BCEC expansion | Seaport

This isn't just the BCEC getting frozen. This is EVERYTHING getting frozen.
- Headquarters Hotel
- Air Rights Garage
- Streetscapes
- D Street Garage
- D Street Masterplan

In limbo:
-Aloft & Element (under construction but may be stopped)

Baker threw out 7 of the 12 MCCA board members.

Isn't he supposed to be "the business guy?" The BCEC expansion would greatly boost Boston's economy with larger conventions with more hotel rooms, meaning more people to spend money at businesses in Boston.
 
datadyne007 said:
This isn't just the BCEC getting frozen. This is EVERYTHING getting frozen.
- Headquarters Hotel
- Air Rights Garage
- Streetscapes
- D Street Garage
- D Street Masterplan

In limbo:
-Aloft & Element (under construction but may be stopped)

Baker threw out 7 of the 12 MCCA board members.

Isn't he supposed to be "the business guy?" The BCEC expansion would greatly boost Boston's economy with larger conventions with more hotel rooms, meaning more people to spend money at businesses in Boston.
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If the BCEC expansion would be such a great idea. Put it up to the private developers for BID---Then let them build it on their own risk.

Thank GOD for Charlie Baker
 
statler said:
Hey! I think we've found a new city slogan.
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Without expansion, and the hotel that was part and parcel, that's a dagger into Boston 2024. IIRC, the expanded BCEC was not only going to be a venue for several sports, but the media center, etc. And the whole idea was to triangulate the stadium, South Station, and the BCEC.
 
stellarfun said:
Without expansion, and the hotel that was part and parcel, that's a dagger into Boston 2024. IIRC, the expanded BCEC was not only going to be a venue for several sports, but the media center, etc. And the whole idea was to triangulate the stadium, South Station, and the BCEC.
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The existing portion of the BCEC is planned to be the site of a few miscellaneous sports (badminton, table tennis, etc.) and the BCEC expansion is planned to be the site of indoor volleyball. A newly constructed building to the west of the BCEC is in the plans for the media and broadcasting center.
 
JohnAKeith said:
No more expansion, no more parking, no Boston2024
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John -- that sounds a lot like "no more science, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks" ;)

But seriously -- all of your anti's above can be argued for / against -- except for parking -- if the current trends continue -- and they certainly seem to be doing so In 15 years or less there will not be any easily accessible parking in a district that is still a sea of parking lots

Massport as the major land owner in the Seaport / Innovation District has a vested interest in insuring that there is adequate parking and the blocks in question are virtually useless for anything else at ground level
 
JumboBuc said:
The existing portion of the BCEC is planned to be the site of a few miscellaneous sports (badminton, table tennis, etc.) and the BCEC expansion is planned to be the site of indoor volleyball. A newly constructed building to the west of the BCEC is in the plans for the media and broadcasting center.
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Indeed. No expansion just means sending Volleyball to a different venue, which is a good idea anyway. They've got much bigger problems.

FWIW, I don't think this is Baker taking a stand for responsibility. All these projects will happen. He's doing the same thing he did with the MBTA Board: Fire the commissioners, appoint his own people, soak in accolades (because somehow firing everyone with experience and screwing up work in progress is a good thing), take all the credit at the expense of the public good. If I thought he had any interest in seriously reconsidering the project, I'd be less irritated.

I hate this Governor more with every passing day.
 
whighlander said:
Massport as the major land owner in the Seaport / Innovation District has a vested interest in insuring that there is adequate parking and the blocks in question are virtually useless for anything else at ground level
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That's actually an interesting insight (congrats, Westie!) and I very much hope it isn't true.
 
TheRifleman said:
If the BCEC expansion would be such a great idea. Put it up to the private developers for BID---Then let them build it on their own risk.

Thank GOD for Charlie Baker
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Riff -- I think we are seeing a process -- Charlie is manifesting the aphorism -- "Elections have Consequences" -- he's begun the process of returning MA to some semblance of fiscal sanity:
  • temporarily halting a lot of projects for review
  • reviewing T and other authorities process and procedures
  • cleaning out the rubber-stamp boards filled with either coat-holders or affirmative action drones
I'm looking forward of some semblance of reality to start to intrude into the Adoraret Viridi and we can get back to a reliable and affordable supply of energy
 
Shepard said:
That's actually an interesting insight (congrats, Westie!) and I very much hope it isn't true.
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Shep -- which part don't you want to be true?

that the blocks in question are essentially surrounded by highway and not very marketable except for parking

That Massport is the largest landowner in South Boston Seaport / Innovation -- it is

That there needs to be parking

not sure
 
Equilibria said:
Indeed. No expansion just means sending Volleyball to a different venue, which is a good idea anyway. They've got much bigger problems.

FWIW, I don't think this is Baker taking a stand for responsibility. All these projects will happen. He's doing the same thing he did with the MBTA Board: Fire the commissioners, appoint his own people, soak in accolades (because somehow firing everyone with experience and screwing up work in progress is a good thing), take all the credit at the expense of the public good. If I thought he had any interest in seriously reconsidering the project, I'd be less irritated.

I hate this Governor more with every passing day.
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MBTA is a disaster? It basically stopped running for 2 weeks because of a lot of snow. what did you want Baker to do give those people a raise?

MBTA is one of the most important blood-line to the city of Boston along with the surrounding areas.

And the people in charge all they did was use it as a political cess pool of corruption without ever really bettering the system.
 
BCEC venues
Fencing, Alternate to Harvard
Gymnastics Rhythmic Alternate is Agganis
Judo
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Indoor Volleyball Alternate is Conte
Wrestling

The BCEC expansion as a venue site would hold 15,000. If one bounces sports to smaller sites, ticket revenue declines. And alternate sites for some of the sports were proposed to be used for preliminary contests / practices.

At London 2012, there were 76 indoor volleyball matches, both M/W. If these were moved to Conte, one couldn't use Conte for anything else.
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I find it interesting that one of the Governor's concerns is that the special tax that is imposed to pay the bonds for convention centers in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield apparently runs a surplus of $70 million which goes into the general fund, and the governor worries that new bonds for an expansion will consume some/all of the surplus.
IMO, that sort of thinking is pretty shallow and short-sighted.
 
I think this decision was made long before the due diligence was done by Baker's team. I get the fiscal prudence, but heck can this man come out with something that creates jobs? Something we can be proud of as Bay Staters? I am just afraid he is sending the wrong message to the world that MA is not investing and innovating anymore as evidenced by his luke warm, if that, support for the Olympics.
 
JohnAKeith said:
Oh, that wasn't me ranting all the things that I want "No", it was just me thinking of the ripple effect of not having the BCEC expansion.

(And, apparently it's "no more pencils ...")
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John -- I know -- I saw it sung and danced as ad for something on TV recently.... and thought that since Pencils are so so ....passe .... and STEM is the word of the day and yet not quite in the popular parlance ... So I thought that I'd wing it with science ... but now that I think of it more ... books [at least Gutenberg style] are also so so .... these days

Therefore I humbly offer the 21st C version of No More....

"No more STEM ... No more Pills ... No more Shelter in Place Drills" ....
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it just doesn't have that je ne sais quoi of the old one
 
COLD HARD F'ING PROOF that this decision to cancel the BCEC expansion is restricting Boston's economy:

With expansion shelved, convention business at risk
Governor Baker’s decision removes all hope of the convention center expansion being done by mid-2019, as projected.

By Jon Chesto GLOBE STAFF MAY 14, 2015

The Institute of Food Technologists was the first to go: The trade group dropped plans to bring its massive convention and its 20,000-plus attendees to Boston in 2019 almost immediately after Governor Charlie Baker halted the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center expansion.

It might not be the last. Baker’s decision to shelve $1 billion in bonds for the expansion endangers another 17 big events with contracts to come here over a decade, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority says, as well as at least 23 more events that were under consideration. Some of the groups have already started looking elsewhere.

The 18 events booked for the expansion, the agency says, were projected to deliver $33 million in taxes and an economic impact of nearly $500 million. But each contract has a clause that allows the group to walk away if the convention center project or an affiliated hotel across the street won’t be done in time, according to the agency.

...

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...xcMncU7MRgflE66YozlN/story.html?event=event25
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So much for being a "business guy" huh, Charlie?
 
So if they went through with the expansion, it would have essentially been spending at least $1B to potentially make ~$.5B over the course of a deacade. By that logic it wouldn't break even till almost 2040. Am I missing something here?
 
bobthebuilder said:
So if they went through with the expansion, it would have essentially been spending at least $1B to potentially make ~$.5B over the course of a deacade. By that logic it wouldn't break even till almost 2040. Am I missing something here?
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The $0.5 Billion at risk over the next decade only reflects contracts ALREADY BOOKED, not potential. A lot of organizations are smart enough to realize that States are pretty fickle with capital spending, so won't even think about booking until the facility is ready.

I am actually surprised they have this level of pre-booking for the expansion given the severe pain and disruption to relocate a booking. (Pre-booking is common/required, but not on an unfinished (even unstarted) facility).
 
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