Station Landing | Wellington Circle | Medford

Equilibria · Nov 20, 2019

fatnoah said:
I agree that we should be building near transit, but the part of me that used to be a regular Orange Line rider @ Wellington cringes at the thought of more people using that stop during rush hour.

I'm not sure you need to worry. This hotel is for the Casino, not for Downtown.

datadyne007 · Nov 20, 2019

Equilibria said:
I'm not sure you need to worry. This hotel is for the Casino, not for Downtown.

Is it though? Boston is the destination, not Encore. Encore is an attraction in Boston, not a destination. No one is coming to Boston specifically for a mediocre Encore experience. Encore is something you do on a free night you have in Boston. I highly doubt people are traveling to Boston to go to Encore.

Equilibria · Nov 20, 2019

datadyne007 said:
Is it though? Boston is the destination, not Encore. Encore is an attraction in Boston, not a destination. No one is coming to Boston specifically for a mediocre Encore experience. Encore is something you do on a free night you have in Boston. I highly doubt people are traveling to Boston to go to Encore.

I hear you, but the scuttlebutt on this is very clear - this hotel tower is happening because the AC is sold out with Encore visitors.

Also, I think Encore is the destination for people from NH and ME who drive in. If they wanted Boston, they'd stay in Boston.

Javier · Nov 23, 2019

Javier · Dec 8, 2019

BostonUrbEx · Dec 8, 2019

I had no idea this was going on until I went by yesterday. I thought that Station Landing was "built out" and staying as-is. I am glad to see a parking lot being infilled. Hopefully they do some more of this.

Javier · Dec 13, 2019

Javier · Jan 15, 2020

Arlington · Jan 15, 2020

Is it time to start talking air rights development on the edges and infills of Greater Wellington.

According to Bldup "Upon the yard’s original design in the late 1960s, the yard was actually designed to accommodate air rights development that was never built. "

This fits with what then-candidate, now-former-Mayor Burke of Medford told me directly (in a conversation about Assembly Sq and smart growth), which was along the lines of "The first Mayor McGlynn* negotiated and got the air rights over Wellington for the city"

That could mean a lot of things. Could just mean

Got them to leave places for foundations
Got the legal ownership above __ feet in elevation

* (Mayor on and off between 1962 and 1977)

Equilibria · Jan 15, 2020

Arlington said:
Is it time to start talking air rights development on the edges and infills of Greater Wellington.

According to Bldup "Upon the yard’s original design in the late 1960s, the yard was actually designed to accommodate air rights development that was never built. "

This fits with what then-candidate, now-former-Mayor Burke of Medford told me directly (in a conversation about Assembly Sq and smart growth), which was along the lines of "The first Mayor McGlynn* negotiated and got the air rights over Wellington for the city"

That could mean a lot of things. Could just mean

Got them to leave places for foundations

Got the legal ownership above __ feet in elevation

* (Mayor on and off between 1962 and 1977)

I think there's so much under-developed land around Wellington that we're a long way off air-rights achieving financing there.

dshoost88 · Jan 15, 2020

Arlington said:
Is it time to start talking air rights development on the edges and infills of Greater Wellington.

According to Bldup "Upon the yard’s original design in the late 1960s, the yard was actually designed to accommodate air rights development that was never built. "

This fits with what then-candidate, now-former-Mayor Burke of Medford told me directly (in a conversation about Assembly Sq and smart growth), which was along the lines of "The first Mayor McGlynn* negotiated and got the air rights over Wellington for the city"

That could mean a lot of things. Could just mean

Got them to leave places for foundations

Got the legal ownership above __ feet in elevation

* (Mayor on and off between 1962 and 1977)

If it's true that the yard was designed for eventual air rights, then my Revs Stadium idea at Wellington still holds water!

dshoost88 said:
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Here's another thought: why not put a stadium at Wellington Station? A deck over the railyard immediately between the skywalk pedestrian bridge and Route 16 is probably large enough to accommodate a Major League Soccer stadium.
- Excellent transit connectivity to Orange Line and multiple major bus routes.
- Wynn/Encore transportation funds will mean some sort of improvement at Wellington Circle (Rt. 16 + Rt. 28 intersection).
- Stadium proximity to very densely-populated neighborhoods with presumably high number of soccer fans (large foreign-born population nearby).
- Mystic & Malden River bike path recent and ongoing improvements provide additional options for people to bike to the site.

I moved near Wellington Station in recent months and think a lot about the higher and better use potential of the site. The site is no further from Boston's Downtown than the Allston Pike or Bayside Expo sites, but that Orange Line connection is a pretty critical difference. Heck, it's only a 25-minute walk away from Encore Boston Harbor.

Equilibria · Jan 15, 2020

dshoost88 said:
If it's true that the yard was designed for eventual air rights, then my Revs Stadium idea at Wellington still holds water!

How does this work with the ped bridge? Do you jack the stadium 15 feet higher and walk under it? Maybe you could have the midfield line be glass and you could look up the players' shorts...

dshoost88 · Jan 15, 2020

Equilibria said:
How does this work with the ped bridge? Do you jack the stadium 15 feet higher and walk under it? Maybe you could have the midfield line be glass and you could look up the players' shorts...

Build it north of the pedestrian bridge. The pedestrian bridge can be modified into an elevated pedestrian plaza over the tracks lined with shops and services people using this regional, multi-modal transit hub can better access. And then above/north of that would be where the stadium goes.

Here's a to-scale comparison showing the area now vs. with the Red Bull Arena on it.