i should have put a disclaimer at the beginning of the post that i'd come off sounding heavy handed. it wasn't my intention, nor to take a big crap on the forum. i'll be the first to say, what an idiot i am, and thank you, when i turn out to be wrong.
i did leave an out; building in Back Bay will still be possible.... Then Govt Center is really one humongous demo. But we're getting close to things getting prohibitively expensive. Look at how tall they had to go at 1 Dalton. Add in Boston Redevelopment politics to any other possible site/s. So many are just a nightmare.
I've got friends working with this stuff. I hadn't had the opportunity to get into specifics with one 'in the know' until the last few days. I came to discover they see things in a similar light. It's not just overcoming the challenges of underground infrastructure, engineering, right-of-ways, zoning.... Now, as we move forward, it's the delicate hurdles involved with redevelopment of assets that are already well used being added to Logan, shadows, expensive impact studies, the cost of labor, angry neighbors, the Archdiocese, the colleges who own so much property.... then, add the goodies for the city... put it together, it's just a lot. damn perfect storm. a ton goes into these projects.
Look at 1 Dalton. Why does it get done, and an other one doesn't. Millennium is done, who has the right to say Bromfield Street doesn't? Yet, if it doesn't get built, that should tell you a lot. You're seeing people tearing their hair out because they're gonna do a variance on a 200 foot height rule at the Aquarium. This is happening, because there's no where else to build... Sadder still, you've got the Aquarium ass-douches that can't see Chiofaro is going to help bring a renaissance in this part of the City. Too many people don't see density here as a good thing - which is insane.
And there's stuff no one talks about in Boston. You had the Patrick (omfg) admn... You can't begin to quantify the evil that existed in the State House under his regime. Then there's the City. Infighting goes on with the developers that you can't even imagine. Stuff that could will never be repeated.
choose to believe it or not.
But, 1 Dalton also shows us a silver lining; where going forward, the purchase + removal of valuable properties gets so damn expensive, they simply have to go huge to make it feasible. I'm saying we're closer to this place than you think, and the Menino-era crap effectivly ends.
I'm not looking for a showdown, but, are you prepared to get specific? Where are we not looking? I don't see where. I see a few doglegs downtown/where you can do tall and narrow @ 450~620'. So, there's room for optimism there. But, unless you're talking about west of the Pru, then, i just think from here, our prospects start getting very thin.
Now, if you want to talk about 265-340 foot apartment buildings going all the way back to Hyde Park, yeah, people are thrilled. We'll continue to see these low towers, linkage, and neighborhoods revitalized.
Back Bay Station. The up to the minute is B.B.S. is 2 buildings with neither going tall.
You don't want to know who told me, But, if this is true, and i have every reason to believe that it is, then imo, they're better off setting it aside for a few years. If you want to see a world class skyscraper built here, you all are going to need to get LOUD before they get too far along (Count me in).... If the best path to a great tower requires waiting a few years, then it would be well worth it. It will be a tragedy if at least 1 +650 foot tower doesn't go up there.
Godspeed.