Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

[tmac9wr]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Why would these parcels not allow residential? Is there any reason?

 

[SeamusMcFly]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Thank you. And, here I was thinking, no property is bordered by Northern Ave. Congress and Haul Road.... dope. Scroll over.

Also, I apologize for misnaming those atrocious building at Park Lane.

I'm sticking with the no reason to not have residential however even knowing where it is.

 

[TheRifleman]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Mikey I like the map. So when will the city be providing an underground Hard rail for easy access to this destination spot? Oh wait what was I thinking. We have the Silverline Bus driving to this location YIPPEEE......Talk about an efficient way of traveling to a future destination spot.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

The good news is.... just in that article I counted 1525 new residential units. It's not the critical mass number yet that everyone has clamoured for, but it does seem better than some of the doom and gloom numbers we were discussing a year ago. Hopefully that number triples of course. But, on the surface it seems to be trending better anyways.

Retail in the base of each is also promising. 640 parking spots versus a total of 554 (apts. + hotel) rooms will make plenty of heads explode I suppose.

To put these numbers in perspective...

1500 units in an area of 1 x 1 mile (2/3rds the size of Charlestown).

Of which...

1/3rd are under way in Fort Point.
1/3rd are luxury residential (Waterside, Pier 4).
1/3rd are 1 mile from Fan Pier (West 1st and D St), still lacking cross-Seaport public transit.
Groundbreakings anticipated: Skanska on Seaport Square, 399 Congress (next year). 22 Liberty at Fan Pier (housing is announced every year on Fan Pier for the past decade).

At the same time, over next 2 years, Vertex and State St are bringing upwards of 4,000-5,000 employees to the area.

My point: 1500 units (all rental, no condo) on an area of 1 x 1 mile is still a drop in the bucket relative to office/hotel density. And it's far lower in density than the BRA and Mayor states publicly -- they continue to suggest that housing is under construction at 1/3rd of total Seaport density including office and hotel towers... a complete fiction.

 

[choo]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

this area will be office and luxury residential. With the height caps you can't build to the market demand, it is artificially constrained. So you maximize your profit by building the most profitable way. That means office and luxury. Sorry, but if your not pulling in a lot of cash, you can't live on the water in an area with high end jobs and restaurants and access to everything a rich person would want. Fact of life.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I have no problem with luxury residential on the world's finest waterfront. My point is that housing numbers are scant, including luxury residential numbers.

I have a problem with a politically driven process that has hampered construction of condos on the waterfront, including luxury residential.

We're talking about a waterfront (and developers) that benefit from $8 billion in public investment, 20 years of BRA upzoning, and $100 million in tax breaks targeted at "blighted" districts.

A healthy mix of uses leveraged through planning and zoning were entirely possible.

And if there was one area of Boston that could have set the highest standard for architecture based on area public investment, the Seaport was it.

 

[novitiate]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Mikey I like the map. So when will the city be providing an underground Hard rail for easy access to this destination spot? Oh wait what was I thinking. We have the Silverline Bus driving to this location YIPPEEE......Talk about an efficient way of traveling to a future destination spot.

To be fair, at least the bus is in a grade-separated tunnel, and it's not a long ride to the actual subway at South Station.

 

[Arborway]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

To be fair, at least the bus is in a grade-separated tunnel, and it's not a long ride to the actual subway at South Station.

Silver Line buses travel more slowly in the half a billion dollar tunnel than they do in mixed traffic.

 

[TheRifleman]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

We're talking about a waterfront (and developers) that benefit from $8 billion in public investment, 20 years of BRA upzoning, and $100 million in tax breaks targeted at "blighted" districts.

Sicilian, Your killing me..........with those numbers. Too much commone sense will get you barred from this site.

The Silver Line more slowly in its half a billion dollar tunnel than it does in mixed traffic.

No Joke: Now this is innovation.

Yahoo news they are talking about Super High Speed travel.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trendin...ube-travel-could-york-los-171007828.html?vp=1

Boston transit solution to help Seaport Thrive into the 21 century:
The SILVERLINE BUS.

Maybe if we had competent leaders they would have invested billions that Sicilian references into Hard-rail extensions into the Seaport which would have helped businesses & taxpayers prosper instead of helping individuals developers or corporations.

 

[12345]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

First of all massport is self sufficient and gets no state funding. Construction costs are rising in the seaport but many more residential units will start by the middle of next year.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

First of all massport is self sufficient and gets no state funding. Construction costs are rising in the seaport but many more residential units will start by the middle of next year.

Massport is self-sufficient.

That is, if being gifted FREE a few hundred acres of tax-free, zoning-free waterfront property for speculative development is self-sufficient.

Of course, their competitors in the hotel/office development arena have to pay for land, and (in some cases) pay taxes. And then those competitors have to comply with City zoning, BRA concessions, etc. etc. etc.

It always astonishes me how Massport, BCEC, EDIC et al. portray themselves as business and development experts, having been handed every land resource free of charge.

 

[Arborway]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

It always astonishes me how Massport, BCEC, EDIC et al. portray themselves as business and development experts, having been handed every land resource free of charge.

Heirs to great fortunes will tell you the exact same thing.

 

[czsz]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Here's the site plan for what's replacing the 2010 Shanghai Expo site:

Look familiar? Superblocks, stumps, excessive greenspace, massive streets. It's almost like they brought in the BRA to plan it.

I guess outside a few prestige projects in places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, and upgrading third world shantytowns, we can't build cities anymore.

 

[choo]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

^The red building looks like their very own city hall.

 

[shmessy]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Here's the site plan for what's replacing the 2010 Shanghai Expo site:

Look familiar? Superblocks, stumps, excessive greenspace, massive streets. It's almost like they brought in the BRA to plan it.

I guess outside a few prestige projects in places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, and upgrading third world shantytowns, we can't build cities anymore.

The other thing that is obvious there as similar to the Seaport "architecture" is every building in that markup has a 90 degree angle at the top - - - they are almost all boxes.

No Hats Allowed! This is the 21st century and all imagination is banned!

 

[KentXie]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

The other thing that is obvious there as similar to the Seaport "architecture" is every building in that markup has a 90 degree angle at the top - - - they are almost all boxes.

No Hats Allowed! This is the 21st century and all imagination is banned!

Are you sure that those models aren't for just massing purposes?

 

[SeamusMcFly]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

To put these numbers in perspective...

1500 units in an area of 1 x 1 mile (2/3rds the size of Charlestown).

Of which...

1/3rd are under way in Fort Point.
1/3rd are luxury residential (Waterside, Pier 4).
1/3rd are 1 mile from Fan Pier (West 1st and D St), still lacking cross-Seaport public transit.
Groundbreakings anticipated: Skanska on Seaport Square, 399 Congress (next year). 22 Liberty at Fan Pier (housing is announced every year on Fan Pier for the past decade).

At the same time, over next 2 years, Vertex and State St are bringing upwards of 4,000-5,000 employees to the area.

My point: 1500 units (all rental, no condo) on an area of 1 x 1 mile is still a drop in the bucket relative to office/hotel density. And it's far lower in density than the BRA and Mayor states publicly -- they continue to suggest that housing is under construction at 1/3rd of total Seaport density including office and hotel towers... a complete fiction.

Agreed, that's why I wrote with the cautious optimism.
The best hope is for the res. here to start selling very fast and encourage more residential based on that success. Otherwise we will get the office/lab/hotel goers, but not an 18/7 (being reasonable as Boston will never let itself be 24/7) neighborhood.

 

[12345]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Expect the Seaport to continue leading the downtown submarkets; 16 companies from outside the city are shopping for office space of 10k SF or more there, and 15 more are considering it, Dave tells us.

After sustained silence, lenders have resurfaced in the last 120 days, says Jim, whose firm focuses on brokering deals of about $15M. With debt capital available, a wave of new supply will hit Boston by '17 despite the extremely high cost of construction—about $400/SF for a select-service property without a grand ballroom or big formal restaurant. (That's pricey for a place where you can't have a grand ball.)

http://www.bisnow.com/commercial-real-estate/boston/new-hotels-bring-em-on/

 

[Hutchison]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Couldn't find the discussion of the earlier proposals.

Developer Selected for Boston Marine Industrial Park Parcel

Total Project Cost: $70 million
Total Square Feet: 122,521
Jobs: 211 construction jobs
LEED: LEED Certifiable

"The BRA board tentatively designated Madison Marquette as the redeveloper of Wharf 8/Pier 7, an Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) owned parcel in the Boston Marine Industrial Park (BMIP). The parcel is bounded by Liberty Wharf to the west, Northern Avenue to the south, and the Bank of America Pavilion to the east, and includes 6.5 acres of watersheet and approximately 2 acres of existing pile area.

Madison Marquette proposes a mixed use project with institutional, maritime, commercial, and office facilities in two buildings, and additional activation of the watersheet. One building will total 101,521 square feet with 80,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses on the first, second, and third floors. The fourth floor, consisting of 21,000 square feet, will host the Maritime Studies Program of Endicott College.

A second building, consisting of 21,000 square feet on three floors, will be home to maritime companies Boston Harbor Pilots, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Mass Bay Cruiselines, and Boston Line & Service Company. The development will also accommodate ferry service, towing, and barge vessels and the 135 foot Schooner Roseway, which houses the World Ocean School.

In May 2012 EDIC issued a Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the redevelopment of Wharf 8/Pier 7 into a site with water-dependent industrial uses that would enhance the role of the BMIP as an economic development catalyst for the Innovation District. On August 20, 2012 EDIC received four proposals from Madison Marquette, Harborlights LLC, the Cronin Group, and Cresset Development.

Wharf 7/Pier 8 is in a Designated Port Area and is zoned Maritime Economy Reserve (MER), which protects the waterfront by restricting the types of projects that can be developed. As a Designated Port Area, apartments/condominiums, hotels/motels, health care facilities, recreation boating, entertainment or sports complexes, and general office buildings are prohibited. MER permits maritime industrial uses, including: bulk and containerized cargo handling operations; large vessel service support and repair; seafood processing and distribution; passenger vessel operations; and similar uses."

From: http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho...ino-announces-new-projects-moving-forward-13/

 

[stellarfun]

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Is this (Wharf 8, Pier 7) across the street from the parks near parcel E?