MFA Expansion

[Merper]

...

the dispute isn't about the necessity for parking in the city. Its with the necessity for PARKING LOTS.

Parking lots are NEVER necessary. There should be a law. Especially if it involves tearing down an existing building FOR a parking lot, which in most cases is exactly what parking lots tend to replace.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: ...

Parking lots are NEVER necessary. There should be a law.

I could replace "Parking lots" with "Condoms" or "Seat belts" and the argument wouldn't be any less wrong.

There seem to be some people who hate cars with a passion. Unfortunately these people seem to live in a world where everything should happen the way they think it should happen.

Cars are not bad, parking lots are not bad. Our over reliance on cars is bad and that over reliance leads to such a need for parking lots.

 

[nico]

LOTS, LOTS, L O T S! I'm pretty sure everyone is saying that specifically, we don't want to have any more parking lots. Most people aren't against parking in general, especially at an institution like the MFA where parking for many, is a must. As it stands right now the museum needs to account for those who will have to drive to get to the museum, but lots take up an unnecessarily large foot-print in an urban setting. Parking garages can be safer, allow for mixed use, provide shelter from harsh weather conditions, and obviously allow more parking than a surface lot.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

But parking garages are very expensive and are only constructed when the builder knows he can make his money back (luxury condos, office towers, etc)

Now I don't want to sound like I'm defending parking lots, I agree that they destroy urban fabric, but they don't have to. Like I said, look at Lex Center. The lot is behind the stores so you can park and walk around. This is good parking. Burlington Mall = bad parking.

 

[ablarc]

LOTS, LOTS, L O T S! I'm pretty sure everyone is saying that specifically, we don't want to have any more parking lots. Most people aren't against parking in general, especially at an institution like the MFA where parking for many, is a must. As it stands right now the museum needs to account for those who will have to drive to get to the museum, but lots take up an unnecessarily large foot-print in an urban setting. Parking garages can be safer, allow for mixed use, provide shelter from harsh weather conditions, and obviously allow more parking than a surface lot.

^ What he said ... !!


Pretending that being against parking lots is tantamount to opposing parking: that is just setting up a straw man.



And in an urban setting, there is never anything good that can be said for a parking lot. They should be summarily outlawed.

 

[Ron Newman]

Where do you see any suggestion that the MFA is planning to tear down any buildings for parking lots? I assume their expansion plans involve building more garages.

 

[ablarc]

Where do you see any suggestion that the MFA is planning to tear down any buildings for parking lots?

I don't. Here's what I said:

Hope it's not lots; in addition to what those do to destroy the urban experience, they'll require demolition of buildings.

I assume their expansion plans involve building more garages.

That's a safe assumption as far as it goes, but unless they've repented their present ways, that's not a safe assumption if you mean"only garages."

JimboJones seems to have inside info; he can inform us all. As long as folks think it's OK for the MFA to have a parking lot (as some of us seem to), it's quite likely that after the dust settles on the present building campaign, we'll be treated, somewhere or other, to ... a parking lot!

If it's not right in the block the MFA presently occupies, you know what that will mean, don't you ...

Sure hope it doesn't happen that way.


Jimbo, what's the plan?

 

[JimboJones]

Pillow talk ...

Hi.

Good question. I don't know where the parking will go.

Now I think I understand what you are saying. You are saying that a parking garage can be a good thing but a parking lot (surface?) is bad, and that perhaps the MFA should have built on the West Wing parking lot before tearing down part of their existing building.

That's a good point. I don't know why they did that, actually. It may be as much a matter of what was inside the East Wing vs. West Wing as anything else. And/or the cost of tearing down one or the other.

The renderings on page one of this thread show new additions around the West Wing - it's hard to tell from those renderings whether or not the Pei addition is still there or torn down. There will be a new Gund gallery space in the East Wing addition, so maybe they are tearing down the existing West Wing.

I know there is going to be more parking, but don't know where. I guess I assumed it would be under the new West Wing.

I'll see what I can found out from my source. I usually have to use ether to get him to talk.

 

[ablarc]

Re: Pillow talk ...

Now I think I understand what you are saying. You are saying that a parking garage can be a good thing but a parking lot (surface?) is bad, and that perhaps the MFA should have built on the West Wing parking lot before tearing down part of their existing building.

Bingo. Succinctly put. Thanks.

 

[kz1000ps]

all im sayin is there is REALLY no reason to talk in such a proper manner... a conversational tone will do just fine.

I agree with you there - but up to a point. Within the world of urban development forums you've got Skyscraper City on one side and Cyburbia on the other -- the former is a retarded free-for-all and the latter is as dry (yet utterly informative) as the average academic tome. However, personal preference says I'd rather this place be a bit too stuffy and "mature" than the other way around, just cuase I feel the issues we talk about deserve it. Plus, when the conversations start to devolve into a bunch of rotflolzers-shitfuckcrap-purplebananasmileyface junk like at SSC or SSP, it tends to scare off the older guys who presumably have more wisdom.

OK, now we're way off topic..

 

[statler]

ablarc,

When you are at the MFA check around to see if they still have the display for the new additions. That might answer your parking questions. I know when they first announced the plans they had an exhibit with the models. I never got to check them out so I'm not sure where they would be. Hopefully they are still on display. Good luck.

Edit- From the MFA site:

What will happen to visitor parking?

By the completion of the Project, the two surface parking lots will be devoted entirely to visitor parking (only one is now). We have already "recaptured" parking spaces in the garage (near the West Wing) that the Museum had been leasing to other organizations. Eventually, our plan is to construct an underground parking facility in a future phase of the Building Project. When the Building Project is completed, Museum Road will become a two-way street, with parking on both sides.

Building the New MFA

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Anyone who wants to continue the cat fight about crack can go here.

 

[PaulC]

parking plans

I attended a presentation by the architects about several years ago. They said they wanted underground parking either in front or behind the museum. Either options would be very difficult to implement and they didn't know how they would handle this but it also would not happen till they needed to use the west parking lot.

To get neighborhood approval for this current expansion they agreed to end the garage lease to one of the hospitals. This will free up a lot of spaces for visitors.

The expansions occur when there is money. Obviously there were people who wanted to donate to a new American wing. When there are people willing to donate to the other additions they will be built.

 

[kz1000ps]

Not too much visually has changed

 

[castevens]

 

[castevens]

Front's still the same

 

[whighlander]

Updated status

Visited the MFA on Saturday

Looks as if all the demolition is essentially done and pilings that define the excavation for the New Art of the Americas Wing are almost all in place

I would expect a big hole and foundations in the next few weeks

I couldn't see if all the Pilings for the glass Jewel Box are in place yet

The view from the Fenway side is quite limited

Westy

 

[kz1000ps]

yesterday

 

[statler]

MFA buys Forsyth property

The Museum of Fine Arts said today it has agreed to buy the nearby Forsyth Institute property in the Fenway as part of its expansion plans.

No financial details of the transaction, which involves a building with 107,000 square feet of space on 1.6 acres of land, were disclosed in a statement issued by the two parties.

Forsyth is a nonprofit research group focused on oral and related biomedical science; it also provides dental care to children through a school-based health program.

Forsyth has administrative offices and laboratories in the property involved in the proposed transaction.

Forsyth said it will eventually relocate to new modern facilities; when the transaction closes, Forsyth will temporarily be a tenant of the MFA's as Forsyth scouts for a new location.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the museum," Malcolm Rogers, the MFA director, said in a statement. "The purchase of this venerable building, along with the museum's expansion plans for the new American Wing, which overlooks Forsyth Way and the revitalization of the Fenway entrance, will dramatically transform the museum and this neighborhood for generations to come."

The sale of the building at 140 The Fenway will help the Forsyth Institute to gain access to contemporary state-of-the-art technology and possibly "co-locate with others in the scientific community," Dominick P. DePaola, chief executive of the Forsyth Institute, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
Posted by Boston Globe Business Team at 10:35 AM

Link

Anyone have pictures of this 'venerable building?'

 

[kz1000ps]

of course I do, but I couldn't find any of the front of the older building. The parking lot Forsyth was thinking of expanding onto a year or two ago is what you see in the foreground.