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What would have been Boston's first Jenga building on indefinite hold due to the current office market

By adamg on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 2:52pm
Proposed Back Bay Jenga building

Proposed Jenga tower next to Back Bay station still just proposed.

The Boston Business Journal reports the developer that once proposed some major reconstruction of the space around and above Back Bay station - which would have included a re-do of the station's interior - is continuing to not move forward on its proposal because, well, you know, the office market and all.

When Boston Properties first proposed an office and and residential tower at Back Bay, in 2016, it said it was hoping to begin work in 2017.

But that never happened, and instead Boston University won the race to recreate the 3D puzzle game.

Neighborhoods: 
Back Bay
Topics: 
Development
Free tagging: 
Dartmouth Station
commuter rai


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Comments

By Jiggles on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 3:00pm.

Mayor Wu has her finger on the pulse

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By robo on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 8:05pm.

Literally came her to post this!

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By CopleyScott17 on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 3:02pm.

I liked that project. Seems like everyone wants to build in the Fenway/Brookline area these days. All the major projects on the other end of Back Bay/South End seem to get canceled (remember the air-rights project they barely started alongside Cortes Street?)

But would this really be the first Jenga building in Boston? Are we not counting the one near BU?

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By adamg on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 3:32pm.

The BU Jenga opened in 2022, so had construction on the Back Bay building started like originally planned in 2017 ...

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By CopleyScott17 on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 4:52pm.

I bet BU would have gotten it through :-)

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By PastaBatman on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 4:56pm.

That building was an ugly stump. Let's hope the next iteration is a bit more fitting for it's prime location.

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By anon on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 5:20pm.

Yeah man, we already can't even fill the All New State Street All Glass Behemoth.

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By HighGuard on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 6:02pm.

Here's a thought, how about building some mid range income apartments. You know the thing that's in demand?

This probably doesn't bode well for the south station tower

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By hydeparkish on Fri, 11/01/2024 - 5:05am.

The high cost to acquire properties including air rights along with the extremely long approvals process in Boston makes mid priced projects really challenging to pencil out profit wise and developers need to make money in order for projects to be worth their time.

And the south station tower is a combo of office space with Resi above it. I toured that project a few months ago. Even with resi units starting at 4 million they are likely to sell them all to rich people who's kids are here for a short time for school or those professionals that commute between NYC and Boston via The accella train ( the mock ups were nice and there are plenty of folks with a spare $4 million to park somewhere for 5 years - yay capitalism). It will have a huge rooftop terrace park that will be cool as a building amenity and since it's right above South Station chances are good it will rent but keep in mind that project took 30 years to get built.

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By epeemike81 on Fri, 11/01/2024 - 12:46pm.

Yes. All of this. Which means that if you want people to be able to build midrange projects, you need to push the city to reform their zoning so that FAR more projects are buildable as right with no approval required.

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By hydeparkish on Fri, 11/01/2024 - 11:25pm.

Coming to a Boston neighborhood near you soon. Check it out, zoning reform WU style.

It's actually likely to genrify the few remaining afordable parts of Boston. My money is on Mattapan going next...

By cybah on Fri, 11/01/2024 - 3:59pm.

Annnnd the eventual plan is to have an obnoxious amount of parking build into the project (I think more phase 2 and 3) so you know those condo owners will have dedicated spaces. You know only a few condo owners will use the transit they live above. Most will drive in and out of the garage)

The only thing I'm really excited for is the expanded bus station and the direct connection from the bus station to the train station without walking outside and/or walking along Track 1. It's so convoluted how you get out of the bus station, along with a lot of wasted space just to have a walkway to the street.

I just wish they could make the bus station even bigger. Even with the new berths, the bus station could use several more. During crunch time (holidays) the South Station Bus Terminal is so crowded and so many buses.

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By Nowy Liberté on Fri, 11/01/2024 - 1:36pm.

Unless the proposed project is by an "Accepted Institution" such as a college or university, a hospital or a museum -- - in Boston there will always be a long delay

What in most dynamic cities take months in Boston it is years. If it is more complex in the "dynamic cities" and takes a few years -- in Boston it's decades if at all.

And note that those delays translate into much increased costs -- so building "low end" projects such as middle class homes in Boston is unaffordable.

And so it goes!

By jmeltzer on Sun, 11/03/2024 - 12:50pm.

The new BU Computer Science building is.

By blues_lead on Mon, 11/04/2024 - 9:09am.

I would normally chide you for not reading the article, but in this case it seems like you didn't even read the headline.