Route 128 Developments

We're well aware what a delicate flower you are, Howie. The football helmet worn all day is kind of a dead giveaway.
 
This is the building in Burlington I was talking about that's either 6 or 10 floors depending on which side you look at it. It's behind the movie theater across from the mall. Do parking garage floors also count as actual building floors?











 
DZH22 said:
Do parking garage floors also count as actual building floors?
Click to expand...

Yup, especially above ground like this. As a side note, Lahey Clinic is also built into a hill (lobby on 4), though the lower floors aren't parking.

And damn, that facade... ouch.
 
Amy Poehler, in a recent interview, has confirmed what most her fellow Burlington natives have suspected since Parks and Recreation first went on the air.

“Lexington, Massachusetts, was the Eagleton to my hometown right next door, which was Burlington. Lexington had the Shot Heard ‘Round the World, and more doctors and slightly fancier houses. Rachel Dratch is from Lexington. Our [high school football] teams play each other on Thanksgiving, and we still trash talk each other. I’ll say, ‘Lexington’s a bunch of fuckin’ snobs.’ And she’ll say, ‘How dare you, you Burlington trash. Get out of my town.’”
Click to expand...

In fairness to Lexington, I would say Eagleton is more of a hybrid of Lexington and Weston or Wellesley.
 
Lexington has much more of a "Glory Glory Haleluja - We Founded This Great Nation" chip on its shoulder, as opposed to Weston, which has a much more obvious "we're rich, fuck off" chip.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
Lexington has much more of a "Glory Glory Haleluja - We Founded This Great Nation" chip on its shoulder, as opposed to Weston, which has a much more obvious "we're rich, fuck off" chip.
Click to expand...

Busses -- there are different ways of being self aware

The Washington Post created a list of the Top 100 Zip Code in the US based on a number of factors including per capita incomes and per capita education

Lexington did quite well with the latter -- BUT Lexington couldn't hold a candle to several local Zips when it came to $

FINANCE More: The Rich Elite
MAP: Here Are The 20 'Super-Zips' Where America's Ultra-Elite Reside
ANDY KIERSZ
DEC. 9, 2013, 5:13 PM 134,409 41

The Washington Post has a fascinating visualization of inequality in America. Their map uses U.S. Census data to rank different Zip codes based on how elite their populations are. Percentile rankings for both income and educational attainment were calculated and averaged together, giving a score between 0 and 99. Zip codes with scores of 95 or higher were designated "Super Zips," the homes of the most affluent and elite Americans.

We decided to break out the 20 most elite of the Super Zips. The map below shows Super Zips in yellow, with the top 20 most elite Zip codes in red:

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/map-...live-in-these-zip-codes-2013-12#ixzz2nkrld9hb
Click to expand...

Here's the US Uber 20:

07078: Short Hills, N.J.
60043: Kenilworth, Ill.
02468: Waban, Mass.
10282: New York, N.Y.
20816: Bethesda, Md.
02457: Babson Park, Mass.
06870: Old Greenwich, Conn.
10069: New York, N.Y.
10162: New York, N.Y.
10514: Chappaqua, N.Y.
10597: Waccabuc, N.Y.
60022: Glencoe, Ill.
94027: Atherton, Calif.
02481: Wellesley Hills, Mass.
06883: Weston, Conn.
07046: Mountain Lakes, N.J.
10518: Cross River, N.Y.
20854: Potomac, Md.
21737: Glenelg, Md.
94028: Portola Valley, Calif.

Here's Lexington [02421 there is also 02420 with is similar #s] Compared to Burlington, Concord, Weston, Wellesley Hills [one of the top 20]:

ZIp Town Total score: Income *1 Education *2

02421: Lexington 99 $130,592 78%

01803: Burlington 89 $91,268 47%

01742: Concord 97 $128,415 66%

02493: Weston 99 $180,815 78%

02481: Wellesley Hills 99 $171,750 82%

Note that when advanced degrees are included Lexington does even better

BUT
Washington: A world apart

ZIP CODE RANKING MAP

Top 5%
This map highlights in yellow the nation's Super Zips — those ranking highest on income and college education. The largest collection of Super Zips is around Washington, D.C. Learn more about this metric.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2013/11/09/washington-a-world-apart/
Click to expand...




[1 ] Median Household Income [2] % Adults with College Degree
 
Last edited:
It never seizes to amaze me seeing these maps highlighting the rich and educated and how the north atlantic kicks ass. No other part of the country even comes close
 
Another huge factor is that since it also includes educational attainment the northeast which has a higher percentage of college graduates gets a boost. I compared the town I live in White River Junction, VT with a town in ohio that was the same color and yet the median income in the ohio town was nearly 20,000 dollars more a year but the educational attainment level was about 10-15% lower and so my hometown was given a boost in the rating system.
 
^ Yeah. It's a combination of factors beyond being the headquarters of the financial industry. The strong tradition of higher education leads to lots of high-skill, white-collar industries being based in and around Boston, NYC, Philly and Washington D.C. The government being based in D.C. is another major factor in the flow of big money and intellect along the NE corridor.
 
Is that an office building going up in front of the new Residence Inn? I toured that hotel a few weeks ago and they did an excellent job with it. The Residence Inn's that have opened in the last year around the city are all beautiful, Fenway and Seaport to be more specific are some of the nicest I have ever stayed at
 
The new Tripadvisor HQ is supposed to be right around there isn't it?
 
That's really nice! Being as successful as TA is, maybe they will have similar incluence in the future for similar companies in that area.
 
type001 said:
That's really nice! Being as successful as TA is, maybe they will have similar incluence in the future for similar companies in that area.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but all you'll get out of that in the immediate vicinity is marginally prettier office parks. Needham has very intentionally designated that area as an industrial wasteland in an attempt to milk some tax money off it's outlands. There's actually an abandoned railroad in there which could be converted to a path if some urbanization were to occur - it could be lovely. With the highway dividing that area off from town, though, I don't see Needham ever changing the urban form around there.
 
I don't know - this article from a few weeks ago makes it sound like Needham (and Newton) are trying to make this much more mixed-use than the typical office park.

Boston Globe said:

‘Innovation corridor’ is a plan to enliven office parks

By Evan Allen
DECEMBER 29, 2013

Today, the two suburban office parks straddling Interstate 95 on the Newton-Needham line are filled with low, drab buildings, many with empty windows and realtors’ signs advertising space inside. Workers walk from their cars to their offices and back again, and after 6 p.m., it’s a ghost town.

But in a few years? Imagine tall, modern structures, young professionals living close and biking to work at technology companies, a robotics firm testing mechanical marvels on the grass outside its doors, food trucks standing by at lunchtime, and live music at night.

This is the dream behind the “N2 Innovation Corridor,” envisioned as a high-tech hub of up-and-coming businesses in the spirit of Kendall Square or Boston’s Innovation District that officials in Newton and Needham hope will revitalize this more than 500-acre patch of worn-out suburbia.

“It used to be that I would drive through this office park and get depressed by the number of ‘for lease’ signs,” said Greg Reibman, president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce. “Now, I drive through this office park and get really excited. Now I see a bunch of possibilities.”

The project, formally named in October, will be anchored by online travel giant TripAdvisor Inc., which broke ground on a six-story, 280,000-square-foot headquarters building on the Needham side of the N2 Corridor last month. The company is outgrowing its current Newton location, and Needham last year offered it a major tax break to relocate, calling its addition to the park a “game changer.”

“The idea is to really bring [the park] into the 21st century and to make it a regional business center, with a major focus on technology-related business, of which TripAdvisor will be a centerpiece,” said Dan Matthews, chairman of the Needham Board of Selectmen. “Town governments don’t make business happen. But what we can do is we can create conditions that help.”

The borders of the N2 Corridor have been left intentionally blurry, but the project will include improvements to Needham Street and Highland Avenue.

The state this month approved Newton for designation as an economic target area, which will allow the city to offer similar tax incentives to companies, said Mayor Setti Warren, though the city has no specific recipient in mind.

Officials from Newton and Needham have been working together for the past year to create a regional technology corridor, he said.

“We’re really, really excited about the N2 Corridor,” Warren said. “We think we can be just as competitive at attracting companies as other areas of the state. We’re excited, we’re ready to go.”

There is still much work to be done. If the N2 Corridor is to become a reality, said Reibman, it needs three things: infrastructure, transportation, and something a bit more elusive — that “coolness” — that Kendall Square and the Innovation District seem to possess so effortlessly. The “bump factor’’ — running into people you know while cruising around — is crucial, he said.

“Cool places aren’t something you can legislate,” said Reibman. “But you need it.”

Infrastructure is coming. The state’s add-a-lane project will hit the local stretch of Route 128 in the spring, and will include widening the highway and constructing new on- and off-ramps at Kendrick Street, according to state Department of Transportation spokesman Michael Verseckes.

As far as additional transportation, Matthews said, Needham would like to see improved bus connections with the MBTA’s Green Line, with either Needham Street or the unused railroad right-of-way that runs between Needham Heights and the subway/trolley tracks behind Easy Street in Newton used for bus or shared bus-and-bicycle routes.

“The town is welcome to contact the MBTA with its comments and suggestions,” said a spokesman for the transit agency in an e-mail.

Newton is already working on a rail trail for bikers and walkers, and Warren said the city is exploring the possibility of bringing the Hubway bike-sharing program into the city.

But officials say it is up to the private sector to seize the opportunity that the municipalities have created through zoning and tax incentives.

Reibman said the mission over the next few months will be to get the word out about the N2 Corridor. A steering committee, of which Reibman is a member, is organizing events, and is planning two in February.

Some have already heard the call.

Janice Caillet of Newton has been looking at potential buildings in the N2 Corridor to house a co-working space — a shared office space where entrepreneurs, startups, self-employed, and regular 9-to-5’ers can work and interact, swapping ideas and insights or ducking into private rooms set off from the crowd.

“We are social animals,” said Caillet. “When I look at what we want to create, I look at human instinct, what’s missing from society, and what do we need to bring back to feel alive again?”

Caillet has worked with teams in Philadelphia to open two co-working spaces, and was part of another team in the United Kingdom that revitalized a third. She envisions the space in the N2 Corridor as a nexus for people of all stripes: not only people with careers, but people who may need a gentle way to reenter the workforce, such as victims of domestic violence or seniors bored with retirement.

The developers of the TripAdvisor property, Justin Krebs and Mark Roopenian of Normandy Real Estate Partners, also partnered to build the Marriott Residence Inn that stands next to the TripAdvisor site, and said there could be demand for another hotel as more businesses move in. They said they are in talks with at least four potential tenants for new buildings: mostly new-economy businesses such as technology, software, or biotechnology, they said, while declining to be more specific.

One thing the N2 Corridor will need, said Matthews, is more housing.

“In the old days it was always thought you keep the business separate from everything else,” he said. “But what we found is traffic has become a tougher and tougher issue, and people want to be able to live near their work.”

Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, a real estate development company that built Charles River Landing, a 350-unit apartment complex on Second Avenue in Needham, is proposing another project at 135 Wells Ave. in Newton that CEO Jay Doherty said would cater to the young “innovation workforce.”

“This workforce doesn’t look for what people used to look for in housing,” he said. “They don’t look to own; they look to rent, because it’s a more mobile workforce. They look for walk-to or bike-to proximity to their workplace.”

The Wells Avenue project, Doherty said, would have 334 studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments. While the proposal needs approval from the state and the city, Doherty said, developers are considering including a dry cleaner, a cafe, and a co-working space, as well as yoga studios and bicycle parking spaces. Traffic mitigation in the area, he said, would include adding bike lanes.

“We have most of our existing employment base in the suburbs,” said Doherty. “The best way to revitalize that base is live-work-play.”

The housing proposal has drawn criticism from some who work out at Boston Sports Clubs, which currently stands at the site.

Isabelle Albeck, 66, who lives in Newton’s Waban section and plays tennis at the club, said that losing the indoor courts and pool would be a major blow to the city. She said that club employees would lose their jobs, Newton would lose more green space, and traffic would be even worse than it is now.

Albeck said she started a petition that gathered 240 signatures in three days. She had not heard of the N2 Corridor, and said she did not have an opinion on it.

Candace Havens, Newton’s director of planning and development, said the housing proposal is still in the very early stages, and is under review.

The N2 Corridor is still a long way from being realized, and there is no single silver bullet to make it happen, said Chuck Tanowitz, who is a member of the project’s steering committee. Tanowitz said he hopes to see industries such as robotics wind up in the corridor, and to see food trucks, live music, and companies running buses from downtown Boston to bring in their employees.

“This sounds a little bit trite, but it’s almost like, if you build it, they will come,” he said.

“If there’s an exciting place, people will try to find a way to be there.”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/re...ton-needham/CGKTWbKB0AYbhDFXGMJamM/story.html
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top