Seaport Square (Formerly McCourt Seaport Parcels)

Czervik.Construction said:
I that Seaport Square was residential. The renderings on the previous page were for the 2 residential towers. Which building is for PwC?
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The PwC HQ is Parcel L1 of Seaport Square. Seaport Square itself is a massive multi-parcel development filled with mixed use buildings with retail, residential, office, and civic uses.
 
Hey folks! Followed for a while; figured I need to chip in. here's a pic of the crane assembly going on at PwC as I post.

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Thanks! That's a damn big hole. This area really is DC-by-the-Sea.
 
DC gets a lot of really solid stuff for the height limit it has though. This is more like Bethesda-by-the-Sea.
 
shawn said:
DC gets a lot of really solid stuff for the height limit it has though. This is more like Bethesda-by-the-Sea.
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haha hopefully this winds up better than Bethesda. In the end, I think the residential population will be the difference. I wish they would cut up some of the larger parcels, but I think that's probably not gonna happen.

I actually think the quality of the projects is slowly starting to get better...the only problem I have is the size of the blocks.

I think as this neighborhood matures, it could blend into the Fort Point area better, giving it some decent diversity in development styles.
 
tmac9wr said:
haha hopefully this winds up better than Bethesda. In the end, I think the residential population will be the difference. I wish they would cut up some of the larger parcels, but I think that's probably not gonna happen.
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Evidently, some folks here know diddly about Bethesda.

The ground floor retail/restaurant and pedestrian experience (not to mention transit) in Bethesda beats just about any place in Boston/Cambridge - save Harvard Square/Central Square and Fenway/Back Bay. Bethesda actually has (gasp!) ground floor retail and restaurants that are inviting for pedestrians and have windows. If Kendall Square gets lucky, 20 years of improvements MAY get it close to par with downtown Bethesda, urban planning-wise.

It sure as hell runs laps around the ground floor barrier -wind blown - car centric "Innovation District".

Now, if you used Rockville, then you'd have a good example of what to avoid.

Boston's biggest problem holding it back from being a truly great livable city is the inexplicable war on pedestrians waged by it's new buildings.
 
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shmessy said:
Evidently, some folks here know diddly about Bethesda.

The ground floor retail/restaurant and pedestrian experience (not to mention transit) in Bethesda beats just about any place in Boston/Cambridge - save Harvard Square/Central Square and Fenway/Back Bay. Bethesda actually has (gasp!) ground floor retail and restaurants that are inviting for pedestrians and have windows. If Kendall Square gets lucky, 20 years of improvements MAY get it close to par with downtown Bethesda, urban planning-wise.

It sure as hell runs laps around the ground floor barrier -wind blown - car centric "Innovation District".

Now, if you used Rockville, then you'd have a good example of what to avoid.

Boston's biggest problem holding it back from being a truly great livable city is the inexplicable war on pedestrians waged by it's new buildings.
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Very true, both about the livability of Bethesda and the anti-pedestrian nature of many of Boston's new buildings. Really, the pleasure of interacting with the built environment is one of Boston's distinctive advantages, but it certainly doesn't characterize a lot of what is going on now (maybe with the exception of Fenway).
 
Crane full assembled this weekend over at "L1" - PwC (Pier 4 in the background)

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Pit and rising core at PwC.

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Pit, core, and tower crane base at PwC

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Of note, they closed the surface parking at "Parcel K" over the weekend. Fence down, sumac cut this morning, jersey barriers dropped onto Boston Wharf Rd.

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Ah, I was wondering when they were going to get going on Watermark Seaport. They said "imminent" at a community meeting back in late 2013. Great news!

So how many seaport parking spots have gone kaput since 2009?
 
shmessy said:
Evidently, some folks here know diddly about Bethesda.

The ground floor retail/restaurant and pedestrian experience (not to mention transit) in Bethesda beats just about any place in Boston/Cambridge - save Harvard Square/Central Square and Fenway/Back Bay. Bethesda actually has (gasp!) ground floor retail and restaurants that are inviting for pedestrians and have windows. If Kendall Square gets lucky, 20 years of improvements MAY get it close to par with downtown Bethesda, urban planning-wise.

It sure as hell runs laps around the ground floor barrier -wind blown - car centric "Innovation District".

Now, if you used Rockville, then you'd have a good example of what to avoid.

Boston's biggest problem holding it back from being a truly great livable city is the inexplicable war on pedestrians waged by it's new buildings.
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To be honest, I've never been to Bethesda...however I have a lot of family in Silver Spring which is directly next door, so I assumed they were similar in development.

Do you really think Bethesda has better walkability than downtown, the North End, South End, Beacon Hill, Allston Village, Brookline Center, etc?
 
I often stay with my friend who lives in Rockville/North Bethesda, and what shmessy says has some real merit.

My impression of the walking section, near the Metro, of Bethesda is that it's basically a good place -- for a suburb. Kind of boring, upscale, gentrified. There's shops, restaurants, lots of families, etc. The Metro station entrance is in a strange spot, kind of a dull plaza, but maybe it's busier during working hours. I'd much rather be in D.C. itself, or any of those places you listed in Boston. So I guess I disagree with that part of his statement.

Rockville, at least where he lives, is a landscape of nasty highways, four-lane high speed "Lanes", empty greenspaces, big parking lots, strip malls, and big residential towers-in-the-park ... punctuated by the occasional Metro station, so at least you can get the hell outta there fast!
 
tmac9wr said:
To be honest, I've never been to Bethesda...however I have a lot of family in Silver Spring which is directly next door, so I assumed they were similar in development.

Do you really think Bethesda has better walkability than downtown, the North End, South End, Beacon Hill, Allston Village, Brookline Center, etc?
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Answer: No.

However, Bethesda was predominantly built up in the last 40 years. The places in Boston you listed were all built up in the 19th century.

Bethesda beats any Boston neighborhood built up in the same timeframe. It's not even close. The answer lies with the first floor pedestrian experience. Bethesda has windows, restaurants, stores. Its contemporary Boston neighborhood siblings have loading docks, brick walls and grills.

So when you wrote "hopefully this ends up better than Bethesda" my reaction was "if it ends up anywhere nearly as good as Bethesda it would be an enormous upset victory and quite out of character for post WWII Boston".
 
Matthew said:
I often stay with my friend who lives in Rockville/North Bethesda, and what shmessy says has some real merit.

My impression of the walking section, near the Metro, of Bethesda is that it's basically a good place -- for a suburb. Kind of boring, upscale, gentrified. There's shops, restaurants, lots of families, etc. The Metro station entrance is in a strange spot, kind of a dull plaza, but maybe it's busier during working hours. I'd much rather be in D.C. itself, or any of those places you listed in Boston. So I guess I disagree with that part of his statement.

Rockville, at least where he lives, is a landscape of nasty highways, four-lane high speed "Lanes", empty greenspaces, big parking lots, strip malls, and big residential towers-in-the-park ... punctuated by the occasional Metro station, so at least you can get the hell outta there fast!
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I'm actually north of Rockville, in Olney. You're right about Rockville. Rockville, as I mentioned, is a true development nightmare and the anti-pedestrian model. They have recently built a small town center that is very good, but the majority of Rockville is a zoning nightmare along Route 355. Sadly, at this point, Boston's "Innovation District" is a poor man's Rockville.
 
shawn said:
DC gets a lot of really solid stuff for the height limit it has though. This is more like Bethesda-by-the-Sea.
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Shawn -- its DC-like alright -- but the suburb is Arlington VA not Bethesda -- what we have is Wilson Boulevard removed from the Potomac and planted on Boston Harbor
 
shmessy said:
Answer: No.

However, Bethesda was predominantly built up in the last 40 years. The places in Boston you listed were all built up in the 19th century.

Bethesda beats any Boston neighborhood built up in the same timeframe. It's not even close. The answer lies with the first floor pedestrian experience. Bethesda has windows, restaurants, stores. Its contemporary Boston neighborhood siblings have loading docks, brick walls and grills.

So when you wrote "hopefully this ends up better than Bethesda" my reaction was "if it ends up anywhere nearly as good as Bethesda it would be an enormous upset victory and quite out of character for post WWII Boston".
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Shmess -- you are not even in the ballpark -- you are starting to sound like Riff -- making comparisons of kumquats and spaghetti squash

Do your homework -- Bethesda is to DC as Wellesley is to Boston -- both are very wealthy suburbs

None of the typical DC suburbs or even DC proper comes close to Boston / Cambridge when the quality of the pedestrian experience is being evaluated

Aside from Georgetown and a few of the upscale residential districts of DC proper and of course the touristy stuff around the Mall and the Potomac Basin -- DC is not a pleasant walking place most of the year --either brutally hot and humid or southern-style chilly

If you look at the data most people drive to work very few walk. By contrast Boston / Cambridge has one of the highest percentages of commuters who walk to work most if not all the way.
 
whighlander said:
Shmess -- you are not even in the ballpark -- you are starting to sound like Riff -- making comparisons of kumquats and spaghetti squash

Do your homework -- Bethesda is to DC as Wellesley is to Boston -- both are very wealthy suburbs
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I live in Montgomery County....and I used to live in Newton, so I know a thing or two about Bethesda and Wellesley. You, sir, just typed a lulu. :D

Bethesda is to DC like Wellesley is to Boston? Yeah, sure , the nightlife scenes are completely similar! The pedestrian experiences around all those the Wellesley highrises and the centrally located Wellesley Metro station can't be beat! Yup, those urban aspects of Wellesley can't be beat!

Sorry, but your Cliff Clavin act cannot mask the ignorance of that post.

Sure, they both have human beings and streets. That's about where the similarities end. But thanks for the laughs!

And for the rest of your post, no one was comparing Boston/Cambridge with DC. The subject matter was the comparison of the cold, pedestrian- unfriendly Innovation District to Bethesda Maryland.

Friendly word of advice: You DO know a thing or two, so attempting to stay on subjects where you have knowledge would do wonders for your posts.
 
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