Public Buildings with Commercial Space?

Arlington

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You know, I didn't believe you at first when you said the Cambridge District Court is in Medford, but so it is!

You convinced me to go look for the Judiciaries' Capital and Master Plans (It's a state agency, it must have one - (PDF warning)) So, apparently, Cambridge DC is eventually moving back into Cambridge Probate after that moves to Lowell, and Somerville, Middlesex (Woburn) and Concord will be in a new 272 million "South Middlesex Regional Justice Center." Assuming the courtroom count and square footage from that report is built, that's a 400000 sqft building. In Camberville, at 4-5 stories with high ceilings, that's more than enough mass to be a dedicated facility; I assume it'll look similar to Worcester CH or the new Lowell RJC. Courts have so many special requirements, especially security now, that I think it would be hard for them to be mixed use. The state judiciary is evidently actively trying to get out of leased space in mixed use buildings.

20k sqft for a new Chinatown Branch Library though? I like the idea; I think that's a reasonable ask for BDPA to get if a major development goes up in Chinatown anytime soon; probably lower level, not ground floor, but definitely with dedicated lobby. I also think that new urban schools could and should be integrated into new developments... But the cost basically means in tower zones only. Schools on Lower level floors with dedicated lobbies are reasonably common in NYC, but they've got the density to make that a necessity.

I do think there's an opportunity for school construction though, with permadeeded custom spaces delivered in exchange for their sites and some height. Josiah Quincy comes to mind as an opportunity, once the city gets some swing space available. (The site may have already been allocated for something though - I don't follow Boston school construction)
 
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The new Malden center development is mixed use and includes a new city hall.
 
The new Malden center development is mixed use and includes a new city hall.

So it does, but barely so. It's basically a bog standard office building shell with ground level retail, grafted to residential by a footbridge. That works for city hall, which, let's face it, is offices. I also can't help but feel it would never have happened but for the fact that it is on the former site of Malden Govt. Center.
 

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