Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

The doors to the connector were open this morning
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I used to work next door at 75/101 Federal for 15 years and this lobby looks very similar to the "connector" lobby at 75/101 which back in the day used to have restaurants, dry cleaning, convenience store etc. and also of course connects from Federal to Devonshire.
 
It has multistory ceilings and retail outlets. Again, accounting for the elevation change that prevents this from being programmed the way MP was selling in its initial submission, what was it you wanted?

More than what we get. It's like having 1/20th of the prudential center or something. It'll be nice to have some more dining/retail options (i guess. they'll probably be chains, though), but it's not going to be a real "destination" or "community resource."

I'll happily concede your points -- and moreover, acknowledge that your own "hey, this is better than nothing. why are you complaining?" stance is very similar to my own re: the GLX (and many things T-related), so there's certainly some selective hypocrisy going on my noggin.

I just was hoping for more. Oh well.
 
Curious how much space Deloitte has at it's current location in Back Bay, wonder if they are downsizing by a little or a lot or keeping the same amount of space with the move to Winthrop Center?
 
Curious how much space Deloitte has at it's current location in Back Bay, wonder if they are downsizing by a little or a lot or keeping the same amount of space with the move to Winthrop Center?

According to the BisNow article they are growing but only by 3K SF.
 
I think we al
It has multistory ceilings and retail outlets. Again, accounting for the elevation change that prevents this from being programmed the way MP was selling in its initial submission, what was it you wanted?
l think we all wanted something spectacular, like they proposed, not the usual bait and switch... pathetic.
 
It has multistory ceilings and retail outlets. Again, accounting for the elevation change that prevents this from being programmed the way MP was selling in its initial submission, what was it you wanted?

The issue (at least for me) is with the initial promise of something special/different than a regular lobby with a restaurant, coffee shop or two. Just come out and say it will be an office lobby with retail and no one would be discussing this now.
 
The issue (at least for me) is with the initial promise of something special/different than a regular lobby with a restaurant, coffee shop or two. Just come out and say it will be an office lobby with retail and no one would be discussing this now.

But that's basically what they promised! Sure, they made renderings of the State of the City being held there (laughable) or fashion shows, but at the end of the day, they were proposing a corporate retail arcade with office lobbies off the side. I'm not saying they didn't scale it back, but the initial proposal wasn't some world-beating public space.

This is what they proposed:

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An arcade that looks a lot like the Prudential Center mall or Copley Place, with high-end stores and a vaulted ceiling (the "Boston's Living Room" bit was always an absurd piece of marketing froth). Had they built exactly this, the board would be full of complaints at how underwhelming it is in person.
 
But that's basically what they promised! Sure, they made renderings of the State of the City being held there (laughable) or fashion shows, but at the end of the day, they were proposing a corporate retail arcade with office lobbies off the side. I'm not saying they didn't scale it back, but the initial proposal wasn't some world-beating public space.

This is what they proposed:

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An arcade that looks a lot like the Prudential Center mall or Copley Place, with high-end stores and a vaulted ceiling (the "Boston's Living Room" bit was always an absurd piece of marketing froth). Had they built exactly this, the board would be full of complaints at how underwhelming it is in person.

Can only speak for myself, but... no, not at all. Had they delivered that, I'd be like, "Good or bad or somewhere in between, at least they delivered on what they promised."
 
The city definitely should have kept the requirement for the observation deck. I dont see how they thought a lobby, which every building has, was a suitable replacement.
The city accepted a very large cash payout instead, one that will build large amounts of affordable housing. The true public benefits from this building will manifest themselves all over Boston. They could have had the observation deck (maybe), but Millenium would have reduced the cash offer. Would that have been a better result?
 
The city definitely should have kept the requirement for the observation deck. I dont see how they thought a lobby, which every building has, was a suitable replacement.

At 685' Winthrop doesn't have enough prominence to actually see in all directions.

View Boston didn't exist when MT pulled out of doing one (so they don't get that as an excuse) but it's far better than any observation deck here would have been. Higher up, too.
 
Weird to mount the handrails to the floor on posts when they have a wall right there...
Those giant featureless walls need art or something.
 

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