Re: General Electric HQ | TBD | Innovation District
Keep it on topic please. Yes the USPO is on the wrong location now. No, GE isn't going to fix that.
I hear what you are saying, Meddlepal, but you are completely missing the big picture here. 253 Summer Street is NOT simply a real estate transaction. 253 Summer Street may be the most important potential real estate transaction in the history of the city of Boston.
Taken on it's own, you're right, 'it won't fix the USPO situation by itself', however it is the first turning point in the inevitable march towards it happening. More high priced visibility development and density along Fort Point Channel will accelerate the pressure to push the settlement talks between the city-state-feds. It is a VERY big deal to the future of the city - - with not only ramification to Fort Point and its potential for "picture postcard, dual side canyon", but more importantly, the transportation and economic ramifications for the expansion of South Station that it would help unlock. And then there is the massive low slung Gillette property.
***Just look above at that Globe map of 253 Summer Street (and the warehouses and parking lot behind it).
A good 75% of that property is surface parking lot. Like probably most, I originally looked at the picture of that nice old building and thought "Is that it?" But when one looks at the birds eye view of that Globe map, the understanding changes.
That's a globally important player taking up a large frontage on the Channel. Everyone has already stated that the GE play is NOT merely about bringing 800 headquarters jobs to Boston - - the real story is that GE is intending their presence to be a PHYSICAL core,
like a beehive, to attract talent and smaller businesses around it for collaboration. Think for a moment about that adjunct "Innovation Center" that the city and state threw into the deal and what that would do for the environs of that headquarters.
THAT is the story right there. There will be many others congregating around the GE headquarters. GE is merely the catalyst. If it is 253 Summer Street that becomes that "beehive", that will inevitably transform both sides of the Channel. Real Estate price and development on both sides of the Channel would become more intense.
This is exactly what the USPS was waiting for - - to up their price to move. I wish they moved a long time ago, but have to give them kudos - - they played their hand well, were patient, and will reap far more as a result. So will Gillette. I think the happiest people dancing and drinking champagne upon hearing that GE is looking at 253 Summer Street were those at the heads of those two organizations.
.......and if GE picks 253 Summer Street (and the included land behind it), that will be the first
real step (after the aborted Olympic bid last summer) towards transforming that semi-cul de sac area of Fort Point Channel away from the massive low slung, pedestrian and transportation-unfriendly developments of the USPS and Gillette.
So, yes, GE looking at 253 Summer is a VERY big deal for the city and its urban planning. And, if it happens, GE choosing the 253 Summer Street property for its headquarters would be the key to unlocking that door.
GE didn't leaving Fairfield Connecticut for the more expensive Boston (and over reportedly higher packages form NY, Georgia and others) just to collaborate via email and web conferencing with people in Toronto and Denver and Tokyo. They moved to be PHYSICALLY NEAR their collaborators. Oddly enough, in 2016, an era of cyberspace, this one is all about physical geography.
