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

[CSTH]

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

^the commercial market is all about giant open plan floor plates these days - cf.the seaport buildings have giant footprints - and it's really hard to do elegantly....

 

[Mike]

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

I notice it lists Atlantic Wharf as 436'. Can that be right?!

That jumped out at me too. I'm sure it's right. The 395' I've always seen it listed at is not including the top.

 

[Beton Brut]

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

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. Putting one in each corner might give the top a little more lift, and make the developer look less like a chubby chaser.

It looks like a steampunk coke machine.

 

[KentXie]

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

The PoMo can stay at home plz & thx.

At least those PoMo would stand out and are more interesting and intricate than these glorified boxes.

 

[tocoto]

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

As a non-architect, it seems to me that the site calls for homage to the Zakim, tall, thin elegant, with some sort of string and/or pyramid motif - then it would fit the site and the neighbors, design commission, BRA and politicos might be happier. Throw in a subtle nod to parquet and ice and...

 

[whighlander]

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

Despite all of the krap any of the proposals is worlds above the blob of the O'neill which sits squatting [like a really gross toad] on what could be the footprint of several significant buildings

 

[BeeLine]

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

^^^ For once I totally agree with you about the O'Neill. Speaking of the O'Neill the new bollards are going in along the west side of the building.
https://flic.kr/p/zX6mEK

 

[BeeLine]

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

https://flic.kr/p/zCsRJY

 

[George_Apley]

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

So what are they doing here if this is not actually approved to begin yet? Just site prep?

 

[stick n move]

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

Thank god those bollards are going away

 

[underground]

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

So what are they doing here if this is not actually approved to begin yet? Just site prep?

I believe it's just the towers that haven't been approved, but that the pedestal is good to go and that the construction plan for a while has been, "build the pedestal, then one tower, then the final tower."

 

[datadyne007]

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

I believe it's just the towers that haven't been approved, but that the pedestal is good to go and that the construction plan for a while has been, "build the pedestal, then one tower, then the final tower."

The podium is what the BCDC rejected. In terms of starting right now, this project is a no go. I think the construction vehicles were wishful thinking. Their contracts are likely being cancelled as we speak. It could return in a couple months.

 

[Suffolk 83]

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

Obviously this is somewhat subjective but I just totally don't understand this one. They couldve rejected it for the towers and I would have understood, disagreed, but got it. This just blows my mind I really liked the podium and it seems like we all did here... disappointing

 

[Equilibria]

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

The podium is what the BCDC rejected. This project is a total no go. I think the construction vehicles were wishful thinking. Their contracts are likely being cancelled as we speak.

Is it really a no-go? There are other meetings coming, and it seems like there was only one real sticking point - the mezzanine. If they get rid of that and revise based on the BCDC's comments, wouldn't they be approved next time? They can do all sorts of site prep before then, as long as the fundamental forms of the buildings are consistent.

I took the construction vehicles as a sign that BP only sees this as a temporary setback. Then again, you seem more plugged in than me.

If I'm BP, I'm sending a not-so-subtle message to Mayor Walsh that if the BCDC kills this, that's a lot of lost union work and a lot of unnecessary bad blood with one of the city's best-regarded and best-financed developers. BP has more weight here than the BCDC does.

 

[underground]

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

The podium is what the BCDC rejected. This project is a total no go. I think the construction vehicles were wishful thinking. Their contracts are likely being cancelled as we speak.

Ah, right. Sorry, I'm having trouble following the twists and turns in the epic saga this has turned into. Game of Thrones is less confusing.

 

[datadyne007]

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

Is it really a no-go? There are other meetings coming, and it seems like there was only one real sticking point - the mezzanine. If they get rid of that and revise based on the BCDC's comments, wouldn't they be approved next time? They can do all sorts of site prep before then, as long as the fundamental forms of the buildings are consistent.

I took the construction vehicles as a sign that BP only sees this as a temporary setback. Then again, you seem more plugged in than me.

If I'm BP, I'm sending a not-so-subtle message to Mayor Walsh that if the BCDC kills this, that's a lot of lost union work and a lot of unnecessary bad blood with one of the city's best-regarded and best-financed developers. BP has more weight here than the BCDC does.

It's been difficult to read the tea leaves. In the prior BCDC meetings for this project, they "recommended further review" and "took no action," but in the most recent one the result was announced as "rejected" and "sent back to the drawing boards."

 

[bigeman312]

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

This rejection is maddening. The amount of parking spaces per residence/office near one of our downtown train hubs is pathetic. At least One Canal, Avalon North Station, and Lovejoy Wharf are under construction. This is a missed opportunity, though. Hopefully this comes back bigger and better.

 

[Semass]

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

Thank god those bollards are going away

They will be painted red and repurposed at a Target to be named later.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

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

It's your 2nd Ave Subway. Be patient, it'll come.

 

[jpdivola]

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

It's been difficult to read the tea leaves. In the prior BCDC meetings for this project, they "recommended further review" and "took no action," but in the most recent one the result was announced as "rejected" and "sent back to the drawing boards."

In practice is there any similar precedent for this? When I hear "back to the drawing boards", I think major multi-month (if not year) setback. But, that just doesn't seem possible that the project could have gotten this far along after several years to then be completely rejected at 2 min to midnight?

Didn't something like this happen with the Copley tower: an official rejection, lots of doom and gloom talk on ArchBoston, and then some minor tweaks and an approval at the next meeting. Hopefully this cycle repeats itself here.