Fan Pier Developments | Seaport

I think Sicilian's point is that a wave of first-movers would have come in ages ago on their own volition were it not for massive parcel consolidation and endless horsetrading.

I think you're both right. Vertex will help Fan Pier, but needing to provide crazy incentives and hurt Cambridge in the process should not have even been necessary had this opportunity been managed correctly over the last number of decades.
 
Shepard said:
I think Sicilian's point is that a wave of first-movers would have come in ages ago on their own volition were it not for massive parcel consolidation and endless horsetrading.

I think you're both right. Vertex will help Fan Pier, but needing to provide crazy incentives and hurt Cambridge in the process should not have even been necessary had this opportunity been managed correctly over the last number of decades.
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History is history though. We're in this tough situation because of mistakes from the past. We can't reverse them and we have to go somewhere and move forward. Honestly, I see it as more of an investment for the City of Boston getting Vertex down here. Cambridge can hold its own.
 
GW2500 said:
Yes and no. I think in this specific case, a larger company in bio tech leaving Kendal sq to help jump start a new neighborhood, it has good in it. I do think that the 70 million in tax breaks is a bit much. But it seems like the thing to do, have all municipalities race to the bottom (so that at the end of the day very rich people can make even more profit). And here is my main reasoning. I believe Kendall Sq, the bio tech capital of the world/ one of the most cocentrated areas of inteligence, can fill that void fairly quick. Where-as South Boston needs a shot in the arm. I think this goes a way towards that. I said it before, I view it like transplanting trees from a dense forest to start a new forest somewhere else.

So assuming, and yes its a large assumption, that Kendall Sq can recoup lost business. That the presence of this new large company (Vertex) is the final piece of confidence the private sector needs to truely become bullish. Then it could possibly be a net gain. South Boston has been slowly adding all these peices together, (ICA, Liberty Warf, Convention Center, apartments, hotels) that a real neighborhood needs. Now granted the architecture could be better, but I beileve it's really close to that critical cross-over. It could help it progress from a location some might be willing to take a chance on, to a place a lot of companies and people would like to call home. I think that Vertex might be that crucial amount of business/people/activity required to trigger the creation of this neighborhood (30 years in the making).
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Very interesting point of view. Longer Term-you might be right.

Vertex market cap is 7 billion dollar biotech company their stock seems to be diluted. The state & the city offered 72 Million in tax breaks, don't forget that Cambridge will also lose tax revenue which is double the hit in tax revenue for the state & cities. Unless your theory holds true that Kendal Square can recoup an outside corporation to fill the space and rebill their tax revenue over the next couple years. How long will this take?

Their is a very good possibility that Vertex gets bought out by one of the big Biotechs and they consolidate Vertex to an R&D firm before they ever get to Fan Pier.


Isn't the job of the developer to entice the customer to relocate, Why should the developer reap all the percs on the taxpayers back?
 
I for one will be looking forward to this summer to see if the area is vitalized at all by Fish and Richardson actually occupying their space. The thought of a bunch of young paralegals in their short, form fitting, summer business attire gives me something to look forward to.

Might make finding a seat at the Children's Museum deck pretty tough at lunch time though.
 
One can dream.... but having a suger mama who is also a lawyer could be bad.
She'd still find a way to clean ME out in the divorce....
 
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Is that the City Hall model?

the most interesting part is that the four buildings that are most detailed are not the next ones slated to be developed.
 
Isn't the least detailed building the one that is actually built? If they can stick to these models for the others, I think the area could turn out well, just so long as the promised street level details develop.
 
HenryAlan said:
Isn't the least detailed building the one that is actually built? If they can stick to these models for the others, I think the area could turn out well, just so long as the promised street level details develop.
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I think the models are just for massing, and don't represent what will actually be built. The two vertex buildings certainly aren't represented by any models there.
 
No worries.

Hater's wont stroll along a loading dock, a barren wall, a service entrance, an office building lobby, a 15-foot steel "ONE" labeled "do not stand on the sign sculpture", and more lobby to get to Strega.
 
kz1000ps said:
Who's been hating on the street? All I've heard is people rip apart the building (and deservedly so).
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Well, most people who hate the building have probably not actually been to it.
 
Jass, rather than get into the haters debate, I'm curious what you find engaging about this street ? especially from the perspective of a pedestrian who does not work in the building.
 
kz1000ps said:
Who's been hating on the street? All I've heard is people rip apart the building (and deservedly so).
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But ultimately, isn't the street what matters most? If the building is an innocuous stump rather than a soaring icon, it will eventually blend in to the yet to be constructed whole. But what makes something urban is the street level, not the sky line. I think it's too early to judge the street, but I could see the area being kind of cool eventually. Still too many parking lots for the moment, though.
 
The street is gorgeously paved and not terribly scaled. The problem is what lines it (or, rather, doesn't).
 
Why is the park on that street so enormous? If something's going to take away from the urban feel here, it won't be the streets it'll be the broad open spaces.

And the plans show another huge park is designated to be right across Northern Ave. from it. It's going to be a very windy neighborhood.
 
The seaport will never feel urban because of all the parks. There's a park across the street from a park across the street from another park a block down from another park. There is no continuous urban fabric for more than a few buildings, so it will always just be an office park.
 
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