| 101 Clarendon Street | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Never built |
| Type | Hotel, Parking garage, Residential, Retail, Fitness center |
| Location | 101 Clarendon Street, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°20′54.69″N71°4′26.46″W / 42.3485250°N 71.0740167°W Coordinates: 42°20′54.69″N71°4′26.46″W / 42.3485250°N 71.0740167°W |
| Height | |
| Roof | 420 ft (130 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 35 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Childs Bertman Tseckares Inc. |
| Developer | Winn Development |
101 Clarendon Street, also known as Columbus Center, was a proposed skyscraper planned for Boston, Massachusetts. If completed, it would have stood as the 25th-tallest building in Boston. Continuing on the trend established by the Prudential Tower in 1964, the completed building would have concealed more of the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) by utilizing air rights above it. [1] The location would have been above the turnpike, directly to the east of Back Bay station and south of Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The project would have "united the city’s Back Bay and South End neighborhoods." [2]
A skyscraper is a continuously habitable high-rise building that has over 40 floors and is taller than approximately 150 m (492 ft). Historically, the term first referred to buildings with 10 to 20 floors in the 1880s. The definition shifted with advancing construction technology during the 20th century. Skyscrapers may host commercial offices or residential space, or both. For buildings above a height of 300 m (984 ft), the term "supertall" can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m (1,969 ft) are classified as "megatall".
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is an International Style skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind 200 Clarendon Street, formerly the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was designed by Charles Luckman and Associates for Prudential Insurance. Completed in 1964, the building is 749 feet (228 m) tall, with 52 floors, and is tied with others as the 96th-tallest in the United States. It contains 1,200,000 sq ft (110,000 m2) of commercial and retail space. Including its radio mast, the tower stands as the tallest building in Boston, rising to 907 feet (276 m) in height.
The Massachusetts Turnpike is a toll road in the U.S. state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state line in West Stockbridge, linking with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway. Spanning 138 miles (222 km) along an east–west axis, it is entirely concurrent with the portion of Interstate 90 (I-90) that lies within the state. The turnpike is the longest Interstate Highway in Massachusetts, while I-90 in full is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States.
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The project was put on what was then a temporary hiatus in March 2008 with the developers citing a need for about $35 million in state funds and loans, some of which had been denied ironically because construction had stopped. [3]
In 2010, the main financial investor in Columbus Center, the California Pension and Retirement System (CalPERS), began to extricate itself from the development. Citing the economic unfeasibility of such a project and the intransigence of locals opposing the project, the $800 million complex was eventually declared defunct by CalPERS and investor Arthur Winn. Debates over the final cost of cleaning up the proposed site (estimated at $5–6 million) continue. [2]
Winn was later charged with making illegal campaign contributions totaling $61,000 over the course of eight years in an attempt to win approval and support for the Columbus Center project. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of donating in another person's name to U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch and Mike Capuano. [4]
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they comprise the legislature of the United States.
Michael Everett Capuano is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1999 to 2019. A Democrat, his district included the northern three-fourths of Boston, as well as parts of Cambridge, his hometown of Somerville, and other communities immediately north and south of Boston. Prior to being elected to Congress he served as an Alderman and Mayor of Somerville.
As of 2016 there are two developers in favor of reviving the project. [5]
