Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

bigpicture7 said:
2) Whether height makes a city more beautiful or not is a personal opinion thing and there is a spectrum. Boston has great texture; quaint old world neighborhoods that should never be tall, others that should. Wtf is about this all height is bad / all height is good BS on this forum? It's entirely contextual.
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I hate YIMBYs as much as I hate NIMBYs is all. I also hate that the majority of the YIMBY's posts consists of "it's not tall enough", "NIMBYs are <insert insults>", "if developers add a ruler on top of the roof, it should be counted and would add a foot to the final height. If we add two rulers and stack them, it will be even taller." When height is being used as the number one reason for something to be built, then that's a problem. That being said, I'm not opposed to the height here.
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Couple of things...

1. Siouxsie & the banshees - fantastic. Brought me back to my childhood

2. I would like to see the grand hall, whatever space, to be like the Oculus in NYC. Obviously a different scale entirely, but it is always packed and there are often concerts and other things going on in the space.

3. With a whole building to fuss over, you guys are ready to call in a hit squad on each other over a glorified lobby. I swear, AB will argue over anything.
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

DZH22, you are a genius. Thank you putting up that link.
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

It's funny to look at the current gray pictures with the shiny, happy renderings of smiling people walking around to go about their perfect lives. I hope the tower is going to be that good in real life.
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

It's not that people on this board talk about it, it's that they won't shut up about it.

KentXie said:
I hate YIMBYs as much as I hate NIMBYs is all. I also hate that the majority of the YIMBY's posts consists of "it's not tall enough", "NIMBYs are <insert insults>", "if developers add a ruler on top of the roof, it should be counted and would add a foot to the final height. If we add two rulers and stack them, it will be even taller." When height is being used as the number one reason for something to be built, then that's a problem. That being said, I'm not opposed to the height here.
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Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Also that so many people seem to think that NIMBYs are only an issue and stopping or shrinking developments in Boston when in reality this happens everywhere and some cities *cough* San Francisco *cough* have it much worse than Boston.
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Regarding the Boston Common, shadows, and 115 Winthrop Square: Did you know the Boston Common had as few as 3 trees on it when the first Puritans arrived? (The fourth, the Liberty Tree, was near Essex & Washington streets so not a part of what is now the Common.)

Everything you see there today is the result of countless hours of planning by civic-minded residents.

Screenshot-2017-02-12-at-5.00.06-PM.png
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

JohnAKeith said:
Regarding the Boston Common, shadows, and 115 Winthrop Square: Did you know the Boston Common had as few as 3 trees on it when the first Puritans arrived? (The fourth, the Liberty Tree, was near Essex & Washington streets so not a part of what is now the Common.)

Everything you see there today is the result of countless hours of planning by civic-minded residents.

Screenshot-2017-02-12-at-5.00.06-PM.png
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As always, Bill Cronon's "Changes In The Land: Indians, Colonists & The Ecology of New England" remains the gold standard for examining how New England ecology transformed as the Puritans arrived and attained dominance.

https://www.amazon.com/Changes-Land-Indians-Colonists-Ecology/dp/0809016346

This is just a guess, but, knowing that the Massachusetts tribe and/or their forebearers on the Shawmut penninsula practiced extensive fish weir aquaculture--everything that's been dug up around Boylston/Arlington T stops--maybe they kept the Common deforested to aid in processing all the fish they were hauling out from the water's edge around Charles St.? Also to help them see any potential enemies paddling downstream into the Charles River basin?
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

"Better housing for the poor and upkeep for the parks, in exchange for a shadow few will ever notice? This really isn’t a hard choice."

Amen
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

IF only those were the two choices: build at 775' or not build at all ...
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

I don't remember anyone complaining about the shadows when the millennium tower was building built and covered the hole in the ground. I think millennium should focus on the negatives of the garage and reiterate how they completed the millennium tower and changed that neighborhood for the better. All in all the city is going to have to chose between $$$$ vs or NIMBYs. Menino may have not been the best regarding development but is clear he understood Boston needs a 1,000 tower,
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

bakgwailo said:
Again isn't the 775' kind of a moot point anyways due to the FAA?
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Apparently people choose to not listen to that fact.

ShawnA said:
I don't remember anyone complaining about the shadows when the millennium tower was building built and covered the hole in the ground. I think millennium should focus on the negatives of the garage and reiterate how they completed the millennium tower and changed that neighborhood for the better. All in all the city is going to have to chose between $$$$ vs or NIMBYs. Menino may have not been the best regarding development but is clear he understood Boston needs a 1,000 tower,
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Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

so,

would you all rather we built a 115 Fed at 735' (it's final height) + 1 Bromfield St at 710' + 700' in the West End over the low section of the O'Neill Fed Bldg....

or get a 1000' tower at the site of the Sheraton North Tower + low bldg in Back Bay?

Which would be sweeter?

the tall one would be very tempting. but in the end, i'd take 3 700', high a/r skyscrapers.
 
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Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

I've learned over the years that just because I don't remember something doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Not only was there a discussion about it, but the issue was a part of Millennium's Project Notification Form ... 213 pages worth of documentation, in fact.

http://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/357b483c-eddf-4e5c-9281-c1a471b33a56

The other thing that differed is that everyone realized that the Earth is round and that it goes around the sun, so the effects on the Common were completely different from this one, plus that one the mayor was like, "Pretty please, just this once ..." which gets tired, fast.

ShawnA said:
I don't remember anyone complaining about the shadows when the millennium tower was building built and covered the hole in the ground. I think millennium should focus on the negatives of the garage and reiterate how they completed the millennium tower and changed that neighborhood for the better. All in all the city is going to have to chose between $$$$ vs or NIMBYs. Menino may have not been the best regarding development but is clear he understood Boston needs a 1,000 tower,
Click to expand...
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

odurandina said:
so,

would you all rather we built a 115 Fed at 735' (it's final height) + 1 Bromfield St at 710' + 700' in the West End over the low section of the O'Neill Fed Bldg....

or get a 1000' tower after site of the Sheraton North Tower + low bldg in Back Bay?

Which would be sweeter?

the tall one would be very tempting. but in the end, i'd take 3 700', high a/r skyscrapers.
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I'd like quality: engaging streetscapes, interesting architecture whether viewed from up close or afar, uses that make sense for their immediate and more general context. If no tower ever tops 800', that's fine. If no tower ever tops 700', that's fine.

This endless focus on height is as stimulating as watching paint dry.

Millennium's proposal looks good; so did a few of the others, in case Millennium ever pulled out for whatever reason. If Millennium's proposal got forced to a lower size, we'd all get over it if the redesign were done professionally enough (which it probably would be with that team).
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Good spot for wynns casino...too bad Everett already won and also too bad we can't build anything around here without people complaining about everything.

The only valid argument is safety at Logan...wonder if the mass port guy is also a friend of the common/public garden
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

odurandina said:
so,

would you all rather we built a 115 Fed at 735' (it's final height) + 1 Bromfield St at 710' + 700' in the West End over the low section of the O'Neill Fed Bldg....

or get a 1000' tower at the site of the Sheraton North Tower + low bldg in Back Bay?

Which would be sweeter?

the tall one would be very tempting. but in the end, i'd take 3 700', high a/r skyscrapers.
Click to expand...

Yes, tempting. But I'd take the 1000' foot. Once one building breaks the 800'+ ice, many others will follow.
 
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Hubman said:
Yes, tempting. But I'd take the 1000' foot. Once one building breaks the 800'+ ice, many others will follow.
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This isn't necessarily the case, but I would take the 1000' as well. A new peak is a new peak. Look at a city like Seattle. Mainly consider it among the best skylines in the US, but it's basically Boston-sized with one taller building. (albeit Seattle has a more "traditional" setup)

Of course, any shot at a new tallest wouldn't be until the next boom, and I'm not sure if the world has what it takes to last that long. (welcome to Terminator-ville) So I'll take what I can get, and hopefully the Winthrop Square tower is among those that get built.
 
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