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

From Cambridge
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My favorite photos of this development are from Charlestown, where in the foreground is pure mid/late-1800's and in the background, are high rises in a newly revitalized neighborhood.
 
Boston02124 said:
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I agree that we need some taller buildings to break up the plateau, but one thing people havent mentioned is we need some shorter buildings too to create the step back effect from the water to what we already have. Both have their place in breaking up the monotony and buzzcut effect.
 
HarvardP said:
Unsure if it's open already, but Arclight is closing their theaters. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/arclight-cinemas-and-pacific-theatres-to-close
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Arclight at Hub on Causeway opened in Nov/Dec 2019. I saw ~10 movies there by the time the pandemic struck—I must’ve been their #1 patron. I actually almost cried yesterday when I read the news about Arclight closing shop. Boston was so blessed to land one; they really were the cream of the crop for film enthusiasts and industry filmmakers.

I am very concerned about the adverse impact not one but two new theater closures in downtown Boston will have on food/service industry establishments’ ability to draw customers. Cinemas historically incubated foot traffic that supported local restaurants, boutique shops, and other services. The losses of Arclight and Showcase Icon Seaport will unfortunately elongate the recovery of the restaurants in their neighborhoods.

Fuck this pandemic!
 
dshoost88 said:
Arclight at Hub on Causeway opened in Nov/Dec 2019. I saw ~10 movies there by the time the pandemic struck—I must’ve been their #1 patron. I actually almost cried yesterday when I read the news about Arclight closing shop. Boston was so blessed to land one; they really were the cream of the crop for film enthusiasts and industry filmmakers.

I am very concerned about the adverse impact not one but two new theater closures in downtown Boston will have on food/service industry establishments’ ability to draw customers. Cinemas historically incubated foot traffic that supported local restaurants, boutique shops, and other services. The losses of Arclight and Showcase Icon Seaport will unfortunately elongate the recovery of the restaurants in their neighborhoods.

Fuck this pandemic!
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These theater spaces are highly customized, and there's no real market for more retail, so hope can rest in the idea of another cinema opening in one or both of the two shuttered locations in the next 4-5 years.
 
HarvardP said:
These theater spaces are highly customized, and there's no real market for more retail, so hope can rest in the idea of another cinema opening in one or both of the two shuttered locations in the next 4-5 years.
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Much likelier that it's been retrofit as research space in 4-5 years.
 
Equilibria said:
Much likelier that it's been retrofit as research space in 4-5 years.
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I hear you, but do you really think the market for outside-of-the-home entertainment won't rebound after the pandemic? I think people will be craving things like this, it's more a matter of whether the system can tolerate vacant space long enough so that it can intersect with that opportunity.
 
I saw a preview of Birds of Prey at the Arclight last February; it was the second-to-last theater I went to before the shutdown. It is a beautiful space.

Only tangentially related: another chain that closed down is Cinemagic, which while small ran almost all the large cineplexes in southern Maine and NH (including the only two IMAX screens up here).
 
bigpicture7 said:
I hear you, but do you really think the market for outside-of-the-home entertainment won't rebound after the pandemic? I think people will be craving things like this, it's more a matter of whether the system can tolerate vacant space long enough so that it can intersect with that opportunity.
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Actually, I thought Arclight of all cinemas would survive because they could make a living on midnight screenings, classic films, and some lingering demand for nostalgic cinema experiences. The writing's on the wall for this whole industry, though. By 2023 no major release will be through anything but the studio's streaming service.
 
Equilibria said:
Actually, I thought Arclight of all cinemas would survive because they could make a living on midnight screenings, classic films, and some lingering demand for nostalgic cinema experiences. The writing's on the wall for this whole industry, though. By 2023 no major release will be through anything but the studio's streaming service.
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Similar writing was on the wall regarding printed books when eReaders came out.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Similar writing was on the wall regarding printed books when eReaders came out.
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Borders is gone and B&N is perpetually hanging by a thread (mostly by selling an eReader). I don't think that example proves the point...
 
Equilibria said:
Borders is gone and B&N is perpetually hanging by a thread (mostly by selling an eReader). I don't think that example proves the point...
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I wasn't talking about stores. I was talking about consumer preference for a particular type of experience (reading a physical/paper book, vs. an eBook). I believe it's fairly well known that, while eBooks certainly sell, they did not have the armageddon-type effect on paper book production that some thought would occur. In fact, there's strong data that a sizable market for paper books will endure:
www.cnbc.com

Physical books still outsell e-books â and here's why

Do you prefer reading an e-book or a physical version? It might be a surprise, but for most people, old school print on paper still wins.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com

The analogy I am drawing is that there still may be a strong market for the theater experience, even if not as large as previously.
 
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Equilibria said:
Actually, I thought Arclight of all cinemas would survive because they could make a living on midnight screenings, classic films, and some lingering demand for nostalgic cinema experiences. The writing's on the wall for this whole industry, though. By 2023 no major release will be through anything but the studio's streaming service.
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I think as long as exhibitors get a fair shot to make theatrical releases post-COVID, there will continue to be an appetite for going to the movie theater. Remember, everyone, it was literally only two summers ago when Avengers: Endgame became the fifth most popular theatrical release globally of all time. People crave the opportunity to have a shared experience that is not replicable in a VOD-only world. The recent theatrical release of Godzilla vs. Kong is a noteworthy example of that appetite: with a $358 million global box office tally (and counting), Variety reports the big-budget flick has actually made a profit!

I apologize sincerely if my mourning of the Arclight sounds off topic, but I'm willing to defend my point that future trends with the film industry and theatrical exhibition have very big impacts on our built environment and the way we can engage with it. Summer 2020 should've been a banner year for Arclight and the Hub on Causeway development. While programs like Shared Streets and al fresco dining were a huge win during the pandemic to reconnect people with walking around our cities, the loss of urban theater houses threaten to diminish that momentum and hurt the opportunity for people to induce demand to our cities in the first place. It's one thing if Amazon turns Revere Showcase Cinema De Lux off US-1 into another fulfillment center (which also sucks, BTW). If the exhibitors continue to close shop across our communities, we all lose. We lose the opportunity to collectively shout, "OMG!" when Captain America wields Mjolnir; to cheer when George knocks out Biff with a single punch to the face; to laugh when the bridesmaids experience the rapture in the bridal shop; to cry when the toys face imminent doom in the incinerator.

We shouldn't wait 3 or 4 years for an exhibitor to reopen the Arclight North Station. More than 50% of MA adults have received their first vaccine doses... we really should be 'back to work/normal' in 3 to 4 months.
 
Speaking of not being the banner year (sorry) it should have been, has the Hub Food Hall said anything recently?
 
What a damned shame! 😡 It was a great place! They built from scratch to create something beautiful…a great place to see a movie. Did not even have a six month run. The businesses in this city have been ravaged. Will take years to recover…if that is ever possible.
 
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