Encore Boston Harbor Casino | 1 Broadway | Everett

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DZH22 said:
IMG_1913 by David Z, on Flickr
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For as prominent of a building as the Encore tower portion appears to be when in the area, your picture really shows just how short that building is! Can't reach the clouds, and even shorter than the stack next door.

Only 320 feet, matching the Wynn Macau height, but resembling much more its 600 foot sister towers in Las Vegas.

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Vagabond said:
...Only 320 feet, matching the Wynn Macau height, but resembling much more its 600 foot sister towers in Las Vegas.
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It's 372' to the top of the swoop. The clouds' positioning really mattered at this moment. Note the smokestack to the left is a full 500' and wasn't engulfed in the clouds either. The 554' 111 Huntington also wasn't. Neither were the buildings near North Station.
 
The waterfront garden are a little weedy, but overall are a great space for an interesting stroll--worth a boat ride from Long Wharf or a bike trip from any direction.
 
Man, I cannot get over how tacky this development is. I biked over last month via Alford and found the ride over only slightly perilous, but the bike lane is okay (I'd argue the best thing to come from it all ha). Still surprised it didn't win worst of the year.
I think it's the totally wrong kind of commercial space if the area has any ambitions of being anything other than an outdated attraction-oriented place to visit rather than live. Not that the immediate area was/is at all desirable anyway since it's literally an industrial wasteland. But part of me wishes a different kind of complex occupied the site that played up that rough, industrial vibe. Like an extension of Assembly. This place is just some weird mixture of Olive Garden and Epcot in my eyes...
 
I agree: "[Encore] is just some weird mixture of Olive Garden and Epcot in my eyes"

For people who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like.
 
For better or worse, a substantial portion of Americans of all economic strata seem to really enjoy tacky things.
 
I like EPCOT. I like a lot of things just for being such perfect examples of their kind. Buildings that exemplify unpopular or distinctive styles, State Fairs. Pretentious Museums. Coney Island. Gothic churches. Ticky Tacky Suburbs. Split Levels. Love the Casino for being fully, un-self-consciously itself.
 
I love the tower, although would hate it directly downtown. It looks very cool off to the side though, and stands out from everywhere.

The lowrise portion is terrible. It looks like the world's largest Cheesecake Factory. But that tower, in its specific location, is visually a huge win for the overall cityscape.
 
In isolation, I'd say the tower is fine--it's pleasingly sinuous/tapering, the characteristic Wynn bronze glass is sexy, etc.

It's just that, set against its Everett backdrop, it's a hideously abrupt eruption, jarringly juxtaposed very awkwardly against the industrial landscape.

To me, the visual effect is far more pleasing when its arrayed/embedded within many of its kind--as its sister property, the Encore Las Vegas, is, on the LV Strip. There you have numerous casino megaresorts radiating out along the LV Blvd axis, creating a gratifying geometric array--but each one has enough individuality to provide aesthetic diversity.
 
Arlington said:
I like EPCOT. I like a lot of things just for being such perfect examples of their kind. Buildings that exemplify unpopular or distinctive styles, State Fairs. Pretentious Museums. Coney Island. Gothic churches. Ticky Tacky Suburbs. Split Levels. Love the Casino for being fully, un-self-consciously itself.
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Yes, things that you can't just slap a new sign on to repurpose. Which is both good and bad.

For better and worse there was no pre-existing architecture in that area to blend with... except bleak industrial or standard strip mall. Not that they would have tried, but now the burden is on other developments to figure out what the rest of the area will look like ten or fifteen years from now.
 
DBM said:
In isolation, I'd say the tower is fine--it's pleasingly sinuous/tapering, the characteristic Wynn bronze glass is sexy, etc.

It's just that, set against its Everett backdrop, it's a hideously abrupt eruption, jarringly juxtaposed very awkwardly against the industrial landscape.

To me, the visual effect is far more pleasing when its arrayed/embedded within many of its kind--as its sister property, the Encore Las Vegas, is, on the LV Strip. There you have numerous casino megaresorts radiating out along the LV Blvd axis, creating a gratifying geometric array--but each one has enough individuality to provide aesthetic diversity.
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I would so very much like to see a theme park or some conglomeration of entertainment and other facilities clustered in that area. Maybe a rollercoaster, ferris wheel, and lively waterfront outdoor marketplace.
 
I'm not sure about Encore making this. The bond holders are going to have to take a hit.

40Million unemployed (society is in survival mode besides the rich)
The majority of rich people really don't waste their time gambling.

There is a change in the mindset of American Humanity going on. Hunker down with family. Value what is truly important.

Going to a casino is not at the top of list.

maybe we start to see a small recovery in 5 years I just don't know how they can service the debt.

I just don't know how the new construction survives in the Boston especially demanding certain squarefootage prices need to service the buildings & the debt.
Winthrop has no shot to make it.
Encore will either sell or go through a bankruptcy capital restructuring
SST--- I don't see this making it. To complicated and too many parties involved.
 
Walking through it as a first time visitor (with wife and my tween son), it seemed like a very distinctive escape -- some visitors (maybe not many, maybe not enough) were clearly enjoying the other-worldiness pure escape of it.

Heck, I saw my first ever spiral escalators. Made me reflect on how sheltered my life has been ;-) Rode up and down.

Also nice to see Regular Everett Local People social distanced and enjoying the outdoor space (cartwheels and kicking a soccer ball around) on the AstroTurf.
 
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Arlington said:
Walking through it as a first time visitor (with wife and my tween son), it seemed like a very distinctive escape -- some visitors (maybe not many, maybe not enough) were clearly enjoying the other-worldiness pure escape of it.

Heck, I saw my first ever spiral escalators. Made me reflect on how sheltered my life has been ;-) Rode up and down.

Also nice to see Regular Everett Local People social distanced and enjoying the outdoor space (cartwheels and kicking a soccer ball around) on the AstroTurf.
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sounds like a blast hanging out on the escalators. Hopefully the casino can generate revenue for escalator riding.

Just curious how do you know if the people were regular Everett local people if everybody was social distancing?
 
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News from the Encore district.... "Divided FERC Permits Mystic to Recover Operating Costs of Non-Jurisdictional LNG Terminal" - so the LNG terminal that is the only supply avenue to fuel the unprofitable Mystic Station is also unprofitable, and FERC is now allowing both to be floated/"bailed out" by the public. I believe it comes out to over $200M+ per year in combined subsidies.

ISO-NE does recognize a plan must be in place for the 2024* shutdown of the plant, and is actively seeking replacement options, but recently chose a temporary plan to bolster the grid for other transmission sources (seen by many as a money grab just to ensure the facility is subsidized longer). There was an interesting proposal from Anbaric that was rejected that would have tied the offshore wind transmission lines straight to the existing facility.

I hope to see a drastically new Everett waterfront emerging in 10 years without the power plant or LNG terminal in that location.
 
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We went back today to ride the boat to the North End, and in the park space the people watching was as various as Saturday and yet consistent with it.

Regular Everett Local People (whom you see in the waterfront/gardens but not the casino) == Quinceanera girl in gown & tiara with Mom, Dad & dozen teen friends.(Sunday)

(Saturday There were other smaller groups what you might call debutantes of color, probably a small Quinceanera or Instagram Expedition that appeared high school age--too young to gamble. Very racially diverse. )

at some point I also saw a photoshoot very reminiscent have what you see in the temple gardens in Seoul: a young couple and some close family looking for a backdrop.

Also the more " not here to gamble" they looked (having kids with them) more local they appeared to me: e.g. The single mom with a stroller kid plus an on foot kid on foot enjoying the boat shuttle to boston. (not sure what how to interpret the matching aloha t-shirts for mother and daughter)

But also appearing to be local to me where any Young parents with kids tottering, or cartwheeling.

The young black guy and his Latina companion dressed very informally (as if they had tacked a boat ride to the North end onto a walk to the Casino.

There were also what I think was a more Casino patron pairs (white older couple; mother-daughtet talking a language I could not quite place) The groups Actually dining on the restaurant terrace were solidly 30 to 70, child free, mostly white and mostly dressed not as fancy as the quinceaneras but more fancy than the cartwheelers
 
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The boat shuttle was practically usable Transit running every 20 to 25 minutes. It has been reduced to serve only the casino and Long wharf (in better times and also served the seaport)

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