Re: South Boston Development
A lot of this is pretty surprisingly nice-looking. Additionally much/most of it is highly dense/urban, small footprints, and oftentimes appears to be infill. Could Southie be ... the best neighbhorhood in the city for residential development right now? I haven't really been by in person much, so that's really a question.
If so, what is resulting in what looks like a pretty good neighborhood? Is it the fact that everything is brownfield/infill and therefore the city can't simply give away massive blocks to one single developer a la the Bulfinch Triangle or Seaport? But then again, a developer could buy out lots of people and build block-killing gargantuo-structures. Is it that the neighbors are always ready to fight against large-scale development? Something else?
For the sheer amount of development, I think the answer is yes. But if you go back a few pages on this thread you'll find some really shitty looking buildings that have gone up. That said, I agree most of it looks good and encourages density.
I think part of the explanation goes like this: Whitey-era ended, neighborhood is now open to outsiders, very safe and closely integrated to downtown like, say, Charlestown. Unlike Charlestown there is a lot more space and the housing projects are located in two areas, so if you don't like living near projects you don't have to in South Boston. I think it's tricky to pull that off in C-town. (People think about these things when they choose where to live.)
Transportation links are great. You have Andrew Sq, Broadway and South Station (latter for the Fort Point residents). You have buses that bring commuters from City Point to Back Bay. Silver Line in Seaport.
Also, in my experience there are very little NIMBYS and those that do exist Menino could care less for. Do you think the Macallen could have been built in most other Boston neighborhoods? I actually don't.
Finally, it's too expensive for most people in their mid-to-late 20s to live in Beacon Hill or Back Bay or even South End. South Boston is a good alternative price-wise plus the housing stock is probably better than those other neighborhoods, rental-wise, save for the Back Bay. You can also park more easily. Oh and there are beaches.
Gentrification seems to have an ever-intensifying knock-on effect. From 2000-2004 people really started to catch on to what was going in the South End. I think South Boston is hitting a similar inflection point, but for a different crowd.
