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

[Jeremi]

The truth is that unless you work here or live here, there is no reason to come here. There is no draw, nothing that you cannot get elsewhere in the city. I remember what a huge deal the construction of the ICA was for the Seaport because it was a legitimate cultural venue that would attract people who otherwise had no reason to venture to the Seaport. The current big cultural draw advertised by Cambridge Crossing is, embarrassingly, a vacant storefront decoration contest.

People seek out culture, and culture is a commodity and it can absolutely be bought. If I were the developers of a new neighborhood with a bunch of empty land and vacant storefronts, I would take a quarter acre and build an independent movie theater/film center, something like the Coolidge Corner Theatre. (I do believe that the Boston area has wild paucity of independent movie theaters. Boston proper has zero, Cambridge has one, with one screen.) The building could easily be designed to support future vertical expansion for apartments or whatever. Hold film festivals, weird screenings, marathons, etc. People will come.

 

[Charlie_mta]

The truth is that unless you work here or live here, there is no reason to come here. There is no draw, nothing that you cannot get elsewhere in the city. I remember what a huge deal the construction of the ICA was for the Seaport because it was a legitimate cultural venue that would attract people who otherwise had no reason to venture to the Seaport. The current big cultural draw advertised by Cambridge Crossing is, embarrassingly, a vacant storefront decoration contest.

People seek out culture, and culture is a commodity and it can absolutely be bought. If I were the developers of a new neighborhood with a bunch of empty land and vacant storefronts, I would take a quarter acre and build an independent movie theater/film center, something like the Coolidge Corner Theatre. (I do believe that the Boston area has wild paucity of independent movie theaters. Boston proper has zero, Cambridge has one, with one screen.) The building could easily be designed to support future vertical expansion for apartments or whatever. Hold film festivals, weird screenings, marathons, etc. People will come.

The independent movie theater/film center could be on the ground level of a medium/high-rise building, with the rest for residential or business. I mean, the whole thing could be built together, and not phased construction.

 

[Jeremi]

The independent movie theater/film center could be on the ground level of a medium/high-rise building, with the rest for residential or business. I mean, the whole thing could be built together, and not phased construction.

Yup! And cinema is just one idea because that’s my bugbear. There are so many potential cultural draws that just require a bit of inspiration and some investment.

 

[as02155]

People will come.

But they won't pay. The massive studios created thru M&A consolidations have turned most mainstream and supposedly-independent visual arts (cinema/video) into a rent-seeking minefeld.

I've found the CX park to be well occupied throughout the week - evening events by the developer like yoga on the lawn - summer movie nights - and weekend lazing for at least 3 seasons with the most recent event I was at there was a marche au puce. I don't see how this area won't continue to fill out - given the at least 4 additional buildings coming and most of them being residential if I recall correctly.

 

[BronsonShore]

This whole conversation seems much ado about nothing. Cambridge Crossing is an interesting little urban nook in Boston with a great park and some light retail. It's also penned in by a car sewer on one side and railroad tracks on the other, so it doesn't get much organic foot traffic and is sometimes very quiet as a result. That's fine. Cities are allowed to have that.

 

[Jeremi]

But they won't pay. The massive studios created thru M&A consolidations have turned most mainstream and supposedly-independent visual arts (cinema/video) into a rent-seeking minefeld.

I've found the CX park to be well occupied throughout the week - evening events by the developer like yoga on the lawn - summer movie nights - and weekend lazing for at least 3 seasons with the most recent event I was at there was a marche au puce. I don't see how this area won't continue to fill out - given the at least 4 additional buildings coming and most of them being residential if I recall correctly.

250,000 people a year pay to see a film at Coolidge Corner.

 

[Ruairi]

250,000 people a year pay to see a film at Coolidge Corner.

Kendall square cinema has 9 screens and is prob a mile away.
MoS is around the corner as is the Galleria

I wouldn't be too worried about CX not being thronged with people.
People who live there and work there seem to be quite happy with it.
It'll slowly develop and mature with time. Some things will work, some wont.
It would be a mistake to compare it to Seaport of Assembly.
For an old industrial site sandwiched between 28 and tracks, tucked away at the edge of Cambridge, it's doing very well.

 

[Jeremi]

Kendall square cinema has 9 screens and is prob a mile away.
MoS is around the corner as is the Galleria

I wouldn't be too worried about CX not being thronged with people.
People who live there and work there seem to be quite happy with it.
It'll slowly develop and mature with time. Some things will work, some wont.
It would be a mistake to compare it to Seaport of Assembly.
For an old industrial site sandwiched between 28 and tracks, tucked away at the edge of Cambridge, it's doing very well.

Kendall Sq Theater is a big chain like you can get anywhere else. It’s not bad! It’s where I went to see OBAA. It’s just not a cultural destination like the Brattle or CCT.

I’m just responding to the specific criticism of there being no draw to this area, which is true. It’s why businesses in the area don’t succeed. It has been slowly developing for twenty years now and there still really isn’t much to write home about.

 

[ritchiew]

This whole conversation seems much ado about nothing. Cambridge Crossing is an interesting little urban nook in Boston with a great park and some light retail. It's also penned in by a car sewer on one side and railroad tracks on the other, so it doesn't get much organic foot traffic and is sometimes very quiet as a result. That's fine. Cities are allowed to have that.

I agree with you in part. CX is partially isolated from the rest of the neighborhood, for sure.

But CX does have one big, automatic foot traffic generator: Lechmere station. People from East Cambridge will cross the car sewer to get there. People come through by bus or train. That should be the focal point of a livelier neighborhood. It's too important a resource to settle for a quiet little urban nook, I think.

 

[as02155]

250,000 people a year pay to see a film at Coolidge Corner.

Given the populations of Camberville+Charlestown having access to another indy theatre at Davis and at Harvard - plus any showings at the universities - I really see the struggle to identify an undersupply in that particular niche north of the river.

 

[Vagabond]

Let's talk about the development in context with some actual data?

Cambridge Crossing is a 43-acre mixed-use, transit oriented neighborhood made up of 4.5M SF development including 2.5MSF of office/lab space, 5,000 residential units and 100K+ SF of retail space once complete. Today, there are currently 3,000 +/- residential units and approximately 8,000 employees on-site.

**deleted table to not derail**
If you're more interested in direct link to studies... yes, there was a prompt because its a simple way to wrangle and represent data. Population density as the attractor of business to the place - PMC Firm location studies traditionally assume that this is business that attracts other business to a given location. They focus on knowledge transfers between the most productive and innovative firms and analyse agglomeration economies arising from ... pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Urban retail location: Insights from percolation theory and spatial interaction modeling - PMC Characterising road networks has been the focus of a large body of research due to it being the main driver of activities in an urban ecosystem and the structuring factor in the dynamics of the city. One of these activities, and one with the largest ... pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov "Most comprehensive study on elasticities due to density54 does not explain the relation between population density and business agglomeration, which makes it a research gap to be filled, especially at the local (not city-aggregated) level. "

The core question is if there is enough density to support local businesses. My takeaway from the data is that there is "just enough" for smaller establishments, but likely would require a culture shift to create a "new destination" for external parties instead of relying on only existing travel patterns of the captive audience of residents and tenants.

 

[bigpicture7]

Let's talk about the development in context with some actual data?

Cambridge Crossing is a 43-acre mixed-use, transit oriented neighborhood made up of 4.5M SF development including 2.5MSF of office/lab space, 5,000 residential units and 100K+ SF of retail space once complete. Today, there are currently 3,000 +/- residential units and approximately 8,000 employees on-site.

This location is certainly isolated, making it difficult to map against planning guidelines, but here are some benchmarks.

Business Type	Urban Density (People/Sq. Mile)	Suburban Density (People/Sq. Mile)	Primary Location Driver
Coffee Shop	10,000 – 20,000+	2,500 – 4,000	Habit & Convenience: Relies on high frequency. Urban spots need ~3-4 hours of continuous foot traffic; suburban spots rely on high-traffic commuting routes (morning side).
Sandwich Shop	12,000 – 25,000 (Daytime Pop. Focus)	3,000 – 5,000	Daytime Workers: Lunch crowds are critical. Density of office workers (daytime population) is often more important than residential density.
Full-Service Restaurant	8,000 – 15,000	1,500 – 3,000	Dinner & Destination: Willingness to travel is higher (3–5 miles). Can survive in lower density if income levels align with menu pricing.
Movie Theater	20,000+	500 – 1,000	Regional Draw: A destination venue. They do not rely on immediate density but rather a large "Trade Area" (drawing from 5–10 miles away).

@Vagabond , can you explain a little more about what this table means? Are these guidelines for ratios that would support a viable business? In other words, a ratio of 1 coffee shop per 10,000 people would work business-wise....if there were 2 or 3 coffee shops per 10,000 people, that would be not enough people to support the coffee shops?

I'm intrigued by this type of info, but only 1 coffee shop per 10,000 people seems a bit off (i.e., that another one or two shops could be accommodated for 10K ppl). I, for one, drink A LOT of coffee.

 

[Longfellow]

@Vagabond , can you explain a little more about what this table means? Are these guidelines for ratios that would support a viable business? In other words, a ratio of 1 coffee shop per 10,000 people would work business-wise....if there were 2 or 3 coffee shops per 10,000 people, that would be not enough people to support the coffee shops?

I'm intrigued by this type of info, but only 1 coffee shop per 10,000 people seems a bit off (i.e., that another one or two shops could be accommodated for 10K ppl). I, for one, drink A LOT of coffee.

You’re talking to ChatGPT. I wouldn’t bother.

 

[HenryAlan]

I agree with you in part. CX is partially isolated from the rest of the neighborhood, for sure.

But CX does have one big, automatic foot traffic generator: Lechmere station. People from East Cambridge will cross the car sewer to get there. People come through by bus or train. That should be the focal point of a livelier neighborhood. It's too important a resource to settle for a quiet little urban nook, I think.

It also has the community path extension, which brings a ton of bike traffic. I know a Lamplighter bar tender and he says they get a lot of bike rider customers.