Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

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When mayor Menino initiated the RFP back about 10 years ago and we saw so many intriguing proposals (reference post #1647 in the link) I can't help but be disappointed that what we have is a rather uninspiring and practically a mirror image of MT. I don't want to sound overly critical but as this tower nears completion, it really doesn't stand out. I doubt there will be too many more opportunities in downtown though we do have SST to look forward to.

Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2 After looking at all the proposals I think that the Accordia proposal is still a very high quality proposal and I would be happy with Lendlease, Accordia, or HYM (aside from their timeline).
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citydweller said:
When mayor Menino initiated the RFP back about 10 years ago and we saw so many intriguing proposals (reference post #1647 as an example) I can't help but be disappointed that what we have is a rather uninspiring and practically a mirror image of MT. I don't want to sound overly critical but as this tower nears completion, it really doesn't stand out. I doubt there will be too many more opportunities in downtown though we do have SST to look forward to.
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Agreed, although I always thought that the Accordia proposal or the Lendlease proposal would have stood out the most. I don't even dislike the design of the current tower, I just feel like it would be a better fit elsewhere as more of a "filler" tower.

The proposal to relocate St. Anthony's Shrine and replace it with a tower was pretty cool, that proposal would have contributed to the skyline more so than any tower at the current site.

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The biggest problem with the RFP is that it was to a height that would never be allowed due to the FAA. Every proposal was shown well over 700' and this one from Millennium was originally shown to be at least 750', on par with the Pru. It would have stood out a lot more if it was a few more floors. All of the other proposals that weren't picked would have run into the same problems and have had to be cut to below 700'.

Now take the same RFP and move it to Hurley and you could actually get buildings around 750' there. I don't know why nobody sees the obvious, and instead the RFP was sent out with a 400' max. Those of you who want to see the actual tower that Boston "deserves" capping the downtown skyline, move your fight to the Hurley site.
 
chrisbrat said:
It’s a boring, ugly, uninspired nothing. I absolutely hate it. Welcome to Boston (minus the new State Street, when it’s not on fire, or destroying our pathetic rapid transit).
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It's too bad Millennium didn't stick with their original design, even though the FAA would have prevented it from going all the way to the originally proposed 775'. The façade of the original design would have been so much better, plus the original great hall/connector design was much better than what we're getting now.

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themissinglink said:
It's too bad Millennium didn't stick with their original design, even though the FAA would have prevented it from going all the way to the originally proposed 775'. The façade of the original design would have been so much better, plus the original great hall/connector design was much better than what we're getting now.

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that 'Great Hall' was never going to happen. As soon as engineering put the wabammmm on the aesthetic by dropping that massive pile right in the middle of it, they were basically like 'sick, that sucks, let's call it the connector and move the eff on'
 
$10 says Boston will continue to let Millennium Partners fill the skyline with boring blue glass nothingburgers, shiny self-storage towers, as developer and City are comfy bedfellows now. The very best this thing can look is from a distance when it appears to meld with Millennium Tower and is seen as one structure; then it becomes somewhat interesting, if not attractive. Otherwise, this ranks down there with 1 Internat'l and 1 Financial.
 
Ugh, yeah - Accordia's was by far my favorite. Not a fan of the Lendlease proposal, but I think the green glass/etc on Accordia would have really made a nice addition. Then again - probably would have been the first thing VE'd out when the FAA chopped the height off. I'd say say to the original Menino era proposals - yeah some interesting but all were completely unfeasible due to FAA limits. That is to say - officials must have known the FAA limits and ignored them for the RFP which generated some cool ideas, but, we can't really judge what we got against what could have been since they all, too, would have had to be drastically changed to be built in reality. I will say - even in the magical realm of the FAA and Logan not existing, Millennium's proposed was still mid-tier at best even not cut down (although certainly had by far the best overall financial package for the city).

I mainly see this coming from the South and it looks OK - will hold out my judgement for the full crown.
 
bakgwailo said:
Ugh, yeah - Accordia's was by far my favorite. Not a fan of the Lendlease proposal, but I think the green glass/etc on Accordia would have really made a nice addition. Then again - probably would have been the first thing VE'd out when the FAA chopped the height off. I'd say say to the original Menino era proposals - yeah some interesting but all were completely unfeasible due to FAA limits. That is to say - officials must have known the FAA limits and ignored them for the RFP which generated some cool ideas, but, we can't really judge what we got against what could have been since they all, too, would have had to be drastically changed to be built in reality. I will say - even in the magical realm of the FAA and Logan not existing, Millennium's proposed was still mid-tier at best even not cut down (although certainly had by far the best overall financial package for the city).
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Aesthetically Trinity's plan was the worst, but I really liked their idea to inject downtown with some serious market-rate housing. All the other proposals were somewhat screwed by the height limit but Trinity's was designed with that in mind.

One of the things I dislike about this tower is that it takes away from Millenium Tower standing by itself. It's too similar. People have complained about this with the Hancock and Raffles but at least there is a significant height difference... these two not so much and it looks meh.
 
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