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

Deetroyt said:
So they knocked it down to appease neighborhood opposition, even tho it was approved at 600'? I kno I should drop the height issue, and this will be my last post on the subject, but I don't see why they lowered the height from what was approved. Why do they care about neighborhood opposition if it's already approved? Are they hoping to build another tower in the area and want to get on the neighbors good side? I just don't get it and it wouldn't bother me so much at other locations but this is a unique spot and even tho I like the latest renders and I was hoping for something more iconic here. Won't get the chance to do this over.
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I doubt this was a direct response to the neighborhood. Remember that there was a change in administrations between the approval at 600 feet and the final approval of designs and commencement of construction. The only logical explanation is that the Walsh administration asked Boston Properties to lower the height as the new administration's concession to the neighborhood.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Czervik.Construction said:
Whoa... Don Law. Haven't heard that name in years. He's still around?
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He's only still around in the sense that he owns the Boston Opera House and controls what plays there, has the management deal at the Orpheum and controls what plays there, controls the Blue Hills Bank (nee Bank of America) Pavilion and controls what plays there, owns the Great Woods venue (is it back to its original name?) and controls what plays there... other than that, not much going on, just another anonymous baby boomer who should've retired years ago, just like Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary.

[the nerve of those boomers, thinking they have the right to be relevant into their 70s!]
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

While i too am disappointed that they did not goto full 600 feet it sounds like by total structure height (not heighest occupied floor) these will both be over 150 meters. For any city that is relevant and certainly for boston. By 6 or 7 years ago standard these would be big deals. It says a lot about current boom.

Between this and the government center garage project the skyline is going to extend out really nice to td banknorth garden and all the way down to (sigh) seaport. Its going to look great. Now if only the harbor garage towers could be done it would totally charge up that part of downtown (but obviously that will never happen #nimbylife)
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Oh and a 790 footer right in middle of it all at winthrop square would cap it off amazing

Walsh please make it happen
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Phases 2 and 3 approved by BCDC.

Beware: crappy, zoomed-in photos below.

Residential: A few changes. The facade pattern has been refined, and some of the glass has been adjusted to a more transparent type (they used the building on the left in this image, 500 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, as an example)

Updated design on the right in these images:






Hotel: They are close to securing an operator. They didn't name the company, but based on their piecemeal clues I believe it will be CitizenM. The brand has a focus on public art, which could be expressed on the hotel tower a la the art on the Hancock:



Office: Changes up top and bottom. The spire has been made more substantial. (I asked for a height figure, they're remaining quiet about it. I thanked them for adding one to the skyline.)

Kinda reminds me of a smaller version of the new Comcast tower under construction in Philly.





Potential lighting scheme:


Some refinements towards separating the tower and podium:
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I have to say they really managed to pull the designs together much better and while I am disappointed about the loss of height in the residential tower the office tower's improved design and spire is so much better than the earlier versions.

Also the resemblance to the new Comcast tower spire in Philly is crazy the massing for the spires is almost the same. I really like how they gave the spire more heft it helps to make it actually stand out as an element of the design and not just an antenna.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Downburst thanks for the update. Great stuff is a comming.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I love their use of the term skylobby for the floor right above the podium. Yeaaah, 6 floors up and we're in the sky!
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

timsox6 said:
I love their use of the term skylobby for the floor right above the podium. Yeaaah, 6 floors up and we're in the sky!
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The definition of skylobby is any lobby transfer floor that is not on the ground floor. The tower's tenant(s) will be kept separate from the podium tenant(s). The Hyatt in DTX has a skylobby on Level 3 of Lafayette Place and is accessed by shuttle elevators from the ground.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

TD Garden -- needs a nice big LED Screen on the side near to the entrance to the O'neill tunnel

During events at the "Gahdin" they could link the screen to the Central Display inside and when nothing was going on inside -- play some historic "Havlicek Stole the Ball," "Bobby Orr!!!!"-- along with recent Bruin and Celtics highlight video, artistic creations, mixed with some Times Square type Ads to pay for running it
 
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Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

They proposed that a while back. The city or state rejected it as a danger to traffic.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

statler said:
They proposed that a while back. The city or state rejected it as a danger to traffic.
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Statler -- I would guess it was DOT -- probably some Fed regulation for interstate highways

However, the display could be located and oriented in such a way that highway drivers would only have a fleeting glimpse a kin to a static billboard, while pedestrians on the Greenway and Canal St. walking toward the Hub on Causeway and to/from the North End and Lovejoy Wharf would be able to stop and stare for a while if they wanted to, as well as crowds gathering along Causeway St. who might be watching an out-of-town hockey or basketball event.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

statler said:
Ah, here it is.
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Stateler -- so it was the city that rejected it based on neighborhood opposition

Howerver, reading the article it seems that the proposal was to put it on the back side of the building -- not where the pedestrians would be located
City rejects Garden video billboard
Objections ranged from traffic concerns to 'just plain ugly'

By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | July 28, 2006

Boston city officials said this week they have rejected TD Banknorth Garden's plan to erect a giant video billboard on its building after hearing strong opposition from neighborhood groups.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority formally turned down the billboard because the city allows such signs only in designated entertainment areas, a BRA spokeswoman said.

When the proposal became public in December, it included a 7-foot-tall, 240-foot-long message strip and a centerpiece 80-foot-wide screen, which would have made it one of the largest in the city. It would have been among the last things visible to motorists entering Boston from the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge on Interstate 93......

.....Several neighborhood groups met with city officials and sent letters in opposition to the project. The Charlestown Waterfront Coalition called the billboard proposal a source of ``profound concern," and wrote that, if carried out, it would ``irreparably harm our open space at Paul Revere Park, the National Historic Park, and in the Navy Yard.".....

``We get proposals all the time" for light-up billboards and other electronic signs, said Jessica Shumaker, spokeswoman for the authority. ``The only place they're allowed is entertainment districts" -- Lansdowne Street near Fenway Park and the theater district.
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First new Mayor in town and new BRA -- 2nd if they allow it next to Fenway it would be hard to deny it next to the "Gahdin"
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

There's a lot of ways that this development could make an even better contribution to the life of the city - but providing commuters the opportunity to watch tv while driving their cars is not one of them.



Also, wgbh tried the same thing out in the pike, and were required to just use the screen for slow slideshows .... Video not allowed
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I think Whigh is saying it should be on the side parallel with the highway, not facing it. That might be workable. Yeah, you could still see it from a car, but it wouldn't be in direct line of sight as you are driving.
 
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