Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011
My Towns section of Globe
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/somerville/articles/2010/09/13/green_light_on_northpoint/
THE PROPOSED 44-acre mixed-use development project in Cambridge near the Museum of Science won plaudits from the beginning as a textbook case of smart growth. A relocated Lechmere T station in the NorthPoint complex would reduce auto use by residents, who would also be within walking distance of major employers like Massachusetts General Hospital. Stalled first by a falling-out between development partners and then by the recession, the project still makes sense as a long-term bet on increasing demand for space in Cambridge as Kendall Square fills up.
Tweet 1 person Tweeted thisSubmit to DiggdiggsdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis The good news is that new investors, including former Lakers star Earvin ?Magic?? Johnson, have entered the picture with plans to spend about $1.5 billion over 10 years. The bad news is that the investors and their partners will not fund the new T station, as the original developers had committed to do.
Since the MBTA needs the new station to accommodate its planned extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford, the transit authority recently acknowledged that it would have to bite the bullet and finance the station itself. NorthPoint will still make a contribution to the new transit line, not least by likely providing rail rights of way through its property.
When developers first conceived of NorthPoint in 2000, the Green Line extension was years off and the new Lechmere station would have been the end of the line, costing considerably less. The developers? pledge to build it then was part of a quid pro quo in which the state would hand over to the developers the site of the old station. Like all real estate, the value of that land has fallen while the projected cost of the new station has risen. Still, the MBTA should bargain aggressively with NorthPoint?s owners to protect the public interest in this complicated public-private collaboration.
NorthPoint has the potential to turn an old railroad yard into a vibrant urban center. Under its original plan, it would include 2,700 residential units, 150,000 square feet of retail space, and 2.2 million square feet of commercial or office space, all spread over 19 city blocks. Since then, the owners have managed to erect just two residential buildings with 330 units. With the new Green Line station and track, NorthPoint has many moving parts ? literally. The MBTA will have to make sure the taxpayer and straphanger don?t get sidetracked in NorthPoint wheeling and dealing.
