Fall River, MA-- The rebirth of a mill town

Battleship Cove with the Bounty on the Fall river waterfront.
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Battleship Cove now!
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I'm lost. Are they:
1) preserving the historic building, and adding to it?,
2) demolishing the historic building, and building something fully new that vaguely looks like the old?, or
3) building another Durfee HS elsewhere in the city, leaving the historic building as-is for some other purpose?
 
itchy said:
I'm lost. Are they:
1) preserving the historic building, and adding to it?,
2) demolishing the historic building, and building something fully new that vaguely looks like the old?, or
3) building another Durfee HS elsewhere in the city, leaving the historic building as-is for some other purpose?
Click to expand...
I'm equally confused. I hope it's number three.
 
Based on the text in the first slide, the old building is on Rock Street, and the new building is on Elsbree St.
 
I'm confused also ... but in a different way. Why are we looking at the renders when this is Complete and Open, as of Sept 2021?

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https://www.heraldnews.com/story/ne...ee-high-prepares-welcome-students/5620253001/

(Scroll through the gallery; I really like how they did the interior spaces. I wish my High school was this nice - Hell, this looks nicer than literally every new build building on the UMass Amherst campus as of my time there 4 years ago)

For reference: The above imaged 1891 Durfee School on Rock St. has been preserved since the 1990s as the Fall River Probate and Family Courthouse; this new school didn't touch it in the slightest; it just drew inspiration from. This new building was a replacement for the crumbling brutalist circa 1978 Durfee School which also stood on the Elsbree St site (I believe its demolition has wrapped up but I could be wrong).

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Creation of an 'urban boulevard'
That $112 million “urban boulevard” project, which is expected to be completed before the end of 2025, will physically lower both sides of Route 79 and will incorporate new sidewalks, traffic signals and bike paths.

The idea, according to the state’s Department of Transportation, is to spur business and residential growth near the Taunton River waterfront. The creation of the urban boulevard will open up 19 acres of land for future business development.


“You’ll be able to stand here and see the river,” Fedosik said, as he stood on the edge of the parking lot of the circa 1900 building with its six loading docks.

He also notes that the new commuter rail line linking Fall River to Boston — with a train depot located a couple blocks away just behind Davol Street — was another driving factor in deciding to invest in his mixed-use project.

The South Coast Rail project is scheduled to be operational by the end of next year.
 
I was reading about Taunton last night and came across a picture of the old city hall.
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Which was replaced with this
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I had never seen what was there before, what a loss! Another piece of history lost to urban renewal. The amount of great historical buildings lost to time in the US is mindblowing. The old north station also comes to mind. Imagine if we had not bulldozed half of our great buildings in the 50-70s what the country would be like today. I think like Germany we should really consider rebuilding some of these lost treasures. Rebuilding is ok in my eyes vs trying to create something from scratch with an artificial historical facade. Its truely sad how many great buildings were lost to time and many forgotten.
 
stick n move said:
I was reading about Taunton last night and came across a picture of the old city hall.
Fall_River_Old_City_Hall_color_image.jpg


Which was replaced with this
1280px-Fall_River_City_Hall.jpg


I had never seen what was there before, what a loss! Another piece of history lost to urban renewal. The amount of great historical buildings lost to time in the US is mindblowing. The old north station also comes to mind. Imagine if we had not bulldozed half of our great buildings in the 50-70s what the country would be like today. I think like Germany we should really consider rebuilding some of these lost treasures. Rebuilding is ok in my eyes vs trying to create something from scratch with an artificial historical facade. Its truely sad how many great buildings were lost to time and many forgotten.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is pretty grotesque. Almost as bad as the architectural loss itself is that they split downtown Fall River in half with when they build 195 and the two halves still feel disconnected from one another. To make matters worse, the streets around city hall have essentially been converted to a series of multi-lane (most one-way) speedways which add to the feeling of the entire area being a pedestrian nightmare. On top of that, you have the mess of ramps connecting 195 to downtown, 138, and 79 which further isolated the two halves of downtown from the waterfront. They've done some reconfiguring to improve the connectivity, but it's still a pedestrian nightmare. I have a lot of nostalgia for the area, but I don't have a lot of hope that there will ever be a good way to undo what was done here.
 

Suffolk Breaks Ground on Technical High School in Fall River​


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“Fall River, MA – Suffolk, together with the Greater Fall River Vocational School District (GFRVSD) and School Building Committee, recently hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking of the new Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School (DRVTHS).

Attendees gathered at the site of the future school in Fall River for a ceremony reaffirming the ideals for which the new facility will stand, including enhancing the student experience and benefitting the school’s four sending communities of Westport, Swansea, Somerset and Fall River.

“Suffolk is honored to partner with the School Building Committee, the Greater Fall River Vocational School District, and the Massachusetts School Building Authority to cement the innovative vision of the new Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School into reality,” said Couch. “This cutting-edge facility will allow Diman to continue to provide an unparalleled technical vocational education experience, connecting students with their passions and subsequently unlocking career paths that build the foundation for the success of the future workforce.”

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https://www.high-profile.com/suffolk-breaks-ground-on-technical-high-school-in-fall-river/
 

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#UPDATE - Coming Soon to the downtown Fall River skyline: The Lofts at Hartwell Street by Cordeiro Properties.
In 2021, Cordeiro Properties purchased the land that housed the former historic Thomas Edison Light Station at 60 Hartwell Street in downtown Fall River.
In early 2024, plans began to construct a 6-story, 70 foot tall Residential Building with a steel primary building structure and metal deck/concrete floor plate.
The project calls for 102 market-rate apartments (one, two and three bedroom units.) This will be the 5th building belonging to the Downtown Lofts community.
Located in the heart of Downtown Fall River, the Lofts at Hartwell Street will be a testament to the evolution of Fall River while paying homage to the City’s industrial past. The project will have off-street parking, a fitness room, community room and up to 3 grade level commercial tenant spaces.
The Lofts at Hartwell Street will blend today’s modern materials and styling with the granite and brick factories found throughout the City.
 

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Hajjar Lands $10M to Turn Fall River Church into Housing​

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“Hajjar Management secured $10.6 million in financing from Rockland Trust for the redevelopment of the 151-year-old Sacred Heart Church and rectory in Fall River, Massachusetts.

The former 37,850 square feet church and rectory, located at 160 Linden Street, will be converted into 46 market-rate apartments. The project, named Sacred Heart Lofts, is expected to be completed in February 2025, featuring 19 two-bedroom apartments, 24 two-bedroom lofts, and 3 three-bedroom lofts…”

https://www.connectcre.com/stories/hajjar-lands-10m-to-turn-fall-river-church-into-housing/
 

New MBTA Station, Highway Demolition Creating 2M SF Development Opportunity In Fall River​


“A 19-acre waterfront site in Fall River could represent a new era of economic growth for the old industrial city in southern Massachusetts.

The site is becoming developable land thanks to the demolition of an elevated portion of the Route 79 highway, a $139M project that is close to completion. And last week, the city opened a new commuter rail station near the site that directly connects Fall River to Boston by train for the first time since the 1950s…..”

https://www.bisnow.com/boston/news/...-development-opportunity-in-fall-river-128776



-Presentation from last year

Route 79 master plan unveiled in Fall River​

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https://www.heraldnews.com/picture-...ster-plan-unveiled-in-fall-river/75355296007/
 
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It's ambitious in scale, not so much in content.

My big question is how serious they are about "walkability." Particularly between President Avenue and Brightman St. where there appear to be no crosswalks, no signals, and Davol St. NB/SB are 2 lanes of one way traffic.

The street alignment as rendered largely in place already as the 79 project that created it nears completion. And in my experience, it's a speedway funneling traffic from the Braga Bridge/Battleship area to the highway portion of Route 79 that begins around the Veteran's Memorial Bridge. Without adding additional several controlled pedestrian crossings along that stretch, it's not going to be "walkable" at all. It'll just be another walled off neighborhood.
 
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