South Bay Center Expansion | Dorchester

Why did they even build the parking garage with....a massive parking lot right there? Either way it looks like a lot of much needed housing for the city so its a win.
 
stick n move said:
Why did they even build the parking garage with....a massive parking lot right there? Either way it looks like a lot of much needed housing for the city so its a win.
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Probably to leave the option open to redevelop the parking lot.
 
It's interesting -- the mall section is very suburban in feel, much more so than, say, Assembly Square. But the residential is far more urban than Assembly Square (eg the narrow streets). I hope that Jouhou is right, that the parking lot will be developed. Ultimately, this could become a pretty interesting location. Add in the Flower Exchange development and significant sections of South Bay will have filled in with vibrant people oriented structures.
 
I would be amazed if developing the parking lot into something denser is not on the table. Obviously, long-term, ts always an option. But this little corner is already pretty vibrant, so I can see the lot slowly shrinking asay from that side of the plaza - quucker if they build more garages, too. That said, this is probably the most convenient big-box shopping area for the city (until you get up to Somerville), and its reasonable to keep some open area near Home Depot and Target.

Nothing on the eastern side really strikes me as irreplacable, so maybe the redevelopment can move up that spine. Leave the parkig lot open from the sidewalk outside the Home Depot and along that center lane. That gives you a lot of space to work with - though you’d probably want to move that S&S gas station over to that little side lot right next to S&S.
 
Looking at the street grid Im trying to make sense of this. Idk why they didnt connect it to Boston street. That could get you around that stop light congestion, through this lil downtown thing, and lead to Mass ave. Im kinda scratching my head on this it looks like you drive down mass ave, turn and go through a strip mall parking lot, then take a right and go behind a movie theater, then your in this mini downtown area with apartments and ground floor retail. Then you like loop around and go back out the parking lot to mass ave or some small side st. It looks nice back there but its just kind of weird. Its not easy to walk to from the rest of Dorchester if you have to do a giant loop down mass ave and through the south bay center parking lot just to get back to being 1 street over from Boston st. Idk man going to be interesting to see how this shakes out.

It kind of feels like Wrentham outlets with apartments on top of the stores and some roads cutting through. You would say...so your saying like a normal couple of city blocks with retail. Heres the thing, I say this because its not really connected to the grid of Dorchester in any meaningful way. So it kind of feels like the way it works is you drive here, park in the parking lot, then walk around the strip mall then down the streets back here with retail. Then you go back to your car and drive home. I think they need to keep expanding a lot more back here because there is all kinds of empty lots n crappy buildings like old car repair shop buildings and garages and stuff, and connect it to as many streets as they can. You can knock down most stuff back there and wouldnt be losing much.

Edit: Apple maps is pretty recent on 3d mode. Is W Howell going to become the Boston st connector? Right now it appears a road is sort of starting to take shape. If so thats good. That little parking lot in line with the 2 residential buildings and Boston st would be nice to be able to use too.
 
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Apple maps 3D is several months behind in this neighborhood (totally understandable), but I think there will be a more cohesive street network when its done. There's definitely some areas still blocked off during construction, all over the place.
 
It's possible to get to the new construction without passing through the strip mall parking lot at all. And that includes access to the garage. I think it will actually tie in pretty well with both Mass Ave. and Boston St. and feel like it's just a standard part of the street layout.
 
stick n move said:
Looking at the street grid Im trying to make sense of this. Idk why they didnt connect it to Boston street. That could get you around that stop light congestion, through this lil downtown thing, and lead to Mass ave. Im kinda scratching my head on this it looks like you drive down mass ave, turn and go through a strip mall parking lot, then take a right and go behind a movie theater, then your in this mini downtown area with apartments and ground floor retail. Then you like loop around and go back out the parking lot to mass ave or some small side st. It looks nice back there but its just kind of weird. Its not easy to walk to from the rest of Dorchester if you have to do a giant loop down mass ave and through the south bay center parking lot just to get back to being 1 street over from Boston st. Idk man going to be interesting to see how this shakes out.

It kind of feels like Wrentham outlets with apartments on top of the stores and some roads cutting through. You would say...so your saying like a normal couple of city blocks with retail. Heres the thing, I say this because its not really connected to the grid of Dorchester in any meaningful way. So it kind of feels like the way it works is you drive here, park in the parking lot, then walk around the strip mall then down the streets back here with retail. Then you go back to your car and drive home. I think they need to keep expanding a lot more back here because there is all kinds of empty lots n crappy buildings like old car repair shop buildings and garages and stuff, and connect it to as many streets as they can. You can knock down most stuff back there and wouldnt be losing much.

Edit: Apple maps is pretty recent on 3d mode. Is W Howell going to become the Boston st connector? Right now it appears a road is sort of starting to take shape. If so thats good. That little parking lot in line with the 2 residential buildings and Boston st would be nice to be able to use too.
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Jan Karski Way is being extended to connect to Boston Street and the existing Courtyard. I know, because I worked on the plans.
 
I'm not mad at that building in the last and second to last picture, looks decently executed to me.
 
Interesting how a suburban style urban downtown is taking shape here. Its suburban style because this is like something that would be built in the suburbs where its out of the core and kind of off the beaten path or main roads at least where downtowns are- like how Uphams already is on Columbia, but its still an urban core space. This is sort of tucked away but constructed urbanism like Assembly. Going to be an interesting experiment to see how this all works out. Im interested to see. Dot Block is following the normal blueprint also where its on dot ave, this is new territory trying to build a brand new downtown area, yet its not downtown because there already are a few, in a city, tucked behind a neighborhood. I dont know exaactly how to explain it but basically an Assembly style build from scratch retail area that is also separate from the true downtown. Its a cool experiment here because its not its own separate downtown area like Assembly its right off Boston st and I cant really think of another example like this. The shopping center is an interesting aspect too because now you have a spot where people can drive to, park, then walk around a retail district in a city, then get in their car and leave. Interesting things going on here.
 
Can anyone post the old site plan for this? It's so big I can't figure out where these all are.
 
 
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