Cambridge Crossing (NorthPoint) | East Cambridge/Charlestown | Cambridge/Boston

[stick n move]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Maybe they're scared of the skaters coming over from the skatepark and turning this into phase 2.

 

[Cortes]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I am cautiously optimistic about this, but my question is, why is taking so long to build out? They can't put up a new building fast enough in Kendall, and Assembly Square has moved twice as fast as this filling in their lots. Just as a for instance, Partners Health Care chose Assembly. Why didn't they choose North Point? This development doesn't anger me as much for its urban design as the time it is taking to make something happen. This place makes the Forecaster look like it was built in a day.

But speaking of this notion of it being a sort of urban office park, it is worth noting that it is constrained on all three sides by pretty ugly infrastructure. The Gilmore bridge, commuter rail lines and the O'Brien Highway plus Green Line make this place an island. I can't imagine really wanting to go here for anything except to work or if I lived there. You could try to say the same thing about Assembly, but the place was already a strip mall, people were going there all the time already.

 

[Brad Plaid]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

North Point will turn out to be the nicest, most affluent bedroom suburb in the metro area.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Is just one company developing Northpoint or is it like the seaport?

I liked the taller buildings in the newer renders, not the usual white pre-cast Boston loves so much.

Question: Why not put some taller things here in the 300-400 foot range? FAA stuff? It seems there are no NIMBY's in the area.

 

[JumboBuc]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Question: Why not put some taller things here in the 300-400 foot range? FAA stuff? It seems there are no NIMBY's in the area.

Most of NorthPoint is 1000 ft territory with respect to Logan and the FAA.

There are always NIMBYs in the area.

 

[stick n move]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

But speaking of this notion of it being a sort of urban office park, it is worth noting that it is constrained on all three sides by pretty ugly infrastructure. The Gilmore bridge, commuter rail lines and the O'Brien Highway plus Green Line make this place an island. I can't imagine really wanting to go here for anything except to work or if I lived there. You could try to say the same thing about Assembly, but the place was already a strip mall, people were going there all the time already.

Exactly thats what Im trying to say. Its blocked on all sides so I think they're going to kind of use that as an advantage where you can have this semi secluded area with lots of brand new labs and offices where all of these people can work in close proximity to each other in a tight knit community. All of these buildings combined is going to be an absolutely huge amount of space, but its not going to take up that much land. The land it does take up is blocked on all sides so its not like your losing kendall sq to an office park. Its not even really an office park but its not exactly dtx either.

I think some pretty incredible things could come out of here if you used it for this purpose. If these grads we are losing every year have somewhere to go I feel they will stay. All of the other great parts of Cambridge/Boston will still be there and improving and nothing is being lost other than some empty plots in a less than ideal location, but you still gain tons of space here. You'll still have the seaport, financial center, etc... and those are all great places too, but I feel like this can be an area where its almost like distractions are blocked out and MIT grads just get to work in their fancy new buildings with their own fancy new park. Thats my theory at least hopefully that made sense.

Question: Why not put some taller things here in the 300-400 foot range? FAA stuff? It seems there are no NIMBY's in the area.

This seems like its going to be a lot of lab space and the goals they have can be accomplished without shooting for the moon.

 

[chmeeee]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I'm going to keep saying it, its pathetic that they didn't keep the bike track that could eventually connect to a trail along the glx. Even if the latter is up in the air right now, it will eventually be done. Having a safe, direct connection from the Somerville linear path to the Charles River is about as critical a connection as anything in the entire region for bike infrastructure.

It's in there.

 

[mass88]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Those renders make the Green Line look so clean and modern.

 

[FK4]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

It's in there.

Only as a roadway bike lane... there should be a fully protected cycle track alongside the park/road. If/when the Somerville path ever gets extended, there's going to be a huge number of cyclists heading south into Boston via this route.

 

[chmeeee]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Only as a roadway bike lane... there should be a fully protected cycle track alongside the park/road. If/when the Somerville path ever gets extended, there's going to be a huge number of cyclists heading south into Boston via this route.

10' path on the site plan:

 

[FK4]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Hot damn, man! I'd missed that. That's very good... except -- what's the potential connection of the trail northward since the viaduct breaks away from the Lowell line ROW north of here.... also, the path ends at the Land blvd intersection... tho I suppose building a jutted out bridge under the viaduct could be some future project someday...

 

[citylover94]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I think that is the multi use path that is supposed to parallel the green line along the lowell line row.

 

[Uncivil_Engineer]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Only as a roadway bike lane... there should be a fully protected cycle track alongside the park/road. If/when the Somerville path ever gets extended, there's going to be a huge number of cyclists heading south into Boston via this route.

There is a multi-use path along North Point Blvd, complete with a painted route across the Education Street intersection to connect with the North Bank Bridge approach (visible on Google if you turn off 3D; street view is outdated). It's still a little dodgy around (ironically enough) the DCR building, but I'm assuming that will get fixed once that parcel is built out. It currently dead-ends at East Street, but per Divco's map it will get extended to Water Street. Looking at satellite view, it looks as though there's a orphaned path segment that was built behind 22 Water, which currently dead ends at the edge of the GLX Stonehenge at the north end of the development. So I think we should still end up with an off-street path through NorthPoint; it's just a matter of GLX coming through with the connection through Somerville.

 

[ivyhedge]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

In all of the renderings, in all of the photos of the present park area, I don't see one park bench. I see what looks like concrete borders maybe used for seating, and scattered flat boulders for seating, but no park benches anywhere? Are park benches, with backs, a thing of the past?

We have a number of benches in both parks: Northpoint proper and the park near S+T, Avalon, and Twenty|20.

 

[ivyhedge]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Is just one company developing Northpoint or is it like the seaport?

I liked the taller buildings in the newer renders, not the usual white pre-cast Boston loves so much.

Question: Why not put some taller things here in the 300-400 foot range? FAA stuff? It seems there are no NIMBY's in the area.

DivcoWest is the primary developer of the remainder of the Northpoint site since purchasing the land from Canyon. HYM, the former lead, has been offered some development work by Divco, but it's unclear if it will be anything substantial. (HYM developed Twenty|20, and then sold that to Prudential immediately before Divco bought Northpoint so that's why I note "remainder" above.)

Divco told us the reason that they wouldn't build to the max height of the area (which they noted as 420' or thereabouts - not 1kft) was because they didn't need to, saying that most biosciences buildings (their specialty) rarely demand anything over 250'.

 

[Gameguy326]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

The 3rd render up is the most current masterplan to date:

I was looking at this development and kind of came up with a theory. This area is basically going to be secluded off in its own corner of Cambridge enclosed on all sides. To me it looks like its going to be a separate little nook of the city where the best of the best of Cambridge work. Essentially an office park/our mini little silicon valley right in the city. We've for years been trying to retain talent from MIT and Harvard after they graduate who usually move on to bigger and better things. To me this looks like an answer to that.

You can see it has its own courtyard for the people who work here. Also a park, waterfront, transit... Its basically its own little city, for the most part cut off from the rest of Cambridge. It looks like the perfect place to build a bunch of shiny new office buildings/labs, that are just separated from each other enough to give them space to work and park, where people can drive from their expensive suburban homes right up to their building or walk over from the green line.

Basically you get the benefits of an office park, but in the middle of the city, the modern take on an office park. It seems designed to keep these people in this one area where they don't have to really deal with the bs of chinatown or dtx or anything like that. Just the best minds of our college base off in their own corner working together, mingling, taking a stroll through the park at lunch, and then they hop in their audi in the parking garage and go home at the end of the day. Its close enough to the rest of the surroundings to venture out, but inclusive enough that you don't have to.

Basically this looks like the answer to keeping talent in the city, give the best minds their own piece of the city to work together, a nice park, access to the water, transit, but separated enough that they don't have to really be bothered by the normal hustle and bustle of downtown. Then you still get the entire rest of Cambridge and Boston in very close reach plus the 128 belt and seaport and it looks like a perfect storm.

I have to disagree with you here. The challenge with retaining talent is twofold - for those looking to do startups, there is more Venture Capital in, say, Silicon Valley than Boston. If you want startups to stay in Boston, the answer is to attract more VCs (yes I realize this is a chicken-and-egg problem). The other reason people leave is to go work at a company that's...well, not in Boston, and there's little you can do about that other than just try to attract more companies to build bigger offices here.

Real estate, as far as I know, never has been and probably never will be the problem. This will be a nice development if they get thee retail desnity right (that is sadly completely walled off from Rt-28/Cambridge Street/3rd street) that will help expand office/lab capacity and drive down costs, and add more housing, and add more parkland. But don't try to make it more than that - this will not affect whether or not Boston loses talent.

DivcoWest is the primary developer of the remainder of the Northpoint site since purchasing the land from Canyon. HYM, the former lead, has been offered some development work by Divco, but it's unclear if it will be anything substantial. (HYM developed Twenty|20, and then sold that to Prudential immediately before Divco bought Northpoint so that's why I note "remainder" above.)

Divco told us the reason that they wouldn't build to the max height of the area (which they noted as 420' or thereabouts - not 1kft) was because they didn't need to, saying that most biosciences buildings (their specialty) rarely demand anything over 250'.

Two questions here - a) the 420' limit is Cambridge zoning limits, right? This is not FAA restrictions? b) Isn't the short height on biosciences buildings something to do with the H-Vac units? I thought it was prohibitively expensive to get all the ventilation and clean room technology in a tall building.

 

[shawn]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Re: VC, I'm pretty sure Boston bounces between #2 and #3 in the the country in terms of VC funding, neck and neck with NYC. Granted, it's still something like 1/8th of what SF + SJ see, but the gap between Boston / NYC and the next group is pretty big too.

 

[stick n move]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Were already leading the country in innovation, but our office vacancies are extremely low. Thats kind of where I was going we have basically everything going right for the most part besides enough office space.

 

[ivyhedge]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Site preparation for Northpoint Lot J-K. The site building (green) is undergoing demolition and the cement truck idling in the foreground is for Avalon's Nortpoint P2 development.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Looks like Fairbanks Alaska.