General South Bay Development (Formerly Gateway Center)

Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Sadly nothing on the 800 ft tower.
Planning for the Future of the Chinatown Gateway
Nov 16, 2007
by Kye Leung

How can Chinatown expand for the future while creating new housing, jobs, businesses and open space? Taking time from their busy schedules, Chinatown residents and community members participated in a series of planning meetings over the summer to talk about the Chinatown Gateway, a 20-acre land that is half the size of Chinatown. The meetings were organized to allow the community an opportunity to define a vision for the Chinatown Gateway area.

The Chinatown Gateway, also known as the South Bay Special Study Area, is east of Chinatown and bordered by the Leather District, South Station and the I-90 Mass Turnpike Highway. The land includes the former Wang building, the Trigen Energy plant, the Pagoda basketball court and the highway exits and ramps. From the planning meetings this past summer, participants identified community priorities that were critical for the future growth of the community. The community priorities for Chinatown were: expand Chinatown, affordable housing for low-to-moderate income families, a recreational park, more jobs and small business opportunities, a cultural center and a library.

Participants in the meetings talked about why it was important to reunify Chinatown Gateway and bring back the land to Chinatown. The Chinatown Gateway area was once home to Chinatown residents before the construction of highways displaced the community. Reunifying the land with Chinatown would allow for the community to expand and grow. Housing was a very important topic and participants identified the need for more affordable housing, particularly affordable housing for low-to-moderate income families.

There were also many other ideas generated. With 20-acres of developable land in the Chinatown Gateway, there is potential for commercial developments that could one day provide jobs and business opportunities for Chinatown. By utilizing linkage and inclusionary zoning funds through the future developments, a new park and community space could also be made available for Chinatown. Many of the participants wanted more green spaces and a recreational park to play sports like baseball or soccer.

The Chinatown Gateway Coalition will host a final community meeting on November 29th 6-8pm at the Metropolitan community room at 38 Oak Street. This meeting will report on the results of the community planning process for the Chinatown Gateway area and provide a series of recommendations for future development. The Chinatown Gateway Coalition includes the Asian Community Development Corporation, Chinatown Residents Association, Chinese Progressive Association, Chinatown Neighborhood Council and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.

Kye Leung is the Coordinator for the Chinatown Gateway Coalition. He can be reached by phone at 617-357-4499, or by email at info@chinatowngateway.org.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

"a new park and community space could also be made available for Chinatown. Many of the participants wanted more green spaces and a recreational park to play sports like baseball or soccer."

This is a joke. A Chinatown resident once told me "why would we want more parks? We've got the common right there." Ironically, the baseball fields in the common and the basketball courts on Kneeland St. are available more often then not. Besides, with the addition of the RKP, is more park space really needed this close to downtown?
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Parks should be built to knit neighborhoods together. If you build a park at the Gateway Center no one is going to use it. A better place would be over the Turnpike between Chinatown and the South End.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

^Ordinarily I'd agree, but I'd rather wait and see the Herald site developed before a park is built next to it over the pike. The "shadow" complaint doesn't need anymore fuel.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Does anyone know what came of this November meeting? Also, I went back and looked at the 2004 proposal. It looked like this plan would cover most of the highway interchange. Is that accurate?

Is this a different proposal than New Herald Square?
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

margulies0mh.jpg


The 800 ft tall identical towers looks ugly and fat. But the others looks good.

SouthBay.jpg


This one looks better 20x better than the other one. They should choose this design for the South Bay tower.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

cool36 said:
The 800 ft tall identical towers looks ugly and fat. But the others looks good.

This one looks better 20x better than the other one. They should choose this design for the South Bay tower.
Click to expand...

Agreed! That tower is just amazing. Although the image is small, it resembles a sleaker new 2WTC. The sad thing is that I bet nothing good in that area will be built. And it won't happen for years too.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

I do like the towers, but I think the oriental look of the other buildings in the first diagram have this charm to them and like the "green" roofs. It looks like it would cover more of the interchange. I?d rather both happen. Also, in the report, there were multiple variations on the first diagram and one included a bridge over the tracks and it looks like the channel as well:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/pdf/PlanningPublications/SouthBayReport.pdf

I think that would be great. It would kind of tie into the future Fort Point development. Also, it looks like this section on the BRA website was updated on February 25 and it says that the plan has entered ?Phase 2? in 2008 and is working on rezoning the land:

http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/Planning/PlanningInitsIndividual.asp?action=ViewInit&InitID=105

Not sure if this is news or not.
 
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Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

It would be nice to see something go here, but there's a ton of wasted space in either rendering. The first one, while covering more of the interchange doesn't exchange density from height with low-rise density. There are those open "lawns" in the center of a small apartment complex like the ones that are soooo succcessful in housing projects across the nation and of course the token wasted block (first rendering) of open space. The proximity of this project to exisiting open space leaves me to desire much more density.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Those two renderings are from 2004 right? And who is the developer? I mean I thought this was dead a long time ago. I'm thinking pipe dream. SST has gotta start before this even has a chance; there's been much more positive news about that lately and that still hasn't started and they keep getting more and more fuzzy about the start date. a little scary.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Suffolk 83 said:
Those two renderings are from 2004 right? And who is the developer? I mean I thought this was dead a long time ago. I'm thinking pipe dream. SST has gotta start before this even has a chance; there's been much more positive news about that lately and that still hasn't started and they keep getting more and more fuzzy about the start date. a little scary.
Click to expand...

I am more than certain that the Gateway Center Project (both versions)will never happen. My prediction is that something very boring will go there, and it won't be for 10 years.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

^^ Oh yeah?!? You wanna bet one billion dollars that it does?

Huh? Do ya?

Chicken.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Put me down for $10.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

There is no developer and those are not renderings of a proposal for that site ... They are just to give an idea of what eventually could be built there.


and why would the FAA allow for something really tall there when they forced the SST developers to cut back on height?
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

statler said:
^^ Oh yeah?!? You wanna bet one billion dollars that it does?

Huh? Do ya?

Chicken.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha. This was even funnier after reading all the updates in the SST thread :)
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

No one responded, so I am assuming that no one knows what came of the end of November meeting regarding this. Those images would be a pretty impressive development if built out. A 800 foot plus tower across the street from South Station would be nice, but I am not holding my breath.
 
Re: South Bay Development (Gateway Center)

Speaking with a Trigen official the other day, who let on that the company receives development overtures for the plant. Trigen thinking seems to be that a new plant could be put a few hundred feet south of the current one. During the first two years of new plant operation, the current plant will be held in reserve as a insurance. Once the new is proven, the old one will be released. I gather nothing is imminent.

Trigen is the cork in the Gateway Center bottle. Nothing will be built without Trigen cooperation, and Gateway ground will never be broken until a new plant has run successfully for two years.

When (or if) you see commercial paper on such a deal, only then will you know that Gateway is real!
 
Parcel 25 - Southern Gateway

Mods: I think this is different from the "Parcel 25 - Roxbury Crossing" project so I created a new thread for it. If I am wrong, please feel free to do what needs to be done.

This is also some of the best news I've heard in a long time, and will address one of the biggest messes -- in terms of architecture, urban planning, cleavage of neighborhoods, etc. -- of the city, IMO.

Boston Globe said:
Southern gateway into city planned
Bids to redevelop Big Dig lots sought

bigdig__1325490473_5243.gif


By Casey Ross
Globe Staff / January 2, 2012

Massachusetts officials are moving ahead on development of a large swath of state-owned property between Chinatown and South Boston in hopes it could eventually become a southern gateway to the city, akin to the Zakim Bridge area to the north.

The development - housing, offices, stores, and public parks - would take place in a 20-acre canyon of weed-strewn lots freed up by the Big Dig, which moved the elevated Interstate 93 expressway underground and created an opportunity to build a new city neighborhood.

Officials stressed that such a massive undertaking is sure to take many years, especially given lingering weakness in the economy. But they are taking the first step by seeking proposals for 1.7 acres along Kneeland Street that are seen as an entry to the rest of the property.

Even before completion of the Big Dig, the land became a magnet for development ideas, including a signature park that would tie into the nearby Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and large buildings with striking architectural features.

“The whole idea is that it would be an extension of Boston and potentially create an iconic new entrance to that part of the city,’’ said Marc Margulies, an architect who chaired a city task force that studied the property. “There is no reason to think Boston is through growing, and this is one of the few places where land is available.’’

Unlike the area around the Zakim Bridge to the north, the southern tract would be defined by tall buildings.

The task force concluded that the 20 acres could host up to 1,500 homes, several parks, recreational facilities, retail shops, and restaurants.

In 2004, an initial effort to redevelop all the parcels at once generated only one proposal; it was ultimately deemed not feasible financially. Transportation officials said they are now trying a more gradual approach, allowing private builders to begin to redevelop it in smaller chunks.

William Tuttle, an official with the state Department of Transportation, said proposals for the first Kneeland Street site, known as Parcel 25, are due in March.

The state is asking developers to think broadly and consider the possibilities of three adjacent plots that will be part of the larger redevelopment.

“We’re thinking about it in terms of the bigger picture, even if that bigger picture is some years off,’’ said Tuttle, deputy director of real estate for the transportation department.

The parcels form a rectangle between Kneeland Street, Albany Street, Interstate 93, and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Once part of Boston Harbor, the area was filled in during the mid-19th century to develop rail yards, housing, and warehouses, but much of it was cleared in the 1950s to make way for the elevated Central Artery. Now, it hosts a mishmash of parking lots, highway ramps, a state office building, a basketball court, and a steam plant.

The property is seen as attractive for large-scale redevelopment because it sits between the bustling Chinatown and Fort Point neighborhoods and is close to the South Station transit hub, as well as to access points for the turnpike and I-93.

Although it offers a rare development opportunity, the property poses engineering and construction challenges that could make proposals difficult to finance. Part of it consists of so-called air rights over roads and highway ramps that can be expensive to build over.

In bidding documents for Parcel 25, state officials wrote that even if developers do not propose to build using the air rights, they would have to cover an open section of I-93 to meet air-quality standards for any residences or office towers constructed there.

The high cost of building over the turnpike contributed to the financial problems that sank the nearby Columbus Center project, an $800 million plan to build condominiums, a hotel, and stores over the turnpike.

But state officials said the costs for Parcel 25 and adjoining sites will not be nearly as high, because air rights account for a much smaller portion of the project.

Tuttle said the state is also testing a pilot program involving the bidding process that seeks to ensure the development team selected for the Kneeland Street project employs women and minorities as managers, investors, and vendors. The level of participation by those groups will be used as one of the criteria for judging the proposals.

In addition to winning support from the state, any developer would need approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The state and BRA recently approved construction of a large project on nearby Parcel 24 along Hudson Street, where a joint-venture partnership of the New Boston Fund Inc. and Asian Community Development Corporation is planning to start construction this year on hundreds of apartments, a public green, and retail stores.

A BRA spokeswoman said the city hopes the Parcel 25 project will help jump-start redevelopment and reconnect the land to surrounding neighborhoods.

“We’re looking forward to seeing creative project proposals for this site that will create jobs, activate a key Central Artery parcel, and improve the link between the Leather District and Chinatown along Kneeland Street,’’ said spokeswoman Melina Schuler. “Parcel 25 presents another great opportunity to build on momentum in the area.’’

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
Click to expand...

http://www.boston.com/business/arti...between_chinatown_south_boston/?p1=News_links
 
Re: Parcel 25 - Southern Gateway

Wow, great news to start the new year!
 
Re: Parcel 25 - Southern Gateway

I'm a little confused by the area labeled "Project Area." It looks like that is mostly highways and ramps. The only space that seems open for development is what borders on Kneeland.
 
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