BCEC expansion | Seaport

[Mike]

I can't find a separate thread for this project ...

Southie hall hotels under way
Friday, December 13, 2013
By: Donna Goodison

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority yesterday heralded a groundbreaking for two “mid-priced” hotels on D Street as the kickoff to its proposed $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

CV Properties and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will build a 330-room Aloft Hotel and a 180-room extended-stay Element Hotel across from the convention center in the South Boston waterfront.

Starwood created the two hotel brands a few years ago based on a “democratization of design” that incorporates qualities of luxury hotels, according to Allison Reid, senior vice president of North American development. Room rates at the D Street properties will be at least 10 percent below prevailing rates of nearby four-star hotels. Both hotels will be “flagships” for their respective brands, Reid said.

The $140 million project is part of a larger MCCA effort to spur development of more hotels near the convention center, from which there are 1,690 rooms within walking distance, compared to an average 7,584 rooms for competing centers in other cities, according to the MCCA. It’s also eyeing a 1,200- to 1,500-room “headquarters hotel” near the BCEC.

The next step in the 
MCCA’s expansion plan would be passage of the proposed legislation, filed in October, to expand the nine-year-old BCEC by 60 percent, according to executive director James Rooney.

“Our hope is that we can see action from the House and Senate and get it to the governor’s desk in the first quarter of next year,” Rooney said.

http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/12/southie_hall_hotels_under_way


new renderings in pdf:
http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho...9-2013-bcdc-presentation-mcca-d-street-hotels

 

[Sicilian]

FILE UNDER:

Hotels developed on land purchased for private owners by BCEC, on a site approved and announced by the BRA for development of the largest residential apartment project to move forward in 20 years.

 

[Semass]

I know how the board generally feels about skywalks and gerbil tubes but I think one could be a huge benefit here. This is supposed to be lodging for the BCCA and skywalk over D street could improve the experience for conventioneers. The Westin has a short one and it allows people to leave their coats and umbrellas in their rooms. I park on D when I go to BCCA events and that walk is COLD in the winter. In addition, there is no street life to speak of on that part of D.

 

[George_Apley]

I know how the board generally feels about skywalks and gerbil tubes but I think one could be a huge benefit here. This is supposed to be lodging for the BCCA and skywalk over D street could improve the experience for conventioneers. The Westin has a short one and it allows people to leave their coats and umbrellas in their rooms. I park on D when I go to BCCA events and that walk is COLD in the winter. In addition, there is no street life to speak of on that part of D.

Well, there could be if it was developed smartly.

 

[whighlander]

I know how the board generally feels about skywalks and gerbil tubes but I think one could be a huge benefit here. This is supposed to be lodging for the BCCA and skywalk over D street could improve the experience for conventioneers. The Westin has a short one and it allows people to leave their coats and umbrellas in their rooms. I park on D when I go to BCCA events and that walk is COLD in the winter. In addition, there is no street life to speak of on that part of D.

Semass -- I'm a big fan in the right place... Boston, like Toronto and Montreal is a city which has to accommodate unpleasant weather [mostly in the winter]

Contrary to the popular misconception --- we are entering an extended period [few decades or so] of continuing and significant cold and winter weather [very similar to the 1960's and 1970's]

New builders in Boston are unaccustomed to such conditions -- the use of a few gerbil tubes such as Copley Place to Pru are very appropriate in a place such as the BCEC where there is no to little historic context of relevance nearby

By all means -- everything connected with the BCEC expansion itself and the several thousand more hotel rooms on-tap -- all such should be connected by "Gerbil Tubes" or if appropriate underground connections -- this should include a weatherproof and optimally environmentally conditioned connection to the Silver Line

 

[Sicilian]

NOT AN EXPERT but I would argue that D Street presents an opportunity for pedestrian activation at street level, viable for at least two seasons.

D Street is (or at least was) envisioned by urban planners looking holistically at the Seaport as the main pedistrian thoroughfare from South Boston to the water's edge.

If the area is to evolve to be of any interest to conventioneers, already hamstrung from leaving the area by transit options, I'd suggest outdoor street level activation needs to be a priority.

All said, the BCEC frontage on D Street including loading docks may have already undermined prior plans for the street.

 

[Digital_Islandboy]

I did a few cursory searches - Boston does not show up in top 10 of convention cities in the US in any of them. Here's a typical one:
https://www.cvent.com/en/sem/top-50-meeting-destinations-us-2012.shtml

Not sure making it bigger makes a lot of sense. Adding hotels, on the other hand, is a good idea, I think.

All these places in top 10 except D.C. and Chicago are fairly warm places. I love going to conventions during the winter in warm places too. HATE having winter conventions up north. I can see their choices for what they are warm or major hubs.

 

[Shepard]

...

All said, the BCEC frontage on D Street including loading docks may have already undermined prior plans for the street.

A good chunk of that is set back pretty far, and I think there could be some retail put in fairly simply if the will exists.

The PDF shows that the setback will be turned into TEMPORARY landscaping (we shall see, although it's encouraging that they took the initiative to specify it's only temporary) and shows pretty solid retail from the hotels facing D.

The hotel designs are not great but not terrible.

Only thing I really hate is the new street... named, of course, Hotel Drive. Please, people, a real street name won't cost you a cent more!

 

[Semass]

That street is still pretty industrial. The building across from the Westin on D was built without street level doors. The Westin has some capacity for an outdoor connection on D but not much. The big question is what will go on the parcel behind the Westin. The BCEC is set back and that space "could" be filled with pedestrian amenities but the rest of the block will be a long time coming. Also, isn't the parking garage doing to go near there? The design for the South Lot expansion will be informative on what to expect in the pedestrian environment. Have they decided the site for the 1000 room headquarters hotel? Is it going over by the loading dock/USPS lot/train tracks?

 

[paperless paul]

 

[paperless paul]

The Massport air rights parcel, colloquially known as Core Block, is the current proposed site for the 'Headquarters' (1200-1500 rooms) Hotel. Shown roughly in the picture below.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Anyone hear an update on the passenger trains that were going to the BCEC to Copley? I noticed they were doing some work on the crossing signals at Cypher St and the access road earlier this week.

 

[stellarfun]

Expansion approved by the Massachusetts House. $1.1 billion.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...ansion-plan/MZYifMughFcM1jMSCW91KK/story.html

 

[pel_north]

I think that we should grant MGM to be the tenant for the headquarters hotel. Imagine it, Suffolk Downs and then Southie and in the words of Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing."

 

[TheRifleman]

Expansion approved by the Massachusetts House. $1.1 billion.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...ansion-plan/MZYifMughFcM1jMSCW91KK/story.html

Welcome to Detroit Politics. Where only the political connected benefit for your tax dollars.

I would rather my tax dollars spent
**Upgrading the MBTA Grid
**Upgrades on Roads & Bridges

Help relieve traffic congestion throughout the surrounding towns.

Taxpayers Special in Detroit
http://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-the-silverdome-2014-5

 

[Mongo]

Always going on about Detroit aren't we Rifleman.

You realize the Silver dome isn't even in Detroit right? It is in an entirely separate city.

 

[Arlington]

Always going on about Detroit aren't we Rifleman.

You realize the Silver dome isn't even in Detroit right? It is in an entirely separate city.

Well, whether "Detroit" is the best analogy, we're basically spending a billion dollars to make our white elephant BCEC even whiter and more elephantine.

 

[bobthebuilder]

yea that $1B could go along way on some transit projects

 

[Equilibria]

Well, whether "Detroit" is the best analogy, we're basically spending a billion dollars to make our white elephant BCEC even whiter and more elephantine.

What makes this a white elephant exactly? It's booked up. It allows Boston to compete to host events that Hynes couldn't hold. It frees up the Bayside Expo site for TOD, which I grant hasn't happened yet, but is possible.

I've read all about the "race to the bottom" mentality among cities spending lavishly on convention facilities, but the presence of convention traffic is going to be a big part of what makes the Seaport the Seaport moving forward. Conventions bring in a windfall in hotel, restaurant and sales taxes, and all those attendees will drive the business case for ground floor retail and restaurants as part of the new Seaport buildings.

If the building was sitting empty, sure it would be a white elephant, but it isn't empty. You may feel it cost too much, but that doesn't make it useless.

 

[stellarfun]

As the cost is being paid for by visitors to Boston and Cambridge, and those who use taxicabs, its not as if Sam and Sally Homeowner or Joe and Jill Motorist are paying for it.

http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/massma...worst-places-for-travel-taxes-in-the-country/