Seaport Square (Formerly McCourt Seaport Parcels)

Signage with renders is up for "Retail Opportunity" on the fence that surrounds the parcels across from the courthouse. Billboard in the lot has been removed. Shouldn't be long it would seem...
 
Saw all the signs yesterday as I parked in the lots for the last time. Attendant confirmed that both lots are closing next mont. The pictures looked consistent with the renderings.
 
I think I'm loving this building. It is really going to make the area infront of the barking crab into a "place". if there is enough interaction at the ground floor this tiny plaza could really become something.
 
Agreed...this could be a top-notch introduction to the SBW for pedestrians walking from downtown. As aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa said, this could really tie the room together.
 
I think its important for buildings to step up from the waterfront as this and 22 liberty do since there is such a short height restriction in the area. It will help the buzzcut effect in the seaport with this gradual step up instead of every building being the same exact height. Once the whole pier 4 is complete this will add to the effect along with liberty wharf and the court house and it should all tie together nicely.
 
Saw this in the parking lot that will become Parcel B/C. The rendering's new to me.

 
The cars that dominate the bottom of the rendering are contextually sensitive to the actual cars in the actual parking lot where the rendering is posted...
 
In one of the marketing docs I saw that they claim this will have more retail than the Prudential Center. If anywhere near true that will be a game changer for the area.

Seems cliche at this point to repeat the words: Silver Line isn't going to cut it.
 
Shepard said:
In one of the marketing docs I saw that they claim this will have more retail than the Prudential Center. If anywhere near true that will be a game changer for the area.

Seems cliche at this point to repeat the words: Silver Line isn't going to cut it.
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That doesn't seem possible, does it? The Prudential Center is a mall. This is a bunch of street-level retail. I am liking the idea of a cinema in this development, though. I don't think there is one anywhere near this location, and it's an important amenity for a livable neighborhood, IMO.

I think we're stuck with the Silver Line. For all the talk about whether light rail is possible in the tunnel, I don't see how it moves much faster or has a much higher capacity than the buses do, and because it's underground on a guideway a lot of the other benefits of LRT don't apply there. I like the idea for connectivity reasons, but operationally I don't see much improvement, and it's not like there's ever going to be Red Line in the Seaport.

For these buildings, South Station isn't too far anyhow.
 
Equilibria said:
That doesn't seem possible, does it? The Prudential Center is a mall. This is a bunch of street-level retail. I am liking the idea of a cinema in this development, though. I don't think there is one anywhere near this location, and it's an important amenity for a livable neighborhood, IMO.
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The nearest cinema is the AMC/Loews near Boston Common, so I'd say a new one here is a plus. Boston has a dearth of cinemas.
 
Equilibria said:
That doesn't seem possible, does it? The Prudential Center is a mall. This is a bunch of street-level retail. I am liking the idea of a cinema in this development, though. I don't think there is one anywhere near this location, and it's an important amenity for a livable neighborhood, IMO.
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The Shops at Prudential Center only has a GLA* of ~500,000 sf. The stores are actually rather small/shallow. The grandeur of the interior of the Prudential Center is in the arcades and Center Court which does not contribute to GLA. This development appears to be packing 3-solid stories of retail in the entire base without any/many mallways, so all the square footage is devoted to retail.

*Gross Leasable Area

For reference, the GLA of the CambridgeSide Galleria is about 1,000,000sf. The Pru seems enormous, but it's actually quite deceiving because there's so much empty space.
 
Shepard said:
Seems cliche at this point to repeat the words: Silver Line isn't going to cut it.
Click to expand...

I know this has been debated to death, but in general this is the area of the Silver Line that gets very good marks across the board by most people who have ever used it.

SS to Courthouse is one stop. Dedicated tunnel. Transportation vehicles every 8 minutes during rush hour. 2 minute ride. The Courthouse head hoses have this development surrounded, and I believe are to be integrated into the new development as well. For those who don't or can't manage the easy to most of us walk over the bridges, or when inclement weather precludes that walk. The SL will serve this area of the seaport just fine.

Pier Four and the Eastern half of Seaport Sq. will be served just fine by the WTC stop. The new massport apartments/hotel beyond the WTC will be served by the SL Way stop the same as Manulife, Park Lane, etc. already are. It's beyond that the SL starts to suck.

I walked it everyday for 8 years during all seasons. But, I'm not everyone. The bridges will need more winter attention in this area though with all the new tenants. The Summer Street bridge sidewalks are awful after any significant snowfall, and that is not just day of, but for days after they don't get touched by the city.

Congress and Moakley are going to start seeing a large increase in foot traffic, and will require similar attention. Northern Ave. as well.

Now that things are actually being built on the SL, it will start to show it is viable. It's not the best, but better than most make it out to be. That, and the insane ratio of parking spots to tenants/residents in the area being a thing of the past.

Until now, there hasn't been a huge demand or usage of it, because it hasn't made sense. If you work in fort point, you can walk from SS quicker than taking the bus across the channel, only to walk almost as far to your office. The only plus is missing the winter wind crossing the bridge, or driving rain on the same bridges. That and until recently you could park there for some of the cheapest prices in the city. $8 bucks when I started there in 2005. $17-19 bucks now I think. Getting much closer to the rest of the city.
 
datadyne007 said:
The Shops at Prudential Center only has a GLA* of ~500,000 sf. The stores are actually rather small/shallow. The grandeur of the interior of the Prudential Center is in the arcades and Center Court which does not contribute to GLA. This development appears to be packing 3-solid stories of retail in the entire base without any/many mallways, so all the square footage is devoted to retail.

*Gross Leasable Area

For reference, the GLA of the CambridgeSide Galleria is about 1,000,000sf. The Pru seems enormous, but it's actually quite deceiving because there's so much empty space.
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thanks!

FWIW, in addition to a cinema, this new neighborhood they're building is going to need a grocery store. I wonder if some of that 3-solid stories of retail could go that direction.
 
Equilibria said:
Very interesting, thanks!

FWIW, in addition to a cinema, this new neighborhood they're building is going to need a grocery store. I wonder if some of that 3-solid stories of retail could go that direction.
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Waterside place is supposed to have a grocery store, I don't know what happened with that though.
 
What would it cost to divert the red line from SS to WTC and then on to Broadway?? $5B??
 
JANAM said:
What would it cost to divert the red line from SS to WTC and then on to Broadway?? $5B??
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Probably that much, given the need for an additional tunnel under Fort Point Channel. No real point in discussing it, though - the diversion would be far too extreme for the line to work.

Green Line through the Transitway is the only plausible scenario where rail transit comes to SBW. DMUs on Track 61 are feasible, but don't connect to Downtown in a way that makes operational sense.
 
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