Sale finalized; future development of Exxon tank farm in Everett can proceed

iamdjmichael said:
Really rough rendering of the Davis Co plans for the site
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This made my morning; I didn't realize they were presenting this week. Thank you for sharing! :love:
Did a little more digging in the zoning amendments shared this week. They're branding the neighborhood EVERETT DOCKLANDS INNOVATION DISTRICT. All materials presented (sans renderings) here. A goldmine of details--I know firsthand that Everett's planning staff has been working closely with Davis Cos. to get to this point.

It looks per the zoning details they're aiming for the following, up to 370' tall, the max allowable by FAA.
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No discussion of the loss of the historic tank farm infrastructure? The developers should be required to keep the largest ones in place, and no new structure should exceed the shortest in height to keep the celebrated sightlines from both Route 16 and the Boston Autoport. Also, Boston should get to decide because traffic.
 
dshoost88 said:
This made my morning; I didn't realize they were presenting this week. Thank you for sharing! :love:
Did a little more digging in the zoning amendments shared this week. They're branding the neighborhood EVERETT DOCKLANDS INNOVATION DISTRICT. All materials presented (sans renderings) here. A goldmine of details--I know firsthand that Everett's planning staff has been working closely with Davis Cos. to get to this point.

It looks per the zoning details they're aiming for the following, up to 370' tall, the max allowable by FAA.
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View attachment 53725
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Everett is really in the right place for a lot of great progressive building and bullish development in the next few years. Other cities need to take notes! I really think Everett is primed to be the next destination for residential/office/lab/commercial buyers alike, in about 10-15 years. I'm not exactly sure if there's a fair comparison either in the Boston area at least. I'd say closest in my mind is the current cleanup of East Cambridge and East Somerville (CX and Assembly, respectively; albeit this sorely lacks comparable transit offerings - sorry SL3 extension 🤣🙅‍♂️).

I can't imagine the population increase and revenue coming rushing into the door.

Hopefully some of this development zeitgeist spills into Charlestown and can rev projects like Domino Sugar and One Mystic along.
 
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
Everett is really in the right place for a lot of great progressive building and bullish development in the next few years. Other cities need to take notes! I really think Everett is primed to be the next destination for residential/office/lab/commercial buyers alike, in about 10-15 years. I'm not exactly sure if there's a fair comparison either in the Boston area at least. I'd say closest in my mind is the current cleanup of East Cambridge and East Somerville (CX and Assembly, respectively; albeit this sorely lacks comparable transit offerings - sorry SL3 extension 🤣🙅‍♂️).

I can't imagine the population increase and revenue coming rushing into the door.

Hopefully some of this development zeitgeist spills into Charlestown and can rev projects like Domino Sugar and One Mystic along.
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I just worry that this district is a repeat of Edgewater in New Jersey -- where the poorly capped hazardous waste contaminated soil seeps toxic plumes in the buildings. I believe we are "trusting the developer" to properly cap the site? They are not doing wholesale removal and remediation.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I just worry that this district is a repeat of Edgewater in New Jersey -- where the poorly capped hazardous waste contaminated soil seeps toxic plumes in the buildings. I believe we are "trusting the developer" to properly cap the site? They are not doing wholesale removal and remediation.
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This is a very valid fear...! I hope it doesn't outweigh their level of development. I'm cynical so I think more talk around this would help
 
Wonk said:
No discussion of the loss of the historic tank farm infrastructure? The developers should be required to keep the largest ones in place, and no new structure should exceed the shortest in height to keep the celebrated sightlines from both Route 16 and the Boston Autoport. Also, Boston should get to decide because traffic.
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with examining existing infrastructure or anything else on a site to see if there's value in preservation. I doubt there's anything that constitutes a unique or culturally significant presence, but a masterplan that incorporated a tank into some green space would be a clever addition. I can see it working as a center baffle with park space circling around. Unlike what's located here, Concord, NH has a brick tank building which is included in the National Register of Historic Places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Gas_Light_Company_Gasholder_House
 
Wonk said:
No discussion of the loss of the historic tank farm infrastructure? The developers should be required to keep the largest ones in place, and no new structure should exceed the shortest in height to keep the celebrated sightlines from both Route 16 and the Boston Autoport. Also, Boston should get to decide because traffic.
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I'm waiting for the "Tall Smokestack" post to come any minute now.........
 
I guess people are having their fun on the smokestack thing, but I would think even if you don't like them, you can at least see there is a difference between a highly visible, masonry tower and a squat, metal tank that is all but invisible to 99% of people passing through the general area.
 
HenryAlan said:
I guess people are having their fun on the smokestack thing, but I would think even if you don't like them, you can at least see there is a difference between a highly visible, masonry tower and a squat, metal tank that is all but invisible to 99% of people passing through the general area.
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Agreed, smokestacks are far more visible……not as visible as during their glory days when they actively belched emissions that poked holes in the ozone layer and damaged the lungs of the humanoids living around it…… but even today when they are inactive and empty they are indeed tall, so Everett is as important Homer City, PA (Home of America’s tallest smokestack!) as long as they’re there. :sneaky:

Look, perhaps it is important to some that we have Potemkin Village cities of empty and useless tall edifices that serve no purpose, but I can’t fathom someone who is a true URBANIST wouldn’t prefer things that brings masses of people to animate an area and lead to a better future for a dynamic/living city.
 
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shmessy said:
Look, perhaps it is important to some that we have Potemkin Village cities of empty and useless tall edifices that serve no purpose, but I can’t fathom someone who is a true URBANIST wouldn’t prefer things that brings masses of people to animate an area and lead to a better future for a dynamic/living city.
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Perhaps a stadium with cool and unique architectural elements.

Cut the no true scotsman bit. It's perfectly valid to think it would be a cool element to include in the stadium and no one is suggesting just leaving what's there there for the sake of it.
 
HenryAlan said:
I guess people are having their fun on the smokestack thing, but I would think even if you don't like them, you can at least see there is a difference between a highly visible, masonry tower and a squat, metal tank that is all but invisible to 99% of people passing through the general area.
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Actually, if I may make the mistake of taking this conversation seriously, these types of tanks have been well integrated into redevelopment projects, particularly in London:

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There's even a plan to turn this tank farm into housing. How amazing would this be in Everett?

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Yes, yes! Renewing and bringing life back to industrialized areas of the city doesn't have to mean plowing everything under. The structural relics of the past are not purposeless when they are used to create unique spaces in developments. A tall smokestack can serve to announce an area from a distance. It makes a "place" in the same way that a statue or a church steeple can make a city square.
 
To be fair, those European examples of reuse are all Victorian/ pre war "gas holders / gasometers" - those metal in the UK (often brick outside of it) frames pictured above were basically a guide shell for a telescoping gas balloon. There's excellent examples of reuse across europe, but there's a few local examples of this - ever wonder why this Best Western in Roxbury is round? It's because it's a converted gas holder. But I'm fairly confident it was simpler because the frame/shell themselves is fairly graceful and light, and could easily be left free standing after the gas system was removed.

Conversely, I'm fairly certain that the Exxon farm is all traditional structural steel tanks for liquid petroleums - I'm not even convinced it's possible to completely decontaminate one such that it would be safe for public entry. The only examples of this that I could find is a tank in New Zealand that was converted to a garden center in 1971, well before the imposition of modern requirements, and which is apparently currently planned for demolition, and what had been a refinery's water tank in Spain is now a cultural center.

But if it's possible, If you can preserve one around here, it would be at least unique as a venue / bar - it probably wouldn't be out of place in Everett's entertainment district, so I personally think it's better suited for one of the tanks that Exelon (not Exxon) is retaining, closer to the proposed stadium site.
 
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