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

Tango said:
The tower crane is being assembled for Building JK (office and/or lab).
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Correct; they built the base anchor several weeks ago and the tower crane's segments have been on site for over a month.
 
Why is this crane so tall ? Isn’t the building like 2 floors ?
 
From November 4, 2016 Letter to Planning Board.

"The new Lot JK building is an approximately 370,000 gross square foot commercial building to be used for a combination of retail, lab and office uses. The proposed building will be approximately 143 feet high (as calculated pursuant to the Ordinance), plus three levels of underground parking containing approximately 348 parking spaces. The Ground Floor includes approximately 15,000 square feet of retail uses, accessed from the street or public area of the building lobby, located in Cambridge. "

I'm gonna guess 143' is to highest occupied level. That's roughly 9 floors of lab space with a higher height on first floor. BLDUP has it at 11 storeys, which is probably true as I'd expect a double penthouse to fit mechanicals. I'd put those both at 20 feet (18' clear), so probably closer to 180-190' total.

Little taller than 2 storeys anyways.
 
Hard to overstate how great a trend the reversal of job sprawl is. 2000 employees will go from a commute that can only be made by car (thus locking out those unable or unwilling to drive), to one that has fast transit access from the north and south (when GLX opens)
 
FitchburgLine said:
Hard to overstate how great a trend the reversal of job sprawl is. 2000 employees will go from a commute that can only be made by car (thus locking out those unable or unwilling to drive), to one that has fast transit access from the north and south (when GLX opens)
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That's one way to look at it. Another is that 2,000 people who can currently live in a less-expensive outer suburb now have to choose between losing their jobs, being stuck in (and contributing to) I-93 rush hour traffic, or paying the immense price to live in Kendall, Cambridge, or Somerville (possibly placing the prospect of home ownership forever out of their reach), not to mention what those decisions mean to their families.

But sure... cars suck. Hooray!

P.S. I think this is a good thing, but it's also important to consider all the sides.
 
Yes relocation costs are real, but looking at this from a purely suburban existing-employee perspective is weird. The company's stated reason for moving is to be closer to the stream of graduates who they hire, and even discounting that, North Point is a much more accessible location even from the suburbs than Andover. It's 2 stops on the GL from every northside commuter line, a shed that includes magnitudes more suburban homes than their current location.
Also not really sure where you got the "cars suck" idea from my post. The reasons for job sprawl being bad have much more to do with regional equity than any given mode.
 
FitchburgLine said:
Yes relocation costs are real, but looking at this from a purely suburban existing-employee perspective is weird. The company's stated reason for moving is to be closer to the stream of graduates who they hire, and even discounting that, North Point is a much more accessible location even from the suburbs than Andover. It's 2 stops on the GL from every northside commuter line, a shed that includes magnitudes more suburban homes than their current location.
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I don't entirely buy that argument. I could certainly be wrong about this, but I doubt Philips has employees evenly spread across the whole northern region of Massachusetts - I suspect they've congregated in Andover, Lawrence, Georgetown, Dracut, and Lowell. Some of those towns have commuter rail service, but Cambridge Crossing isn't convenient to North Station - it requires a transfer or lengthy hike after a long train ride in. That's a lot to ask of people who are probably used to driving 5-10 minutes each way. I don't see how regional equity is best served by having jobs congregated where a few people get 10 minute walk/bike commutes and everyone else in the region has a 90 minute two-seat ride morning and night.

I just looked this up on Google Earth - Philips isn't really located in a suburb right now. It's on the Merrimack 3 miles from Downtown Lawrence and about 6 miles from Downtown Lowell. This isn't Cambridge poaching jobs from Waltham or Marlborough, it's Cambridge poaching jobs from the Gateway Cities that Baker's administration loves to talk about building up.

Philips is currently located conveniently to immigrant and minority population centers (though I don't know how many folks from those communities work for Philips). They're relocating so they can be near the relatively ethnically homogeneous, privileged, young workforce coming out of MIT and Harvard. I bet that means they're planning to leave a lot of older staff behind and they're okay with that (and they're fine with leaving their childcare needs, higher health insurance costs, demands for work/life balance, and accumulated raises behind as well). It's dubious that this is a positive move for Equity.
 
If those employees from the north drive in, i'd have to say that the area around Northpoint probably has some of, if not the worst traffic in the region. Trying to get over the Gilmore bridge during rush hour is probably the most painful thing you can do in a car.
 
tysmith95 said:
If those employees from the north drive in, i'd have to say that the area around Northpoint probably has some of, if not the worst traffic in the region. Trying to get over the Gilmore bridge during rush hour is probably the most painful thing you can do in a car.
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Then, they should quickly learn there are so many better options than driving in.

In each of the comments above, everyone still forgets this location is fairly well served by the orange line in addition to the GL and future (not too distant, like shortly after Phillips moves in) GLX, and the aforementioned commuter rail.

My goodness a transfer. However will people survive. I travel from just as far south on the commuter line (Brockton = Lowell in this exercise) with a transfer to the red to go a whopping 4 stops (more than green to lechmere would be) and it's an hour from platform to my office door (including the half mile walk from station to office.)

So the 90 minute nightmare commute with a transfer is false. It's also a very easy, comfortable, mostly stress free commute. Folks who don't use it, always have these wild allegations. And, if you do use it. You're lying to everyone.

Does it suck for people who made it so they have a short commute today? Yes. Does the move help the company better position itself and stay competitive? Yes. Which do you think wins? It's much better than so many other companies that moved from here to say south Carolina (personally affected my entire family).
 
SeamusMcFly said:
Does it suck for people who made it so they have a short commute today? Yes. Does the move help the company better position itself and stay competitive? Yes. Which do you think wins? It's much better than so many other companies that moved from here to say south Carolina (personally affected my entire family).
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That's what I was saying earlier, companies in the burbs are going to either come into the city or move out, or both. I don't think it's really a competitiveness issue other than the money saved by getting rid of their older employees and replacing them with college kids who won't/can't work at a company not accessible by subway.
 
Equilibria said:
I don't entirely buy that argument. I could certainly be wrong about this, but I doubt Philips has employees evenly spread across the whole northern region of Massachusetts - I suspect they've congregated in Andover, Lawrence, Georgetown, Dracut, and Lowell.
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With respect, in my experience you are way off base with this assertion. When I worked in Andover, at a tech/industrial company very similar to Phillips, my coworkers drove from far and wide. For example - Dedham, Marblehead, Clinton, and Ogunquit - just to paint the corners of the map. And I didn’t cherry-pick a handful of outliers. To be honest, I can’t think of a single person who lived in any of the five towns you listed.

Edit: Actually, there was one 20-something who lived in the nearby apartment building who joked about his 30 second commute (by car, of course).
 
fattony said:
With respect, in my experience you are way off base with this assertion. When I worked in Andover, at a tech/industrial company very similar to Phillips, my coworkers drove from far and wide. For example - Dedham, Marblehead, Clinton, and Ogunquit - just to paint the corners of the map. And I didn’t cherry-pick a handful of outliers. To be honest, I can’t think of a single person who lived in any of the five towns you listed.

Edit: Actually, there was one 20-something who lived in the nearby apartment building who joked about his 30 second commute (by car, of course).
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Fair enough. You have more experience than I do :).
 
I work for Philips. Colleagues live everywhere - swapscott, acton, many in southern NH...a few even do an off-peak commute from the south shore.

We've had an office @ 2 canal park for a couple of years and many 20-something employees walk from Beacon Hill, the West End, and Cambridge.

Not a lot of employees from Lawrence.
 
CSTH said:
I work for Philips. Colleagues live everywhere - swapscott, acton, many in southern NH...a few even do an off-peak commute from the south shore.

We've had an office @ 2 canal park for a couple of years and many 20-something employees walk from Beacon Hill, the West End, and Cambridge.

Not a lot of employees from Lawrence.
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Thanks for the info. It seems I can be comfortable being happy about this, then!

Are you happy about it?
 
Yeah works for me - I typically take the train to the office in CAM. Philips is quite flexible re: work from home too - almost everyone is home on Friday, and I usually do another day or two every week depending on my schedule.

And definitely better than a location in the heart of kendall would have been, because of orange and green transfers @ north station. So yeah it works.

Being closer to Logan is meaningful too.

I'll add that some of my older colleagues are really averse to switching from a car commute to a train commute, which I have some sympathy for (hard to change habits after 20+ years). But I'm sure they'll be able to adapt...
 
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