Boston Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

[BosDevelop]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

What's the deal with the hotel? That and the housing are the two most important aspects of this development IMO (and the hockey rink).

 

[datadyne007]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

And here's the PNF: http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/4f23f1d9-9f6c-4fde-a27e-1d41077e54ec

Thank you!

 

[whighlander]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

My understanding of it is that concrete ties are really hard and time-consuming to replace and that they do not wear well around here. Wood lasts a long time, even though it may not be truly sustainable in the future.

Tim -- both wood and concrete for making railroad ties are essentially unlimited in their future availability

We are not talking the "Mythic or Legendary or Legassy Old Growth" here -- the trees for wooden ties and telephone poles are an agricultural crop with about a 20 year growth cycle

This years new ties were made from trees planted when the Web was an infant

There is also a market for old wooden ties which have lost their structural strength for the railroad industry but still have plenty of life left for landscaping

I've got about 6 in use today to stabilize my garden terracing

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

A bit overly optimistic with that street traffic I'd say but a great development. I actually don't think that much street level retail will work because of the location. I know they are trying to create a Main St but this won't work... if anything this is just another Cambridge Park Dr. Unless someone buys the Stop and Shop and builds thousands of apartments all Guest St can support is a coffee shop and deli for New Balance workers.

 

[Equilibria]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

A bit overly optimistic with that street traffic I'd say but a great development. I actually don't think that much street level retail will work because of the location. I know they are trying to create a Main St but this won't work... if anything this is just another Cambridge Park Dr. Unless someone buys the Stop and Shop and builds thousands of apartments all Guest St can support is a coffee shop and deli for New Balance workers.

I wouldn't worry about the Stop and Shop site. The document actually assumes a Guest St. Extension for their traffic study that isn't in the renderings. Either the current owners, NB, or someone else will build there - the land is way too valuable and underutilized now.

BTW, ground-level retail would work fine on CambridgePark Drive if anyone wanted to do it right...

 

[whighlander]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Thank you!

Data -- it looks as if this NB development can form the basis for a larger development of the whole area bounded by the Turnpike, Market St., Everett St. and North Beacon St.

It might take 20 more years but there is a tremendous opportunity for a whole new high density "urban" district potentially with some high buildings -- more land is sitting there waiting to be up-developed than is included in the current NB masterplan

Obviously the development will need to step down in height and density as it gets closer to the North Beacon edge

 

[FK4]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

A bit overly optimistic with that street traffic I'd say but a great development. I actually don't think that much street level retail will work because of the location. I know they are trying to create a Main St but this won't work... if anything this is just another Cambridge Park Dr. Unless someone buys the Stop and Shop and builds thousands of apartments all Guest St can support is a coffee shop and deli for New Balance workers.

My thoughts exactly - they will NEVER get that kind of foot traffic, or anywhere near it. If they built both more retail and more housing into this maybe... What Boston should do is simply rezone the entire swath within Everett/N Beacon/Pike/Market, and really the whole area on the far side of Everett as well, for much, much denser development. Get a couple more anchor commercial spaces, market new units to people who work in them.

 

[atlantaden]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

What's the deal with the hotel? That and the housing are the two most important aspects of this development IMO (and the hockey rink).

I think the New Balance people would disagree with you.

 

[whighlander]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

My thoughts exactly - they will NEVER get that kind of foot traffic, or anywhere near it. If they built both more retail and more housing into this maybe... What Boston should do is simply rezone the entire swath within Everett/N Beacon/Pike/Market, and really the whole area on the far side of Everett as well, for much, much denser development. Get a couple more anchor commercial spaces, market new units to people who work in them.

FK -- you put way tooo tooo much worship-like respect into the Zoning Process -- all that needs happen is that the NB complex be finished and work for a few years -- the Stop and Shop land owners will soon see the value in the land

Someone will propose a New Brighton Landing version of Seaport Square [without the height restrictions] and then we'll see what transpires

 

[FK4]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

FK -- you put way tooo tooo much worship-like respect into the Zoning Process -- all that needs happen is that the NB complex be finished and work for a few years -- the Stop and Shop land owners will soon see the value in the land

Someone will propose a New Brighton Landing version of Seaport Square [without the height restrictions] and then we'll see what transpires

I put this as an edit but missed the reply so am just posting it as a new reply: and of course I am being overly optimistic, just sayin that as far as redevelopable areas go this is a very, very good candidate spot.

it really would be possible I think with the right kind of city willpower, especially if they stayed on the west side of Everett. Why the area isn't declared blighted I do not know. Extend Hano Street while you're at it to link up with a newly extended Guest Street, provide a well traffic calmed but effective parallel access road to get from Union Sq to Market Street.

 

[dwash59]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Extend Hano Street while you're at it to link up with a newly extended Guest Street, provide a well traffic calmed but effective parallel access road to get from Union Sq to Market Street.

Can you draw a picture of what you mean? What I'm envisioning would make for a lot of unhappy people at the Honan apartments, but just require removing about 4 planters.

 

[FK4]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Can you draw a picture of what you mean? What I'm envisioning would make for a lot of unhappy people at the Honan apartments, but just require removing about 4 planters.

Cant draw it but it's easy on a map... whatever that stub street you refer to off Hano that connects Hano to Everett... stoplight at Everett... then run Guest St thru the S&S parking lot. You could also extend Harvey Steel Rd (whatever that is) but the absolute best thing, in my mind, would be a through route that got you to Market by taking a right on Hano. You could somehow configure the Hano/Guest versus North Beacon alternatives such that one did not allow left turns onto Market... or something... seems like it would potentially, if done right, help alleviate the clusterfuck of Market St.

Whoa... even more alternatively, you could build a new A line that down Brighton, cutting through Allston Auto Tech to Hano and then either terminating at the rail station or continuing on somewhere else....

 

[GW2500]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Two things, I think a movie theater there would bring in a lot of foot traffic, and secondly, what will be the function of the sports complex?

 

[BosDevelop]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

Two things, I think a movie theater there would bring in a lot of foot traffic, and secondly, what will be the function of the sports complex?

I think a movie theater is a great idea here. As to the sports complex, last I heard they were going to do a full, state of the art track for indoor track events that they claimed would be among the fastest tracks in the world.

 

[JumboBuc]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

I think a movie theater is a great idea here. As to the sports complex, last I heard they were going to do a full, state of the art track for indoor track events that they claimed would be among the fastest tracks in the world.

Boston already has two contenders for the fastest indoor track in the country/world.

 

[dshoost88]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

I think a movie theater is a great idea here. As to the sports complex, last I heard they were going to do a full, state of the art track for indoor track events that they claimed would be among the fastest tracks in the world.

I went to an event a couple years ago where the developer spilled that a nearby university (of the Jesuit Catholic, Hogwartsy architecture, Chestnut Hill persuasion) had negotiated rights to the indoor track facility as their home track since they don't really have a modern one of their own. The sports complex in general will become a regional magnet for sporting events of all types and for people of all ages, kind of like ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney World.

 

[FK4]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

I think a movie theater is a great idea here. As to the sports complex, last I heard they were going to do a full, state of the art track for indoor track events that they claimed would be among the fastest tracks in the world.

Move theater would be great here. But they still really need to just bulldoze everything around here.

 

[Equilibria]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

I went to an event a couple years ago where the developer spilled that a nearby university (of the Jesuit Catholic, Hogwartsy architecture, Chestnut Hill persuasion) had negotiated rights to the indoor track facility as their home track since they don't really have a modern one of their own. The sports complex in general will become a regional magnet for sporting events of all types and for people of all ages, kind of like ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney World.

I'd also like to see more from WGBH. Some Nova-based science content, maybe, or a Children's Museum outpost. Even a rolling exhibit space, like they have at MOS, would be cool.

 

[jass]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

6 floors is a waste

 

[FK4]

Re: New Brighton Landing | New Balance Complex | Brighton

I'd also like to see more from WGBH. Some Nova-based science content, maybe, or a Children's Museum outpost. Even a rolling exhibit space, like they have at MOS, would be cool.

I'm sure we all were pretty disappointed with the WGBH building. It pretty much ruined any opportunity for a decent street-level experience on market Street… i'd be much more upset, though, if I didn't support them so fucking much otherwise. In an ideal world, they could've just built a slimmer taller building, but of course they have no money for that. I guess in regards to the above suggestion, the next best thing would be to contribute to what hopefully will be a bit of a pedestrian enclave within all the new buildings. The more I think of this area, the more I get excited about it - once the phase ii (gbh being phase i) finishes up in a few years, I have high hopes for phase iii as a mostly residential project... And I'm pretty sure new balance recently bought some more land around the stop and shop, too....