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Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

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Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#401

Post by bobthepanda »

RC_ITR wrote: post #275
bobthepanda wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that the rest of the conversion, namely bathrooms and kitchens per unit and the required pipes, are also not cheap, to the point where if you wanted to rent out a lot of cheap units it would be easier to knock the building down and start anew.

> it would be easier to knock the building down and start anew. Idk where this meme started but it’s very far from reality. We as a species have only ever voluntarily demolished like 30 or so building above 35 stories because it’s insanely expensive to do so (most buildings were knocked down to make significantly larger ones in their place). In no world is it ever cheaper to tear down a high rise and start over. http…

We don’t usually demolish them because

* the office market has never imploded like this before and it’s fairly easy to fill buildings like these up

* until recently, most tall buildings that were old enough to demolish were also probably subject to landmark status

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#402

Post by aperson_hello »

steveBK123 wrote: post #331
aperson_hello wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows don't make you safe in a high rise. Especially ones in a donut hole in a structure - no way to escape through those!!

I dunno man, I think people can strawman every which way on housing its kind of tiring. "We should build windowless homes so poor people can afford them" "You can't put poor people in homes you dont want yourself" "Your desire to not build windowless homes is because you dont want to live next to poor people" "I think we should build more housing" "You just want rich people to have more homes" on and on FDNY can ladd…

But that's a strawman when you can literally cut a hole down a skyscraper and be legal. There's literally no way for FDNY to get a ladder into that hole to rescue someone.

To throw out more strawmen...

"I want marble countertops, everyone should have marble countertops"

"I want a curbless shower, everyone should have curbless showers"

At some point, required amenities and features are preventing people from being housed and causing way more people to literally die because they're not housed vs. the alternative of shitty but safe housing. I'd argue that windows in a high-rise with sprinklers is one of those features.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#403

Post by bobthepanda »

RC_ITR wrote: post #350
bregma wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We as a species have only ever voluntarily demolished like 30 or so building above 35 stories because it’s insanely expensive to do so The designed lifetime of yer typical neopostmodernist glass box office tower is about 25 years. Many of them are 50 years old at this point. They get torn down and replaced all the time.

> The designed lifetime of yer typical neopostmodernist glass box office tower is about 25 years. Many of them are 50 years old at this point. They get torn down and replaced all the time. I mean, can you provide a list of all these 1973 high rises that are being torn down (and the commentary that they were built to be torn down in 1998)? I’d be really interested to see that, because any steel building frame should b…

These days buildings are most likely cantilevered from one or more concrete cores rather than steel frame.

Rebar is a bit trickier than just plain steel.

Also, the thing is that any type of conversion most likely triggers building code updates rather than being grandfathered in, at which point for a building 50+ years old there’s probably either lead or asbestos.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#404

Post by ke88y »

doctorwho42 wrote: post #251
ke88y wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I toured a piece of property at the border of Charlestown and Somerville near a big T stop. There was an empty lot next to the tracks that was owned by the MBTA on paper. But de facto, the neighbor and was clearly using the entire massive lot as an extended back yard (they even had a garden shed and paved parking on the MBTA owned lot). Looked up the property records. Either a HIGHLY coincidental name clash, or there…

If you are talking about a triangle shaped lot on the corner, which is across the street from the lichmere stop of the green line... That lot was the lichmere stop of the green line until about two years ago. And was the lichmere stop for decades. Once torn down it was used as a gravel pile and support area for MBTA work. Recently that corner had the traffic pattern altered a bit with a new light and cross street. Yo…

> Lechmere

Nope. I was talking about Sullivan. davisr got it right.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#405

Post by bheadmaster »

SantalBlush wrote: post #392
loco5niner wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I like correctness too. Are you correct? I don't know; you just said something rude and didn't back up your assertion. As far as fitting in here, have you read the guidelines? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html >In Comments >Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. >Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive…

Yes, I've read them. You should probably calm down and maybe take a break from social media.

What exactly made you think the other person isn't calm? Their comment seems calm to me.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#406

Post by SantalBlush »

bheadmaster wrote: post #405
SantalBlush wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I've read them. You should probably calm down and maybe take a break from social media.

What exactly made you think the other person isn't calm? Their comment seems calm to me.

>you just said something rude and didn't back up your assertion.

This is a combative tone and suggests they need to calm down. Moreover, they're violating the very rules that they just posted:

>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#407

Post by bheadmaster »

SantalBlush wrote: post #406
bheadmaster wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly made you think the other person isn't calm? Their comment seems calm to me.

>you just said something rude and didn't back up your assertion. This is a combative tone and suggests they need to calm down. Moreover, they're violating the very rules that they just posted: >Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

I don't sense any combative tone - the statement was describing the state of things in a truthful manner.

I find your tone ("they need to calm down", "take a break from social media") much more condescending and passive-aggressive. Maybe you are projecting your own feelings onto others? Therefore, maybe the advice you're giving to them is actually advice you want to give to yourself?

Note that this is merely an observation - I have no way of knowing as I don't have access to your mind, and I don't care either way, so feel free to label my comment as combative, too, if you wish.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#408

Post by SantalBlush »

bheadmaster wrote: post #407
SantalBlush wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>you just said something rude and didn't back up your assertion. This is a combative tone and suggests they need to calm down. Moreover, they're violating the very rules that they just posted: >Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

I don't sense any combative tone - the statement was describing the state of things in a truthful manner. I find your tone ("they need to calm down", "take a break from social media") much more condescending and passive-aggressive. Maybe you are projecting your own feelings onto others? Therefore, maybe the advice you're giving to them is actually advice you want to give to yourself? Note that this is merely an obser…

You might still be upset from our previous exchange in another thread about Hanlon's razor, so you found another comment of mine to try and pile on ("Oh no, that's not true, I just decided to participate in this 4-day-old conversation!")

I caught ya. Have a good day!

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#409

Post by bheadmaster »

SantalBlush wrote: post #408
bheadmaster wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't sense any combative tone - the statement was describing the state of things in a truthful manner. I find your tone ("they need to calm down", "take a break from social media") much more condescending and passive-aggressive. Maybe you are projecting your own feelings onto others? Therefore, maybe the advice you're giving to them is actually advice you want to give to yourself? Note that this is merely an obser…

You might still be upset from our previous exchange in another thread about Hanlon's razor, so you found another comment of mine to try and pile on ("Oh no, that's not true, I just decided to participate in this 4-day-old conversation!") I caught ya. Have a good day!

I don't recall any of our previous conversations, and 4 days is not a very long time on HN front page.

Please try to see communication as sharing more than a battle. It doesn't matter who's right, what matters is to share knowledge and help each other converge to something resembling the truth. Life is much more beautiful from that perspective. Have a good day, too, but sincerely, not in a snarky way.

Re: Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings

#410

Post by SantalBlush »

bheadmaster wrote: post #409
SantalBlush wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might still be upset from our previous exchange in another thread about Hanlon's razor, so you found another comment of mine to try and pile on ("Oh no, that's not true, I just decided to participate in this 4-day-old conversation!") I caught ya. Have a good day!

I don't recall any of our previous conversations, and 4 days is not a very long time on HN front page. Please try to see communication as sharing more than a battle. It doesn't matter who's right, what matters is to share knowledge and help each other converge to something resembling the truth. Life is much more beautiful from that perspective. Have a good day, too, but sincerely, not in a snarky way.

Well I expected you to deny it, but it's quite obvious, especially with how combative and upset you were in our previous exchange.

But trying to carry on vendettas in other threads isn't healthy or productive, so I suggest you don't seek out other comments of mine to pick fights ;)

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