Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

[DZH22]

Saw this in person last night and the steel beams are absolutely enormous, maybe the biggest I have seen on a Boston project. There is also obvious progress on the other side of the site (facing Winthrop Square) with additional concrete poured since I last looked a few weeks ago. It's very heartening, considering this thing has essentially been stalled out since March!

Taken today

 

[KriterionBOS]

Don't believe the allegations.

Manhattan Emptied Out During the Pandemic. But Big Tech Is Moving In. (Published 2020)

The four companies known as Big Tech — Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google — now have more than 22,000 employees in the city, with thousands added just this year.

www.nytimes.com

And Boston is booming like never before also. The retired/65+ demographic is exploding and those folks want to be near their medical professionals/theatres/restaurants, etc. Once the self-driving pods take over the cities and individual cars are banned, Boston and other centers will see further population explosions and more real estate capacity opening up from demolished garages and on-street wasteful parking.

There will be far less office buildings, but the residential towers with amenities, etc. will proliferate. This will make cities far more interesting and vibrant places to be - - not merely 9-5 with rush hour clear outs anymore.

Young working people may be moving out in the next few years, but they will be more than replaced by the high discretionary income 65+ crowd who are now living well (and I do say well) into their 80's and 90's on a regular basis.

.

See I would think it would be the other way around. That 65+ folks would move to the suburbs where its quieter and higher income (100K+) millenials would flock to the city centers so they can be near the restaurants, theatres, museums, and eateries to meet up with their Hinge/Bumble/Tinder dates.

 

[shmessy]

See I would think it would be the other way around. That 65+ folks would move to the suburbs where its quieter and higher income (100K+) millenials would flock to the city centers so they can be near the restaurants, theatres, museums, and eateries to meet up with their Hinge/Bumble/Tinder dates.

Medical Centers.....Doctors......no home/lawn maintenance......no school age children running around........

The burgeoning upper middle-to-wealthy 65+ demographic worked hard and invested all their lives to afford pampering, entertainment and service.

In my and my colleagues advisory practices throughout the financial planning industry, we are seeing newly retired/empty nest clients moving to condos/apartments. Less than 10% move to single unit housing. Once society starts adapting driverless pod technology in urban centers, the ease of urban lifestyle for the older upper middle class set will become even more pronounced.

Those numbers may very well be different for economic classes below upper-middle class (i.e. those who don't hire financial planners).

Compounding this is the very stark and growing economic disparity between those who are comfortably retired (with 20-30 years of extended life expectancy) and those in today's workforce being squeezed between lower real wages/benefits and longer work hours. This will become a larger social rift with all the implications going forward. Long story short, the demand for urban towers populated by semi to wealthy retirees will push younger workers out to the cheaper burbs (and will increase generational resentment).

 

[Massachoicetts]

See I would think it would be the other way around. That 65+ folks would move to the suburbs where its quieter and higher income (100K+) millenials would flock to the city centers so they can be near the restaurants, theatres, museums, and eateries to meet up with their Hinge/Bumble/Tinder dates.

As someone with 60 year old parents, they value walkability, accessibility, transit access, convenience and variety of restaurants/bars/shoppes/boutiques over suburbia. It's a trend I am seeing across a lot of boomer aged individuals compared to generations before. Whether it be moving from Westwood to Somerville, or Westwood to Beaufort SC.. I think Boomer aged retirees value those core principles of living over generations before. Gen X, Millenials and Gen Z will probably value walkability even more so by retirement age. But just something neat I've noticed happening. It's a reason why Lancaster PA is a booking retiree hub.

 

[stick n move]

Its about time downtown gets a lit crown on its tallest tower.

*The best part is that its literally shaped like a crown!

 

[shmessy]

Its about time downtown gets a lit crown on its tallest tower.

*The best part is that its literally shaped like a crown!

Stick, I'll believe it when I see it.

Given the history of this kind of thing in Boston, I really don't believe it much at all.

Given the Perils of Pauline breath holding on THIS project's financing, I'll just be happy to see a topping off someday.

 

[617]

Agreed...that’s an old render as well since the other tower got chopped. Wonder if the crown is still part of the plan.

 

[stick n move]

Agreed...that’s an old render as well since the other tower got chopped. Wonder if the crown is still part of the plan.

It is. They didnt touch the main tower.

 

[617]

It really looks so much better...Covid silver lining.

 

[Java King]

It really looks so much better...Covid silver lining.

Totally agree! I do hope the crown is lit nicely as well.

 

[stick n move]

Agreed, it looked extremely fat before when it had the 2nd tower. Now it has a really nice aspect ratio and it looks the way it was supposed to look before that ugly thing was tacked on. Looks muuuch better in the skyline now.

 

[617]

âWhat the hell do we do now?â: Inside the $775 million deal to save the Winthrop Center project - The Boston Globe

Millennium and Cale Street, a London firm that invests on behalf of Kuwait’s $533 billion sovereign wealth fund, have closed on a $775 million loan that will get the high-rise back on track to open in 2023.

www.bostonglobe.com

 

[DZH22]

10/17 Pulled over and snapped a couple of pictures.

IMG_4041 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_4044 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[DBM]

"A private contractor working on a pipe apparently disrupted the existing 24-inch service pipe that was adjacent to it..."

Hm.... Summer & High St.... where the new utility lines radiating out from this project would tie-in to larger infrastructure?

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/loca...oses-part-of-i-93-near-oneill-tunnel/2214158/

 

[chrisbrat]

i'm too stupd to connect the dots ^^^ -- what are you getting at pls?

 

[DZH22]

10/17 from Quincy. The crane is right in the middle.

IMG_4029 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[DBM]

i'm too stupd to connect the dots ^^^ -- what are you getting at pls?

that it's possible the "private contractor" was a sub on this project, building-out utility tie-ins, and they busted the water main--sorry if my speculation was somehow vague but I thought my wording was actually quite explicit. Anyway, of course it also could've been any other of the billions of utility excavations that happen all the time in Downtown...

 

[Blackbird]

10/17 from Quincy. The crane is right in the middle.

IMG_4029 by David Z, on Flickr

Wow! The tower is going to look great from this angle!

At least until South Station covers it up!

 

[chrisbrat]

that it's possible the "private contractor" was a sub on this project, building-out utility tie-ins, and they busted the water main--sorry if my speculation was somehow vague but I thought my wording was actually quite explicit. Anyway, of course it also could've been any other of the billions of utility excavations that happen all the time in Downtown...

thanks for the explanation. the wording probably was/is quite clear; i just don't fully "get" certain elements of all of these projects.

 

[DBM]

i just don't fully "get" certain elements of all of these projects.

You and me both--especially the subterranean component! (Although it goes without saying, this building needs to be "hooked-up to the grid," and that involves excavation--and excavation by definition incurs risk...)