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

[DZH22]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

this is the very definition of letting perfect be the enemy of good.

This is the worst iteration of the project so far. It has continuously gone downhill. The current towers in particular are wretched. If this isn't the tallest structure in the area, serving as a beacon for North Station and the Garden, it's a failure.

The fact that the base has also gone downhill is what should be alarming the "we don't care about height" crowd. The base, the scale, and the tower designs themselves all scream "BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!"

 

[type001]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

It is official. BRA approval means jack sh1t now.

 

[Equilibria]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

This is the worst iteration of the project so far. It has continuously gone downhill. The current towers in particular are wretched. If this isn't the tallest structure in the area, serving as a beacon for North Station and the Garden, it's a failure.

The fact that the base has also gone downhill is what should be alarming the "we don't care about height" crowd. The base, the scale, and the tower designs themselves all scream "BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!"

The base is handsome. It could be improved, but it's attractive and well-programmed.

 

[timsox6]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I think they were right to send them back to the drawing board for this one-- I liked it a whole lot more along the lines of the original, BRA-approved design. I don't know if the BCDC is at fault for sending the developer in the wrong direction in the first place, but this thing is no longer ready for prime time. I like that we're aiming for perfection rather than "good enough." It's what Boston deserves.

 

[CBCArch61]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I think they were right to send them back to the drawing board for this one-- I liked it a whole lot more along the lines of the original, BRA-approved design. I don't know if the BCDC is at fault for sending the developer in the wrong direction in the first place, but this thing is no longer ready for prime time. I like that we're aiming for perfection rather than "good enough." It's what Boston deserves.

So I understand the desire this building be a beacon for the area and you're right, Boston deserves perfection. What is stopping the project from back tracking back to the design that was approved by the BRA? Is the original designer not in the fold anymore?

 

[stick n move]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

So we let kensingtons, waterside places, one marina park drives, get through no trouble. Then we get a masterpiece of a design, change it to this current one, and then say its not good enough. We already had the perfect design, I don't understand what the problem is. Take one step backwards to the design before this one and then build it, problem solved.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Please tell me how the fuck this is an "unimpressive entrance" to the TD Garden/North Station?!

 

[tocoto]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Time for Mahty to step in and force taller thinner buildings to retain views and make possible a really tall entrance for the public and lots of room for retailers too.

 

[Suffolk 83]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Kinda sounds like someone is in the bag from the BCDC

 

[393b40]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Someone in the know:

Do developers usually have a ongoing dialogue with BCDC during the design of a project or is literally boiled down to these "show and tell" meetings?

If it's the former and the BCDC has been telling Boston Properties / Deleware North this wasn't going to get approved in its current form then BP/DN are being run by idiots.

If it's the latter then that is monumentally stupid of the city. These are massive multi-million dollar projects and I'd be pissed if I were a developer and I could piss away millions of dollars on design only to have it denied based on a community meeting.

 

[Tombstoner]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Please tell me how the fuck this is an "unimpressive entrance" to the TD Garden/North Station?!

Sorry--without understanding or siding with the reasoning of BCDC, I have to say this does look thoroughly unimpressive. Reminds me of Bangkok malls in the 80s and abandoned downtown malls throughout the Rust Belt (just add big planters with discolored plastic trees). The renders look depressing now and I can't believe the space would age well. Obviously, everyone will have his/her own associations, and I am much older than the average aBer so my frame of reference reflects that; maybe this is as good as it will get, but it saddens me that (what I perceive as) utter, utter mediocrity here and with Millennium Tower gets people so excited.

 

[393b40]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Sorry--without understanding or siding with the reasoning of BCDC, I have to say this does look thoroughly unimpressive. Reminds me of Bangkok malls in the 80s and abandoned downtown malls throughout the Rust Belt (just add big planters with discolored plastic trees). The renders look depressing now and I can't believe the space would age well. Obviously, everyone will have his/her own associations, and I am much older than the average aBer so my frame of reference reflects that; maybe this is as good as it will get, but it saddens me that (what I perceive as) utter, utter mediocrity here and with Millennium Tower gets people so excited.

What would you prefer?

 

[FK4]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Please tell me how the fuck this is an "unimpressive entrance" to the TD Garden/North Station?!

Given that the pictures that data quoted above were from a proposal that had other pics which were vastly different from the ones in today's article, I doubt that this grand entrance (here) was what the current proposal was ---- we have to wonder if those previous decent looking renders (decent buildings, awesome entrance) were the typical bullshit bait and switch. I find it pretty hard to believe that with the mediocre garbage we've gotten in the entire Bullfinch Tri. area that this got shot down based on those past renders. But - if it did, then the design commission is insane.

 

[stick n move]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Anyone have pictures of the ones from the article?

 

[type001]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I am failing to understand why the BRA approval process comes first then.

 

[cca]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The BCDC recommended additional review last night. No action taken. Meeting focused on podium landscaping & pedestrian movement.

https://twitter.com/BostonRedevelop/status/646704580919709696

BCDC will almost always have large projects take their notes and return with a revised scheme. This is not a very big deal. Design teams in this town are prepared for it and respond pretty quickly. My guess is that they will go to committee and then get accepted in the second board meeting.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

BCDC will almost always have large projects take their notes and return with a revised scheme. This is not a very big deal. Design teams in this town are prepared for it and respond pretty quickly. My guess is that they will go to committee and then get accepted in the second board meeting.

Not sure why you quoted my post. It was not about the most recent BCDC meeting the North End Waterfront article was about. It was about a routine BCDC meeting (~2 weeks earlier) in which they requested further review, not rejected as with what happened last week.

--

I am failing to understand why the BRA approval process comes first then.

See below

The project wasn't outright "approved." It was "approved pending design review." It's a conditional approval where the BRA likes the concept enough to not put the kibosh on it, but not green-light blindly. The BCDC has to approve the design in order for it to get built; therefore, the design team must continually meet with the BCDC until they are satisfied and approve the project.

--

Given that the pictures that data quoted above were from a proposal that had other pics which were vastly different from the ones in today's article, I doubt that this grand entrance (here) was what the current proposal was ---- we have to wonder if those previous decent looking renders (decent buildings, awesome entrance) were the typical bullshit bait and switch. I find it pretty hard to believe that with the mediocre garbage we've gotten in the entire Bullfinch Tri. area that this got shot down based on those past renders. But - if it did, then the design commission is insane.

I'm not sure what you mean. The render in the North End Waterfront article is the render from the July 28, 2015 presentation I posted. Furthermore, that's definitely the entrance they were presenting to the BCDC. They even built a model of it.

See below

Boston Properties wheeled this into tonight's BCDC Meeting:

https://twitter.com/BosBizCatherine/status/638852008515141632

 

[Bubbybu]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Guess prison chic is the new hot trend. I'm seeing it everywhere...

 

[citylover94]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I'm not seeing a prison but okay...

 

[atlantaden]

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Maybe they should have left the model at home and just presented the renderings.