The Ipswich | 2 Charlesgate West | Fenway

HalcyonEra

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From Curbed Boston:

Sorry, couldn't link the photo. Anyone know anything about this?

http://boston.curbed.com/2016/5/5/11580452/fenway-2-charlesgate-west

Fenway could get a 300-unit tower at 2 Charlesgate West just south of the turnpike. Apartments and condos would comprise the building, which would also "have a significant impact on the gateway to the Fenway neighborhood" through improvements to nearby public space as well as to the Boylston and Ipswich street corridors.

That's according to would-be developer Trans National, which owns 2 Charlesgate West (and has its headquarters there). The company referenced its Fenway plans in its proposal for redeveloping the Financial District's Winthrop Square Garage (h/t Bldup for catching the reference). Trans National has yet to file plans for 2 Charlesgate West with the city, though, so stay tuned.

Should the estimated $250,000,000 project move forward, it would join myriad other developments reshaping Fenway, including the Pierce Boston and Van Ness.

CharlesgateBuildingRenderingHighQuality5.16.15.jpg

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Re: 2 Charlesgate West

Idk what it is but I like this a lot. Has the shape of a mini copley tower, but with a pretty unique facade. Would look great pressed right up against the pike and from fenway. Not to mention its gonna replace a turd. I really hope this gets built. This came out of nowhere.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

great project. I've always felt that the Fenway neighborhood feels very isolated. This project would help bridge that gap well. I like it flows well with Van Ness and Copley

Not to derail the thread on post #4, but this is a perfect example of how Boston is not running out of space. There are countless parcels like these in dense areas or within a 1/4 mi of T stations.
 
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Re: 2 Charlesgate West

Posting your first Enzo and bumping old clasics are how you get to be a made man up there. :)

*We can only hope this proposal will live up to having it's own thread.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

great project. I've always felt that the Fenway neighborhood feels very isolated. This project would help bridge that gap well. I like it flows well with Van Ness and Copley

Not to derail the thread on post #4, but this is a perfect example of how Boston is not running out of space. There are countless parcels like these in dense areas or within a 1/4 mi of T stations.

I was gonna go there but figured it would derail this thread instantly. Noone had been checking for this parcel and then one day we have a new proposal. Just goes to show well be fine.

Sorry, my bad. My impression is that generally the Fenway Area Redevelopment thread just covers just small infill projects and this seemed a tad more significant. I should have read it more closely.

At least I'm not resurrecting 10 year old threads :)

You were right to think that, the Pierce has its own thread, Skanska Fenway has its own thread, landmark ctr has its own, and the towers that are now completed had their own threads (forget their names- target, and the one with green balconies).


....anyways great design and 300+ units = huge win
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

I named this parcel in Logan's Globe article on the evening of the approval of the Garden Garage as being a top candidate for a +180m low skyscraper. The idea would be to raise the ceiling of the Fenway along the Mass Pike, where there's no issue with casting shadows over the Emerald Necklace. Then, you could build a few more tall towers on Boyleston Street running back to toward 1 Dalton and the Pru.
 
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Re: 2 Charlesgate West

I missed it... But either way theres tons more where this came from all over the city.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

As much as I love it, there's no way in hell this gets built.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

I named this parcel in the Globe article reporting on the approval of the Garden Garage as being a top candidate for a 180~200m skyscraper in the Fenway.

Agreed. So where are the nimby's going to emerge from to try and knock this one down? I can't really see this ruining many resident's views.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

Transnational owns the site and it would be right against the pike. I dont think its too crazy to happen. I have faith but well see in due time. People want housing but dont want to deal with what that means. Its one or the other. I hope people realize that they cant complain about housing and then protest against every building proposal. Its either protest and accept that housing is gonna continue to spiral out of control or let changes happen to address it. Its the same as people that bitch about gas prices but then vote down cape wind, keystone...etc.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

I don't see the downsides to a project like this. It's right next to a busy highway with no historical buildings on the site. Stuff like this needs to be approved if Walsh is ever going to reach his 55000 unit housing target.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

^^You can almost make the bold statement that all these recent examples of what would have been considered 'outrageous' just a couple of years ago ARE GETTING APPROVED... and you might not be far off.

Look at The Pierce, MT, 1 Dalton, Copley Tower, 1 Congress, 111 Fed, 1 Bromfield, and Garden Garage (that's right West Enders; four towers not three)... That the BRA opened the door to 600' at the Harbor Garage, is in itself amazing... Add all these 400' towers in Back Bay. Then, look at Dudley Square and Tremont Crossing (ostensibly, with plenty of guidance from the BRA) blowing the lid off after consolidation at the colleges in these same neighborhood/s. Those projects are already big...

'They're all getting approved,' might almost be true.
 
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Re: 2 Charlesgate West

Agreed. So where are the nimby's going to emerge from to try and knock this one down? I can't really see this ruining many resident's views.

I've been doing all i can to inform nimby readers (of Logan's articles) that 90-120m tall towers are about to happen all over the city. You listen to the anti-development types post, and i almost get the impression they reluctantly agree. All these towers going up everywhere may further drive the point home. They don't like it, but they seem to be coming to a gradual acceptance of the inevitability that density is coming to the neighborhoods. The Fenway is an urban neighborhood. i liken the Fenway to a Boston-scale Lincoln Park (Chicago). Traffic will be an issue. We don't need to add much more density, but like, Lincoln Park, the Fenway, has the potential to be one of the best urban neighborhoods in the world.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

As much as I love it, there's no way in hell this gets built.

I haven't seen enough to know if I'd love it, but I agree. It's not the NIMBYs, it's where this proposal came from.

Belkin and TransNational are desperate to show the BRA that they can build something - anything - large in the real world, so they cooked up a tower proposal for a site that's so much theirs that the current building has their name on the wall. It's pure fantasy that will vanish as soon as the BRA picks someone else for 115 Federal.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

Belkin is bringing a lot of sq ft at Winthrop Sq. Got to think he's got a chance.
 
Re: 2 Charlesgate West

As an interloper from outside Boston, do people really think this project is really that unlikely? This seems like the kind of ho-hum steady as she goes development Boston needs to help solve (or at least amerliorate) its housing issues. My sense is that Boston (both in goverment and the general population) is starting to embrace density and maybe encourage it more than was the case in years past.
 

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