Waterside Place 1A | 505 Congress Street | Seaport

Re: Waterside Place

"Mass. the only state with 3 fully privately financed stadiums.... "

you say that like its a bad thing.....
 
Re: Waterside Place

ok I forgot about the tailgating thing... but yea the privately funded thing would be bad if the Pats moved to CT or St. Louis..... luckily Kraft is a loyal decent man as far as I can tell.
 
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The privately-funded thing is wonderful for us. Not only is Kraft a good guy, he also has a huge investment in Foxboro. He owns the land, the stadium, and he's putting up a variable city around it with Patriot Place. He has no good excuse to abandon that, so he never will. Plus, CBS, Bass Pro Shops, etc. all have vested interest in the site remaining the home of the Patriots, and I'm sure their lease has a clause about the team staying put. The chance for the Pats to move to CT has come and gone.

Teams in publicly-funded facilities have no investment in the site and can simply jump somewhere else. All the money they make comes from tickets, concessions, etc. All could be quickly replicated somewhere else.

Privately-funded, entrenched stadiums, IMO, actually decrease the chance a team will move, not to mention they cost all of us NOTHING.
 
Re: Waterside Place

I don't think the Krafts were looking for a publicly financed stadium in Boston. (Probably just some infrastructure moneys like they asked for in Foxboro) The Krafts were looking for an approved location to build in South Boston and unfortunatley didn't get.

I always get a kick about how much the politicians fought this stadium and yet they let that vent building get constructed instead in one of the most highly visible locations on the waterfront.
 
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Vents get used more than most stadia

Fenway, Wrigly and a few of the newer iconic city-centric ball parks {e.g. Camden Yards} are uniquely compatible with cities and are much much different than a football stadium with its acres and acres of parking filled about 10 times per year or even the typical suburban baseball stadium with it acres of parking used 80 times per year for half a year.

However, a smaller-scale privately financed soccer stadium could be built within Boston City proper -- ideally close to some good transportation -- my humble suggestion would be Readville -- where there is not much of any value or importance {well ok it was the training ground for the ?54th? of ?Glory? fame} and, room and good access to the main-line railroad to South Station and also southward

Westy
 
Re: Waterside Place

some good comments about the staduim, I didnt think about the parking aspect, but then again it could be used as economy parking during the week which, personally, I think would be great. Half of the old waterfront was this anyway. And what we're getting instead is just OK. I guess I should hold off on an opinion till after most of it is finished.
 
Re: Waterside Place

whighlander said:
Vents get used more than most stadia



However, a smaller-scale privately financed soccer stadium could be built within Boston City proper -- ideally close to some good transportation -- my humble suggestion would be Readville -- where there is not much of any value or importance {well ok it was the training ground for the ?54th? of ?Glory? fame} and, room and good access to the main-line railroad to South Station and also southward


Check out the BPL's Readville Race Track images. If you google sportstemples.bpl.org you will get them. I can't seem to get the link in this message.
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Re: Waterside Place

Yes! Another barely used seasonally dependent superblock development is exactly what the Seaport needs!
 
Re: Waterside Place

some good comments about the staduim, I didnt think about the parking aspect, but then again it could be used as economy parking during the week which, personally, I think would be great. Half of the old waterfront was this anyway. And what we're getting instead is just OK. I guess I should hold off on an opinion till after most of it is finished.
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did you just suggest that more parking would be a "great" solution for the Seaport? you do realize this is an urban development forum...parking lots are public enemy #1.
 
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Not all parking lots are our enemy. I have nothing against the lots behind buildings in prewar downtowns, for example.
 
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TheBostonian said:
Not all parking lots are our enemy. I have nothing against the lots behind buildings in prewar downtowns, for example.
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Example?


(Also ... aren't nearly all downtowns prewar?)
 
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Examples of places with parking lots nicely placed behind buildings: Davis Square, downtown Melrose and downtown Northampton.

"Also ... aren't nearly all downtowns prewar?"

Good point. I suppose I'm thinking of the preserved prewar parts of downtowns as opposed to later changes like Malden's high-rise and strip development that is next to and differs from its remaining sliver of prewar urbanness that is Pleasant Street.
 
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Lexington Center is another place where parking lots are behind buildings. In this case, I think the parking lots replaced a small railroad yard.
 
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Central Square in Cambridge would count too.

Yes, of course parking lots behind buildings are better than in front, but this isn't an optimal arrangement either, after all, just because they aren't lining the 'main' drag doesn't mean they don't line another. Just take a look at Ablarc's improvements to Central Square thread. Those parking lots don't hamper Mass Ave too much, but they sure affect the parallel streets...
 
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I read on some board yesterday that this actually is "under construction".

Is there any chance that this is true? Even "pre-construction" work?
 
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I was just down there a few days ago and I didn't see anything.
 
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There's an article in the Seaport Development thread. Basically, they are having financial difficulties as the price tag for the project has increased dramatically. The three scenarios are:

* Keeping Waterside Place as is which would result in a $796.9 million project or $195 million more than budgeted.
* Eliminate underground parking and reduce overall parking from 2,350 spaces to 2,130 spaces. The project cost would be $709.2 million or $107.5 million than budgeted.
* Reduce the retail to 400,000 square feet and decrease parking spaces from 2,130 to 1,480 spaces. The total project cost would be $604 million.

With the tough financing market, I suspect it will take awhile for this project to get off the ground.
 
Re: Waterside Place

ChunkyMonkey said:
There's an article in the Seaport Development thread. Basically, they are having financial difficulties as the price tag for the project has increased dramatically. The three scenarios are:

* Keeping Waterside Place as is which would result in a $796.9 million project or $195 million more than budgeted.
* Eliminate underground parking and reduce overall parking from 2,350 spaces to 2,130 spaces. The project cost would be $709.2 million or $107.5 million than budgeted.
* Reduce the retail to 400,000 square feet and decrease parking spaces from 2,130 to 1,480 spaces. The total project cost would be $604 million.

With the tough financing market, I suspect it will take awhile for this project to get off the ground.
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This was the proposal (from earlier in this thread):
The plan approved yesterday includes two large retail anchor stores and dozens of shops and restaurants on three levels, a 300-room luxury hotel, a 19-story residential condominium building with 200 units, a 2,350-space parking garage, and a visitors center offering exhibits and displays, aimed at convention travelers.

"I don't have any stores to announce," Drew said. But he described a 640,000-square-foot, three-level retail center surrounding a bright interior public atrium and pedestrian concourse.
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There was to be 2.3 million sq ft of new retail in the waterfront area, with no anchor tenants lined up, or even obvious candidates. Maybe Hynes has reduced the amount of retail for Seaport as well. IMO, they would be doing well to fill 1.1 million sq ft of retail in this whole area.
 
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