BCEC expansion | Seaport

Boston is number 18 on that list.
Right in between LA at 17 and Grapevine, Texas????!!!???

So take that list for what it's worth.

The main thing holding it back is the hotels. Not enough rooms as it stands. And with the proliferation of businesses, specifically tech businesses, into the area. The hotel rooms are going to become much more scarce as the Seaport is built out. This area will become much more desirable for out of town visitors and tourists as well based on location and being an up and coming hip place instead of a parking wasteland.

I'm sure the expansion has it's eyes either on mega shows that cannot be accommodated at the moment, or to allow smaller shows to be run simultaneously while big shows have the main hall(s). Actually, not either, but both of those.

After my one convention in Philly, I'm surprised actually to see Boston above it on that list. Philly was so much better set up for it. So that's a plus for us.
 
Geography, climate and the lack of entertainment venues don't help either.
 
I know this is essentially backwards from the way the industry sees it, but to me part of Boston's charm as a convention city is that the severe lack of rooms near the BCEC forces attendees to book elsewhere in Boston. This encourages (forces) them to:

a.) see various sights
b.) be tempted to shop
c.) use the T or take cabs

Essentially just venture beyond the climate-controlled bubbles of other cities' facilities.
 
Data, I'm guessing you've never been to a convention. Everytime I get sucked into one I think I'll see a city, visit a museum, etc. and it ends up being endless banal conversations and stale dinners.
 
When I go to conventions I'm all about taking walks and discovering new things in new places. But, I usually appear to be in the very small minority.

Everyone else is all about the elbow rubbing 24/7. I'm there doing my thing from 7-3 or so. I want some time for me.
 
From my experience for most people it's a business trip, i.e. they work most of the day and try to setup socializing dinners at night. Very few people extend their stay to do day time sightseeing (usually, you have to pay extra hotel nights out of your own pocket), so I'd say the thing lacking in Seaport the most after hotels is nighttime entertainment venues.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
When I go to conventions I'm all about taking walks and discovering new things in new places. But, I usually appear to be in the very small minority.

Everyone else is all about the elbow rubbing 24/7. I'm there doing my thing from 7-3 or so. I want some time for me.
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Precisely. There's time at night for dinners, drinking, walks etc. I know that some of the people I follow on YouTube ended up at the Marriott: Long Wharf for PAX East and they had a lot of vlogs of walking around the city compared to some other people that stayed at the Westin Waterfront. Many walked down the Greenway from the Marriott to the BCEC and that was a great way for them just to see some of our great city.

This also isn't to say that I don't support all these new hotels going up in the Seaport. It's important because that is an emerging district. They will all fill up. Boston has such a serious hotel room crunch during the peak season, with rates rivaling NYC because of it (up to $299 at the Marriott: Copley Place). With these new Seaport hotels, convention attendees can mostly stay close to the BCEC while the general tourists that want to come to Boston might have better luck with availability and rates at the downtown and Cambridge hotels.
 
The Hynes Convention Center certainly spills plenty of people out into the neighboring streets. You can recognize the convention-goers by the badges they often are still wearing after they leave the Hynes.
 
Ron Newman said:
The Hynes Convention Center certainly spills plenty of people out into the neighboring streets. You can recognize the convention-goers by the badges they often are still wearing after they leave the Hynes.
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Or the people dressed like animes.
 
Looks like they are pushing to put the 2nd HQ hotel on a Massport parcel which is located on the NE corner of the Summer/D street intersection. I had hoped they would put it on the west side of the convention center, along Summer Street, to fill in the gap between BCEC and The Fort Point district. Oh well one can only dream.

http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/06/an_un_conventional_hotel
 
BeeLine said:
Looks like they are pushing to put the 2nd HQ hotel on a Massport parcel which is located on the NE corner of the Summer/D street intersection. I had hoped they would put it on the west side of the convention center, along Summer Street, to fill in the gap between BCEC and The Fort Point district. Oh well one can only dream.

http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/06/an_un_conventional_hotel
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Agree on location disappointment. The USPS needs to get the hell out of Fort Point Channel.

Off-topic, but does anyone know what the plan is with the parking lots on the right side of A Street traveling toward West Broadway?
 
FortPointGuy said:
Agree on location disappointment. The USPS needs to get the hell out of Fort Point Channel.

Off-topic, but does anyone know what the plan is with the parking lots on the right side of A Street traveling toward West Broadway?
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The large lot on the right along the Channel is owned by Gillette. Massing has been fully approved through BRA's "100 Acres Plan" which was published as a coloring book for the public, along with a host of private agreements signed by Gillette, USPS and two other large property owners that owned portfolios around 2005/2006.
 
You guys think there'll be gerbil tubes connecting this new HQ hotel with the BCEC via the Westin? I think it works really well for the hotel network connecting to Hynes in the Back Bay in light of all the highway infrastructure those sit on top of, which is quite similar to the development potential by the BCEC as well.
 
BeeLine said:
Looks like they are pushing to put the 2nd HQ hotel on a Massport parcel which is located on the NE corner of the Summer/D street intersection. I had hoped they would put it on the west side of the convention center, along Summer Street, to fill in the gap between BCEC and The Fort Point district. Oh well one can only dream.

http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/06/an_un_conventional_hotel
Click to expand...

So who owns that land in that gap? USPS? Gillette? I walked from the front of the BCEC into Fort Point for the first time a couple weeks ago and was appalled by the nothingness. Worst of all, you can't even get down from that overpass until A street. That's just embarrassing.
 
Some of that land is affected by subsurface easements for Big Dig roadways leading to and from the Ted Williams tunnel. The easement between A St and Summer St may be 200-300 feet wide.
 
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