What's that about Bostonians being scared of heights? The city on Thursday green-lighted what will be the tallest residential tower in Boston, a 691-foot, 58-story spire at the edge of the Christian Science Plaza.
The tower is part of a 950,000-square-foot plaza development expected to start next year and to include another residential tower, this one a mere 25 stories. The taller tower will include 255 apartments; 170 condos; and about 250 hotel rooms. It will be designed by the same architect who did the John Hancock Tower in the 1970s. It will be 99 feet shorter than that, the city's tallest tower, but it will surpass two other planned buildings that were to be the city's tallest residential ones: the Millennium Tower and the addition to Copley Square, both slated for 625 feet.
The 691-foot height—and the reaction to it—stands athwart a major trend in Boston development: that of the OMFG-not-tall reaction that has truncated many a Roark-ian shoot. As Casey Ross points out in The Globe: "During a Boston Redevelopment Authority meeting Thursday night, a long line of stakeholders spoke in favor of the project. No one spoke against it." This Christian Science Plaza tower at Belvidere and Dalton streets could, then, prove a watershed in Boston development history. Sit tight.
· 58-Story Building in Back Bay Approved [Globe]
· Emerson Nixes Tallish Tower Over Shadow Concerns [Curbed Boston]
· 1350 Boylston and the Battle for Building Boston [Curbed Boston]
· Millennium Tower Sets a Date for Groundbreaking [Curbed Boston]
· The Magic of the Copley Place Tower: More Units, Same Height [Curbed Boston]
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