The Hub on Causeway (née TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Those pictures are great. I'm not going to add another, but in a slightly higher shot, you can see all the recent completed residential in the area all i none picture.

If my math is correct, that's 1,741 new units in this small area in the last decade.
Not too shabby. Plus the residential component of this project, and hopefully someday basketball city garage residential. Might have some real density here soon.
 
In the first photo the O'Neill is horribly ugly, but maybe a new facade would make it tolerable.
 
Honestly if they tore it down it would help the street grid a lot as well. The way Lomasney has to wrap around it right now is pretty weird. If they tore it down and straightened the roads I think it would be beneficial to the area.




 
stick n move said:
Honestly if they tore it down it would help the street grid a lot as well. The way Lomasney has to wrap around it right now is pretty weird. If they tore it down and straightened the roads I think it would be beneficial to the area.
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That's a nice concept/alignment, but Avalon NS comes out a bit further. Can't line the new roads like that.

(Also, nice touch keeping the last tenement)
 
We only do hyperblocks here in Boston...... :rtfm: w/ sideways deck-of-cards shaped things rising a few dozen feet above them..... apparently because someone decreed we're fucking Paris.
 
odurandina said:
We only do hyperblocks here in Boston...... :rtfm: w/ sideways deck-of-cards shaped things rising a few dozen feet above them..... apparently because someone decreed we're fucking Paris.
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It's driven by the economics of developing, unfortunately.
 
stefalarchitect said:
That's a nice concept/alignment, but Avalon NS comes out a bit further. Can't line the new roads like that.

(Also, nice touch keeping the last tenement)
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Taking into account Avalon, a nice block layout for new development to replace the O'Neill is possible:

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Call me crazy but I feel like the additional street feeding into Causeway could unintentionally cause a lot more gridlock than it would solve. The light cycle at Lomasney and Causeway is already screwy enough and a pretty long cycle from what I remember of it. A bunch of cars cutting in 50 yards down the street would be a disaster.

Just because it looks nice, doesn't mean it's functional.
 
Call me crazy but i believe the far more likely scenario would be planners taking a "sawzall" to the low section of the O'Neill Bldg, with a medium to tall highrise going up, w/ the taller section being recladded.

The economics to 'cover' would be very difficult. Short of building like, a >180m skyscraper, you're not removing the whole building..... and i don't think we're quite there yet.

But in any rational discussion, it's a perfect location for pushing FAA height....
 
DZH22 said:
Call me crazy but I feel like the additional street feeding into Causeway could unintentionally cause a lot more gridlock than it would solve. The light cycle at Lomasney and Causeway is already screwy enough and a pretty long cycle from what I remember of it. A bunch of cars cutting in 50 yards down the street would be a disaster.

Just because it looks nice, doesn't mean it's functional.
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You dont have to take the right at the light anymore. The right you would take has been moved back to the new street. Have a right turn only lane before that street. Up the street you would only take left turns at the end of Causeway. I think it would work out pretty well. Then you get a bunch of developable land and a "makes sense" street grid. I think it would work out good. You would have a light before it enters causeway so that would be solved. Then a right turn lane on the new street that feeds into causeway traffic and the other is a left turn lane. The end of causeway would be left turn only vs the cluster we have now. Have a light before this new street too where the light at causeway changes like 4 seconds before and the flow would be pretty good. Idk I like it and think it should at least be explored. Then we get a humongous chunk of new land in the "FAA golden zone" ripe for redevelopment in the already hot Bulfinch Triangle.

I like it. Youd have this whole area, plus the garage, and the parking lots to really build a new economic zone thats pretty dense with all the new development and right on transit. Only thing is you have to keep the last tenement. Thatd be a must. Seriously thought you could get a lot of buildings up in this transit oriented area, smart building, smart results. Hell even fit a lil flatiron in the wedge between the ramps and garden haha. This could be the spot where we finally get the coveted "boston art deco"...Liberty mutual but skinny high rise with a copper top and spire that Boston has needed since the 20's. Start digging.
 
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Make both of the streets one way. That could help. The street to the left towards Boston and the street to the right towards Cambridge.
 
Then fill in with high rises up to FAA surrounding the garden, widen our skyline out a whole lot, gain height, fill in even more of the urban renewal mess that has destroyed this part of the city for so long and use the land to make it actually better than it could have been. When life hands you lemons...

With all the very successful development of the Bulfinch triangle, having the TD garden, then cap it with development here and the basketball garage and this could go from the part of the city you go out of your way to avoid to the part of the city that is most modern and amazing and you want to be. Starting with North Station as the transit anchor of the area, the garden as the sporting/show draw, and Hub on causeway as the centerpiece of it all. I see something here and that something just happens to sit right on a major transit hub.

Definitely keep the last tenement building as well, Boston is all about having little easter eggs littered throughout the city its like a gta5 map I love it.
 
Oh yea and operation street wall is in full effect. We crushed it in 2017, and the best part is every proposal is much better in 2018. Its about to be another incredible year. The seaport especially has much better architecture going up now but the who city does as well. No more turds, everything proposed from here on out is very good. 1 Dalton started last year but its going to make an impact in 2018 too, this is when this thing takes off. Lets do this.


Boston02124 said:
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One-way streets invite excessive speed and should be avoided.
 
Those new parcels (in yellow) are still big + very big...

Gives an even better perspective of the absurd proportions of the O'Neill Fed.

Maybe you can get a skyscraper approved at the southwest corner. The other parcels are a bit close to the 2 residential + hotel highrises (by then) already up.... Which brings me back to my position that the tallish part of the O'Neill (or most of it) would stay put.
 
CSTH said:
What problem are we solving here, gents?
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Exactly. It is a fantasy.

Insofar as offensive government inefficient eyesores go, this site is well down the list. And unless they can obtain a significant ROI on selling and moving (e.g. Volpe), this should not a government priority.
 
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