Thomas Palmer in the Boston Globe reported on May 7 that a “compromise reached between City Hall and developers of a planned 299-foot-tall residential tower in Chinatown will reduce the height by 34 feet, but means elimination of the revered Dainty Dot building on the site.

The planned glass tower near Essex Street and Surface Artery, proposed by developer Ori Ron, has split the Chinatown and neighboring Leather District communities.

The compromise, described last night to the Boston Design Review Commission, includes reducing the building’s height to 265 feet, or about 4 1/2 floors, paring the number of residential condominiums from 180 to 147, and adding a new park on Oxford Street. But it also includes demolishing the Dainty Dot, once headquarters of a hosiery company and formerly known as the Auchmuty Building.”

http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2008/05/07/developer_agrees_to_trim_towers_size/

Whether you agreed with the Dainty Dot development or not, the fact is, the trend has been to build towers in or near Chinatown.