Seaport Square (Formerly McCourt Seaport Parcels)

Still a lot of parking lots to be developed

In 10 years it will be nice to have some careful and thoroughly posed "Before's" to show to a visitor -- this is the Seaport as it looked in 2015/2016 --after the 2nd gen was completed -- all glass box

First Gen being the Courthouse and Seaport Hotel and Office Bldgs -- all masonry
 
All I am saying is that this area took 20 years to develop because it was so intensely scrutinized, but honestly at the end of the day what did all that time and effort yield. A neighborhood that is honestly quite bland collection of midrises and very few unique traits.

Don't get me wrong, it is nice down there and will be an asset to the City in it own way. Its just no better than what would have happened down there 20 years ago.

20 years of red tape and scrutiny, and this is what the output was????????
 
nepatz11 said:
All I am saying is that this area took 20 years to develop because it was so intensely scrutinized, but honestly at the end of the day what did all that time and effort yield. A neighborhood that is honestly quite bland collection of midrises and very few unique traits.

Don't get me wrong, it is nice down there and will be an asset to the City in it own way. Its just no better than what would have happened down there 20 years ago.

20 years of red tape and scrutiny, and this is what the output was????????
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Netpatz-- No it wasn't scrutiny and Red Tape -- the 20 year period was all about Mega Legal Fees associated with the various disputes that had locked up various pieces of land -- and then there were several Real Estate Development Cycles

Remember that it took more than 50 years for the Back Bay -- another neighborhood of comparable area -- that was mostly "a quite bland collection" of low to midrises -- to get filled and developed

This one is still a work in progress -- give it time to fill-out
 
A park is to be designed for the lot next to the Children's Museum, as per the Boston Globe. I believe this is technically the oft-forgotten Parcel E of the Seaport Square development-- that little patch of grass by the Fort Point Channel. Though I don't think that Seaport Square has anything to do with this, I figured this would be the best place to post this article.
 
I like how the reflection on the PWC building makes it look transparent to Parcel K behind it.
 
Before you all clobber the waterfront for not being "more", as an outsider, given the FAA height limitations, I love what is going on down there on the waterfront. My last memories of the waterfront are from the mid-2000's after the convention center opened. I was there over the summer and was blown away by how much has been built and the level of after-work activity was impressive. Most big cities would kill for a huge swath of parking lots literally next door to downtown that could be built upon.
 
nico said:
Sorry, but with so much going on down here I'm having a hard time figuring out where this is going. Is this Skanska project happening?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/09/seaport/hhtWcZ2GMaYqJbRPOAINRP/story.html
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If you take another look at the image from the article, you'll see the completed PWC tower to the right of Skanska's tower. This is on the SW corner of Seaport Blvd and E Service Road:

C1_2.jpg


Hope that's helpful.
 
The retail in parcel H will be a CapitalOne 360 Cafe. Joy to the world...
 
The proliferation of coffee shops in the city during the last 3 years has been crazy
 
This may be off topic, but has anyone here actually wandered into one of those Capital One Cafes? Is it like a coffee shop with a bank function or more like a bank branch with a coffee shop?
 
mdd said:
This may be off topic, but has anyone here actually wandered into one of those Capital One Cafes? Is it like a coffee shop with a bank function or more like a bank branch with a coffee shop?
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In my one experience at the Boylston branch, it seemed like a decent coffee shop (like a Starbucks that serves Peets) with (off to the side) a banking desk where a couple advisors are available--the banking aspects are clearly taking a back seat in terms of real estate and vibe. Nothing heavy-handed but also nothing very special.
 
I can't imagine how the Capital 360 cafes can sustain themselves - will Capital One close up shop like Citibank did? Maybe they'll leave the cafes?

The cafe at Ink Block was dead when I was in there - four or five 20-something banking clerks standing there while I drank my Peets and used the wifi. Felt weird.
 
I've had a CapitalOne 360 account since before CapitalOne bought out ING's ING Direct online banking division. It's one of the few places where you can physically deposit checks into your CapitalOne 360 online-only checking account. It's been useful to me a number of times, being able to actually go to someone to help me with the rare issue with my bank account rather than having to navigate a phone menu or escalation tree.

Even before the purchase, ING Direct was playing with the coffee shop-cum-bank concept.

The South End and Boylston Street locations feature meeting spaces that they donate to non-profits to reserve. If anything, they act as brand embassies to CapitalOne 360. They're not heavy-handed with selling you their banking products because they're already providing a casual atmosphere that also doubles as a means of brand exposure. I don't know the business relationship with Peet's Coffee and CapitalOne 360 - how they manage leasing of the space, who pays who to be in said space - but it probably doesn't hurt to partner/split the cost of business expansion with a large national bank.

The cafe in Ink Block is also very much an island in a way that the other Boston branches at Cleveland Circle, Boylston Street (formerly Anthrpopologie), and Downtown Crossing (Tremont & Winter Sts) aren't, so I'm not surprised to hear that it's dead at any hour on any day of the week. Google seems to think that one is more busy in the late morning than any other time.

Either way, it'll be a nice third space for people working here during the day. Depending on how much of the ground floor retail in Parcel H it'll be taking up, it could be adding more useful meeting space for non-profits and other groups now competing for space at District Hall across the street.

CapitalOne's full banks have also paired up with Starbucks elsewhere. I've camped out at this one on 42nd Street in Manhattan while I waited for a friend to interview with an architecture firm. The bank closed, a security partition went down, and it just turned into a Starbucks. It's possible they could do that here, too. Again, low risk venture for them while still achieving brand awareness with the general public and providing actual banking services to their customers.
 
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