Suffolk Downs Redevelopment | East Boston/Revere

More on topic... sort of... where is Wonderland in the deal? Pre-casino bid (and post outlawing of dog racing) they merged interests with Suffolk Downs. Now the old track is a falling down pit of an eyesore next to a nice new(ish) blue line stop.
 
Globe: Suffolk Downs sale expected to close today

Boston Globe said:
The development firm HYM Investment Group is expected on Friday to close on its purchase of the all-but-shuttered horse track for $155 million and will begin turning the 161-acre site into East Boston’s answer to other mega-developments such as Assembly Row and Boston Landing — only much bigger.

The new owners envision a vast complex of housing, shops, restaurants, and eventually offices, arranged on pedestrian-friendly city blocks.

It would be perhaps the largest single development in urban Boston, and will probably cost in the billions to fully build out over a decade or more, said HYM’s managing director, Tom O’Brien. He has few specifics just yet, but points to the successful Assembly Row complex in Somerville as an example of the type of project he has in mind for Suffolk Downs.
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Also:

Boston Globe said:
Suffolk Downs is one of three huge parcels in East Boston and Revere that are changing hands.

In April, the 50-acre Necco candy factory site on Route 60 in Revere sold for almost $55 million, and its owners said they may redevelop it in the next few years.

O’Donnell and his partners are also selling the shuttered Wonderland dog track, across the railroad tracks from the Necco plant, and expect to demolish the building this summer.
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Revere is pushing for office on their chunk of Suffolk Downs. Necco (whose plant was just sold) is the biggest employer in town but their "second- and third-biggest private employers are a Stop & Shop supermarket and a movie theater". Ouch.
 
JumboBuc said:
Revere is pushing for office on their chunk of Suffolk Downs. Necco (whose plant was just sold) is the biggest employer in town but their "second- and third-biggest private employers are a Stop & Shop supermarket and a movie theater". Ouch.
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This also makes sense because of the Logan airspace height restrictions. The Revere portion is the only part of the site that can get decent height. Everywhere else is pretty restricted.
 
JeffDowntown said:
This also makes sense because of the Logan airspace height restrictions. The Revere portion is the only part of the site that can get decent height. Everywhere else is pretty restricted.
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According to this map, height at Suffolk Downs looks to range from about 100 feet to 150 feet max (depending where on site you build). And the Necco site looks like 340 feet allowance from FAA. If they pull a New Balance and build a new commuter rail station on the line adjacent to the Necco property, then that could be a game changer for Revere... especially if they coordinate a redevelopment of the Wonderland Dog track, too.
 
My rough MS Paint map:

1rYrEHT.gif


Red is the Boston portion of Suffolk Downs, blue is the Revere portion.

  • Tallest section (200'-250') is in Boston along 1A and the gastanks (plus a tiny corner of 250'+ in Revere).
  • Middle height section (175'-200') is in Boston in the parking lots along Orient Heights and in Revere in the stables.
  • Shortest section (125' - 175') is over the racetrack itself and the parking lots directly to its west. The shorter 3/4 of this area is in Boston and taller 1/4 is in Revere.
I'd love to see the river (or whatever you call it..) that separates Revere and Boston through there be restored and daylighted.
 
JumboBuc said:
My rough MS Paint map:

1rYrEHT.gif


Red is the Boston portion of Suffolk Downs, blue is the Revere portion.

  • Tallest section (200'-250') is in Boston along 1A and the gastanks (plus a tiny corner of 250'+ in Revere).
  • Middle height section (175'-200') is in Boston in the parking lots along Orient Heights and in Revere in the stables.
  • Shortest section (125' - 175') is over the racetrack itself and the parking lots directly to its west. The shorter 3/4 of this area is in Boston and taller 1/4 is in Revere.
I'd love to see the river (or whatever you call it..) that separates Revere and Boston through there be restored and daylighted.
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Sorry, I thought the Revere portion included some of the 300 ft. section beyond the gas tanks (low rise structures). I had the property line incorrect. None of this is very tall really.
 
Are the dotted white lines an indication of a Logan flight path???
 
BeeLine said:
Are the dotted white lines an indication of a Logan flight path???
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Pretty much - they're the continuations of the center lines of the Logan runways.

HYM's O'Brien says to look to Assembly for an idea of what we'll see at Suffolk Downs. The Partners building at Assembly is about 160' and the new residential buildings are about 235' and 165', so that's right in line with the FAA height limits at Suffolk Downs.

Assembly Row (between Grand Union Blvd / Assembly Square Dr and the Orange Line) covers about 1.8 million sf. Suffolk Downs covers about 6.8 million sf. So this is huge...
 
JumboBuc said:
The Partners building at Assembly is about 160' and the new residential buildings are about 235' and 165'...
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I'm pretty sure the Partners building is substantially taller than listed, and substantially taller than the shorter of the 2 new residentials. It's probably closer to 200'. Doesn't really matter in the scheme of things...
 
Suffolk Downs doesn't need to go tall. Just make the roads narrow and really pack in the residential blocks of housing to make up for the lack of height.

Suffolk Downs should be mainly an incredibly dense neighborhood (or network of neighborhoods) of 5-7 story housing blocks connected by main streets.
 
datadyne007 said:
Suffolk Downs doesn't need to go tall. Just make the roads narrow and really pack in the residential blocks of housing to make up for the lack of height.

Suffolk Downs should be mainly an incredibly dense neighborhood (or network of neighborhoods) of 5-7 story housing blocks connected by main streets.
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It could be an incredible new neighborhood, with great downtown access.

But the comments on height were because Revere is looking for employment centers -- commercial development in its part of the property.
 
datadyne007 said:
Suffolk Downs doesn't need to go tall. Just make the roads narrow and really pack in the residential blocks of housing to make up for the lack of height.

Suffolk Downs should be mainly an incredibly dense neighborhood (or network of neighborhoods) of 5-7 story housing blocks connected by main streets.
Click to expand...

This is Boston. Let's be honest with ourselves. I'm sure we'll fuck it up somehow.
 
HYM must have incredible access to capital if they're pulling off a $155m purchase here, while pursuing the $1.5billion Bulfinch Crossing project, among other things. Good for them I suppose.
 
bigpicture7 said:
HYM must have incredible access to capital if they're pulling off a $155m purchase here, while pursuing the $1.5billion Bulfinch Crossing project, among other things. Good for them I suppose.
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+ North Point.
 
This site would be almost perfect for what North Point is getting.

Not sure the transit could quite handle that.... but the height of North Point sure fits about perfectly within the Airway's confinement.

North Point should be 1.5 as dense as North Point and considerably taller.

*pardon; i offered that same opinion about North Point on the other thread.
 
odurandina said:
This site would be almost perfect for what North Point is getting.

Not sure the transit could quite handle that.... but the height of North Point sure fits about perfectly within the Airway's confinement.

North Point should be 1.5 as dense as North Point and considerably taller.

*pardon; i offered that same opinion about North Point on the other thread.
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?
 
There was an article in the Revere Journal today about this:
http://www.reverejournal.com/2017/06/02/suffolk-downs-new-owner-lays-out-development-plan/

I like the idea of the phased build-out. What usually happens with these sorts of things is that they'll build a sea of parking (garage) per zoning, but then it will be underutilized. Because of that, they'll be able to reduce parking in later phases since they can continue to use the parking they already created.

Assembly has a parking shortage for visitors, but I've heard that there are residential spaces galore.
 
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