Fenway Infill and Small Developments

Tasty Burger and Regina aren't exactly cheap. But I did forget about the Kenmore Square McDonald's and Popeye's.
 
If you eat at McDonald's you might not be paying a higher monetary price, but believe me you are paying a much higher price indeed.
 
It's 4.75 for a 1/3 lb certified humane cheeseburger. That doesn't seem so bad to me. Make it a meal for less than $8 and I'll pay the 2 extra dollars.
 
I walked by last Sunday and noticed that the sidewalk treatment in front of Pizzeria Regina on the 1330 Boylston block had been replaced with some interlocking, permeable sidewalk bricks. Anyone know if this is being done by the property owner, a Fenway BID that I don't know about, or BTD?

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For reference, here's an unmodified part of the sidewalk.

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And here's a similar permeable sidewalk treatment that's been recently installed on Broad Street downtown. Similarly, anyone know if this was some other downtown BID that I don't know about or BTD? This goes up and down Broad Street so I doubt it's just one property owner (and followed some considerable utility work on that street). It's apparently been like this long enough to show up on Google Maps Street View (unless the latest photos just happened this summer).

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commuter guy said:
City transportation dept. initiative:

Here is the link:

http://bostoncompletestreets.org/
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Oh, lovely! I always forget this page exists. There's just so many bad/bare streetscapes out there and these projects feel like they move at such a glacial pace. I still contend that we can include cycle tracks on Boylston Street by removing the on-street parking (and leaving in dedicated cutbacks for accessible spaces) what with all the parking being installed underground and loading docks being added off of the main drag.
 
coleslaw said:
It has been said before but I love how all the buildings use varying heights, it makes them seem less like the mid-rise land scrapers they are. I wish more seaport buildings did this.
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Aren't the seaport buildings mostly on a smaller footprint? I agree that this works well for avoiding the landscraper problem, but the problem at the Seaport is one of stumps. I'm not sure that there is a satisfactory solution to that unless the FAA restrictions are lifted.
 
Proposition Joe said:
If you eat at McDonald's you might not be paying a higher monetary price, but believe me you are paying a much higher price indeed.
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Hutchison said:
It's 4.75 for a 1/3 lb certified humane cheeseburger. That doesn't seem so bad to me. Make it a meal for less than $8 and I'll pay the 2 extra dollars.
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Listen, I personally hate McDonald's hamburgers (their coffee isn't bad, though), and I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten a McDonald's burger in my entire life. I'll go to a 5 Guys, a UBurger, or Tasty Burger any day of the week.

However, the point I was making is that the recent development has displaced 2 well-known (nationally so) very affordable places in the area. If you're on a budget, you're not concerned with how greasy the burger is or how humane it is (dead cow is dead cow). At the time, I couldn't remember Popeye's and Kenmore McDonalds, so it seemed worse than it was. I'm not saying we need to maintain a bunch of cheap fast food joints in the area, since we're probably good with the two we have left, but I wouldn't be surprised if another Burger King found a corner to occupy.

Remember that, no matter how much the neighborhood gets developed, its still going to have to cater to a wide range of people from across various income levels and from across the country, so long as baseball's played there. People with screaming kids who just need to get some calories in those brats ASAP before they hit the road.
 
Regarding your first picture, they appear to be testing the different types of bricks for durability, appearance, etc.
 
I did an extended project on permeable pavers and groundwater last year and believe they offer a number of benefits. It's nice to see them get a bit more use around town- hopefully it's a continuing trend in the Fenway area and elsewhere.
 
HenryAlan said:
Aren't the seaport buildings mostly on a smaller footprint? I agree that this works well for avoiding the landscraper problem, but the problem at the Seaport is one of stumps. I'm not sure that there is a satisfactory solution to that unless the FAA restrictions are lifted.
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Subdivision of the blocks into multiple lots would help break up the stumps. That would sacrifice some of the revenue that the developers can make from leasing the large floor plates. However, since it's private developers doing the design, the profit motive is front and center.

In an alternative fantasy universe, where the city of Boston had a combination of urban engineering flair and bald-faced audacity, I could have seen the city taking a larger role in the evolution of the seaport:
1) Take the whole area via eminent domain, when it was just parking lots and rail yards.
2) Subdivide and build out the infrastructure, a la the Back Bay.
3) Auction ground leases for the lots off, with restrictions combination or coordination of adjacent lots. Contractually mandate non-trivial development within <5 years or forfeiture of the lot. Otherwise, let the lots have more development freedom than other parts of the city as the carrot for developers.

Less opportunity for profit and/or power, so it would never happen.
 
Downburst said:
I did an extended project on permeable pavers and groundwater last year and believe they offer a number of benefits. It's nice to see them get a bit more use around town- hopefully it's a continuing trend in the Fenway area and elsewhere.
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Yeah, it'd be nice if BTD would update their projects every once in a while, too. Apparently this is part of a full corridor redo and no updates have been made since they created the Boston Complete Streets site...
 
kz's photo makes me wonder...

To the east, you've got the 1250-1270 buildings (basically, everything from the Sunoco to Baseball Tavern), and then you've got the Shell station across the street.

How long do we think they're for the world, before getting replaced?

EDIT: I guess I got ninja'd in the Viridian thread.
 
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