Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

The same level of development should be happening with the East Boston waterfront and Charlestown navy yard
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

There is little left to develop at the Charlestown Navy Yard. It is also a National Historic Landmark.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

goldenretrievers said:
The same level of development should be happening with the East Boston waterfront and Charlestown navy yard
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Goldenretrievers -- No -- East Boston and South Boston are really very different animals [the Charlestown situation has been already mostly addressed]

While the distance between each and the traditional Financial District is comparable -- One has a multiplicity of bridges across the Fort Point Channel as part of its street grid, while the other has to deal with the Harbor. One sits at the nexus of two Interstate Highways while the other the other is rather poorly connected to one. One is within walking distance of South Station while the other is within walking distance of the Blue Line.

Finally for Southey there were those many acres of old rail yards which became acres of parking lots. Eastey has the old mostly unused piers, but not the vast open spaces. In the case of Eastey the existing 3-deckers come right up to the piers. In the case of Southey -- there was and even still is the huge gap between the piers and the residential neighborhood.

That said -- What could and should happen to East Boston is aggressive residential re-development of the shore line and piers, particularly where its an easy walk to Maverick Station. You are very unlikely to ever see much in the large office area, although I could imagine a mixed use development situated within walking distance of Logan and Maverick.

This development should be focused on the "grab-and-go consultants" who are out of town for much of the work week. It should be upscale, but not austentatious, mostly residential in character. However, to make it attractive to the consultants, the development would have a "We-Work"-like space for when they needed a local meet-and-greet space and a nice casual dining place with a nice low-key-tavern. That would be ideal for the consultant who wants a nice place for the weekend to both catch-up on work and relax. The walk to Logan while only a Blue Line from the Financial District, and a Blue/Green from the BSO and the MFA, would be very attractive to quite a few of my colleagues who now live in the suburbs as empty-nesting consultants.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

atlantaden said:
You could probably cut that 30 years of development in half. I'd have to say it was the completion of the Big Dig that really kicked development into high gear.

http://fanpierboston.net/fan-pier-history/
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Atlantaden -- its quite an interesting Boston-style history which involves: stuff left over [disused rail facilities], some valuable historic edifices, Greed [Anthony & McCourt], long-term plotting [Anthony & McCourt], Massport, Fidelity and our then powerful Congressional Delegation [O'Neil, Moakley], ambitious entrepreneurship, technology and ....

It actually starts with Massport trying to find a new use for the old Commonwealth Pier. They agree to lease it for a long term to a Fidelity real estate development entity to create something called BosCom [to be a permanent exhibition center to all things Telecom -- the biotech of the 1980's and 1990's.]
https://archive.org/stream/commonwealthpier00mass/commonwealthpier00mass_djvu.txt
Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the redevelopment of Commonwealth Pier Five. 1982
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BosCom never happened but the original plans got converted into building the Seaport Hotel [1998] and renovating Commonwealth Pier [1986]. As part of this enterprise the water and sewer lines were completely redone providing a lot of what is there now. Based on the success of the Hotel and the office spaces in the now World Trade Center Boston -- Fidelity springs for the two brick office towers next to the hotel [2000, 2002].

Meanwhile Anthony of the eponymous Pier 4 restaurant was busily buying up dead railroad assets [both the assets and in some cases the railroads] on the waterfront [Fan Pier]. He got greedy though and had some financial problems with his real estate development [i.e.. money partner -- the Pritzkers of the Hyatt Hotels]. To bail Anthony out from total financial ruin -- his friends in Congress [all of whom were some of his best customers -- hosting their fundraising "Times" @ Pier 4] arrange to build the US Courthouse [1999] and a new Bridge -- letting Anthony keep his Pier 4.

Meanwhile McCourt is buying-up the underused and empty land just inland of the piers which he operates as surface parking lots for years. Losing out on a scheme to buy the Ped Sox -- McCourt moves to LA buys the Dodgers and sells his land to another real estate developer -- ultimately Hynes [Seaport Square].

Meanwhile the Commonwealth decides that the Hynes [Yup - same as Seaport Sq that was his father Mayor Hynes -- this is Boston after all] is too small and the Bayside and WTC are in private hands so it creates yet another authority and builds the BCEC and Westin.

Meanwhile first there was to be a depression of the Central Artery [1st Dukakis] then a 3rd Tunnel [King] and then both [2nd Dulakis then Weld then Cellucci then Swift] so there is a lot of tearing up of a lot of the Seaport District -- the Opening of the Ted Williams Tunnel [1995] and then finally the integration of the Tunnels [Ted Williams with Tip O'Neil 2003]

Episode 1 and 2 conclude with the Seaport World Trade Complex, Federal Court House and the BCEC [2004] & Westin being built and the highways and Silver Line [2004], Manulife [aka John Hancock 2004]

Episode 3 is the period between the early 2005 and the real estate and general financial collapse circa 2007-2009 few not so important buildings

Episode 4 is where things stand now -- The modern Glass Box -- so in one sense it's over 30 years of development until now -- but in the other more correct sense the modern Glass Box Seaport is only 5 years old beginning with Vertex

Episode 5 will begin with the dedication of the GE HQ sometime in 2018
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

^ Can we just jump to Episode 6? I really want the Jedi to Return.

But honestly, nice chronology -- very indicative of the twists and turns of real estate development [aka politics] in Boston.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Parcel M is going to be huge. 1. because its actually a huge parcel, and 2. because its going to fill one of the last glaring gaps in seaport blvd. Its all up from here. I feel like once that is completed this will start to feel like a real neighborhood. Obviously theres a ton of space left but at least a good chunk will start to feel connected and cohesive.

Its going to have sort of a midtown manhattan feel as long as you don't look up. I say this because the ground level of midtown is mostly tower lobbies/retail laid out on a street grid. Obviously midtown is a whole different animal, but everywhere else in Boston has pretty much a 50/50 mix of old and new and this will all be new.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

tysmith95 said:
http://www.bostonherald.com/busines...ort_site_for_hq_plans_healthiest_workplace_in

Reebock is moving their headquarters to 25 Drydock Avenue in the Seaport bringing along 700 employees. It will contain a FitHub store, CrossFit gym and a mile-long track.
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Funny about how the Herald trumpets that Reebok is "bringing along 700 employees"!!!

Liked all of that until the buried last long sentence:

"Reebok is moving from its 350,000-square-foot campus in Canton, and will shed 300 jobs in the move, with 150 eliminated and the others moving out of state."

Woohoo - - they got a trophy HQ but subtracted 300 Mass. jobs. If this were a few years ago and Mr. Patrick was Governor, I'm sure the Tabloid paper of Boston wouldn't have buried that down at the end while shining the "gee wiz"! enthusiasm of the new HQ with all those amenities.

I do believe in the media business that is called "Burying the Lede".
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

shmessy said:
Funny about how the Herald trumpets that Reebok is "bringing along 700 employees"!!!

Liked all of that until the buried last long sentence:

"Reebok is moving from its 350,000-square-foot campus in Canton, and will shed 300 jobs in the move, with 150 eliminated and the others moving out of state."

Woohoo - - they got a trophy HQ but subtracted 300 Mass. jobs. If this were a few years ago and Mr. Patrick was Governor, I'm sure the Tabloid paper of Boston wouldn't have buried that down at the end while shining the "gee wiz"! enthusiasm of the new HQ with all those amenities.

I do believe in the media business that is called "Burying the Lede".
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Shmessy -- No the real story is that Adidas' merge with Reebok in 2006 didn't really go as intended. Adidas which is growing rapidly is sort of un-merging Reebok and I'm guessing sort of putting them on probation. When Adidas merged with Reebok it integrated into the new Canton facility some common stuff.

What will move into the Seaport / Innovation / GE-keiretsu district is the core of Reebok stripped of Adidas except as a corporate master. The rest of the people from Canton who are not moving are either redundant corporate level jobs with similar jobs at Adidas USA [Portland OR], or they will be moving to new expanded facilities in Portland.

Reebok has both a good and bad out of the move

the Good: -- new HQ will give them back a certain independence they lacked since 2006 -- the Bad -- the independence comes at the cost of not having the full Adidas corporate resources at their disposal. I wouldn't be surprised if Adidas admits it didn't work and tries to sell Reebok in the coming year or so.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

shmessy said:
Funny about how the Herald trumpets that Reebok is "bringing along 700 employees"!!!

Liked all of that until the buried last long sentence:

"Reebok is moving from its 350,000-square-foot campus in Canton, and will shed 300 jobs in the move, with 150 eliminated and the others moving out of state."

Woohoo - - they got a trophy HQ but subtracted 300 Mass. jobs. If this were a few years ago and Mr. Patrick was Governor, I'm sure the Tabloid paper of Boston wouldn't have buried that down at the end while shining the "gee wiz"! enthusiasm of the new HQ with all those amenities.

I do believe in the media business that is called "Burying the Lede".
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No, you're wrong there... journalism has suffered greatly in quality over the recent years... very little thoughtfulness in reporting, and what frequently passes a news story is just a rewritten press release. So, if Patrick had made a stink (which I actually doubt he would have), the Herald might have reported that, but otherwise, whatever the government pushes, the news often now just reports as fact. There's no conspiracy or burying of leads... it's just bad reporting.

Interestingly, the Globe put the job cuts in its headline on 11/3:

Reebok plans a big move — and some job cuts


Adidas, Reebok’s parent company, will put the nearly 60-acre Canton campus on the market once Reebok leaves.



Adidas, Reebok’s parent company, will put the nearly 60-acre Canton campus on the market once Reebok leaves.
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff November 03, 2016
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Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Did we know about this?:

BBJ: Channel Center developer proposes office, R&D building near future GE HQ

BBJ said:
A real-estate development firm that has shaped much of South Boston has plans to build a mid-rise office and R&D property near the A Street Park, Channel Center and Artists for Humanity.

CV Properties LLC proposed an eight-story, 266,750-square-foot office and R&D building at 105 W. First St., according to a letter of intent filed Dec. 15 with the Boston Planning and Development Agency.

[...]
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--------------------------------------

Also, odurandina posted this over in the Seaport Memorial Park thread, but it probably belongs better over here:

Globe: Seaport District may find its soul in park named for Martin Richard

Boston Globe said:
When it opens in 2018, the playground will feature a set of one-story-high slides with some of the best views of Boston overlooking the Fort Point Channel. Kids can splash around in a water garden, explore a marooned ship, play on logs, or climb rocks. There will even be a performance space and an upgrade to the Harborwalk with new benches facing the water.

[...]

The park is being designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh , the same landscape architect behind the much-heralded Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City.

[...]
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martinspark_biz.jpg
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

That Martin Richard park by Van Valkenburgh will be something else. That parcel by the channel's been sitting pretty ugly for sometime now, but it'll be worth it if they can get this park done.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Yeah this looks awesome. Especially because its such a prominent location. Don't forget about the connection under the bridge to the barking crab 'plaza' too (and the rowboat rental under the bridge actually activates the space really nicely..though the underbridge space would beneft bigly from some thoughtful 'tactical urbanism').

This looks like we could end up with a nice continuous active pedestrian boardwalk from Congress st all the way to northern ave
 
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