Fenway Infill and Small Developments

There is a lot of foreshortening in this picture, which I'm guessing was taken roughly between the intersection of Boylston St and Mass Ave and Hynes Convention Center. That crane is for the construction of the new condo building at 1085 Boylston St.
 
davem said:
Mostly, although I think parked cars provide a real, physical barrier you don't get with greenscape. An accident is going to hit the parked cars instead of going onto the sidewalk. A car hitting a puddle will splash the parked cars instead of pedestrians. I haven't seen a study, but I believe that parked cars probably do a bit of noise dampening from passing traffic as well. Maybe it's just personal opinion, but to me there is something intangibly urban about a street filled with parallel parked cars.
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Not quite... you can definitely combine greenscaping with bioswale that could extend the green of the Emerald Necklace up through Boylston St in a way that turns it into a physical barrier with considerable noise dampening quality.

I work for a company that shares space in the new Long Island City office of JetBlue in Queens Plaza. This has long been a super shitty, pavement-dominated area that I've passed through a million times as a kid when I lived in Flushing. NYCEDC's recent redo of Queens Plaza has been one of the most successful reclamation of public space outside of the Times Square and Herald Square closures of Broadway.

Before
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After
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Adjacent the main boulevard that goes under the elevated subway station, they've added a high concrete barrier with vegetation to protect the adjacent cycle track. The cycle track is further differentiated from the sidewalk and separated by a small strip of vegetation. The vegetation barrier connects to a bioswale east of the main boulevard where a parking lot used to be. It significantly adds to the sound dampening in the area considering all the noise from the elevated trains.

Be sure to add this to your urban planning sketch-up toolkit: StreetMix

You could easily modify the widths of these various components to adapt it for Boylston Street. I'm interested to see what configurations you guys come up with.

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FenwayResident said:
I had heard the same thing (maybe it was on this forum?) that they were waiting on Van Ness to finish before starting on the Point.

For pictures, just use the tag and upload to [url=www.imgur.com]imgur.com[/url][/QUOTE]

Just received a neighborhood update; the Point is actually next up and demolition for the old building is in a month. The Point will be condo.

The real work on the Landmark won't start for another 4 years.

Sal's Pizza rumored to become a Wahlberg's but that is just rumor for now.
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stevemus said:
Just received a neighborhood update; the Point is actually next up and demolition for the old building is in a month. The Point will be condo.

The real work on the Landmark won't start for another 4 years.

Sal's Pizza rumored to become a Wahlberg's but that is just rumor for now.
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Good news.

Bad news.

Meh.
 
The real work on the Landmark won't start for another 4 years.
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I'm assuming they are not going to start until Muddy river restoration is finished....
 
stevemus said:
The real work on the Landmark won't start for another 4 years.
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Really? Are you sure they're not just putting off the residential portion?

I find it difficult to believe that Wegman's would commit to the project and allow their name to be put out there if it would be four years until they could open.

Just the ground-level retail improvements from that project will be fantastic. I can wait for them to fill their existing U/C towers before they build more.
 
FenwayResident said:
Interesting. I always assumed that Wahlburgers would be moving in to the Barrio Cantina space. Any news on what's moving in there?
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I don't understand why that place habitually fails.

Burton's Grill had a nice run of it, but Happys was gone in less than a year, and same for Barrio (never tried either of them.)

The concepts must have completely sucked, because it looks like a prime location.

Also, I find it interesting, that 1330 still has a vacant storefront. That building opened what 4 years now?
 
Happys was gone in less than a year, and same for Barrio
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Here's my review on both: overpriced mid-tier food in a space that looked like an Epcot pavilion mashed up with a Chuck E Cheese's. Personally, I thought it was shocking Michael Schlow, who's spots I've otherwise though were smartly put together, was involved. Both wreaked of thinking, "It's Fenway. Let's get rich quick of idiot tourists."
 
palindrome said:
I don't understand why that place habitually fails.

Burton's Grill had a nice run of it, but Happys was gone in less than a year, and same for Barrio (never tried either of them.)

The concepts must have completely sucked, because it looks like a prime location.

Also, I find it interesting, that 1330 still has a vacant storefront. That building opened what 4 years now?
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I think Happys and Barrio were terribly managed (they had the same owner). I went to both and the service was awful and the food was mediocre both times. You could tell that the staff just didn't care. I was at the bar to order on a quiet night and waited around 5 minutes to be served. The bartender was just chatting to his friend.

They have started work on that vacant 1330 space this week. There have been HVAC and construction crews in there all week. They took down the "For Lease" sign as well. Not sure what it is going to be, though.
 
fenwayboston said:
Sal's lease was terminated at the end of June. "Wahlburgers" will be moving in.
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This discussion prompted me to check Samuel's website; he's already advertising Wahlburg's!

Click 132 Brookline, then property flyer. It's a pdf and I can't convert or copy on this laptop.

It's in the art space not Sal's. Looks like Sal's space and the whole building will be modified and the little tree/stone area is gone. He's adding a park across the street where Blick will be demolished later and a park in front of Landmark so not too bad.
 
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