[ARCHIVED] Harbor Garage Redevelopment | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

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Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

There is an opportunity right now for the Aquarium management & executive team. The Aquarium Executives need to get behind Chiofaro and also recommend knocking down their area along with re-building a 21st century 100Million dollar aquarium.

If Chiofaro is going to build on this site why not take out the entire area. The Aquarium seems very outdated to me and this type of scenario would benefit everybody.

I would love to see something amazing happen here.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

TheRifleman said:
There is an opportunity right now for the Aquarium management & executive team. The Aquarium Executives need to get behind Chiofaro and also recommend knocking down their area along with re-building a 21st century 100Million dollar aquarium.

If Chiofaro is going to build on this site why not take out the entire area. The Aquarium seems very outdated to me and this type of scenario would benefit everybody.

I would love to see something amazing happen here.
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That sounds like a good idea to me. Where would you build a new Aquarium?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

mass88 said:
That sounds like a good idea to me. Where would you build a new Aquarium?
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Same Spot---or incorporate the entire area with the development.
Both the Developer & the Aquarium could work sometype of situation that would work for both of them. Could give the Developer more space around the area:

Everytime I go to the Aquarium I feel like I'm walking around in a Toilet Bowl.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

mass88 said:
That sounds like a good idea to me. Where would you build a new Aquarium?
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Right next to the stadium, the casino, the hard rail, and the upgraded grid.
Built without subsidies from the government hacks.

Somewhere between imaginationland, storyland, fantasyland, and somewhere over the rainbow.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Off topic, but...

TheRifleman said:
Don't get me wrong CITY HALL does need to relocate but to an area that is easy access and that is not that desirable.
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This strikes me as similar to this line:

Yogi Bera said:
Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.
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Generally speaking, easy to access means desirable. And City Hall should be in a desirable location. It's something that belongs to the entire city, and should not be shunted off to some obscure corner for the sake of private interests.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

The center of Boston's population, geographically speaking, is in Roxbury.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

TheRifleman said:
There is an opportunity right now for the Aquarium management & executive team. The Aquarium Executives need to get behind Chiofaro and also recommend knocking down their area along with re-building a 21st century 100Million dollar aquarium.

If Chiofaro is going to build on this site why not take out the entire area. The Aquarium seems very outdated to me and this type of scenario would benefit everybody.

I would love to see something amazing happen here.
Click to expand...

And the money for the $100 million (probably closer to $200 million these days) cost is coming from whom? How much would you expect Mr. Chiofaro to kick in?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

stellarfun said:
And the money for the $100 million (probably closer to $200 million these days) cost is coming from whom? How much would you expect Mr. Chiofaro to kick in?
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Aquarium would have to raise a certain amount for their personal core of the development (maybe with help from the Developer) The developer could also throw them a bone if he gets some extra square footage out of it which could add on to rental units.

In the end: IT JUST DEPENDS on how this could work out for both parties.

All I'm saying is if your going redevelop this area why not just rip the entire area up and redo it right.

It might be fantasyland---But the Aquarium is really outdated and at some point this will need to be rebuilt. WHY NOT NOW
 
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Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Yes, a rebuilt Aquarium would be a great idea! Along with a resurrection of the Aquariums' former idea to build an underwater see-through/underwater "walk-through-tunnel" under the harbor. (to allow viewing of the natural environment underwater). This idea would also make it easier to locate "certain things" related to Whitey Bulger. (i.e.: bodies)
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Do you think that Chiofaro reads this thread and chuckles to himself watching us get all tied up in knots over this project?
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Chiofaro probably doesn't give two shits what a handful of armchair architects and urban planners think.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

The next big meeting on this is Wednesday, June 25th at Atlantic Wharf, 290 Congress Street, 6-8 PM - it's the Municipal Harbor Planning meeting.

It's nice to finally have a meeting in the evening so working people can attend. It would be great if some of us working stiffs could show up and provide an interesting counterpoint to the ladies-who-lunch set who typically attend these meetings.

The last public meeting I attended was almost 5 years ago, so dare I say, I'm excited.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Aww, that conflicts directly with the LivableStreets Alliance launch party. I'd volunteer to go, myself, as someone who works next door to the garage at 225 State, but I have an obligation to be at the LSA event.

What really is the counterpoint to adjacent residents hiding their NIMBYISM (or not so delicately hiding it) under the guise of concern for the impact to the waterfront? I always struggle with trying to downplay concerns of >1hr shadows without making it sound like I love shadows...
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

scorpio02150 said:
Aquarium officially opposes a tall tower; OKs a smaller building.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...-tower-plan/cWDHcgWI1rqMpcH2mvDnwI/story.html
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The article makes it sound like they're against anything being built there - the construction process is what they're mainly opposing (noise and vibration), and height (though how do shadows impact the operations of an indoor facility?).

I really have to wonder how they survived the Big Dig -- didn't that create a lot of noise and vibration over the decade+ of its construction?

And I bet they'd change their tune if the developer offered them a bunch of money toward an endowment.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Perhaps they can make enough noise and get Don to put the Aquarium in the tower's podium.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

The best bet for the Aquarium is to jump on board with the developer and ask him to redevelop the entire area including the Aquarium.

The Aquarium executives should ask to be incorporated into the development also help the developer add more space to make it lucrative deal.
The Aquarium is so outdated that it needs to be REDEVELOPED into something in the 21st century.

So why not CLOSE the entire area and let CHIOFARO build on Harbor Garage along with connectivity to the entire Aquarium area.
 
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Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

The aquarium complaining about the possibility of increased traffic and reduced parking is lame. That could be used as an excuse for any construction. Anyone who drives around that part of town deserves to sit in traffic and pay $$$ for parking. If only there were a subway stop right there. Perhaps the blue line. Heck they could call the stop Aquarium!
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

Regardless of what you think of their complaints, it's still a PR nightmare for Chiofaro.

Spoiled rich folks living in a tower on waterfront don't really carry the same weight in public opinion as one of the most beloved institutions in the city.
 
Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)

One of the biggest concerns of the Aquarium folks is the threat to the health of the Aquarium's sea animals during the construction of the garage redo! However, as Elemenoh points out in a previous comment, the Aquarium, and it's inhabitants, seemed to have survived the Big Dig seemingly without a disastrous outcome to the animals! Also, the Aquarium recently completed it's own construction projects to update it's facilities, again, seemingly without any ill effects to the Nemo's and Dory's of the Aquarium. The concerns about the health of the Aquarium's inhabitants during construction seem, to me, to be nothing more than a 'red herring!' ;)
http://www.neaq.org/about_us/new_aquarium_experience/
 
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