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

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

Did you ask them why the residential tower was chopped down from the approved 600' height?
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

lexicon506 said:
Did you ask them why the residential tower was chopped down from the approved 600' height?
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Neighborhood opposition


EDIT: For the record, Boston Properties is very pro-iconic, pro-height, and pro-different per their sentiments during the meeting. It does not seem at all as if they are worried about going big on a project like this; remember this is the same developer constructing Salesforce Tower in San Francisco (1,000-footer at a train station). They told me they'd of been pleased to build a Salesforce Tower here if they could.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

^But it was approved at 600ft? Oh whatever, who cares. The office tower is great, and that spire is killer. That is the vantage point we want when coming into the city. The residential tower looks good, better than the taller version. In fact, it's better short with the spire on the office tower. And for the height enthusiasts, the spire looks like it is pushing the overall height over 600ft.

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

Hmm well that escalated quickly. I dig the new office tower.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

dshoost88 said:
Neighborhood opposition


EDIT: For the record, Boston Properties is very pro-iconic, pro-height, and pro-different per their sentiments during the meeting. It does not seem at all as if they are worried about going big on a project like this; remember this is the same developer constructing Salesforce Tower in San Francisco (1,000-footer at a train station). They told me they'd of been pleased to build a Salesforce Tower here if they could.
Click to expand...

What I don't understand is this: If the project was already approved for a 600' tower, then what "neighborhood opposition" was there to worry about? Were they worried about a long, drawn out possibility of the neighborhood NIMBY's suing to stop the project? What is probably the real answer lies right there in their presentation plans shown tonight, it shows a maximum height of 420' for the towers, based on the "structural capacity" (?) of the podium. Is this the real reason for the shorter tower?
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Huge improvement. I feel confident that a little further refinement for it and the crown on the office tower will lead to a fantastic result.

Specifically:

  • That spire could use a bit more heft. Not a lot- a subtle change will make a big difference.

  • I'd also like to see the crown step back from Causeway Street as well- not just from the tower sides as seen in the current iteration.
Overall, a very positive step in the right direction.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Looks pretty good, much better than the birdcage on top of the other render.

If I was there I would ask them and the BCDC how the hell can we hope to solve the housing crisis in this city if we cut hundreds of units from every project because someone somewhere gets their panties in a bunch over a tower 25% taller than the one approved.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Yea not gonna lie I went a complete 180 on this tonight. The way it stands now I will be perfectly happy with this being built. When I saw that first tan massing model I was like WTF IS THAT they made it worse, but then I saw the actual renders and it looks great. Yes its not the greatest thing of all time but compared to what we were looking at this is very good now. As it stands right now we are getting a ridiculously improved ground level experience compared to what is there now, plus these buildings looks pretty good. All around win.

I mentioned in the past that this skyline could use a couple spires to spice up the skyline and it looks like were now were getting one. There are no developments with spires anywhere that I am aware of in the pipeline right now. The office tower looks so good now that you don't even notice anymore that the residential kind of sucks and thats fine. The spire draws your eye to it and becomes the main focal point and Im glad we got some extra cheater "height" from this. All in all this looks great....built it.

The biggest gripe from most everyone was everything in the area was going to be the same height. I think the spire fixes that problem in an elegant way.

Oh yea and dhoost THANK YOU!
 
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Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

dshoost, thanks for taking the time to update us on aB. Great job!!
This is really turning out to be an exciting project and a great addition to the city.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The office building is definitely an improvement, and I love the inspiration from the Old Garden. Hats off to tobyjug for calling this back in October:
tobyjug said:
Wish the "crown" on the office building had a reference to the art deco massing and flagpoles that were on the corners of the old Garden. [...]
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I still wish the residential building were taller (all the way up to the approved 600 feet), partly for aesthetic reasons but primarily for the practical reason that Boston needs more housing and this is the perfect place to put it.

Did they specify at the meeting where exactly the tallest occupied floor will be? Going off of this render, I could imagine it being at the top of any of the three setbacks.
dshoost88 said:
IMG_2762 by Derek Shooster, on Flickr
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Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The office tower is rounding into shape very nicely. I'm still surprised and disappointed that they are going so conservative with the residential.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Great improvements.

I'd love to see a slanted roof on one of the sides the office tower, and I'd still like to see it slimmer. Overall though it's a lot better than what we had before.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

JumboBuc said:
Did they specify at the meeting where exactly the tallest occupied floor will be? Going off of this render, I could imagine it being at the top of any of the three setbacks.
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Yes, so the tallest occupied floor will be beneath the first setback (i.e. where the blue labeled "1" ends on the quoted pic in your post). The black, metal-looking setback atop this will be almost entirely mechanical suite, incorporating some sort of wind turbine component (a la 888 Boylston).

A BRA/BCDC rep requested that the 3D model hollows out the crown/setbacks to reflect they are not occupiable floors since it's not exactly clear from looking at it.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Well it's better for sure. I still hate the two different bases.

Reminds me of the NBC Tower in Chicago
NBCTower-009.jpg
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

dshoost88 said:
Yes, so the tallest occupied floor will be beneath the first setback (i.e. where the blue labeled "1" ends on the quoted pic in your post). The black, metal-looking setback atop this will be almost entirely mechanical suite, incorporating some sort of wind turbine component (a la 888 Boylston).

A BRA/BCDC rep requested that the 3D model hollows out the crown/setbacks to reflect they are not occupiable floors since it's not exactly clear from looking at it.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks. If that's the case, the spire should be right around 600 feet.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Mongo said:
Looks pretty good, much better than the birdcage on top of the other render.

If I was there I would ask them and the BCDC how the hell can we hope to solve the housing crisis in this city if we cut hundreds of units from every project because someone somewhere gets their panties in a bunch over a tower 25% taller than the one approved.
Click to expand...

LOL. Nobody in the city government (who matters) gives a shit about that problem.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The new spire will definitely make for a more appealing entryway to the city from the north....add some dramatic lighting, and we have a winner.

If I were the mayor, I would issue a new request to developers which reads: All highrise projects submitted for consideration shall strive to include "expressive tops", and some sort of lighting component on top shall be included as well...... Surely, if we are the worlds' epicenter of learning and knowledge, shouldn't our skyline reflect more of the future than the past?
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Is anybody else surprised that this is already before the BCDC? I think of BCDC approval as being one of the final steps before a building breaks ground (ex: Government Center Garage), but these phases are supposedly still years away. Maybe my perception is off, maybe this is being approved earlier than is typical, or maybe BXP is closer to starting on these towers than they previously let on.

Also:
lapradetom said:
If I were the mayor, I would issue a new request to developers which reads: All highrise projects submitted for consideration shall strive to include "expressive tops", and some sort of lighting component on top shall be included as well...... Surely, if we are the worlds' epicenter of learning and knowledge, shouldn't our skyline reflect more of the future than the past?
Click to expand...

But don't most places of "learning and knowledge" base their style distinctly in the past? Look at libraries and the Ivy League and Oxford and Cambridge and Hogwarts. People tend to associate education and learnedness with Classical and Gothic architecture, not spires and lights.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I think he means when you are at your school with its gothic architecture you look up and see a bunch of lit up spires in the distance as like a beacon calling you to prosperity once you graduate.
 
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