Images of New Bedford

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Lrfox

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Ok, So it's not actually IN New Bedford, but this is the rendering for the new courthouse currently under construction in downtown Fall River just a few miles west of NB on I-195.


I went by the site today and took some pictures, so here they are:












It's slated to open in early 2009. I can't really tell the materials (aside from the obvious steel and glass) from the small rendering, and there wasn't anything on the site to help make it more clear either. Groundbreaking took place last October, but for some reason this project completely slipped my mind until I was coming back from Prov. two days ago over the Braga Bridge on 195 and saw some steel peaking up over some of the buildings downtown to the right of Gov't Center/ City Hall.

Here's a small youtube clip someone took while driving by (much earlier on in the construction process):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5p0ltySF6xk&feature=related

Long Post, I know... but Government Center/City Hall is undergoing a ground floor rehab too. So here are some shots of that:







*EDIT**
Dear Esteemed Moderator,
Is there any way you could change the title of this thread to "GREATER New Bedford thread" to allow for posting of general development in the area including and beyond NB city limits? I don't see the point of creating separate threads for each city/project in the area until there's much more development going on. Thanks. No rush.
 
Re: The New Bedford Thread

So I took a bunch more as I haven't really spent much or any time in Downtown Fall River in a few years. I thought I'd share if no one has any objections:

Braga Bridge from S. Main St.:


Bank of America and the Armory in the Background:


St. Patrick's Church Undergoing restoration:


Looking North on N. Main St.:


Citizens Bank:


Post Office:


Looking SW from Bank St.


West Down Bank St towards the Armory:

Next 3 are the Public Library (YES! there are some literate people in Fall River!):




Armory on Bank St:


Looking South from the Armory:


Superior Court:



Congregational Church on Rock St:





F. River Trial Court (Old BMC Durfee H.S. building and personally, my favorite in Fall River):






Finally, Heritage State Park, the Braga Bridge, and Battleship Cove:







**EDIT** Would anyone from outside of Metro-Boston consider posting in a sort of "Photo of-the-day, Outside Boston" thread? I have plenty of Pics of different New England cities, but I don't want to be the only one to add anything. I think it would be a good way to see some cities that we either don't frequent or have never seen. Just a thought.
 
Thanks for creating a new thread for this stuff. I don't plan on posting this many photos on a regular basis, so don't worry. I just took a bunch while wandering today. I don't want to nitpick about thread titles or take up too much time (aside from already triple posting in a new thread), but none of these photos are actually from New Bedford. In fact, they're all from Fall River.

The reason I asked to change the thread name to "The Greater New Bedford Thread" was because I figure Fall River and New Bedford are close enough (about 10 MI apart) to share one thread given their limited development now. I think it makes more sense than cluttering the board with threads about each particular project in each city that will sit idle for extended periods of time.

The first set of images is of the construction of the New Fall River Trial Court (http://www.dimeo.com/markets/public/113/#images_tag) and the second set are of the Ground floor renovations of the Fall River City Hall at Government Center. The rest are just generic images of Fall River in general that I took today.

All I was asking is that the name of the New Bedford thread be changed to the "Greater New Bedford Thread" so it could include projects from all over the South Coast (including Fall River). I didn't intend for you to create a new thread bases solely on Images of New Bedford (unless of course, you felt it was better to separate them into a separate thread). In fact, I only intended to gauge interest in a "outside the metro area photo of the day" thread; and follow through if other forum members were interested. If no one responded, then I would assume there was little interest.

So, to summarize my long-winded response, thank you for creating a new thread for this, but it was unnecessary (again, unless you felt some other need to do so). I'm not going to ask you to change it back, and I'll certainly utilize it, but I just don't want you to think I was demanding a whole new thread. Sorry for any confusion, and thanks again
 
NB/FR looks a lot better in your photos than from what I have seen. I frequent 195 from Plymouth to R.I., so my only knowledge of NB is the short stretch of road there. That big church is always really pretty and dominating from 195 though.

Nice pics!
 
^I think so too. I carefully took each photo. Fall River, in particular, is in bad shape. There are some gems in both cities, but Fall River's downtown is separated from the waterfront by the elevated section of route 79 and the Braga Bridge ramps, not to mention the Garden-City style housing project (just off of 195 to the left if you're heading east over the Braga Bridge). It's going to take a lot of time and work to revitalize Fall River, and quite frankly, I'd be surprised to see any significant improvement in my lifetime. And you do get a pretty good view of Fall River from 195.

New Bedford is in better shape and you only get a brief view of it from 195. The church you mention is St. Anthony's and its interior is just as beautiful as it's brownstone exterior. Downtown New Bedford has 16 blocks of preserved cobbled streets centered around the Whaling Museum (worth a visit by itself) and contains some interesting shops and restaurants (I particularly like "Cork"- a wine and tapas bar). Unlike Fall River, new restaurants, shops, and more upscale bars have been opening around Downtown New Bedford recently and the city has focused on attracting new business of all sorts. the Waterfront Bar and Grille, a new waterfront restaurant is opening downtown next week, and the Ocean Explorium (http://www.oceanexplorium.org/) is opening in the next month.

While both certainly have a ways to go, New Bedford has made progress in the past 3 or four years and has (in my opinion) much more to work with than Fall River. If you ever have a few minutes, it's worth jumping off of 195 (of course, if gas goes any higher, it's probably not really "worth" it) and taking route 18 downtown just to check it out quickly, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.

In short, the pictures of Fall River really make it look more appealing than it is, while many times, I feel New Bedford's photos don't do it enough justice.
 
If you want to visit New Bedford, I suggest Summerfest weekend, July 4-6. Stroll around downtown New Bedford and hear music on several different outdoor stages. If you've been to the Lowell Folk Festival, this is similar, but smaller and more intimate.
 
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