Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

[34f34f]

34f -- I don't know where you got your employment figures from -- but there's a problem with them -- Cambridge was a major industrial city -- Kendall square almost certainly employed many more people in its heyday that it does even today

Click the link! It goes the City of Cambridge website (developed by the useless Community Development Department using stupid data that could've organized itself).

Under the "Cambridge Workforce" section are 3 documents that answer exactly the questions you're interested in.

In 1967, there were 2477 establishments and 65798 workers, 25028 in manufacturing. In 2011 (the most recent data on the page) there were 4445 establishments and 105628 workers, 2775 in manufacturing.

So yes, there was a 90% drop in manufacturing (good intuition), but there was still a 60% increase in workers in the city. So we lost 22,000 manufacturing jobs but gained 40,000 jobs over the same period, meaning Cambridge added 62,000 non-manufacturing jobs from 1967-2011. Judging by the success of the past 5 years, I think it's safe to say we're even higher now.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

F-Line its not a Cambridge specific disease -- all governments want to look and feel like Washigton DC -- or perhaps they really want London and Buckingham Palace

In Lexington a few years ago the Public Works Department proposed and won an override to build a palace for their trucks and miscellaneous bureaucratic needs -- this facility featuring heated garages priced out at nearly $1000 per square foot

No the lure of the Edifus Rex Complex to a bureaucrat is like Odysseus & the Sirens -- tie him to a mast and let him hear the enchanting sound -- just stop at that point

so let the council debate this one endlessly -- just don't give them the money

So I take that as...no, you have absolutely nothing useful to contribute about the deal the City of Cambridge just made and haven't been paying any attention whatsoever. Good to know that the DPW has the all-clear to collect all the space savers in this thread with your name on 'em for next week's garbage collection.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

I'm determined to swing through Cambridge this evening and take a bunch of pics to re-rail this burning trash heap of a thread, but in the meantime...

Yes but we have computers now so clearly the business of running the city of Cambridge can be done by one, at most two people working on laptops in a Starbucks.

I think this sums up the absurd view of modern municipal government by a lot of older people who see computers as black boxes of electrical magic. I'm sure Jascha over at Boston DoIT would get a kick out of this. I'm pretty sure it's just him and some other dude with a Skrillex-style haircut 'doing code' on their laptops in the Starbucks around the corner.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

Education First has fully moved over and it looks like there's a new anchor tenant in their old building:


I have a sneaking suspicion that a thread exists for this, but I can't find it/I can't remember the name of the development:






Activity on the parcel catty-corner from ZINC:

 

[chmeeee]

In Lexington a few years ago the Public Works Department proposed and won an override to build a palace for their trucks and miscellaneous bureaucratic needs -- this facility featuring heated garages priced out at nearly $1000 per square foot

I've been in that "palace." It's a garage with a standard municipal-spec office slapped on top. It's only a palace if your comparison is the shit shack that a lot of other municipal departments cobble together.

Heated garage? God forbid the maintenance staff work in a climate controlled environment. My local Jiffy Lube also has a heated garage.

 

[shmessy]

I've been in that "palace." It's a garage with a standard municipal-spec office slapped on top. It's only a palace if your comparison is the shit shack that a lot of other municipal departments cobble together.

Heated garage? God forbid the maintenance staff work in a climate controlled environment. My local Jiffy Lube also has a heated garage.

Good point, but I just want to read more off-topic Lexington tangents......

 

[whighlander]

I've been in that "palace." It's a garage with a standard municipal-spec office slapped on top. It's only a palace if your comparison is the shit shack that a lot of other municipal departments cobble together.

Heated garage? God forbid the maintenance staff work in a climate controlled environment. My local Jiffy Lube also has a heated garage.

chmeee --with your trust fund it probably wouldn't register that it cost roughly $1000 per man woman and child in the town -- I think some of those steel buildings are available in the vicinity of $50/ sq ft

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

We're so close to proving Godwin's law true...someone please keep egging him on about municipal structures.

 

[chmeeee]

chmeee --with your trust fund ....

Ummm.... what?

Please send me a PM with the bank acct. info, I could use the cash.

 

[CSTH]

chmeee --with your trust fund it probably wouldn't register that it cost roughly $1000 per man woman and child in the town -- I think some of those steel buildings are available in the vicinity of $50/ sq ft

AKA like 40 or 50 bucks a year for 30 years, right?

 

[whighlander]

AKA like 40 or 50 bucks a year for 30 years, right?

CSTH -- why spend $40 or $50 when $10 would be more than adequate -- this not the Town Hall or even the Police Station or Community Center -- its an F.....in Garage & Warehouse with some offices tacked-on

 

[citylover94]

And as such it needs heating/cooling, for all the spaces garage included for it to be comfortable for people to work in year round, computers for both the garages and offices, any interior finishings, equipment, etc. I don't see why you think this is ridiculous.

 

[stellarfun]

Alexandria buys One Kendall for $1,124 a square foot. Expects to raise rents, build another building (175,000 sq ft), and convert office space to labs. The seller made about $300 million in gains from when it bought the complex two years ago.

For those cheering on tall tower(s) for the Volpe site, One Kendall illustrates the type and use of buildings on which prospective developers will likely place their bets.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/18/kendall/KQMHdmzWrGvP4kbREz6yHI/story.html

 

[whighlander]

Alexandria buys One Kendall for $1,124 a square foot. Expects to raise rents, build another building (175,000 sq ft), and convert office space to labs. The seller made about $300 million in gains from when it bought the complex two years ago.

For those cheering on tall tower(s) for the Volpe site, One Kendall illustrates the type and use of buildings on which prospective developers will likely place their bets.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/18/kendall/KQMHdmzWrGvP4kbREz6yHI/story.html

Stellar -- I don't think that One Kenall is the model for the Volpe site

One Kendall is constrained by its location on the edge of a traditional residential area Cardinal Medeiros is the edge and its relatively large distance from the T -- so no one is going to redo One kenall as a tower

Volpe is in the midst of Industrial space -- that's been industry for more than a Century and its literally sitting on the T -- so if you bend to Alexandria's vision of lots of labs and the Fed's need for both labs and office

the core of Neo Volpe could look a lot like the TransNational vision for Winthrop Sq. -- a multi story Podium covering a big footprint with labs and commercial then on one corner the Fed's Tower and on the other other corner the Private Office Tower some new streets and park land and a couple of residential towers

 

[stellarfun]

whighlander, I was not suggesting that Alexandria has a 'tower' in mind for One Kendall.

Rather, I was harking back to the economic consultant's report to the Cambridge Planning Board which indicated that the developer's sunk cost for the Volpe site might be so high, that a development comprised of 54 percent office and lab, and 3 percent innovation, might produce marginal financial results, because of the proposed residential and open space components.

So what is a prospective developer likely to do? Limit the residential as much as possible (low-return) and increase the lab (highest return) as much as possible.

Let's assume that the sunk costs (Volpe replacement and remediation) are $350 million, and, after open space, the developer has seven acres on which to build. You will never make money building affordable housing on land that costs $50 million an acre.

 

[Brad Plaid]

...because of the proposed residential and open space components.

So what is a prospective developer likely to do? Limit the residential as much as possible (low-return) and increase the lab (highest return) as much as possible.

And if this comes to pass it's a classic case of unintended (though easily predictable) consequences. Going taller with less open space is not rocket science but Cambridge green space ideology and height prejudice is absurdly dogmatic. Oh well, as long as there are enough stables for all the unicorns I guess that is the important thing.

 

[stellarfun]

And if this comes to pass it's a classic case of unintended (though easily predictable) consequences. Going taller with less open space is not rocket science but Cambridge green space ideology and height prejudice is absurdly dogmatic. Oh well, as long as there are enough stables for all the unicorns I guess that is the important thing.

The economic consultant's assumptions were interesting. The consultant assumed that a master developer would build new Volpe, remediate the site, construct the necessary infrastructure, and then sell individual developable parcels to other developers who would then build the privately-owned buildings. (Somewhat similar to Hynes and the Seaport.)

That scenario would seem to suggest MIT as master developer; the catch would be how much land MIT might retain for future academic use, and/or whether MIT would partner with other developers in building the privately-owned buildings. I am pretty certain MIT does not want to be a residential landlord.

 

[Boston02124]

I was there on Friday pretty happening place

 

[RandomWalk]

Ex-Lyndell's (aka Carberry's) outside of Central is fenced off and looks like it is headed for demolition.

 

[fattony]

Ex-Lyndell's (aka Carberry's) outside of Central is fenced off and looks like it is headed for demolition.

I noticed that the other day. I'm surprised we haven't seen plans. Tasty Burger wanted to go in there, but sadly Cambridge denied them a liquor license for that location. Whatever is going in better have housing and retail...