General Electric HQ (Necco Buildings Reno) | 5 Necco Street | Fort Point

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Agreed. Honestly, I think it's kind of funny how people get so bent out of shape with advertising in sports. People were outraged when the current ownership group started putting more ads on the Green Monster. They forget (or didn't know- this was over 100 years ago) it used to look like this.

If there were seats in front of it, does that mean the Green Monster wasn't a monster at all? When did they remove the seats and make that part of the playing field?
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

If there were seats in front of it, does that mean the Green Monster wasn't a monster at all? When did they remove the seats and make that part of the playing field?

Looks like that was overflow seating on "Duffy's Cliff" and was removed in 1934. I don't think the seats were permanent and that that section of the field was actually in-play. I'm not sure how overflow seating worked (did they shorten the field on games when they needed to add overflow seats?), but I think that unless they needed to use the space for people to sit, the wall was still in-play.

BTW, I'm not a baseball or Red Sox historian- I'm pulling all of this from the same wikipedia article. Also, because I find this stuff fascinating, I'm about to head down the wormhole... googling Duffy's Cliff as we speak.
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Globe: GE adds to the size of its future South Boston campus

Boston Globe said:
Company officials said GE spent $1.5 million this month to secure a 6,800-square-foot parcel along the Fort Point Channel from Gillette’s parent company, Procter & Gamble, bringing the size of GE’s campus to 2.7 acres.

GE needs least at least half of its campus to be considered open space to obtain a state waterfront permit — the added ribbon of land along the channel was just enough to push it over the edge.

[...]
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Who'd have thunk that an odd section of South Boston would be owned by 2 of the largest corporations in the US.
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Andrew Carnegie?
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Andrew Carnegie?

Funny, I sit in Pittsburgh for work as I write this...

I think the difference is that, as of 21st century, these swaths of fort point/southie land were largely abandoned yet still owned by a megacorporation.

Actually it's somewhat of a stroke of luck for GE that P&G had held onto this land despite substantially underutilizing it...it made for a quick, ready-to-build transaction for GE that might have gone a notch or two slower otherwise.

Matter of fact is that this area is not on the periphery of the city any more, but in the center of it's modern growth. I admit it would be funny if one were traveling in the sprawling, vacant industrial graveyards outbound of Detroit only to find that Google owned the plot you were standing in...
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

How much was this going to cost? It'd be great to see that $ directed to some other mobility enhancer, like whatever it'd take to get the Silver Line to use the downramp into the TWT, or better ped connections to South Station.

Better ped connections to South Station? I can't imagine how the ped connection from GE to South Station could possibly be improved. And isn't Silver Line use of the downramp a question of access and politics, not money?
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

I assume they mean this park. Wonder if they'll do the whole park at once or just the portion by GE.

E5ggocq.jpg
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Boston Globe published the above image which contains an updated proposal of the park land/buildings near GE. (although the GE building seems to oriented wrong?) I think they will just be working on the parkland along the Fort Point Channel. I believe they are planning on building the park to be a couple feet above sea level to help protect the buildings from sea level rise.
Edited Images:
GE-1.jpg

s3-32632-NE-GE-BOSTON-HQ-3.jpg
 
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Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

"The elements along Fort Point’s A Street corridor can basically be divided into three categories: brick warehouse buildings, a sprawling razor-blade factory, and parking lots."

It's kind of ironic that the wrapping metal surface looks like a razor-blade (or multiple) ... maybe a nod to the Gillette factory next door. In any case, thank god something interesting is going in this neighborhood ... not another soulless glass box. It's not my favorite design, but at least something different. For being such an innovative city, you would think more of Boston's architecture would reflect that. May 8th can't come soon enough.
 
Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Went by it today... they have the part of the parking lot where the new building is going roped off and I think they are starting to dismantle some of the fixtures. The rehab of the existing buildings is going on too.
 

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