Waterside Place 1A | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

FenwayResident said:
I thought a lot of the Seaport was height regulated by the FAA, so we could never get really tall skyscrapers there?
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That does make sense but why is the back bay so beautiful? The ugliest building in the bay is the pru
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

TheRifleman said:
That does make sense but why is the back bay so beautiful? The ugliest building in the bay is the pru
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The good looking stuff in the Back Bay was built well over 100 years ago. Many of the more recent high rises there are just as ugly as what's in the Seaport, just with higher and more slender massing. Hancock, 111 Huntington and I guess now Avalon Exeter are the exceptions.

As for the Seaport I'm going to wait till it's built out before I judge, perhaps that will alleviate some of the stumpy blockiness and cover up some of the crap architecture. Of course for this to work more decent buildings like 315a will be needed. The bigger concern for me in this area is not the ugliness but the lack of vibrant street life. It still feels like a giant deadzone.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

pixelsand8 said:
The good looking stuff in the Back Bay was built well over 100 years ago. Many of the more recent high rises there are just as ugly as what's in the Seaport, just with higher and more slender massing. Hancock, 111 Huntington and I guess now Avalon Exeter are the exceptions.

.
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The backbay was built 100 years ago but the amount of tax breaks and incentives to the developers to develop something in the seaport should have justified some type of quality or value. I just don't see it yet.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

pixelsand8 said:
The bigger concern for me in this area is not the ugliness but the lack of vibrant street life. It still feels like a giant deadzone.
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+1, This area has such massive potential. Build up the residential as much as you can, build the street level retail spaces as much as you can. The more people that live in the area, especially being a high end area, the more retail/restaurants you'll see attracted.

I would also echo this opinion for the area just over the charles in cambridge, near the galleria. This area seems so dead to me, yet has so much potential being so close to downtown, and with Lechmere right there.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

guys just give the seaport time to develop.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

lynqueezy said:
guys just give the seaport time to develop.
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Exactly!!!


Look at the evolution of the "Back of the Tute" it went from:
dirty and ugly if busy industry in the Pre WWII era
to leveled and empty in the NASA ERC era
to a few buildings here and there in the Tech Square [aks Polaroid] and Volpe era
to more relatively non-descript in the Cambridge Center era -- aka 1980's
to what is going on today

On this time line -- the Seaport / Innovation District is about where Kendall / Cambridge Center was before Google and Microsoft

Both have quite a bit more to go to become fully alive as neighborhoods -- although to some extent Seaport / Innovation is catching-up to Kendall / Cambridge Center
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

REde6lt.jpg
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

Corey, may I suggest you visit Boston more often.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

nm88 said:
Corey, may I suggest you visit Boston more often.
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I'll see what I can do, thanks! It's nice to have a change of scenery every now and then. I have a pretty good corner of the photography market in Portland so I'm tempted expand my empire.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

I saw this building in person this weekend for the first time since the facade has been complete. In person, it is inoffensive.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

It's also amazing what a blue sky can do for it.
On dreary overcast days (which have been the norm around here for a few months) it's pretty horrendous.

Here's to hoping the continued growth here will help it blend and disappear from some angles. As the focus (as it is in many angles) it earns most of its negative comments.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

Seamus, I agree. Is phase 2 of Waterside place supposed to block the view of this side of the building?
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

From beneath the BCEC. Why, by the way, does the BCEC have such a ridiculous amount of underground infrastructure? It's all blocked off, too.

CIMG3277 by timsox6, on Flickr
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

I never realized the views that this place has, pretty awesome if you ask me...

wat5.jpg
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

It is impressive, and the surrounding buildings provide a nice frame for the view. Though they're screwed if anyone decides to build up the fish pier with anything tallish.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

It is impressive, and the surrounding buildings provide a nice frame for the view. Though they're screwed if anyone decides to build up the fish pier with anything tallish.
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What are you talking about? This is Boston they'll just form the Seaport Neighborhood Association and complain very vocally and since anyone living in this area is probably swimming in money they will win.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

timsox6 said:
It is impressive, and the surrounding buildings provide a nice frame for the view. Though they're screwed if anyone decides to build up the fish pier with anything tallish.
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Actually, it probably wouldn't be bad if it was something about the size of Rowe's wharf. I also like the way the parallel buildings form an isle.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

Yeah, a redeveloped fish pier that looked like Rowe's Wharf or Liberty Wharf next door would be pretty awesome. And maybe the only thing that would fly (ha) with the FAA height-wise in this location.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

The Fish Pier is owned by Massport, and the Federal government picked up the tab for some of the preservation and renovation. So very unlikely it will be a development site.
 
Re: Waterside Place | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

I am fond of the fish pier buildings in their current state. I interned in the Massport Accounting division in the summer of 97, and the buildings were pleasant to be in with spectacular views. I can't believe how much has changed since that summer (duh, right?)
 
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