Efforts to take Boston’s skyline spectacularly vertical have snagged in political and business realities. In March, Renzo Piano bowed out of developer Steve Belkin’s controversial plan for an 80-story office tower, which at 1,000 feet would be New England’s tallest. The city had already granted preliminary approval to the project, but preservationists objected that the scheme included demolishing a noted building by Paul Rudolph. The tower’s scale and economic viability have also been questioned.
In a statement announcing his departure, Piano expressed support for what he termed a “challenging adventure.” But sources familiar with the project say that the split was caused by creative differences, primarily over Belkin’s decision to widen the building from 140 feet per side to 160 feet, which Piano thought would ruin the tower’s slim silhouette and deprive the building and surrounding space of light and air.
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