Fan Pier Developments | Seaport

today,a crane already?
115.jpg
116-1.jpg
118-2.jpg
119-2.jpg
121-1.jpg
124-1.jpg
 
IMO this will create the critical mass to get over this 30 year hump. I think housing will follow shortly after these buildings are complete. Maybe even start them before Vertex is up and running.
 
^02124

Thanks for making my point.

I guess this thread should be named "Fan Pier Retrospective" since there is really nothing to look at prospectively.
 
Sicilian - I understand your frustration as you look at your neighborhood and see a steady stream of BRA plans which have been subsequently forgotten or tabled. But at the end of the day the reason the mayor and BRA move on to new things is because these plans fail: they fail to lay the groundwork for development. Now you can argue that the mayor and the BRA should take responsibility for these failures rather than distract everyone with a new plan. I agree. And I know your common tropes around the BRA reneging on residential, or allowing developers to sell with variances without building, etc. Yes, there is a large problem in the entire process. But if we take the plans at face value, you can't blame them for moving from one thing to the next until they find a formula that brings cranes to the Seaport. Currently, those formulas are a) Innovation district and b) BCEC expansion. For better or worse, these have staying power right now. Will there be another set of buzzword plans in the next few years? Almost certainly...
 
Shepard - you've accurately portrayed my consistent complaints. And I appreciate that.

But one disappointment that you overlooked was that part of the formula the BRA relies on is a malaise in term of standards.

Throughout Boston (and generally even on this forum) there has never been a widespread interest demanding that the BRA produce world-class renderings of the architecture in advance of the a groundbreaking; or a widespread demand for the BRA to require developers (like Fallon on Fan Pier) to demonstrate that he is constructing a world-class public realm in conjunction with each groundbreaking; or to produce any outcome than the mediocre over-landscaped plazas, largely privatized groundfloors and unimaginative stumps that we've been seeing year after year.

When do people demand more from Boston architecture and the urban layout than simply rallying behind the idea that cranes are arriving on Fan Pier as something worth celebrating? Is it really enough that the best the City is doing is creating a buzz by coordinating a massive PR campaign about the "Innovation District" and BCEC expansion?

I just think we could be doing so much better. You are right that this is a trope. In fact, I've moved from discouragement to resignation and weigh in much less than I used to.

^GW

And I do agree that Vertex' arrival should stimulate some great things. The company's recent success will likely translate to their desire to work and live in a great area, and to see an architecture and public realm consistent with their ideals. That is certainly better than seeing buildings under construction without a significant tenant lined up.
 
Last edited:
As long as there is no 24/7 public transportation and everything closes by 2am, Boston will never be a 24/7 city. I'm tired of hearing about this or that neighborhood being a new 24/7 neighborhood.
 
Waterfront hits its stride
By Brian McGrory
It was strictly out of pity that I pointed my car toward the South Boston Waterfront Sunday night to trade a few coins for clams at the massive new Legal Sea Foods complex. Poor Roger Berkowitz, I figured, had eaten so much mercury-tainted swordfish that he had completely lost his mind.

Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!.ShareThis .I mean, who builds three restaurants with 700 seats under one roof hard by an industrial park in a corner of Boston where precious few people actually live?

As I pulled up, something unusual caught my eye — people. Everywhere, people, people walking, people sitting at outdoor cafes, smiling, happy people. Then the nice hostess at Legal glanced at a computer screen and announced, “It’ll be about a 30- or 40-minute wait.’’

A couple of hours later, after a memorable dinner in an open-air room on the harbor’s edge that feels like a public market in Sydney or Seattle, the scene suddenly seemed surreal. The portico of the massive convention center shone from the hill. The modern Institute for Contemporary Art shone against the harbor.

And one thought kept echoing through my tiny brain: Menino was right.

You know Tom Menino — mayor of Boston, likes to get his way, always said the waterfront is the city’s future, even as one developer after another left nothing but dirt-strewn parking lots behind.

But gradually, and then suddenly, something changed. Berkowitz was on the phone yesterday saying that his Legal Harborside served 2,000 people on Sunday. That’s even before his third restaurant, with a retractable roof, opens on the top floor this weekend.

“It’s exceeding expectations,’’ he said coyly.

The nearby Morton’s steakhouse is going full-blast. The Italian grocer J. Pace & son serves 1,000 sandwiches on a good day. You have pioneering restaurateurs from Jerry Remy to Barbara Lynch, the latter the most talented chef on earth.

This morning, the boldfaced world will gather for the official groundbreaking of two new Joe Fallon buildings totaling 1.1 million square feet of research and office space, the headquarters of a pharmaceutical company called Vertex.

To put this in perspective, the $800 million development will mark the largest private construction project currently underway in the nation. It will employ 1,200 construction workers and, later, 1,800 full-time Vertex workers.

“I can remember the days when I was talking to the Pritzkers,’’ Menino said, referring to the Chicago family that owned Fan Pier. “We’d fight every gosh darn day, we’d work out our issues, and then they’d have a family fight over it.’’

The Pritzkers sold the property in 2005 to Fallon, the uncommonly understated developer who had built an upscale apartment building and two hotels down the street. Fallon opened his first building on Fan Pier last year. Menino led me up to the 15th floor yesterday, swept his hand along the floor-to-ceiling windows, and said, “Look at the possibilities.’’

You don’t have to look far. Vertex is going in right next door. Other developers will quickly follow on the acres that remain. A neighborhood that is suddenly sizzling is now poised to explode.

Nobody has pushed harder than this mayor. He insisted from the outset on something different, something unlike anywhere else. And in the end, with a convention center, a courthouse, an art museum, world class highways, and spanking new restaurants along the harbor’s edge, he will get it.

“It took a little longer than we expected,’’ Menino said. “We took a lot of hits. There were a lot of naysayers, but Joe Fallon wasn’t a naysayer. I wasn’t a naysayer.’’

With that, he gazed out the window, a rare moment of true accomplishment in a city that allows too few of them.

“It’s really something,’’ Menino said.

It really is.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/06/22/waterfront_hits_its_stride/
 
The cynicism here can be overwhelming.

Stuff is being built. This makes me happy.
 
What's missing from this paragraph?

Nobody has pushed harder than this mayor. He insisted from the outset on something different, something unlike anywhere else. And in the end, with a convention center, a courthouse, an art museum, world class highways, and spanking new restaurants along the harbor’s edge, he will get it.
Click to expand...

That said, I agree with the thrust of the article. I don't often have occasion to spend time at the seaport/innovation/Southie Waterfront, but a few recent experiences have made me feel optimistic. There does seem to be some vibrancy down in the WTC/Jimmy's area, and I think with a bit of infill, that will extend all the way to Fan Pier. Does it look like the North End or Fenway or some of the other parts of Boston we treasure? No, not at all. But it doesn't look bad. I think we are a decade out from it being pretty good, and if we can just get that light rail system installed, it will be a really nice addition to the overall city.
 
Was this tunnel built with the same sub par concrete used to the big dig?
 
GW2500 said:
Was this tunnel built with the same sub par concrete used to the big dig?
Click to expand...

Wasn't that Aggregate's employees mixing sand instead of cemet to save material costs. I honestly believe the big dig tunnel needs an independent safety inspection again.
 
TheRifleman said:
Wasn't that Aggregate's employees mixing sand instead of cemet to save material costs. I honestly believe the big dig tunnel needs an independent safety inspection again.
Click to expand...
No.

Aggregate was charged with and convicted of sending the concrete out again after the delivery time had expired, and not mixing a fresh batch.
"Big Dig project specifications required that concrete must be placed or poured within ninety minutes of batching. In most instances involving these “10-9 loads,” the concrete had exceeded the ninety minute time limit. In order to conceal the true age of the concrete, the defendants directed truck drivers and other Aggregate employees to add water, as well as other ingredients, to the “10-9 loads” to make those loads appear to be freshly batched. Big Dig project specifications also prohibited the addition of water to concrete after the concrete had been batched except under tightly controlled circumstances
 
They certainly have mobilized a lot of heavy construction equipment on the site.
 
Liberty Wharf is the single greatest accomplishment of the Seaport. You'd think all was built around it as infill. A half dozen more developments of this scale and the Seaport is golden.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top