Channelside (née P&G) | 244-248 A Street | Fort Point

Off-topic, but I don't know what newspaper not printed in crayon would hire, and maintain, Shirley Leung.
 
Buildings moved a little and tons of landscape renders: https://bpda.app.box.com/s/7nne720km3rnbdf18jhmvu2bamz8qy4m.

Pages from 2021-06-07_Presentation_244 - 284 A Street_Page_1.jpg
Pages from 2021-06-07_Presentation_244 - 284 A Street_Page_2.jpg
Pages from 2021-06-07_Presentation_244 - 284 A Street_Page_3.jpg
Pages from 2021-06-07_Presentation_244 - 284 A Street_Page_4.jpg
Pages from 2021-06-07_Presentation_244 - 284 A Street_Page_5.jpg
 
There are also lots of architectural renders. Everything has been noticeably value-engineered. Corners squared off. Less depth to the facades. It's still good, but it's no longer special, and with Related's vomit-inducing Kenmore project, I'm worried about what happens next.

1623257600363.png
 
It's weird because they're keeping some curves, but removing some to 'match the character of the neighborhood' (VE). The curved motif worked really well - now its fighting itself.

1623267137077.png
 
On a positive note they got rid of the subtle offset windows on each floor.
 
Imagine if all of Cambridge Crossing was going to be looking like this. (Or Dorchester Bay City for that matter. Or the Longwood Place proposal.)
 
I don't understand the need to keep creating giant new parks everywhere instead of filling in more of the empty spaces with actual buildings. The city still feels more fragmented than it should because of this. For instance, imagine how much lamer the North End would be if half of it was hollowed out for another park?

Note I am not advocating to get rid of any existing parks, except maybe part of The Fens which is another topic altogether, and 1-2 greenway parcels that could instead be built on. I just don't think we need to keep creating more, especially not this sizable. I'd rather see a neighborhood than a park. A manicured walkway along the Fort Point Channel would be fine.
 
For instance, imagine how much lamer the North End would be if half of it was hollowed out for another park?

I mean, on the flip side, the section of the Greenway at Hanover Street is always pretty happening. That area, at least, would be worse if someone built a hulking lab building right on top of 93 between Hanover and the Quincy Market.
 
I mean, on the flip side, the section of the Greenway at Hanover Street is always pretty happening. That area, at least, would be worse if someone built a hulking lab building right on top of 93 between Hanover and the Quincy Market.

Both parcels between Congress Street and Seaport Blvd are pretty much useless. I don't even feel particularly safe there in the middle of the day. Some of the highway ramps also create their own barriers, for instance at the parcel between North Street and Commercial Street. If they could somehow elevate a building over the highway ramp (think what they're doing with South Station Tower) that would go a much longer way to stitching the urban fabric back together.

In the case of this park, I don't understand why people would want to go so far away from the water at Fort Point Channel. The walkway along the channel should be enough. Otherwise once you walk into the interior it's like, where are we even going?
 
Otherwise once you walk into the interior it's like, where are we even going?

Maybe Broadway via A? It's a similar distance as walking to South Station and if the Gillette site ever gets redeveloped, there could be more reason to head that way?
 
Both parcels between Congress Street and Seaport Blvd are pretty much useless. I don't even feel particularly safe there in the middle of the day. Some of the highway ramps also create their own barriers, for instance at the parcel between North Street and Commercial Street. If they could somehow elevate a building over the highway ramp (think what they're doing with South Station Tower) that would go a much longer way to stitching the urban fabric back together.

In the case of this park, I don't understand why people would want to go so far away from the water at Fort Point Channel. The walkway along the channel should be enough. Otherwise once you walk into the interior it's like, where are we even going?

Yeah I look at these renders and always struggle to imagine that many people ever using that outdoor space, certainly there's not enough housing in the immediate vicinity to justify it.
 
Yeah I look at these renders and always struggle to imagine that many people ever using that outdoor space, certainly there's not enough housing in the immediate vicinity to justify it.

Exactly.

Isn't it patently obvious that this open space is useless - - they should be emphasizing the public space at the sides of Fort Point Channel!!! Why on earth do they want to siphon people and activities away from the Channel into this No-Man's Land???????? That parcel should be developed. Plain and simple.
 
Last edited:
I don't understand the need to keep creating giant new parks everywhere instead of filling in more of the empty spaces with actual buildings. The city still feels more fragmented than it should because of this. For instance, imagine how much lamer the North End would be if half of it was hollowed out for another park?

Note I am not advocating to get rid of any existing parks, except maybe part of The Fens which is another topic altogether, and 1-2 greenway parcels that could instead be built on. I just don't think we need to keep creating more, especially not this sizable. I'd rather see a neighborhood than a park. A manicured walkway along the Fort Point Channel would be fine.
I do think we need to rethink the commons, especially in a city that is submerged in 3 feet of tundric ice* for four months of the year. Why not have more indoor public spaces, or public spaces with permanent programming (like interactive sculptures) that will have meaning even when sparsely populated.

*possibly a slight exaggeration, though not by much, I think.
 
Isn't it patently obvious that this open space is useless - - they should be emphasizing the public space at the sides of Fort Point Channel!!! Why on earth do they want to siphon people and activities away from the Channel into this No-Man's Land????????

Possibly in order to preserve the 'open space next to a major roadway' feel? I mean, why juxtapose the open space next to the pedestrian-only side of the water-fronted Fort Point Channel instead of the noise and fumes of a street?
 
Sorry to be the wet blanket, but the park is the roof of the I90 tunnel. I don’t believe the tunnel is built to support any structures like the roof of the O'Neil in the Bulfinch Triangle. Sorry , but it looks like we have more green space in our fair city.
 

Back
Top