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

Spot on. From my perch I see folks with MoS and various Galleria store bags quite often. And that's *with* COVID. Even the Orange Line metro seems to be getting more love of late given the more noticeable connexion to the bridge (interestingly, it's more noticeable since it's so damn ugly now that the Murphy stairs are partially ripped up and fenced now...

I'm not sure it's fair to compare both developments.
Assembly seems to have been specifically designed to bring people in from outside. The whole development is build around the outlet mall/cinema/restaurants which all went up before most of the housing and office space.
Cambridge crossing seems to be designed around people who will live and work there. Unlike Assembly, there are lots of near by attractions, from the Museum of Science to the galleria, even the garden is easily walkable from this development. The whole drive of the development seems to be the opposite of Assembly and I think that's appropriate for the location.
 
Shouldn't be long now ... probably 1 - 1.5 months, based on recent commentary. Very much looking forward to filling the other section of Lot W. Cloud Boi was back (with its human, the owner of Lamp) a few times recently. SO CLOUD.

In other news, Sunday night marked yet another wedding for The Lexington (al fresco atop the other section of Lot W), so CX is certainly getting some action in that department this season, too. I've lived here since 2013, and until last October I'd never seen a wedding shot, staged, fed, danced, and jammed in a venue in our park (mostly because there weren't any - ghasp!).

I'm personally really looking forward to the new Lamplighter there
 
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They really did a good job on the park for how limited the space is. The elevation changes really make parks much more than just a square patch of grass and some trees. On top of that they have a bridge, pond, river, cobblestone edge.. its really got a lot to offer for a small space. Really shows what you can do with a small space and some creativity. It also gives the neighborhood a centerpiece, without the park this would be a pretty drab neighborhood.
 
Dave: where from in Woburn?

Top of Nolan Trail at Horn Pond. To avoid the pond crowds and get to the hill trail quicker, it's useful to park on Norfolk Road. Otherwise it's just a bit more walking but there's a paved trail (Nolan Trail) up the obvious hill with the power lines.
 
@stick - We even have a swamp, aka, a *marsh*!

Yes, elevation helps tremendously. Even though the footprint of the park hasn't changed since I came here in 2013, the drumlins (now with more waste water management!) and troughs improve it from almost every perspective (well, except for the oopsie swamp but that's another story). We have even recovered from the Great Tree Debacle of 2017, when two keyed up woodsmen trimmed a copse of 14m trees near Twenty|20 and hauled the wood for "recycling"! Seriously, though: DivCo took residents' comments into account and most folks wanted more trees! so they added more: even some evergreens. Lighting is seriously upgraded, too, especially around the gathering areas.

They really did a good job on the park for how limited the space is. The elevation changes really make parks much more than just a square patch of grass and some trees. On top of that they have a bridge, pond, river, cobblestone edge.. its really got a lot to offer for a small space. Really shows what you can do with a small space and some creativity. It also gives the neighborhood a centerpiece, without the park this would be a pretty drab neighborhood.
 
Two notes:

1) The Murphy Staircase is visible on both the satellite and standard overlay versions of GMaps. Sometimes it has disappeared due to work (although Maps isn't real time, zooming tends to show a blend of current and stale collages, depending on which area was imaged during overflight), and it was gone recently since the external elevator was removed. I see that it has returned, and shows the pedestrian connection to Gilmore.

2) Regarding the width ... At a community meeting prior two DivCo's purchase of CX (nee North Point), the reasoning for no bridge decking modifications was that Cambridge and Charlestown/Boston couldn't agree on a timeline, with Cambridge planning to rebuilt the bridge's structural componentry (since complete), improve the decking, and then resurface the completed upgrades. Apparently, schedules didn't fit so they abandoned a widening project over the train yards (which I *think* would be mostly in Boston's property side) and buttoned up the project at New England Speed (meaning that the punch list was merely a suggestion). Those of you who drive the bridge will recall that the Charlestown side - embarrassingly - was essentially unfinished for months, with dangerously placed Jersey barriers misaligned to the traffic flow and no transit markings on the decking until shortly before winter (and COVID) arrived.

After DivCo took ownership, some of us asked again about new sidewalks and the result was: an expanded connexion at Lot H, which would encompass the existing Murphy Staircase at Lot I, and a connexion at Lot U, which Cambridge was happy to grant in the autumn of 2020. Both of those zones will be (or already are, in the case of the M Staircase) wider than the bridge's third world walkway, but only those zones, according to my information. As recently as a few months ago, DivCo's presentations confirmed widened areas at the interfaces of Lots U, I, and H to the Gilmore Bridge.

I really wish that a small part of this project was some kind of weather protection and widening of the walkway from OL Community College to at least that "first staircase" on the project

(also I've reported to GMaps that they're missing the Gilmore Bridge's sidewalk and ped cnxn to 20 Child St https://goo.gl/maps/XbscN6CvNqYucHzU8 )
 
For anyone interested, our urban format REI opened today (1 October).

DivCo had announced 8 October, so most of us were surprised to see tents, hear jam, and receive (presumably post sportsing) ice cream.

Maybe this store can find me a Cannondale Slate whose order got canceled due to COVID. Then it went out of production. Ugh.

Anyway, go Pats.
 
Be careful, @kz1000ps. Unapproved drone overflights of active construction sites are a no no.

Security and police have confiscated drones here and assessed very heavy fines. The "mobile patrols" look for folks and respond quickly (mostly because of a few couples who flew too close to workers when we still had a bunch of cranes up last year). I think there was an incident in Kendall, too, but I don't recall the project.

Buckle the fuck up, we're going for a ride
 

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