Seaport Square (Formerly McCourt Seaport Parcels)

Parcels M1 and M2 will be moving forward soon. From Banker & Tradesman:

Another development in Boston's burgeoning Seaport District is set to replace a parking lot with 750 condominiums and apartments, more places to shop and a new public plaza.

The upcoming phase of the 6.3-million-square-foot Seaport Square development calls for three 22-story towers containing nearly 900,000 square feet of residences and 125,000 square feet of retail. That comes in addition to 834 apartments and 260,000 square feet of retail now under construction in the first phase of the 23-acre project and an office building and hotel set to break ground by early August.
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They just keep coming!

What are the "834 apartments and 260,000 square feet of retail now under construction in the first phase"?


EDIT: Nevermind, it's 1 Seaport Square.
Also, did anyone catch this nice tidbit?

The three buildings would top out at 256 feet with 42-foot-tall podiums for the retail space, according to designs recently submitted to city officials.

In contrast to the boxy architecture of many recent Seaport developments, each building has various heights and setbacks from the property line to give the appearance of multiple structures. Stepbacks on higher floors provide space for large terraces.

"We didn't want it to look like an office building," Hynes said.
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vanshnookenraggen said:
Looks like some 1960s superblock development. How are they still fucking up the SBW so bad?
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It looks like they broke the superblock into three pieces with pedestrian pathways lined with 2-story retail. Let's wait for the ground-level renderings before we trash it. I just don't think the picture is very good.
 
If these three go up together it'll fill in a HUGE piece of streetwall. All of Parcel M plus L2, H, and J going up soon plus PwC's space and Watermark Seaport wrapping up now-- incredible. 256' is also taller than the 100 Pier 4 tower, adding further contrast to its (Parcel M's) already planned height variation and setbacks.
 
timsox6 said:
If these three go up together it'll fill in a HUGE piece of streetwall. All of Parcel M plus L2, H, and J going up soon plus PwC's space and Watermark Seaport wrapping up now-- incredible. 256' is also taller than the 100 Pier 4 tower, adding further contrast to its (Parcel M's) already planned height variation and setbacks.
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This would leave Parcel G as the only undeveloped lot on Seaport Boulevard, right? As long as District Hall and the current church are still standing, at least...

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Equilibria said:
It looks like they broke the superblock into three pieces with pedestrian pathways lined with 2-story retail. Let's wait for the ground-level renderings before we trash it. I just don't think the picture is very good.
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That is exactly what late 60s and early 70s superblocks did. Surrounded by arterial streets; if I put this rendering in black and white with some shitty instagram filter you'd think it was from 1971.

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Urban Development Plan, 1964 (Charles L. Stifter)
 
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I'm getting a very strong original Prudential Center vibe and that is not a good thing.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
That is exactly what late 60s and early 70s superblocks did. Surrounded by arterial streets; if I put this rendering in black and white with some shitty instagram filter you'd think it was from 1971.
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I'm just saying you could do that same thing to a render this bad of Assembly Square and probably make it look like that. This render doesn't present the real look of the project.

Also, the overall site plan has the whole block covered in a single building, with no pedestrian access to the middle and another 250' cube. Would that be better?
 
Open plaza on the waterfront.... That'll be fun for residents in the winter and early spring.
 
@Van I'm not really getting that impression. The buildings are on two story podia. That should preserve the streetwall on all sides and give a sense of continuity. The pedestrian paths through would then look like passageways to a pocket park - kinda like what you get in Manhattan on the East Side. The varying heights on top of the podia within each "building" give the illusion of there being multiple buildings - an illusion that won't be perceptible until the buildings are finished.
 
Looks like the Asscropolis of NYC, Washington Square Village.

Barf.
 
Why do you say, "This is a joke, right?"

b/c the Herald articles go behind a paywall after a week, here's Donna Goodison's article.

New Seaport plan rides waves
By Donna Goodison, Boston Herald

Seaport Square master developers are moving ahead with the latest installment of the new Seaport District neighborhood, encompassing three 22-story towers with almost 900,000 square feet of luxury residential space and 125,000 square feet of retail.

The $700 million development will take shape on a 3.5-acre parking lot along Seaport Boulevard that’s bounded by East Service Road, B Street and Congress Street.

“The site is under contract to a foreign investment group,” said John Hynes, CEO of Boston Global Investors. “They’ve hired us as their development partner, and we’re just going through the design review process right now for the site.”

BGI, a Hub real estate development and consulting firm, and Morgan Stanley are the master developers of Seaport Square, a $3.5 billion, 23-acre development that’s reshaping the South Boston waterfront.

The new project’s three towers each will be approximately 256 feet high and 300,000 square feet. Two will include about 400 condos, and the third tower will have about 350 apartments, according to Hynes. Three levels of underground parking with 800 spaces will be built.

Hynes declined to reveal the investors or where they’re from. The deal is contingent on getting permits and approvals in place.

The project’s design is being reviewed by the Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston Civic Design Commission, an advisory group that’s been “supportive of their approach to date,” according to BRA spokesman Nicholas Martin.

The outside investment group has financing in place for the project, and Hynes anticipates a first-quarter 2016 groundbreaking.

The retail space will be on the ground and second levels of the towers. Chestnut Hill’s WS Development is handling retail leasing, as it is with other Seaport Square projects. No retail tenants have been signed, according to Hynes. Although a large tenant such as a grocery store was planned for the site under the developers’ original plans filed with the BRA, Hynes said a supermarket isn’t likely.

Four pedestrian ways will bisect the site and converge on a 9,000-square-foot plaza.

The architects are New York’s Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Boston’s CBT.
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I understand there are some very well versed architecture professionals on this forum, but I simply don't understand the consistent pattern of totaling condemning any new rendering before it has any detail to it and then slowly showing support when it is getting build.

I am not an expert but I've walked through the Seaport area quite a bit recently during the day and evening and feel strongly it is coming together nicely with a good pedestrian feel to it in the areas that have been built up. It will never be a Back Bay, North End or South End, but I feel strongly that many of Kendall Square mistakes are not being made. We should never settle for mediocrity but at the same time we have to be realistic about what is achievable with a wasteland of parking lots. People are paying a lot of money to buy or rent in the area, so it can't be that bad...
 
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