Seaport Square (Formerly McCourt Seaport Parcels)

At the end of the day, I ended up taking a walk through Kendal Square and part of MIT's campus in Cambridge. After five minutes, I was surrounded by all new and shiny office-like buildings. It felt like I had teleported to Waltham or Burlington. Everything was so dry and depressing. I began to realize that there was no ground level program for at least a 15-20 minute walking radius. It literary felt like I had found myself in an office park...

I just hope this doesn't happen (any more than what's already there) to South Boston. The renderings for Seaport Square do look good ... but it won't matter unless people want to inhabit these spaces. I hope that the ground level program mentioned above will help give the place character and "charm", as vanshnookenraggen mentioned above.

Only if the Silver Line were light rail then I would have more confidence in the development of South Boston. Rail is the the kind of catalyst this area needs...
 
Ron Newman said:
Seaport Hill -- where is this? The current land is flat, being landfill.
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The land is flat, except Summer Street is a full floor above the rest of the land. Seaport Hill brings the grade up to Summer Street, so it doesn't just fly by overhead.
 
Riverworks said:
At the end of the day, I ended up taking a walk through Kendal Square and part of MIT's campus in Cambridge. After five minutes, I was surrounded by all new and shiny office-like buildings. It felt like I had teleported to Waltham or Burlington. Everything was so dry and depressing. I began to realize that there was no ground level program for at least a 15-20 minute walking radius. It literary felt like I had found myself in an office park...
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I went on an anxiety-inducing "field trip" to the waterfront last week. I had been there before, but I decided to dedicate the better part of an afternoon to walking around and taking in everything that was there - without letting myself be prejudiced by the surface parking lots that will be gone in short order.

Like you, I couldn't feel comfortable. I found it to be a soulless, spirit-crushing place that no one in their right mind should consider an ideal template for 21st century Boston.

Riverworks said:
I just hope this doesn't happen (any more than what's already there) to South Boston. The renderings for Seaport Square do look good ... but it won't matter unless people want to inhabit these spaces. I hope that the ground level program mentioned above will help give the place character and "charm", as vanshnookenraggen mentioned above.
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I'm not sold on the renderings for Seaport Square. I'm worried (and I believe rightfully so) that it'll just turn out to be another sea of copycat prefab exteriors, green-tinted glass, blade awnings and endless blank walls facing every public thoroughfare.

Riverworks said:
Only if the Silver Line were light rail then I would have more confidence in the development of South Boston. Rail is the the kind of catalyst this area needs...
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The irony is the utter failure of a transit mode that the Silver Line is can be considered a fitting "solution" for an area where the pedestrian is deprecated to such an extent. The Waterfront is not being built with pedestrians in mind. It's meant for visiting via car. You're supposed to drive there, do something specific, then leave from the parking garage. Or at least that's the feeling I get strolling around.
 
The Back Bay looked truly crappy for many years before it was completely filled in and built upon. Townhouses went up willy-nilly....sometimes as full or partial blocks, sometimes singly, surrounded by empty waste land. Except for Comm. Ave., it was not pedestrian-friendly, what with all the dust and construction. Development started at Arlington St. and finished off at Kenmore Sq. and Bay State Rd....after more than 40 years. We've gotten used to much faster development of parcels and are perhaps expecting too much from the McCourt plan. I predict his plan will change and evolve as various parts of it come to fruition and the need to alter use, density and architecture arises.
 
Back Bay was built pre-zoning.
Developers were allowed to build willy-nilly in increments.
Thanks to zoning we know exactly how the SBW will look when it is finished.
And the only term to describe it is 'auto-centric'.
 
There were very strict regulations on how the Back Bay was built.
 
True, but it was still pre-Euclidean zoning. So it was built based on sound principles rather than ridgid formula.
 
$3B Seaport plan calls for moving chapel, eatery
By Scott Van Voorhis
Tuesday, March 25, 2008


A sweeping $3 billion redevelopment plan for South Boston?s waterfront includes relocating two harborfront landmarks: The Barking Crab restaurant and a historic fishermen?s chapel.

Developer John Hynes plans to formally unveil his Seaport Square redevelopment plan tonight in a meeting with South Boston residents.

Hynes envisions converting what?s now some 22 acres of windswept parking lots across from the Moakley federal courthouse into a new neighborhood of 5,000 residents.

Hynes, the son of TV newscaster Jack Hynes and grandson of legendary Boston Mayor John B. Hynes, is proposing 6.5 million square feet of development - the equivalent of four Hancock Towers.

Plans call for everything from hotels and condos to office high-rises and a school.

Hynes hopes to break ground on the project later this year.

That?s welcome news to industry observers, who?ve feared the troubled economy and national credit crunch would stop new Hub projects.

?It?s a very ambitious goal, and all of us welcome any developer who wants to move forward in a timely manner,? said Vivien Li, head of the Boston Harbor Association.

Hynes wants to relocate the Barking Crab to the first floor of a planned 35-unit condo building, complete with cafe-style seating in front.

He?s also in talks over a deal to move a longtime fishermen?s church, the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Voyage, to a nearby site that now is a parking lot.

Hynes wants to use the church?s current site for an 18-story office high-rise, while the Barking Crab?s location would become part of the existing HarborWalk.

?What we are interested in doing is getting those smaller projects out of the way and (tackling) the bigger projects in 2009,? Hynes told the Herald.

Still, getting one or both landmarks to agree to move is no easy task.

Barking Crab owner Scott Garvey said he?s not ruling anything out, but added that the eatery enjoys its current waterfront perch.

?We really think the Barking Crab is unique and . . . something of a landmark,? Garvey said. ?We don?t want to take that away from the city. But obviously, things are changing here.?


Link
 
?We really think the Barking Crab is unique and . . . something of a landmark,? Garvey said. ?We don?t want to take that away from the city. But obviously, things are changing here.?
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Pfft! This the SBW! We have no space for your 'uniqueness' and 'charm'!

We'll throw you in a beige, pre-cast box overlooking a patch of grass and you'll like it!
 
statler said:
Pfft! This the SBW! We have no space for your 'uniqueness' and 'charm'!

We'll throw you in a beige, pre-cast box overlooking a patch of grass and you'll like it!
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... but at least it will have a patio too!
 
Some of it may not be funky enough to survive where it is.

BarkingCrab.jpg


Barking%20Crab%20Circus.jpg


Barking%20Crab.jpg
 
Mike said:

Hynes wants to relocate the Barking Crab to the first floor of a planned 35-unit condo building, complete with cafe-style seating in front. .... the Barking Crab?s location would become part of the existing HarborWalk.
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The irony of this is that in nice weather more people are enjoying the waterfront in this one restaurant/bar than the copious amounts of nearby sterile open space they call the "HarborWalk". The waterfront needs more Barking Crab type enterprises and less rigidly mandated "public" open spaces.
 
I like what I see so far...hopefully at the meeting tonight we'll see detailed renderings of each individual building. The academy tower looks really good in my opinion, but I'm hoping they'll lay off the glass a little bit...even if that means adding in a little pre-cast (I'm trying to be a realist and assuming they wouldn't put in real brick, or any other genuine material).
 
commuter guy said:
The irony of this is that in nice weather more people are enjoying the waterfront in this one restaurant/bar than the copious amounts of nearby sterile open space they call the "HarborWalk". The waterfront needs more Barking Crab type enterprises and less rigidly mandated "public" open spaces.
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The Barking Crab is a classic.

That said, more restaurants with seating on the Harborwalk is undoubtedly a good thing for the SBWF. Right now, the problem isn't with rigidly mandated open spaces so much as massive amounts of unbuilt land. The people who move into the buildings that will be there will definitely use the Harborwalk, even more so if there are lots of restaurants along it.
 
PerfectHandle said:
Right now, the problem isn't with rigidly mandated open spaces so much as massive amounts of unbuilt land. The people who move into the buildings that will be there will definitely use the Harborwalk, even more so if there are lots of restaurants along it.
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I hope your right. The dead parts of the harborwalk I'm specifically thinking about are the the Federal Courthouse with its Daily Catch Restaurant and the part in front of the Intercontinental Hotel with its fancy pants restaurants. Some of these proposal looked fine on paper, but in reality they have to date failed to enliven the waterfront. Although, I think free public access to the waterfront is generally a good thing, it's a shame some unique and rare parts of the waterfront may be destroyed for the purpose of guaranteeing unfettered access along the water in the form of the harborwalk. J Hook Lobster Co., Joe's American Grill, the Sail Loft are all at risk under the line of thinking that the Harborwalk must be completed in a continuous fashion along the shoreline.
 
The Harborwalk north of Christopher Columbus Park is dead because there is no commercial activity up there. All of the piers are either office or residential.

(Why would Joe's American Grill or the Sail Loft be endangered? They use the Harborwalk quite well.)
 
Ron Newman said:
(Why would Joe's American Grill or the Sail Loft be endangered? They use the Harborwalk quite well.)
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because Joe's American Grill and the Sail Loft these restaurants are situated between the harborwalk and the water. My reading of the proposal involving the Barking Crab is that the Barking Crab is going to be demolished and replaced by the harborwalk (presumably because the Barking Crab sits on the water and is viewed as a break where the harborwalk is directly adjacent to the water. The harborwalk is not going to be constructed around the Barking Crab.
 
^^ I believe the Harbor Walk passes between Joe's and the waterfront.

Haborwalk.jpg


As you can see, my hypothetical walker stopped at Joe's for a few drinks before continuing on his walk.
 
I'm staging protests if they even think about touching the crab.

No bar can beat it in the summer.
 
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