Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

Seaport sq park opened tonight at 5. Theyve replaced a large part of the boardwalk with a grass patch.



Older version
A3JCP3WPVUI6PCCTL7H3XNBV4M.jpg


Id say its an improvement for giving people a space to sit down on the grass vs wood. There still is a boardwalk leading up to it.

Also heres a new render with updated N and P parcels
i-1-90683358-boston-park.jpg

https://www.fastcompany.com/90683358/how-to-humanize-a-22-billion-neighborhood-built-from-scratch
 
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shmessy said:
Once again, the bowed glass side is spectacular. And it worked out in the end that the other sides are now mostly hidden by neighboring developments. But that was a ghost town around that building before the others came in to hide it. Perhaps it was built with that in mind for the future.
Click to expand...
It was always expected that the non-harbor side would fade away in the sea of development about to come. The structure was designed to have only one very public face, which they nailed.
 
HenryAlan said:
It was always expected that the non-harbor side would fade away in the sea of development about to come. The structure was designed to have only one very public face, which they nailed.
Click to expand...

Still, would it have been the worst thing if they made the Seaport Boulevard side (main artery and sidewalk) more pedestrian friendly and less fortress-like? For human beings, that is not a hidden area at all.

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com

....and please, no comments about "Security needs to be like a bunker for that type of courthouse!". Then that particular location - one of a kind - should never have been chosen.
 
Isn’t there a Silver Line station 150 feet west of there near Warby Parker?
 
shmessy said:
Still, would it have been the worst thing if they made the Seaport Boulevard side (main artery and sidewalk) more pedestrian friendly and less fortress-like? For human beings, that is not a hidden area at all.

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com

....and please, no comments about "Security needs to be like a bunker for that type of courthouse!". Then that particular location - one of a kind - should never have been chosen.
Click to expand...

Please, no more about Moakley Courthouse. It's there, you have zero control over it, quit whining.
 
urbanmansprawler said:
Please, no more about Moakley Courthouse. It's there, you have zero control over it, quit whining.
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Ummm….who the hell are you - eight days in - coming in here and setting your rules for the members here???? You DO understand you entered an architectural/urban planning discussion forum? Information and the free flow of opinions is what this forum is about. Obviously, you are confused.

If you don't like it, "mansprawl" somewhere else.
 
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HelloBostonHi said:
We've been over this before, its part of the developer's commitments for building on that parcel.
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The other problem I have with this is that we all know because it is a public project, it'll take much longer than it has to. Preliminary estimates point to 20 months. That is already pitiful and does not account for potential (guaranteed) delays.
 
Nimbys against labs.

I'll put this Globe article here as the Fort Point / Seaport are is featured. The main complaints are the outsized mechanical penthouses on the roofs. When existing buildings are converted to labs, the mechanicals add the equivalent of another floor or more. And they're noisy.

.... a virtual hearing that Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty held in July to scrutinize the flood of lab conversions. The Fort Point Neighborhood Association has been talking with Flynn about the need to improve Boston Public Health Commission staffing levels and to provide enhanced emergency services to the waterfront area, Ready said, because of the use of chemicals and biohazards among the city’s growing number of labs.

Flynn and Flaherty said they recognize the outsize role that biotech companies are playing in helping Boston’s economy weather the pandemic. But they also want to listen to their constituents in South Boston, where new lab projects pop up seemingly every week.

Flynn said it’s important to ensure a fire station gets built in the traffic-choked Seaport, in part because so many labs are being built there. And Flaherty said developers should give up some of the leasable areas in their buildings to accommodate these mechanical systems, a trade-off to keep height and noise in check. BioMed agreed to do exactly that, by filling the top floor of the former Hancock building with mechanical systems, cutting into the amount of lab space that could be built there.
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Another complaint is that labs don't operate 9 to 5.
Others dislike the labs’ round-the-clock operations, with foot traffic and lights at all hours.
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Probably the factoid of greatest import in this article is this:
Greater Boston’s life sciences sector could add up to 40,000 jobs through 2024 to staff the extra 20 million square feet of new lab and biomanufacturing construction and conversions planned over that time, driven by medical breakthroughs and a surge of investment, said Joe Boncore, the new chief executive of MassBio.
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www.bostonglobe.com

As labs replace offices across Greater Boston, pushback is mounting from wary neighbors - The Boston Globe

The rapid growth of biotech labs in Greater Boston might end up saving the region’s commercial real estate market, if not its entire economy, from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean everyone wants one to open next door.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 
stellarfun said:
Nimbys against labs.

I'll put this Globe article here as the Fort Point / Seaport are is featured. The main complaints are the outsized mechanical penthouses on the roofs. When existing buildings are converted to labs, the mechanicals add the equivalent of another floor or more. And they're noisy.



Another complaint is that labs don't operate 9 to 5.


Probably the factoid of greatest import in this article is this:


www.bostonglobe.com

As labs replace offices across Greater Boston, pushback is mounting from wary neighbors - The Boston Globe

The rapid growth of biotech labs in Greater Boston might end up saving the region’s commercial real estate market, if not its entire economy, from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean everyone wants one to open next door.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Click to expand...

I read the article, albeit a bit quickly, but would it be fair to say that NIMBYs aren't specifically in Seaport or Fort Point? I see points raised that neighbors weren't aware until construction started and the want for some accommodations to be made to mitigate noise, but I didn't see anything about outright opposition. I think some of the other areas (e.g., Somerville, Newton) are exhibiting more NIMBY-like behavior. Just figured I would try to clarify since this is being posted in this thread (unless I read the article wrong).
 
stick n move said:
Seaport sq park opened tonight at 5. Theyve replaced a large part of the boardwalk with a grass patch.



Older version
A3JCP3WPVUI6PCCTL7H3XNBV4M.jpg


Id say its an improvement for giving people a space to sit down on the grass vs wood. There still is a boardwalk leading up to it.

Also heres a new render with updated N and P parcels
i-1-90683358-boston-park.jpg

https://www.fastcompany.com/90683358/how-to-humanize-a-22-billion-neighborhood-built-from-scratch
Click to expand...
Do we have an estimate on what the added population density of these 25 buildings brought?

Would love to see a point-to-point heat map of where people are coming/going, especially how much activity is locally driven vs only during work/convention hours.
 
In case you missed this article imbedded in Vagabond’s/Stick’s previous post above! The video in the article is worth watching as well.

www.fastcompany.com

How to humanize a $22 billion neighborhood built from scratch

The heart of this massive Boston project is a rock-strewn park by James Corner Field Operations, the architects behind New York City’s High Line.
www.fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com
 
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