space in this building alone is probably worth many millions never mind the entire footprint this hulk takes up!
 
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atlantaden said:


Hopefully, the next one the auction block! The wasted space in this building alone is probably worth many millions never mind the entire footprint this hulk takes up!
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The Lindemann is actually an awesome building, but is extremely poorly maintained and horrifically designed for the population it serves. Actually for any population since it's cold and sharp inside and basically unfit for human beings. But the design still is cool as hell. The chapel inside is truly amazing.
 
It would be a fantastic medieval fortress. As a government services building, it is the worst.
 
Well the unemployment / "govt service" part is bad enough, but I meant the Lindemann, housing the mentally ill in a building that has interior walls sharp enough to cut your hands if you lean on them and is filled with dark passages and a dark, unpatrolled plaza is pretty fucking shitty.
 
I've been going to the STB 1-4 times a week for work for over 30 yrs now .never liked this building except for its lively food court with 8 story atrium, I've been to the Lindermann building many times also, great structure but the worse on the inside of any state building downtown
 
FK4 said:
The Lindemann is actually an awesome building, but is extremely poorly maintained and horrifically designed for the population it serves. Actually for any population since it's cold and sharp inside and basically unfit for human beings. But the design still is cool as hell.
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OT but .. can this be salvaged? I'm thinking of the brutalist library down at MCLA that got a bunch of new glass curtain walls + some carpet and bright lighting and ended up looking like a gem. What would it take for the lindemann? Does the 'frog face' side get glassed in? What kind of infill in the courtyard (riffing on the originally-proposed) tower, with potentially a spanning glass roof? And is there anything redeemable on the Cambridge St and Staniford facades? What if the footprint were extended to the edge of cambridge st over that shitty concrete path and you built something medium tall above?

So much potential, and so much squandering - would hate to conclude that this had to get scraped and clean slated.

Also - its fucking bullshit that the plazas on Merrimac and Cambridge St have been turned into half-assed parking lots....
 
CSTH said:
OT but .. can this be salvaged? I'm thinking of the brutalist library down at MCLA that got a bunch of new glass curtain walls + some carpet and bright lighting and ended up looking like a gem. What would it take for the lindemann? Does the 'frog face' side get glassed in? What kind of infill in the courtyard (riffing on the originally-proposed) tower, with potentially a spanning glass roof? And is there anything redeemable on the Cambridge St and Staniford facades? What if the footprint were extended to the edge of cambridge st over that shitty concrete path and you built something medium tall above?

So much potential, and so much squandering - would hate to conclude that this had to get scraped and clean slated.
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I think with a ton of renovation it could be fixed. The problem is, I also would love to see some amount of street grid restoration around here, which if done on this site would compromise the monumental aspect of the building. If one part is saved it should be either the rotunda or the part facing the ONeil Building.

Also - its fucking bullshit that the plazas on Merrimac and Cambridge St have been turned into half-assed parking lots....
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That is the BIGGEST piece of shit. Fences and parked cars. What a joke. Looks like complete shit.
 
FK4 said:
Great to hear this is in the (potential) works. Hate this building. It sits on top of former Carver Street (which they should restore), and Edgar Allen Poe's birthplace. It's also a hideous pile.
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I believe that the site of Edgar Allen Poe's birthplace was further down Carver Street, on what is now Charles Street South. It existed until the 1950's and pictures show it next to the NSTAR Substation (what is now an empty NSTAR Lot, 62 Charles Street South (then Carver).
 
JeffDowntown said:
I believe that the site of Edgar Allen Poe's birthplace was further down Carver Street, on what is now Charles Street South. It existed until the 1950's and pictures show it next to the NSTAR Substation (what is now an empty NSTAR Lot, 62 Charles Street South (then Carver).
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Correct.
 
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