Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

617 said:
Back to the accordia proposal...which I like very much.

Why are they advertising their hotel portion to be a Le Meridien? Is that the best we can do?

http://m.boston.curbed.com/archives/2015/12/winthrop-square-boston.php
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You probably would not put a super luxury property this buried in the Financial District. A good up-scale business hotel is pretty much what is called for in the area.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

617 said:
Back to the accordia proposal...which I like very much.

Why are they advertising their hotel portion to be a Le Meridien? Is that the best we can do?

http://m.boston.curbed.com/archives/2015/12/winthrop-square-boston.php
Click to expand...

What is with all this hotel snobbery? A hotel is a hotel. Room rates for even the common brand hotels are out of control here year-round. I welcome any hotel to the market.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

JSic said:
With all the building blocks in that photo, you're complaining about 45 Province?
Click to expand...

That black wall is gross. No other way to describe it.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

HalcyonEra said:
That black wall is gross. No other way to describe it.
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I remember all the renders were of the other side, which obviously looks great. Somebody was asleep at the wheel to approve that.

I do like the burst of color that the rest of the building provides. It's Boston's Jekyll and Hyde tower.

By the way, for 111, I have seen comments on the Boston Globe article that the FAA has a strict 740' limit. Is that true? I feel like they were going to allow the original (Tommy's Tower) proposal to go as high as 850'.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I keep hearing that we could build a lot taller if the city paid for new radar for logan. I dont get why we would not do that. It would allow over time billions of dollars in extra square footage in a city running out of room. Anyone know if this is true? That being said after being the original 1000 footer and now accordia which looks even better if accordia does not get built this garage will be the biggest tease in all of Boston.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I'm interested in the FAA restrictions as well. Depending on this it seems like an easy decision to upgrade Logan, but I also feel like certain groups in the city would want to limit money spent there and make sure no building of super height ever gets built. Also, with Belkin still involved, is there a possibility of Renzo still being involved in a smaller designed tower?

One last thing, I read the Curbed article as well and a point was made in the comment section that interested me. With a signature building like this, is it even within the realm of possibility to have housing for people that make less 250K or potentially even hovering around 100K? Or are we all gonna have the same Boston luxury housing market conversation for the next 5 (or even 10) years until this tower is completed...
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

stick n move said:
That being said after being the original 1000 footer and now accordia which looks even better if accordia does not get built this garage will be the biggest tease in all of Boston.
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Right now I think the North Station residential tower is in the running to become the biggest "missed opportunity" in my lifetime. Accordia would be great, but there are a couple other worthy proposals for this. However, scaling down the North Station tower is completely unacceptable and a disappointment on par with Tower Verre being scaled down from 1250' to 1050', or Ping An losing its spire. The fact that both towers there are essentially the same height, and will blend in to the area (with the office tower serving as the area's biggest eyesore) rather than having a true beacon for North Station and The Garden is a crime against humanity.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

CBCArch61 said:
I'm interested in the FAA restrictions as well. Depending on this it seems like an easy decision to upgrade Logan, but I also feel like certain groups in the city would want to limit money spent there and make sure no building of super height ever gets built. Also, with Belkin still involved, is there a possibility of Renzo still being involved in a smaller designed tower?

One last thing, I read the Curbed article as well and a point was made in the comment section that interested me. With a signature building like this, is it even within the realm of possibility to have housing for people that make less 250K or potentially even hovering around 100K? Or are we all gonna have the same Boston luxury housing market conversation for the next 5 (or even 10) years until this tower is completed...
Click to expand...

I would not expect Renzo. He left the old project before it was officially cancelled and had nothing to do with it after that. I don't think he would be eager to come back on especially with the same developer who never got the project moving last time.

I also think that in Belkins RFI document it states the architect that has been selected and it is not Renzo.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I can't see the city giving $$$ to Massport so that private developers can build taller buildings without absolute mass revolt from the locals.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

There isn't a need to do it yet. If the city was literally out of develop-able space then it would be a reasonable proposal but it's just crazy talk to think about the city paying for a radar upgrade to appease the skyscraper fetishists.

It's a problem for 50 years down the road and it's likely Massport will do it before then just because of how technology changes and improves in a half century.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

citylover94 said:
I would not expect Renzo. He left the old project before it was officially cancelled and had nothing to do with it after that. I don't think he would be eager to come back on especially with the same developer who never got the project moving last time.

I also think that in Belkins RFI document it states the architect that has been selected and it is not Renzo.
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Renzo took off ages ago (late 00s) and was very frustrated with the City of Boston. TransNational Place was left with CBT when Renzo bailed and CBT still has it for the TransNational Belkin proposal.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

Renzo's proposal was a joke and an eyesore and hopefully he doesn't come back to Boston. I'm as big of a height guy as anybody here and I was ecstatic when the original proposal fell through.

Anybody remember the stand-in green glass design before Renzo's official proposal? That was pretty neat.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

stick n move said:
I keep hearing that we could build a lot taller if the city paid for new radar for logan. I dont get why we would not do that. It would allow over time billions of dollars in extra square footage in a city running out of room. Anyone know if this is true? That being said after being the original 1000 footer and now accordia which looks even better if accordia does not get built this garage will be the biggest tease in all of Boston.
Click to expand...

The city is not running out of room: vacant lots in the South End, huge parking lots in the Seaport, plenty of parcels along the Greenway, empty space in the Fenway, parking garages in Downtown, air rights along the entire Mass Pike, universities with lots of room to grow into, Suffolk Downs, Assembly Square, the sites where the Olympics would have been-- it'll be a while yet before a lack of space prompts Massport to put the radar elsewhere. And the height restrictions have evidently not stopped developers from coming to the table with proposals, as this project proves yet again.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

I'm not saying we are out of room, but a lot of the empty lots are already approved for construction, awaiting approval, or under construction. Minus the air rights parcels once all of these are built there is not going to be a whole lot left. There will always be somewhere to build but regarding downtown its filling up fast. Im still waiting for something to pop back up on the south bay towers site. I feel like the proximity to south station is too big to ignore.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

timsox6 said:
The city is not running out of room: vacant lots in the South End, huge parking lots in the Seaport, plenty of parcels along the Greenway, empty space in the Fenway, parking garages in Downtown, air rights along the entire Mass Pike, universities with lots of room to grow into, Suffolk Downs, Assembly Square, the sites where the Olympics would have been-- it'll be a while yet before a lack of space prompts Massport to put the radar elsewhere. And the height restrictions have evidently not stopped developers from coming to the table with proposals, as this project proves yet again.
Click to expand...

The area where the Olympics stadium was supposed to go in a prime redevelopment area:

ryan_olympicsfrontageroad_biz.jpg
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

DZH22 said:
Renzo's proposal was a joke and an eyesore and hopefully he doesn't come back to Boston. I'm as big of a height guy as anybody here and I was ecstatic when the original proposal fell through.

Anybody remember the stand-in green glass design before Renzo's official proposal? That was pretty neat.
Click to expand...

After the Gardner addition, it's hard to think of Piano's abandonment of Boston as a bad thing.
 
Re: 111 Federal St. | Formerly Trans National Place (Winthrop Square) Part 2

JSic said:
The area where the Olympics stadium was supposed to go in a prime redevelopment area:

ryan_olympicsfrontageroad_biz.jpg
Click to expand...

Which is also ultimately an air rights project, or at least partially. The infrastructure around Widett ain't moving.
 
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