Fan Pier Developments | Seaport

gooseberry said:
Pleasure bay isn't under underutilized. The whole area from Castle Island to Carson Beach is well utilized.

I would add a concession stand where the ice rink is since Sullivan's has lines out the door. Although, I remember reading a while ago about someone trying to open a restaurant along the waterfront near there and the NIMBY's crushed it. Maybe you could get away with a concession stand open Friday through Sunday during the summer.
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There are a few areas around Castle Island that could sue some sprucing up.
 
I dont get why there isn't another food shack where The Landing used to be. Its a long walk to Sully's form that end of the beach. I end up getting in my car and driving elsewhere to eat. Yup, I drive there. :D
 
^^That's the default assumption when considering what local residents may or may not want.
 
This is pretty far off topic. Anyone who has been there on a nice weekend knows that the area gets about as many people as it can handle. Do people from the other side of the city need to go there anyway? When I lived in the Fenway, I would go over to the Charles most of the time and once in a while make a trip over to Castle Island. When I moved to Dorcester, I basically switched the routine around. I don't see the problem with it being a local attraction when other parts of the city have their own local attractions.

I forgot there's also a guy that sells hot dogs and stuff out of a cart near L street.
 
Getting back to the topic - Fan Pier. Let's integrate it into the city. "One Marina Park Drive" is a ridiculous address - this is Boston, not Palm Beach. The building is actually on Northern Avenue and should have a Northern Avenue address.
 
Or even "One Fan Pier"...but I suppose the developer was desperate to evoke the sense of wealth and pleasure craft (marina) rather than shipping or fishing (pier?)
 
AmericanFolkLegend said:
The trouble with Pleasure Bay is [lack of parking] + [no subway stations nearby] = [local attraction rather than citywide amenity].
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This is true, and yet, so are many other interesting and pleasurable spots elsewhere in Boston. The Arboretum is awesome, but if you don't live in Rozzie or JP, you probably don't go very often. Just another example.

The question I have, is whether that's a problem. What's wrong with Pleasure Bay being a unique to Southie experience? If it's hard to visit and people do anyway, then it seems to me that it is working as is.
 
Could be a lot better. Clean up the beach, widen the sidewalks, repave the roads and the seawall. Build housing (or some other form of a streetwall) to separate the beach from the container yard.
 
Fred R said:
Getting back to the topic - Fan Pier. Let's integrate it into the city. "One Marina Park Drive" is a ridiculous address - this is Boston, not Palm Beach. The building is actually on Northern Avenue and should have a Northern Avenue address.
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I can understand your point, but if we want to talk about under-utilized areas, the majority of the City's waterfront is case and point. I think the name does evoke a sense of wealth, as mentioned, but also reminds us of the water and the fact that it is "much better on the water." There is a ton of new non-exclusive, public space there. Have you even gone down and sat at the open tables for lunch on the pier, outdoor speakers playing music. This area created by the developer alone makes me feel like he can call it whatever he wants.
 
Could be a lot better. Clean up the beach, widen the sidewalks, repave the roads and the seawall.
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All things that were done to Carson's beach ~10 years ago, and that's held up pretty well.
 
I dont think that Pleasure Bay/Castle Island has ever really been a "local attraction". Large numbers of people from all over the city and even the 'burbs go there.

Sorry for continuing the off topic discussion...
 
I feel like I would go to places like Castle Island or the Arboretum a lot more if there were decent transportation in the southern reaches of Boston. As it is, I'm sure they get lots of non-local visitors...by car.

Then again I am within walking distance of Mt. Auburn Cemetery and have never been.
 
The Arboretum is a very short walk from Forest Hills, which is served by the Orange Line, the Needham commuter rail line, and a zillion buses. Can't really get much better than that.
 
Hmm, I didn't even realize you could access it so easily. Thanks, Ron. They should rename the station!
 
czsz said:
Hmm, I didn't even realize you could access it so easily. Thanks, Ron. They should rename the station!
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What Ron says is true, but the access from Forest Hills is to a somewhat rugged and less known section. There is a gate that is literally across the street from the Forest Hills upper busway, but it leads to a section that is about as far away from the main entrance on Arborway as you can be. The Lilac Sunday crowd would not want to use this entrance because it leads to a very secluded and isolated area.
 
That's not what I meant, though. You just walk up the Arborway 2 blocks from the station and you reach a heavily-used gate to the Arboretum. A wide paved (but closed-to-traffic) road leads from that gate directly to the lilacs.
 
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