SBWTC /South Boston Waterfront Transportation Center | Seaport

I'm an odd one out but I really don't mind this garage. It's totally necessary. With all of this new construction removing all of the parking that used to be in the area, something like this, which will be virtually hidden once all of the parcels around it are completed is great for the neighborhood.
 
Yea its not just for the airport either its for the massive convention center, wtc, liberty wharf, the waterfront etc..
 
Am I mistaken, or is there not more parking in the Seaport today than a decade ago? Each of these new developments has a below-ground, multi-level parking garage. You might not see it as readily as a sea of parking lots, but trust me—there’s parking there.

My qualm (and I think the qualm of others) is how much induced driving demand we place in our neighborhoods when we increase supply of parking. If you add up the cost of every new underground and above ground parking spot built in Boston the last decade, the sum would probably be equivalent to a privately-funded north-south rail link, a conversion of the silver line to light rail thru the seaport, a reliable fast, frequent ferry network, or a more robust cycle track network.
 
dshoost88 said:
Am I mistaken, or is there not more parking in the Seaport today than a decade ago? Each of these new developments has a below-ground, multi-level parking garage. You might not see it as readily as a sea of parking lots, but trust me—there’s parking there.

My qualm (and I think the qualm of others) is how much induced driving demand we place in our neighborhoods when we increase supply of parking. If you add up the cost of every new underground and above ground parking spot built in Boston the last decade, the sum would probably be equivalent to a privately-funded north-south rail link, a conversion of the silver line to light rail thru the seaport, a reliable fast, frequent ferry network, or a more robust cycle track network.
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Correct. All the surface parking was replaced underground. This is in addition to it.
 
dshoost88 said:
Am I mistaken, or is there not more parking in the Seaport today than a decade ago? Each of these new developments has a below-ground, multi-level parking garage. You might not see it as readily as a sea of parking lots, but trust me—there’s parking there.

My qualm (and I think the qualm of others) is how much induced driving demand we place in our neighborhoods when we increase supply of parking. If you add up the cost of every new underground and above ground parking spot built in Boston the last decade, the sum would probably be equivalent to a privately-funded north-south rail link, a conversion of the silver line to light rail thru the seaport, a reliable fast, frequent ferry network, or a more robust cycle track network.
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Theres a lot of new parking garages yes, the thing is though they all have office towers on top of them. So they're not just open garages for everyone to park at, they're full of employees cars for the hundreds of employees working in the office towers above. There is more parking yes, but theres wayyyyy more people living and working here. Its unfortunate that the silver line is the way it is, because this is a fairly small and dense neighborhood that would be well served by transit. Also close proximity to downtown and South Station. As it stands now though driving and parking is reality. Eventually they're going to have to address the transit issue, they're going to have no choice, but for now this is the way it is.
 
*Builds dozens of parking garages*
"Huh I wonder why so many people are driving instead of using the bus"
 
stick n move said:
As it stands now though driving and parking is reality. Eventually they're going to have to address the transit issue, they're going to have no choice, but for now this is the way it is.
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Gotta push back on this – driving and parking is a reality because we build 1600 parking spots instead of improving transit. This was an active choice that shows the priorities of the state. Every time we build parking instead of improving transportation alternatives, we are worsening transportation in Boston. We could have spent this money on the silver line instead.
 
Thats exactly what I said... I'm in 100% agreeance. We should have done that, absolutely, but we didn't. Hence the need for garages. Reality is the fact that the transit is minimal and that people drive. Its not a good reality, but its the way it is. Were going to have to expand it whether we like it or not though, so I wish they would just put out the RFP now. I don't know what were waiting for... It HAS to happen, so lets get on it now. The sooner we start the more time we have to iron out the kinks.

Also whatever the hell happened to the Northern Ave bridge rebuild. They did the design comp and my design was definitely the best haha... but afterwards they were just like yeaaa were not using any of these. They need to at least make a pedestrian bridge. I guess the funds just aren't there. Too bad they couldn't have milked the money out of one of these major companies moving to the area. I think it was Millennium that was willing to put up 100 mil for the gondolas in the Seaport... Im sure you could have gotten enough money coughed up from all of these different companies to make a ped bridge. They could have made it so you give them the massive tax breaks if they all chip in towards a bridge. It would benefit their companies anyways.
 
^
and if I remember correctly this garage received an exemption from it.
 
^ Stop inducing driven trips. Stop justifying the 'need' for the parking.

This is accommodating MORE trips by car, not backfilling some lost capacity.

Being covered up by other buildings isn't the problem. The additional vehicular trips is the problem.

This could be mitigated by a reduction of parking at the airport since after all, that was Masspory's defense for this garage when we started criticising them on it across social media and news media. If that's the case, why isn't this providing a better off-airport experience for that purpose?

This is a last gen plan to make up for decreasing parking revenue by capturing all the demand some people are suggesting, yes. It's still not great and the window dressing is still lipstick on an ugly pig of circular logic by people in denial about congestion.
 
The indoor bike storage and ped corridor is at least a nice touch after the fact that this is whats going here. Hopefully that roof over the sidewalk connects better to omni than the renders.
 
DigitalSciGuy said:
This could be mitigated by a reduction of parking at the airport since after all, that was Masspory's defense for this garage when we started criticising them on it across social media and news media. If that's the case, why isn't this providing a better off-airport experience for that purpose?
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Yep, more expensive than Logan's economy parking, longer trip that isn't free (unless you already have an MBTA monthly pass). This is not serving Logan. And their operator agrees, they don't even list Logan as a destination.
 
JohnAKeith said:
Good news is, I've yet to see this garage 1/3 full.
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It'll likely fill for PAX East. Which speaks to the real reason this thing got built.

Whatever the public justifications listed for this have been, it's been clear to me that the actual purpose is to accomplish a bunch of the shelved BCEC expansion plans via backdoor means.

In the shelved 2015 plans, they wanted to build 2 new garages. And they wanted more hotel development.

Without "building the expansion", thanks to Massport they get: A huge new garage right across the street, and an expansion to the one out in the Marine Industrial Park, totaling right around the number of spaces they wanted to build originally.

And Omni gets a subsidy to entice them to build a new flagship hotel for the convention center by not having to build their own parking deck for it.
 
millerm277 said:
It'll likely fill for PAX East. Which speaks to the real reason this thing got built.

Whatever the public justifications listed for this have been, it's been clear to me that the actual purpose is to accomplish a bunch of the shelved BCEC expansion plans via backdoor means.

In the shelved 2015 plans, they wanted to build 2 new garages. And they wanted more hotel development.

Without "building the expansion", thanks to Massport they get: A huge new garage right across the street, and an expansion to the one out in the Marine Industrial Park, totaling right around the number of spaces they wanted to build originally.

And Omni gets a subsidy to entice them to build a new flagship hotel for the convention center by not having to build their own parking deck for it.
Click to expand...

And the Omni includes as much Ballroom & Meeting space as a small convention center in its own right...
 
Smartiro said:
^
and if I remember correctly this garage received an exemption from it.
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The garage is MassPort, which I believe makes it automatically exempt from City of Boston regulations like the parking freeze.
 
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