Seaport Square (Formerly McCourt Seaport Parcels)

JumboBuc said:
There's discussion of this over in the Amazon HQ2 Thread but I think it belongs here: Amazon is taking 16 of the 18 floors in Seaport Square Parcel L4 with an additional option to take Parcel L5. It's still technically in the "negotiation" stage, but it's now public and the Mayor's bragging about it, so it's all but a done deal.

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[Globe Article]
[BPDA Document (PDF)]
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I googled the phrase "Demonstration Project Application" and came up blank (except for stuff about the GE Headquarters). How is this related to PNF and all the other verbiage I'm familiar with? My reading of the PDF only comes up with the idea that the applicant (the land owner) is "demonstrating" interest from Amazon in order to start the gears running on a PILOT agreement. If anyone more understanding could chime in, it would be much appreciated.

Another interesting quote from the PDF: "Construction of the L4 Building is scheduled to begin in the 3'd quarter of 2018 and be completed in 2021"
 
reverend_paco said:
I googled the phrase "Demonstration Project Application" and came up blank (except for stuff about the GE Headquarters). How is this related to PNF and all the other verbiage I'm familiar with? My reading of the PDF only comes up with the idea that the applicant (the land owner) is "demonstrating" interest from Amazon in order to start the gears running on a PILOT agreement. If anyone more understanding could chime in, it would be much appreciated.

Another interesting quote from the PDF: "Construction of the L4 Building is scheduled to begin in the 3'd quarter of 2018 and be completed in 2021"
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Ok. I'm going to try to answer my own question. The operable law for the BPDA's powers (formerly known as BRA) can be found here:

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXVII/Chapter121B/Section46

Seciton 46 F gives the power to the BPDA "to develop, test and report methods and techniques and carry out demonstrations for the prevention and elimination of slums and urban blight"

Building L4 will be subdivided into a condominum, with the office component being the majority of the building, into which Amazon will go. By doing this, a PILOT program to create new jobs by a certain year can be used to induce Amazon into the building. The state gets 2K new jobs, and Amazon gets PILOT of $5/million a year to the owner of the office complex who passes the savings onto them. The condominium arrangement allows the BPDA to take an "interest" in the property to enforce the PILOT provisions.

All of this rigamarole is "demonstrating" "methods and techniques" for removing blight (i.e. the parking lot).

IANAL and this is all my best guess after reading it.

In summary, if the PILOT agreement is approved by BPDA, then we move forward to PNF, etc.
 
430k of Amazon to Seaport Square, 300k of MassMutual to Fan Pier in one week. Not bad. Now time to get moving on the housing parcels.
 
Phenomenal video. In viewing it though I am reminded of a feature that the Seaport lacks - a great fountain. As a fountain/water feature junky, I believe there is a need for more and better water features (apart from the Harbor itself of course). In general, Boston does not have many great fountains. I am surprised that there hasn't been more discussion of locating a grand fountain in the Seaport.
 
dirtywater said:
Phenomenal video. In viewing it though I am reminded of a feature that the Seaport lacks - a great fountain. As a fountain/water feature junky, I believe there is a need for more and better water features (apart from the Harbor itself of course). In general, Boston does not have many great fountains. I am surprised that there hasn't been more discussion of locating a grand fountain in the Seaport.
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The only thing remotely close is the little water feature that is the Fallen Heroes Memorial. I can see the logic in not having grand fountains. They are expensive, probably a pain to maintain, and can only operate for part of the year. I remember the fountains in the Boston Common being more active in years past than they have been in recent years, generally speaking.

Come by and check out the water "features" tomorrow when the area gets flooded again :).
 
jl326 said:
The only thing remotely close is the little water feature that is the Fallen Heroes Memorial. I can see the logic in not having grand fountains. They are expensive, probably a pain to maintain, and can only operate for part of the year. I remember the fountains in the Boston Common being more active in years past than they have been in recent years, generally speaking.
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They are a pain to maintain. Developers hate them, but most people love them. Given the scale of Seaport Square, one grand fountain or water feature doesn't seem like an inappropriate requirement.
 
shmessy said:
Fantastic - - thank you Awood! That is probably the most definitive video presentation of Seaport I have seen to date. I just watched it for the first, and definitely not last time. Well done.
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sold me
 
FitchburgLine said:
430k of Amazon to Seaport Square, 300k of MassMutual to Fan Pier in one week. Not bad. Now time to get moving on the housing parcels.
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With land and building costs as expensive as it is, and with these companies coming in, I think it does make sense that as much of the current and future housing stock here should be as market rate as possible. I understand that's probably not a popular opinion here, but I see the shoddy, bargain-basement, "luxury" builds all over Cambridge and they are just plain awful (e.g., $3K+/mo. for the market rate units for fake wood flooring, paper thin walls, IKEA-tastic finishes, cheap exteriors). Let the developers build good quality housing and charge them whatever they're worth to who's willing to buy or rent to be here.

Notable companies in the immediate area already include, or will include in addition to Amazon and MassMutual: Fidelity, PwC, Goodwin Proctor, Vertex, Alexion, PTC, BCG, Cengage, Fish & Richardson, and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. That's a lot of personal income and property taxes for the benefit of the state.
 
jl326 said:
With land and building costs as expensive as it is, and with these companies coming in, I think it does make sense that as much of the current and future housing stock here should be as market rate as possible. I understand that's probably not a popular opinion here, but I see the shoddy, bargain-basement, "luxury" builds all over Cambridge and they are just plain awful (e.g., $3K+/mo. for the market rate units for fake wood flooring, paper thin walls, IKEA-tastic finishes, cheap exteriors). Let the developers build good quality housing and charge them whatever they're worth to who's willing to buy or rent to be here.
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The "affordable" component of housing developments just increases the price of the market rate housing. If developers didn't have to set aside a portion of units or an upfront payment then they would most likely build more.
 
dirtywater said:
They are a pain to maintain. Developers hate them, but most people love them. Given the scale of Seaport Square, one grand fountain or water feature doesn't seem like an inappropriate requirement.
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For what it's worth, I'm not disagreeing that it would be nice. I'd like to see one as well. I just don't see it happening for the reasons noted.
 
I always envisioned a Boston symbol type fountain at the end of the Pier 4 Condo building, perhaps a giant Cod, or a Lobster, or a Whale shooting out water into the harbor similar to the Merlion fountain in Singapore. Would have been a killer visual! (Sorry, I tried to upload a Merlion pic from Photobucket, wouldn't let me and I've done it before many times.)
 
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tysmith95 said:
The "affordable" component of housing developments just increases the price of the market rate housing. If developers didn't have to set aside a portion of units or an upfront payment then they would most likely build more.
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The luxury market rate housing does subsidize the affordable component by being slightly higher but developers will definitely not build more affordable housing on their own (why would they since market rate will never fall to the level of affordable, at least not within city limits).
 
atlantaden said:
I always envisioned a Boston symbol type fountain at the end of the Pier 4 Condo building, perhaps a giant Cod, or a Lobster, or a Whale shooting out water into the harbor similar to the Merlion fountain in Singapore. Would have been a killer visual! (Sorry, I tried to upload a Merlion pic from Photobucket, wouldn't let me and I've done it before many times.)
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I think something like this (without the tacky Russian aesthetic) would be a killer feature along the stepped pedestrian passage connecting Summer and Congress streets.

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I was expecting Amazon to go into parcel D/88 Seaport, which was supposed to break ground in the spring afaik. This makes more sense for Amazon as they can grow nearby if needed but I wonder what it does for 88 Seaport development.
 
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