Pinnacle at Central Wharf (Harbor Garage) | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

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real_EthanHunt said:
this is a central wharf council video, not a harbor garage video. the video was released before the building design was public.
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First, many thanks for the link.

The video was paid for in part by Chiafaro, and in part by the Aquarium. The fog at the top of what is now the Pinnacle was probably to fudge its potential height. The video also covers other areas along the waterfront, including Christopher Columbus Park, the Hook property, Long wharf, and Harbor Towers. This is not a Central Wharf Council video.
 
my only point was that the video is somewhat off topic for this thread as its not development project specific.
I will say though, its on the district wharf council website and was uploaded to youtube by them. so they are taking some ownership of it.
 
Johnnyrocket891 said:
Those renderings look amazing.



Whatever happened to the Aquarium's proposal to the Blueway Park?

It looks to me that the Aquarium is being used as a final tool to stop or delay the project from moving further if the lawsuits from CLF or Harbor Towers residents don't pan out.
I expect the Aquarium interests are different than the developers. It would be nice to see something change on this parcel and the developer seems to have the most energy to get something going.

Where is the Aquarium CEO Vikki Spruill actually from? How many CEO's have the Aquarium had in the last 10 years? I don't think they have a real vision for the area.
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First, Vikki Spruill's previous work experience was primarily in Washington DC. She has no direct experience running an aquarium. She is well-connected with very wealthy individuals who are very philanthropic, and the Aquarium needs lots and lots and lots of money.

The vision video is quite revealing. The focus is on resiliency in the face of rising sea levels, and it sketches steps that would be taken to make Christopher Columbus Park more resilient, and the same for the Harbor Towers, Long Wharf.

With respect to the Aquarium, resiliency would be achieved in two ways. First, is to increase the height of the site. The Aquarium entrance at Old Atlantic Ave. would be on top of a berm, elevated five to six feet above the sidewalk on Old Atlantic Ave. This is similar to what is being done at the Pinnacle.

The second part is to undertake a major renovation, which looks more to be a complete reconstruction in situ, achieved in p;art by moving the entrance closer to Old Atlantic Ave. There are three floors, with mechanicals on the roof. (There may be one or more below grade floors as well.) The IMAX theater is gone. The Harborwalk appears to extend around at least most of the perimeter, and is a deck with plantings, set on pilings

The cost of providing this resiliency for the Aquarium, and constructing what in essence is a new Aquarium is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It may be the new director's primary task is to find major donors and have them open their wallets / pocketbooks. I think the aquarium is at a financial crossroads, and might not survive if it cannot find the means to make its site and building more resilient. It was the only site in the video tour for which there seemed to be no easy and relatively inexpensive way to become resilient.
 
This is definitely the best single tower out of all the proposals. However, in a perfect world I would have liked to have seen the 2 building complex built, with the taller red one and slanty roofs. Obviously the Chapter 91 business meant that could never happen. If this is built as-is it would be a humongous win for the city on a variety of levels.
 
Kudos to Equilibria for being on top of all the BCDC presentations and posting them here for us, and also to Stick for being the guy who rips (is that the term) images from the presentation and posts them. You guys are the best in this regard! This development is amazing on so many levels, from the ground level improvements, up to the top of the building and everything in between. Will rank right up there with The Hub on Causeway, South Station tower, and Bulfinch Crossing in terms of numbers of people who will interact with it.
 
Agreed huge thanks to Equilibria. I also agree that this is the best proposal out of all of the new towers and being front and center it is in its rightful place in the skyline. The ground level improvements from the garage to this are incredible, I dont know how anyone in their right mind can oppose this. This should have unanimous support, especially because if this doesnt happen the garage stays.

Going back to the video, wow I would love to have all of those improvements to the waterfront and the world class aquarium. I wonder what the chances of a brand new glass clad, windows on the ocean aquarium are. This is the waterfront we deserve! The only change Id like to see is an even more iconic lighthouse... go all out in every aspect here.
 
Agreed with all. This will be amazing, and if James Hook is developed and the walk is extended under the seaport bridge like the other side by Barking Crab, that would be great.

Every time I walk across the Seaport Blvd Bridge, I think of the the potential on both sides from Intercontinental on, and Lolita Fort Point on. It's time for the PO to go.
 
This design is successful at being quintessentially a Boston high rise, but also good looking and a standout. I like
 
In the ground floor render, is the 'existing property line' is this the current footprint of the garage? If so then this building would slightly open up the waterfront and Aquarium to the street, beyond the obviously more hospitable building itself. I think the Aquarium is looking for some sort of payoff it hasnt gotten yet.

Does anybody here have development knowledge outside of Mass? Is blackmailing developers as rampant other places as it is here? Its crazy how entitled people and entities are here
 
Suffolk 83 said:
Does anybody here have development knowledge outside of Mass? Is blackmailing developers as rampant other places as it is here? Its crazy how entitled people and entities are here
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It's worse. In Chicago - land of the skyscraper and with no height limits - the local alderman has veto power on any project. Basically, a single well-connected NIMBY can flat-out blackmail developers and prevent any large projects in their district for decades.
 
Suffolk 83 said:
Does anybody here have development knowledge outside of Mass? Is blackmailing developers as rampant other places as it is here? Its crazy how entitled people and entities are here
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The more losses the professional NIMBY class suffers, the more extreme they're going to get. They've been getting their asses kicked this entire cycle. If the traffic argument no longer works, God only knows what they'll come up with next.
 
Suffolk 83 said:
In the ground floor render, is the 'existing property line' is this the current footprint of the garage? If so then this building would slightly open up the waterfront and Aquarium to the street, beyond the obviously more hospitable building itself. I think the Aquarium is looking for some sort of payoff it hasnt gotten yet.

Does anybody here have development knowledge outside of Mass? Is blackmailing developers as rampant other places as it is here? Its crazy how entitled people and entities are here
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The existing property line is pretty much the current garage footprint. The garage appears to uniformly extend beyond the property line on the south (East India Row) by several feet, and there is probably an easement The garage is squared off in the northeast corner (Milk St), perhaps 5-10 feet south of the property line. (The property line is contiguous with the garage at the northwest corner, and, proceeding east, extends tangentially beyond the garage footprint.) On a square foot basis, the open space on the northeast corner probably offsets the garage's extension beyond the property line on the south.

At least fifty percent of the current parcel (57,346 sq ft) must be open space (<29.000 sq ft) and this building meets that requirement. Because of its highly irregular shape at its base, the open space is apparently closer to 30,000 sq ft.

The BCDC presentation outlines the extent that the proposed Blueway would push out into the harbor, as well as expanding the Aquarium's surface area on the south. This would be done using pilings, with the harbor flowing beneath a deck, and not filling in the harbor. This is a substantial expansion in surface area.
 
This whole thing fits in really well with the Aquarium's proposed Blueway footprint too
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