I think the greenway has been getting kind of a bad rap. It really won last year? There are a ton of new trees on it, and give those 5-10 years to grow and fill in a little and it should bring much more of a park feel to it. Different parts of it are also getting a lot of usage. The dancing fountains near the aquarium are incredibly popular in the summer time, and the large plaza by south station and in front of the federal reserve is packed with vendors during lunch time. The bigger problem is whether the city will allow future projects surrounding the greenway to be up to par with the standards we have on this website. I would say early projections are inconclusive, although I'd say overall it will be somewhat of a disappointment. Judging now (or LAST YEAR in this case) is not fair because it is not exactly a finished product out there. Once the recession ends we will see if any of the better projects are allowed to be built because they will determine the full impact of the greenway as much as the park itself. I must say I was driving it at night, coming from Fanueil Hall towards South Station, and the glassy sheens of the Intercontinental and Atlantic Wharf looked very cool/impressive with the Federal Reserve and 1 Financial looming behind them.
For this year I will go with the black wall of 45 Province, the crown of the Clarendon, or the value engineered side of the W. All 3 of these are crap and we were mislead by the renderings.
This is a little off topic but does anybody know what the deal is with the new trend for buildings to have nice looking sides and value engineered crap sides? Why are mishmashed facades becoming the status quo?