OT: Hub on Causeway - Part 3

[Fenway]

I never thought North Station would become real estate gold but Papa Jacobs had a vision and now he is cashing in big time.

This is mindboggling

Verizon will move into tower to be built over North Station - The Boston Globe

Developer Boston Properties said Tuesday that it has signed a 20-year lease with Verizon for 440,000 square feet in an office tower to be built over North Station. That’s enough room for as many as 3,000 employees, and will anchor a $540 million office building, the tallest to go up in Boston in nearly two decades.

Regardless of what Verizon does there, the deal with Boston Properties will launch construction of a 31-story, 627,000-square-foot office tower overlooking the Zakim Bridge. It’s the third phase of the company’s massive Hub on Causeway project, which also includes a 38-story apartment tower and a seven-story office and retail complex along Causeway Street in front of TD Garden and North Station.

Construction on the tower will begin shortly, a Boston Properties spokeswoman said, and the building should open in 2021. At 510 feet, it would be the tallest office building to go up in Boston since 111 Huntington Ave. opened in 2002.

Click to read more...

 

[Gator Mike]

Such an improvement over a street-level parking lot in front of plain concrete wall.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

It's amazing the transformation the entire city has had since I was a kid (Im only 33).

I still remember (and admittedly miss) the elevated green line and the mob of people pushing up the staircase after games.

Its also a testament to the Big Dig and the explosion of tech companies. It has done what they said it would and transformed the city.

 

[ODAAT]

It's amazing the transformation the entire city has had since I was a kid (Im only 33).

I still remember (and admittedly miss) the elevated green line and the mob of people pushing up the staircase after games.

Its also a testament to the Big Dig and the explosion of tech companies. It has done what they said it would and transformed the city.

my guess is for those living in Boston it`s been he** dealing with all the construction but as a relatively frequent visitor to your terrific city, the improvements have been amazing

 

[northeastern]

I'm moving under a mile from the garden in a month and have friends that live closer, can't wait for the first phase to finish but it'll be amazing when it's all done!

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

As a previous poster said, it's weird how even "young" people (I am 29) like myself have witnessed huge changes in the landscape of Boston in our lifetimes.

Despite being a leader in education and healthcare for a long time, Boston remained a rather "blue collar" feel until rather recently. As much as I hate the comparison, we were closest to Philadelphia when compared to major east coast metros.

There is good and bad to all of this, but it is a pretty fascinating experience to watch so much money swirling around in all of these new tangible assets.

 

[Fenway]

As a previous poster said, it's weird how even "young" people (I am 29) like myself have witnessed huge changes in the landscape of Boston in our lifetimes.

Despite being a leader in education and healthcare for a long time, Boston remained a rather "blue collar" feel until rather recently. As much as I hate the comparison, we were closest to Philadelphia when compared to major east coast metros.

There is good and bad to all of this, but it is a pretty fascinating experience to watch so much money swirling around in all of these new tangible assets.

Philadelphia has also undergone a huge transformation that started in the mid 80's when they connected the 2 major train stations with a tunnel and then Comcast became a giant,

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I'd like to see if someone can shine some more light on this:

I remember reading an aritcle, or maybe two, a couple of years back that says there is tons of incentive from the federal government for developers to build on top of, or within close proximity, to major transit hubs. From what I remember, this is all part of an effort to ease the burden on infrastructure. I assume this is a huge driver of the development of this project, no?

 

[smithformeragent]

I’m doing professional development all week at Suffolk.

It’s looks like the second Death Star at north station these days.

 

[GordonHowe]

I’m doing professional development all week at Suffolk.

It’s looks like the second Death Star at north station these days.

Imagine I'm in the minority, but detest the overbuilding of lux housing and corporate digs over the past ten years. The phenomena has increased under Walsh.

I ask again, in the third most expensive city in the U.S. in which to live, with the highest income inequality, where are people supposed to live?

I'm sorry, this shit makes me sick.

 

[JRull86]

Imagine I'm in the minority, but detest the overbuilding of lux housing and corporate digs over the past ten years. The phenomena has increased under Walsh.

I ask again, in the third most expensive city in the U.S. in which to live, with the highest income inequality, where are people supposed to live?

I'm sorry, this **** makes me sick.

It's definitely an issue. The surge in housing costs over the past 10-15 years is...well disheartening to say the least.

My dad had a house on I st and E 8th in southie. He sold it in 2004 because the parole board moved their HQ out of southie to like Medfield and was sick of the drive.

He sold it for $440k, it's now worth $1.1 mil.

On the flip side though, the market doesn't seem to be slowing down, so they'll continue to build and build.

Honestly, as nice as all of these new things are, I do think the soul of the city is basically gone, and that sucks.

 

[Fenway]

It's definitely an issue. The surge in housing costs over the past 10-15 years is...well disheartening to say the least.

My dad had a house on I st and E 8th in southie. He sold it in 2004 because the parole board moved their HQ out of southie to like Medfield and was sick of the drive.

He sold it for $440k, it's now worth $1.1 mil.

On the flip side though, the market doesn't seem to be slowing down, so they'll continue to build and build.

Honestly, as nice as all of these new things are, I do think the soul of the city is basically gone, and that sucks.

I honestly don't know the city anymore. Look what Boylston behind Fenway Park has become and the Seaport is like visiting a new city.

The traffic is hideous and frankly not building I-95 as planned in the 70's is a major reason. Not building the Inner Belt also contributed to the mess as all the roads were designed assuming it would be built.

Interstate 695 (Massachusetts) - Wikipedia

The highway would have been called Interstate 695 and would have provided a circumferential route inside the Route 128corridor. A 1955 plan suggested this routing:

• Connection with Interstate 93 in Charlestown at Yard 8, what is now Inner Belt Road, Somerville
• Paralleling Washington Street, Somerville
• Connection with Northwest Expressway/U.S. 3/MA 2 (unbuilt) in Union Square, Somerville
• Along Elm Street past Inman Square
• Past Central Square, Cambridge through Cambridgeport paralleling Brookline Street
• Crossing the Charles River at the Boston University Bridge, replacing the local street bridge with a two-level local and elevated highway bridge, or bypassing the bridge with a tunnel
• Connection with the Western Expressway (Massachusetts Turnpike) near the Charles River
• Running under the Back Bay Fens along the Fenway or Park Drive
• Connection with the Southwest Expressway (unbuilt)
• Running via what became Melnea Cass Boulevard
• Connection with the Southeast Expressway via what is now the Mass Ave connector

 

[JRull86]

I honestly don't know the city anymore. Look what Boylston behind Fenway Park has become and the Seaport is like visiting a new city.

The traffic is hideous and frankly not building I-95 as planned in the 70's is a major reason. Not building the Inner Belt also contributed to the mess as all the roads were designed assuming it would be built.

Interstate 695 (Massachusetts) - Wikipedia

The highway would have been called Interstate 695 and would have provided a circumferential route inside the Route 128corridor. A 1955 plan suggested this routing:

• Connection with Interstate 93 in Charlestown at Yard 8, what is now Inner Belt Road, Somerville
• Paralleling Washington Street, Somerville
• Connection with Northwest Expressway/U.S. 3/MA 2 (unbuilt) in Union Square, Somerville
• Along Elm Street past Inman Square
• Past Central Square, Cambridge through Cambridgeport paralleling Brookline Street
• Crossing the Charles River at the Boston University Bridge, replacing the local street bridge with a two-level local and elevated highway bridge, or bypassing the bridge with a tunnel
• Connection with the Western Expressway (Massachusetts Turnpike) near the Charles River
• Running under the Back Bay Fens along the Fenway or Park Drive
• Connection with the Southwest Expressway (unbuilt)
• Running via what became Melnea Cass Boulevard
• Connection with the Southeast Expressway via what is now the Mass Ave connector

I don't even know what they are going to do with traffic at this point.

All these new condos, putting even more cars in the city that is already far too full.

Wonder if they'll ever do a London style daily tax on cars entering from outside the city.

 

[Fenway]

Meanwhile, the new hotel near the Pru is HUGE

 

[Fenway]

I don't even know what they are going to do with traffic at this point.

All these new condos, putting even more cars in the city that is already far too full.

Wonder if they'll ever do a London style daily tax on cars entering from outside the city.

Just wait until the Everett casino opens in 10 months - @Kate08 is counting the days

 

[EverettMike]

Just wait until the Everett casino opens in 10 months - @Kate08 is counting the days

It is going to make my life a f***ing nightmare. Everett traffic is a total f***ing disaster on the weekend anyway, and also in the morning and afternoon. It also sucks the rest of the time.

 

[Seidenbergy]

I don't even know what they are going to do with traffic at this point.

All these new condos, putting even more cars in the city that is already far too full.

Wonder if they'll ever do a London style daily tax on cars entering from outside the city.

Until the day I die, I will argue that if they spent half as much on the T/Commuter Rail systems as they did on the Big Dig, we'd have the best system in the entire world and traffic wouldn't be anywhere near where it is now. They couldn't have dropped the ball much worse IMO.

 

[Fenway]

It is going to make my life a ****ing nightmare. Everett traffic is a total ****ing disaster on the weekend anyway, and also in the morning and afternoon. It also sucks the rest of the time.

Route 99 is a horror show now and I can not fathom what it will be like when it opens.

 

[EverettMike]

Route 99 is a horror show now and I can not fathom what it will be like when it opens.

If you try to leave the city at noon on a Saturday, in any direction, it's brutal. 99 is awful 7 days a week at various times.

 

[Fenway]

If you try to leave the city at noon on a Saturday, in any direction, it's brutal. 99 is awful 7 days a week at various times.

Coming from Boston you will need to turn left into the casino which will block southbound traffic coming from the parkway, Everett and Malden.

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

Until the day I die, I will argue that if they spent half as much on the T/Commuter Rail systems as they did on the Big Dig, we'd have the best system in the entire world and traffic wouldn't be anywhere near where it is now. They couldn't have dropped the ball much worse IMO.

Agreed

Cars should be guests in cities and we are rightfully so developing building in the city with that in mind

But... we are not investing in the infrastructure needed to bring people into the city easier with public transport.

The north/south station connector would be huge in that regard. It would enable you to get south of the city on the commuter rail and reduce gridlock at north/south stations.

But overall the mentality of commuters in the USA needs to change. People at work complain about the price of parking but would never take public transport because of something like they don't like being near people. Yet their commuter pass could be deducted out of their check pre tax.

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

Imagine I'm in the minority, but detest the overbuilding of lux housing and corporate digs over the past ten years. The phenomena has increased under Walsh.

I ask again, in the third most expensive city in the U.S. in which to live, with the highest income inequality, where are people supposed to live?

I'm sorry, this **** makes me sick.

What's the solution? Boring sterile office parks off of 495/95? I worked in one of those for the first 5 years of my career and between my clown car commute and seditary life of walk from car to office and eat at desk or cafeteria made me feel like a character in office space. Never again

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Agreed

Cars should be guests in cities and we are rightfully so developing building in the city with that in mind

But... we are not investing in the infrastructure needed to bring people into the city easier with public transport.

The north/south station connector would be huge in that regard. It would enable you to get south of the city on the commuter rail and reduce gridlock at north/south stations.

But overall the mentality of commuters in the USA needs to change. People at work complain about the price of parking but would never take public transport because of something like they don't like being near people. Yet their commuter pass could be deducted out of their check pre tax.

It is ridiculous they couldn't get this done during the big dig. My commute was train north station, walk to pick up orange line to chinatown or downtown crossing and walk to office a block away from south station.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

how many tourists though use South Station as compared to the locals, though, virtually, everyone is well aware of North Station...

 

[Gordoff]

Not really the point of how many tourists use S.Station. The point is that it's yet another disjointed part of Bostons transportation "grid."