Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport
Revisionism. There were scores of meetings held between 1997 and 2003, after Kraft was given the boot, well over 100 meetings hosted by BRA alone (PRP, MHP, etc). Over 1,000 area stakeholders, including an entire Seaport Focus Team from BSA, collaborated with BRA and landowners to shape a truly extraordinary district. Over $8 billion had been invested directly and indirectly, priming the waterfront for a boom after the 2008 recession.
There were compromises getting to "yes" with the big three landowners and their respective master plans (PDAs) at Fan Pier, Pier 4 and Seaport Square. But far more importantly, one has to understand the impact that quietly filed and approved amendments to these three PDAs have had on the district, jettisoning countless long-planned elements that contributed to any sense of coherent public realm and civic realm. Even view corridors lending a sense of where the Harbor was were casually lost for the sake of project-by-project increases in massing. None of the above, nor compromises on architecture and materials (does 16/60 large waterfront projects by one firm resemble other cities?), were necessary to make projects pencil. One master developer left the district with almost $400M in profit doing little more than spending 5 years flipping empty lots with development rights. In summary: BRA gave away the candy store. I won't get into the politics here. As for Massport, there has been near-zero accountability. For the record, Massport also strayed from any sense of vision, despite hiring Krieger Chan for its master plan.
Carry on, AB.
Nobody predicted what would happen down there. Part of it is people, particularly but not limited to NIMBY's, are stuck in the 1970's mentality that the whole area is depopulating. If that's your view, then even the silver line is a waste of money, let alone running the green line to what was a series of vacant lots. But even the people who did think it would become a neighborhood never envisioned it taking off this quickly. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20.
Revisionism. There were scores of meetings held between 1997 and 2003, after Kraft was given the boot, well over 100 meetings hosted by BRA alone (PRP, MHP, etc). Over 1,000 area stakeholders, including an entire Seaport Focus Team from BSA, collaborated with BRA and landowners to shape a truly extraordinary district. Over $8 billion had been invested directly and indirectly, priming the waterfront for a boom after the 2008 recession.
There were compromises getting to "yes" with the big three landowners and their respective master plans (PDAs) at Fan Pier, Pier 4 and Seaport Square. But far more importantly, one has to understand the impact that quietly filed and approved amendments to these three PDAs have had on the district, jettisoning countless long-planned elements that contributed to any sense of coherent public realm and civic realm. Even view corridors lending a sense of where the Harbor was were casually lost for the sake of project-by-project increases in massing. None of the above, nor compromises on architecture and materials (does 16/60 large waterfront projects by one firm resemble other cities?), were necessary to make projects pencil. One master developer left the district with almost $400M in profit doing little more than spending 5 years flipping empty lots with development rights. In summary: BRA gave away the candy store. I won't get into the politics here. As for Massport, there has been near-zero accountability. For the record, Massport also strayed from any sense of vision, despite hiring Krieger Chan for its master plan.
Carry on, AB.