Fort Point Infill and Small Developments

The Charles River gets a huge amount of recreational use. Why not here too?

I don't especially favor imitating Providence's Waterfire, but if Boston wanted to do so, this is the place.
 
The public touch-and-go for boaters along the Channel has been a major plus for taxis, private boaters and (soon) kayak/canoe. Prior to these fairly recent developments, the only public touch-and-go in Boston Harbor was down around Savin Hill.

I don't think similar access points exist anywhere along the downtown or North End.
 
Alright, looking back, maybe I overreacted a bit. I still think this whole idea is silly and rather amateurish. I'm all for recreational use, but how about we focus on activating the edges of the canal instead of some fantasy island walk on water deal?
 
^kennedy

Although I think the Watersheet Activation plan is decent, I actually agree with you about the edges. IMO, there were numerous lost opportunities for engagement at the Channel during the recent redevelopment of the Atlantic Wharf block. I also don't support the funneling of money from area developers (even those who are not FP Channel abutters) to the Childrens Museum park.

The idea of calling the water a "park" has been a BRA thing for many, many years. By calling the water a "park" the abutters at the edge of the Channel may submit redevelopment plans which suggest using the water to host temporary amenities for which they do not provide any land-based space for.

I'm looking forward to see the quality of the Channel side of Atlantic Wharf, and remain skeptical because I followed the Russia Wharf public process closely. It's hard to argue that the raised berms at Intercontinental are anything more than eye candy for the hotel guests. They don't meet any bar for high quality activation of the edge.
 
Fort Point Channel has about the same relationship to our downtown as the Chicago River has to theirs. Can we learn something useful from that?
 
Fort Point channel is largely non-navigable due to inoperable bridges after Congress Street, fairly short in length and breadth.

Let's say the goal is the eventual development of a spectacular waterfront, along Dot Ave at USPS and the Gillette lot, both currently a blank slate.

What would you recommend, and what does Chicago teach us?

On a separate note, I heard yesterday that the Intercontinental has padlocked their dock for private use and water taxi access. I had thought it was a public touch-and-go point for boaters. Like I said about Chapter 91 -- it's a paper tiger.
 
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It's hard to argue that the raised berms at Intercontinental are anything more than eye candy for the hotel guests. They don't meet any bar for high quality activation of the edge.
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I don't mind the plaza behind the IC. It doesn't get used much but I think that's mostly because you can't get to it from Congress St (construction site for the last couple years) and the entrance from Seaport Blvd is hidden (the utterly ridiculous section of "Harborwalk" along Independence Wharf). The plaza is not a destination in itself, but it's definitely the most pleasant spot on that side of the Channel.
 
kennedy said:
Alright, looking back, maybe I overreacted a bit. I still think this whole idea is silly and rather amateurish. I'm all for recreational use, but how about we focus on activating the edges of the canal instead of some fantasy island walk on water deal?
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I'm still with your original thought, Kennedy. Here is an opportunity to talk about DENSITY, SCALE, and MIXED USE along a waterway that can be transformed into something new and spectacular. Instead, we're talking about platitiudes like model boat races - trite "experiential" attractions that do nothing for density, street-level pedestrian scale or 24-hour mixed use neighborhoods. That's why I referred above to this as the Rose Kennedy Waterway in formation.
 
Anyone else see 'Surrogates', the Bruce Willis movie? I watched it last night purely to pick out the Boston-based scenes. There were a lot of them!

Toward the beginning, one of the characters is heading to the opera (you know, because that's what Boston is known for) and changes his mind. Let's go somewhere else for some fun, he says to his chauffeur.

"Fort Point?" asks his driver.

"You read my mind," says the character.

A lot of the movie seems to have been filmed down there, as well as in DTX. There's even a scene on the street behind the Filene's crater (Hawley Street).

And the Lindemann building has a starring role as FBI headquarters.
 
The nightclub sequence was filmed in the basement and outside of 50 Necco Ct., at the corner of Necco St.
 
JohnAKeith said:
Anyone else see 'Surrogates', the Bruce Willis movie? I watched it last night purely to pick out the Boston-based scenes.
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ha, i did the same thing. Even in the middle of a 16 hour flight I couldn't sustain interest beyond the first 10 minutes, eventually i just fast-forwarded to all the exterior shots to see how they painted the city.

Man what an awful movie, I can't think of any worse to come out in the last 10 years that weren't purposefully bad
 
Sicilian said:
The nightclub sequence was filmed in the basement and outside of 50 Necco Ct., at the corner of Necco St.
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I do remember them shooting over there. Had a super car (Ferrari or a Lambo) down there and the brightest set lights I had ever seen. It looked like daylight all the way to 245 Summer.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
I do remember them shooting over there. Had a super car (Ferrari or a Lambo) down there and the brightest set lights I had ever seen. It looked like daylight all the way to 245 Summer.
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That may have been for the filming of The Game Plan with The Rock, around the same time. They were shooting on Summer Street, with a Ferrari or something like that pulling turns up around 300 Summer Street, at the A Street overpass. The Rock was also in a traffic jam scene on Channel Center Street. Terrible movie, too.

The Surrogates scene I watched outside 50 Necco had a futuristic car flipped upside down after an accident. There was a hole in the ground in which a robot (human-looking) torso was visible sticking out as if it had been severed in half. Nightclub patrons in various punk costumes were waiting in line to get into the club.
 
In the the Boston of Tomorrow (apparently, sometime after 1984 AND 2010), the Fort Point Channel will be awesome!

FortPoint1984.png


Want to see how the Seaport District has expanded during the past 200 years?

SeaportHistory.png


http://www.archive.org/stream/bostontomorrowfo00bost#page/n3/mode/2up
 
Whoa. So Fort Point and Fan Pier were basically added as one giant wharf in 1882, and the whole rest of the Seaport wasn't even filled in til 1920-1950?
 
The city thought it was losing economic steam because their port wasn't big enough. They were wrong but built a larger port anyway, then tried to do the same over in East Boston until they realized that they were wrong and the city also needed an airport.

Basically the whole endeavor from the beginning until now has been a little misguided.
 
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