Kendall Common Parcel C3 (née Volpe Center) | 75 Broadway | Kendall Square | Cambridge

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bigpicture7

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Taking @Equilibria 's suggestion to break out a building-specific thread. This is one from among the several buildings composing the Volpe site redevelopment in Kendall.

Plans were just posted to Cambridge's special permits site for parcel "C3" from the Volpe redevelopment plan:
www.cambridgema.gov

PB368

special permit application
www.cambridgema.gov www.cambridgema.gov

C3 is the following on the overall map:
vp-mp-1-png.36746


Posted rendering (from among many):
vp-c3-1-png.36747


Above are from Part 1 of the design package, posted in 3 parts in the above permits site:
Part 1: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media...ialPermits/sp368/sp368_C3design1_20230414.pdf
Part 2: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media...ialPermits/sp368/sp368_C3design2_20230414.pdf
Part 3: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media...ialPermits/sp368/sp368_C3design3_20230414.pdf
These are scheduled for a May 16, 2023 planning board meeting
 
I updated my Google Earth guesswork model with the massing I could see in these files (this building in green).

This building is proposed at 316.5 feet including mechanicals (250 feet without). It would be tallest in Cambridge today, basically tied with MIT SoMa Building 4. At completion, it would be second behind 121 Broardway and would soon be passed by the R3 tower next door.
 

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Equilibria said:
I updated my Google Earth guesswork model with the massing I could see in these files (this building in green).

This building is proposed at 316.5 feet including mechanicals (250 feet without). It would be tallest in Cambridge today, basically tied with MIT SoMa Building 4. At completion, it would be second behind 121 Broardway and would soon be passed by the R3 tower next door.
Click to expand...

Thanks, as always, for these Google Earth model updates. Even though the skyline impact from across the Charles may not be huge (with the exception of the taller residential building), I think building out these Volpe and MXD parcels is going to have a fairly pronounced effect on the look/feel of the Kendall sq. area.
 
There's a lot of large brick buildings within a block of it, so some green terra cotta will go far here. For a lab, I like it. Three sides of retail and street activation is even better!
 
This area is going to feel very different 10 years from now! Very excited to see the progress!
 
@#bancars, thanks so much for sharing tonight's presentation. I personally think this building's design is a promising start to this development. I hope it was decently well received by the community.
 
bigpicture7 said:
@#bancars, thanks so much for sharing tonight's presentation. I personally think this building's design is a promising start to this development. I hope it was decently well received by the community.
Click to expand...

I was in the meeting, and I didn't notice any negative comments. Mostly just clarifications about phasing. One person complained that they weren't calling the walkway "Sixth Street Extension" - apparently she's offended that the Police Department had it named after an officer killed in-line-of-duty in the 1850s (!) without properly consulting her.
 
Equilibria said:
I was in the meeting, and I didn't notice any negative comments. Mostly just clarifications about phasing. One person complained that they weren't calling the walkway "Sixth Street Extension" - apparently she's offended that the Police Department had it named after an officer killed in-line-of-duty in the 1850s (!) without properly consulting her.
Click to expand...

Apparently the bronze plaques literally embedded in the walkway that proclaim "Old Sixth Street" are insufficient markers of this path's historic sixth-ness
 
It would be nice if they planned for water fountains or a water feature along the Broad Canal Way to pay tribute to the canal that was once there.
 
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