MassMutual | 10 Fan Pier Blvd | Fan Pier Parcel E | Seaport

stick n move said:
Thats true but the waterfront I feel makes up for it, it came out really good and its really popular too. One of the better waterfront destinations downtown.
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JeffDowntown said:
I was going to say the same thing -- you can walk around that warren of alleys on the waterfront.
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You're both right, of course. The eastern end of the pier is poised to become an iconic Boston location--it's one of the first places I head to when I have visitors in town. But that doesn't excuse how awful the surrounding streets are.

Done right, tight little alleys that lead to water can be every bit as enticing as the waterfront itself.

They can create some of the best view corridors:
spl7-768x576.jpg


They can be activated in their own right:
Screen Shot 2021-06-21 at 1.53.57 PM.png

The Thames is down there somewhere, but you'd take your time getting to the water walking down this street, wouldn't you?

They can create tiny little waterfront rooms that give you an escape from the crowds:
65b23246f26cce297fb672c87fae7eb4.jpg


And they can even be more attractive than the waterfront itself. Which one of these two streets would you rather walk down?
Screen Shot 2021-06-21 at 2.03.50 PM.png



There's absolutely no good reason for the Fan Pier streets to be as dead as they are. The developers just didn't care about them, and the city didn't demand better. And I know that many of you will point out that service entrances and loading docks have to go somewhere, but (a) that let's the city off the hook for always defaulting to the giant floor plate development that supposedly needs such areas in the first place, and (b) this isn't just a problem of loading docks--the ground floor of the Vertex building is horrible all the way around.

And again, they didn't even have to look to Europe like I did here; all they had to do was turn around and look at the other side of Northern Ave.
 
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Can't disagree about the points on the Fan Pier streets. Being cast in shadows all day long doesn't help either. At least Fan Pier Blvd is at least OK, relatively speaking. Smaller building floorplates would have helped, definitely. Also, I'm glad that the MassMutual building is set back further on the One Marina Park drive side.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I was going to say the same thing -- you can walk around that warren of alleys on the waterfront.
Click to expand...

I rode my bike through that warren the other night, and it was actually quite fabulous. There were people all over the place, and the narrow streets felt just right for Boston, despite their odd straight/perpendicular layout.
 
There is more hardscaping work being done to the side of the building facing the marina (seen in Brad's first photo above) than I thought. Looks like it will turn out quite nicely. I don't know yet how closely it will mirror the renders from page 1 of this thread though, but it does appear that some kind of small water feature will still be in place.
 
BronsonShore said:
You're both right, of course. The eastern end of the pier is poised to become an iconic Boston location--it's one of the first places I head to when I have visitors in town. But that doesn't excuse how awful the surrounding streets are.

Done right, tight little alleys that lead to water can be every bit as enticing as the waterfront itself.

They can create some of the best view corridors:
spl7-768x576.jpg


They can be activated in their own right:
View attachment 14095
The Thames is down there somewhere, but you'd take your time getting to the water walking down this street, wouldn't you?

They can create tiny little waterfront rooms that give you an escape from the crowds:
65b23246f26cce297fb672c87fae7eb4.jpg


And they can even be more attractive than the waterfront itself. Which one of these two streets would you rather walk down?
View attachment 14096


There's absolutely no good reason for the Fan Pier streets to be as dead as they are. The developers just didn't care about them, and the city didn't demand better. And I know that many of you will point out that service entrances and loading docks have to go somewhere, but (a) that let's the city off the hook for always defaulting to the giant floor plate development that supposedly needs such areas in the first place, and (b) this isn't just a problem of loading docks--the ground floor of the Vertex building is horrible all the way around.

And again, they didn't even have to look to Europe like I did here; all they had to do was turn around and look at the other side of Northern Ave.
Click to expand...
What an amazing post
 
jl326 said:
There is more hardscaping work being done to the side of the building facing the marina (seen in Brad's first photo above) than I thought. Looks like it will turn out quite nicely. I don't know yet how closely it will mirror the renders from page 1 of this thread though, but it does appear that some kind of small water feature will still be in place.
Click to expand...

I think I may have spoken too prematurely and gave them too much credit. Now that the space looks more complete from a couple of weeks ago, it’s turning out pretty plain and boring looking. I also do not see anything that looks like a water feature that was shown in the renders. Pretty terrible for something facing a marina.
 
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