Thinking about a New Hanscom

[whighlander]

With an expected BRAC and the likelihood of the closure of Hanscom AFB -- The process needs to begin NOW as to how to best capitalize on this prime real estate location on Rt-128, with runways and existing surrounding public and private land into essentially an uber-High-Tech version of Devens.

Raw materials for the project:

Hanscom AFB:
846 acres
735 private homes
149 other buildings

Hanscom Field Airport -- 1,125 acres (455 ha) which contains two paved runways: 5/23 measuring 5,106 x 150 ft (1,556 x 46 m) and 11/29 measuring 7,001 x 150 ft (2,134 x 46 m

When land in Lexington, Bedford, Lincoln, and Concord adjacent to Hanscom is taken into consideration there is a total of about 5 sq. miles that can be developed fairly intensively - Note that the closure of Hanscom AFB will likely result in the transfer of some land to the Minuteman National Historic Park

There can be essentially unlimited opportunities for development and the subsequent creation of a High tech nexus. In 20 years when development is built-out where the base is now located and its immediate surroundings:

1) several more million sq ft. can be built
2) thousands of more people could be working
3) some few hundreds will be living
4) there undoubtedly will be some retail and perhaps a major hotel
5) possibility of limited commercial air service
6) What about Transit?

Will there be the long hypothesized Red Line on Rt-128 -- perhaps with a Mattapan-type LRV covering the whole Hanscom re-development area?

Let's see if we can perhaps provide some useful guidance to the process.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

1. Maintain satellite com/space com operations in a military office complex.
2. Revert everything back to forest.

 

[HenryAlan]

I'd like to see it serve as an example of how new satelite urban areas can be built from the ground up. It should have a dense core of office and residential buildings, preferably all mid-rise, served by a Red Line extension and also by a new light rail line forming a T where it intersects with red. The light rail would serve neighboring communities and provide some local service within the Hanscom development zone.

 

[Shepard]

Two problems.

1. Would this revert to local zoning? I can't see Concord/Lincoln/Bedford really going for a dense urban zone here, directly abutting the Minuteman park.

2. TOD is for some reason impossible in eastern MA. Alewife tries to be a mini-city and ends up being nothing but the traffic-clogged stump end of a freeway. Wellington doesn't even try. Assembly Square is going to be a big box strip mall. Riverside may be the best bet, looking at the plans, but whether it will happen or not has yet to be seen.

Strangely, the best example of dense "mini city" I've seen in the area is Marina Bay - which is ironic given that it isn't transit-oriented.

 

[whighlander]

Two problems.

1. Would this revert to local zoning? I can't see Concord/Lincoln/Bedford really going for a dense urban zone here, directly abutting the Minuteman park.

2. TOD is for some reason impossible in eastern MA. Alewife tries to be a mini-city and ends up being nothing but the traffic-clogged stump end of a freeway. Wellington doesn't even try. Assembly Square is going to be a big box strip mall. Riverside may be the best bet, looking at the plans, but whether it will happen or not has yet to be seen.

Strangely, the best example of dense "mini city" I've seen in the area is Marina Bay - which is ironic given that it isn't transit-oriented.

Shep -- the land as opposed to Devens would I think end-up in Lexington, Bedford, Lincoln and Concord -- but there is already a well established entity called HATS (Hanscom Area Towns Committee) with representation from the various towns boards and a purely advisory group HFAC (Hanscom Filed Advisory Committee) designed to deal directly with aviation issues and Massport

There would need to be some adjustments such as probably tearing down some Air Force housing on the boundary of the Minuteman Park and ceding some land to the Park and creating an easement at the new boundary However, in exchange for those kind of arrangements, the traffic flow can be significantly improved by removing the AF gates and transit route restrictions and areas off-limits to development such as some of the AF recreation land and non-AF land cut off from access can be developed.

I think there could be a real interest in street running combined with protected ROW LRVs connected Mattapan-Line-style with the Red Line terminal at Rt-128 @ Hartwell Ave.

In fact the location of this uber-Alewife next to a major Power Grid substation provides the LRV's access to the power lines ROW heading toward the Burlington Mall and the rapidly redeveloping NW Park / Network Drive development cluster

later such an LRV line could extend the other way to the existing low-med density high tech cluster in Waltham at Winter Street -- another existing Industrial / Office Park which can be redeveloped into a mixed-use cluster

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

Devens just had trouble getting a modest housing development approved because Harvard, Ayer and Shirley couldn't decide who sucked more. If Harvard, Ayer and Shirley can't agree to a modest development targeted towards veterans and the elderly, what are the chances Lexington/Lincoln/Bedford/Concord agree to density in Hanscom?

I think the only way Hanscom becomes a dense development is if the State steps in and carves out an independent municipality. I have no idea if this is constitutional in Mass and if so how much you'd need to pay the affected towns to appropriate the land . . .

 

[BostonUrbEx]

The question is... why do you want a dense development where Hanscom is. We're not exactly lacking on infill opportunity is a single one of our cities or urban town centers with transit nodes.

 

[Equilibria]

The question is... why do you want a dense development where Hanscom is. We're not exactly lacking on infill opportunity is a single one of our cities or urban town centers with transit nodes.

The key to your comment is "transit nodes". This can't be all about transit. Route 128 was arguably the first successful edge city in the US, and has been one of the primary movers in Boston's economic resurgence over the past 60 years (as well as its stability through the past 5). A viable exterior semi-urban center with direct 128 access is something I believe is good for the region.

128, as a unit, has never had a viable center. If it had one, and if businesses could be convinced that moving there from other areas of the 128 strip was a viable concept, the overall environmental and physical footprint of the belt could be decreased while increasing the use of urbanist ideas in planning corporate areas.

There are multiple potential sites for such a center (areas with easy access to transportation modes including HRT, possible LRT, 128, radial highways, commuter rail, etc.) Hanscom is one, along with Bear Hill, Reading and Salem/Peabody along the northern high tech arc of 128 (areas around the Pike and Route 2 are too constrained for now). Actually, the best of those IMO would be Bear Hill if the highway access was improved a bit and rail were extended), but Hanscom has its arguments as well, such as Lincoln Laboratory and proximity to an executive/corporate shuttle air hub.

In addition, while the towns involved would likely be vociferous in their objections, there aren't all that many residents in the area at the moment. The town centers you mention are already dense and contain many NIMBYs who would strongly oppose any increase in corporate presence/density in their neighborhoods.

In summary, highway access, particularly to this highway, is important here, and it's why an urban atmosphere outside of Boston can really only be achieved along 128. Hanscom is a perfectly reasonable choice.

 

[Ron Newman]

Moody Street in Waltham feels like an 'urban atmosphere' to me, and it's a short distance from 128.

 

[whighlander]

The key to your comment is "transit nodes". This can't be all about transit. Route 128 was arguably the first successful edge city in the US, and has been one of the primary movers in Boston's economic resurgence over the past 60 years (as well as its stability through the past 5). A viable exterior semi-urban center with direct 128 access is something I believe is good for the region.

128, as a unit, has never had a viable center. If it had one, and if businesses could be convinced that moving there from other areas of the 128 strip was a viable concept, the overall environmental and physical footprint of the belt could be decreased while increasing the use of urbanist ideas in planning corporate areas.

There are multiple potential sites for such a center (areas with easy access to transportation modes including HRT, possible LRT, 128, radial highways, commuter rail, etc.) Hanscom is one, along with Bear Hill, Reading and Salem/Peabody along the northern high tech arc of 128 (areas around the Pike and Route 2 are too constrained for now). Actually, the best of those IMO would be Bear Hill if the highway access was improved a bit and rail were extended), but Hanscom has its arguments as well, such as Lincoln Laboratory and proximity to an executive/corporate shuttle air hub.

In addition, while the towns involved would likely be vociferous in their objections, there aren't all that many residents in the area at the moment. The town centers you mention are already dense and contain many NIMBYs who would strongly oppose any increase in corporate presence/density in their neighborhoods.

In summary, highway access, particularly to this highway, is important here, and it's why an urban atmosphere outside of Boston can really only be achieved along 128. Hanscom is a perfectly reasonable choice.

Equilib -- with the AF Lab gone -- Lincoln is an ideal center for the Hanscom R&D Cluster

For the rest of you -- that's why Hanscom - it could turn into a mini MIT / Kendall with an airport to boot

 

[shockingboston]

I believe it will be very costly to build on the Air Field. I worked on a few projects fixing runways and the soils are so contaminated with Jet Fuel and Oil, that it made a simple paving job very expensive.
Given the soil contamination around and under the runways and plane maintenance facilities, it think it will be very hard (= very expensive) to build something new over the airfield.
At best the airfield will become a new motorcycle training area, stunt area for Myth Busters or expand the existing commercial/private flight usage.
If the airport is closed, then outside of the airfield, the remaning area should be developed for light residential (McMansions). Existing warehouse and industrial type buildings should be convereted into Condos.

 

[Kahta]

http://g.co/maps/rxjfr

Take one lane from each direction of Route 2 east of 128 and build a new interchange at 128/2 with a park and ride-- then add a dedicated train that just goes back and forth between hanscom and the park and ride at peak hours.

 

[whighlander]

I believe it will be very costly to build on the Air Field. I worked on a few projects fixing runways and the soils are so contaminated with Jet Fuel and Oil, that it made a simple paving job very expensive.
Given the soil contamination around and under the runways and plane maintenance facilities, it think it will be very hard (= very expensive) to build something new over the airfield.
At best the airfield will become a new motorcycle training area, stunt area for Myth Busters or expand the existing commercial/private flight usage.
If the airport is closed, then outside of the airfield, the remaning area should be developed for light residential (McMansions). Existing warehouse and industrial type buildings should be convereted into Condos.

Shock -- You are jumping to totally unwarranted conclusions -- No one is talking about doing anything with the operating airfield except enhancing its utility as both a fixed-base and small-scale air-carrier airport.

Indeed -- having operating runways on Rt-128 is one of the jewels of the whole Hanscom complex. Where else can you land a corporate jet next to your corporate research complex, go home to change your clothes, and be downtown in a major city in about half an hour.

certainly there should be some townhome and apartment developments on the Base property, but the vast majority of the space should be intensively redeveloped and in the case of some of the newer AF buildings reused to serve as a mega-cluster of defense and other ultra-high-value research and development. For example, very high value facilities which might need a lot of land and perhaps a lot of electricity, e.g. x-ray laser for materials studies can be ideally situated at Hanscom with its land and also available HV AC transmission ROW.

 

[shockingboston]

certainly there should be some townhome and apartment developments on the Base property, but the vast majority of the space should be intensively redeveloped and in the case of some of the newer AF buildings reused to serve as a mega-cluster of defense and other ultra-high-value research and development. For example, very high value facilities which might need a lot of land and perhaps a lot of electricity, e.g. x-ray laser for materials studies can be ideally situated at Hanscom with its land and also available HV AC transmission ROW.

The conclusion that I jump to (and it was not clearly stated in my previous post)- no Military presence, no "new" military research firms. Maybe the existing research companies stay.
The draw to that area for research and development firms (especially quasi-military firms), is the Air Force and potential military funding. There are more benefits and resources when the Military is across the street. So say, bye-bye, to any new Military minded research and develop firms (i.e. RADAR, satellite, telescopes, etc.)

Does MIT and Lincoln Lab stay if the Military portion of Hanscom AFB is closed?

If they do not stay, then I do not see a future for research labs. I do not see a Hi-Tech firm relocating to Hanscom, so their CEO has a shorter walk to their private Jet. (However, I am usually wrong!!)

Instead of R&D what about Logistic companies, can this airport be used in lieu of Logan for Air Freight shipping?

 

[Equilibria]

Does MIT and Lincoln Lab stay if the Military portion of Hanscom AFB is closed?

The answer to that question would undoubtedly be yes. Lincoln is basically out of space as it is, and would not be likely to see serious cuts in funding from USAF just because the base is closed - other federally-funded research and development centers around the country are not necessarily co-located with federal facilities. The lab certainly wouldn't close, and there isn't any location in Cambridge big and secure enough to house it. MITRE survives just fine in Burlington.

If anything, Lincoln would expand into the AFB property. I'm not sure if it alone would be enough of an anchor for a serious new high tech center (I don't think they can support the array of subcontractors the AFB does, being one themselves), but the 128 belt is a growing employment sink. The new open land with easy highway and airport access would be a compelling thing.

The real question is if this area would be a bunch of corporate campuses with some peripheral housing developments, or if it would be master planned as a true mixed-use urban development. The problem with doing the latter is that the big benefit of building on 128 is space, and if you constrain lot sizes and increase density firms might prefer to stay in Kendall or move to somewhere like Burlington were there's room to spread out.

Frankly, it's taken 30 years for Kendall to really kick in, and I expect it to take that long in the SPID as well. You don't just snap your fingers and make an exurban center happen. This site would likely need retail, restaurants, lodging, etc. all of which would be built in response to corporate interest, which would recursively look for those amenities.

One thing I'm still wondering is whether the Military is really OK with losing their last base remotely close to a major American city. Strategically speaking, that's a little problematic. Even if all current operations at Hanscom are shut down or significantly reduced, the Air Force still may hold on to it in skeletal form, and the place would be reduced to a ghost town.

 

[bch2014]

One thing I'm still wondering is whether the Military is really OK with losing their last base remotely close to a major American city. Strategically speaking, that's a little problematic. Even if all current operations at Hanscom are shut down or significantly reduced, the Air Force still may hold on to it in skeletal form, and the place would be reduced to a ghost town.

Ahhh, D.C., Tampa, Miami, and Salt Lake all have air force bases very close to them. Also, cities like L.A. (Edwards AFB) and San Diego (Miramar MCAS) both have installations close to them.

 

[whighlander]

The conclusion that I jump to (and it was not clearly stated in my previous post)- no Military presence, no "new" military research firms. Maybe the existing research companies stay.
The draw to that area for research and development firms (especially quasi-military firms), is the Air Force and potential military funding. There are more benefits and resources when the Military is across the street. So say, bye-bye, to any new Military minded research and develop firms (i.e. RADAR, satellite, telescopes, etc.)

Does MIT and Lincoln Lab stay if the Military portion of Hanscom AFB is closed?

If they do not stay, then I do not see a future for research labs. I do not see a Hi-Tech firm relocating to Hanscom, so their CEO has a shorter walk to their private Jet. (However, I am usually wrong!!)

Instead of R&D what about Logistic companies, can this airport be used in lieu of Logan for Air Freight shipping?

Shock -- I'd dare say that LL will stay as the mission has little now to do with Hanscom's evolving AF role. At one time back in the late 1950's when the LL was just beginning to finish its work on the SAGE (Semi Automated Ground Environment) aka the Continental Air Defense System the breakdown was:
1) AFCRL (Air Force Cambridge Research Lab) -- the key science of electromagnetic propagation the space environment and later space vehicles
2) MIT LL (MIT Lincoln Laboratory) - Applied Science and Technology Development asociated with SAGE and later Balistic Missile Early Warning and satellite communications
3) MITRE -- Systems engineering on SAGE
4) Electronics Systems Division -- 3 star billet in charge of procurement of the SAGE system and later AWACS

All of that was situated at Hanscom for security reasons. Later much of MITRE moved to its own site in Bedford. Later the role of Lincoln Lab was broadened to include many other areas of reserch for defense (e.g. Star Wars, Stealth and counter stealth), FAA air traffic control and wealther radar, air collision avoidance, etc.

Now that AFCRL which merged into one massive AF Labs is completely gone -- what the AF itself does at Hanscom is mostly paper shuffling and bean counting associated with existing radar and other surveillance and tracking prgrams such as JStars (airborne targeting radar), integration of AF command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems (C2ISR).

So what had once been the AF's premier laboratory command (ESD then ESC) 1950-1980's -- then gained further responsibilitey for critical war-fighting programs and evolved into the Electronics System Center -- serving as the AF Center of Excelence in C2ISR and Network Centic Warfare.

Now the AF Materiel Command has announced that like the merger of the individual AF Labs into one integrated AF Lab -- ESC will be inactivated by the end of this FY and all of its roles along with the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) and the Air Armament Center (AAC), will be consolidated into the new Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (LCMC), commanded by a lieutenant general and headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton Ohio.

The highest ranking officer at Hanscom AFB will be a major general serving as the AF Program Executive Officer (AFPEO) for the C3I and Networks a small part of the materiel operations Hq'ed in Dayton Ohio. Losing the Lt. Gen -- though mean losing a lot of the prestige and perks of the base including the "disbandment" of the AF Band of Liberty" -- savings of 45 AF enlisted positons!

But despite all of this LL is not going away -- indeed it is now becoming a major facility for work on advanced technologies for the Department of Homeland Security.

What will change if the AF slowly seeps away or leaves in one fell swoop -- the local offices of the major contractors will go away. Howerver, the need for an easily secured facility for high-value R&D will not be diminished as a lot of local reseach universities have government contracts and nowhere on campus to do the secure parts -- hence there will always be a mission for Hanscom even if not as an AFB.

Of course a lot could change again -- if the next President is more inclined to supporting the mission of defense of the US through strengthening the armed forces.

 

[whighlander]

Ahhh, D.C., Tampa, Miami, and Salt Lake all have air force bases very close to them. Also, cities like L.A. (Edwards AFB) and San Diego (Miramar MCAS) both have installations close to them.

Wouldn't exactly compare Tampa and Salt Lake City with Boston as metro areas -- and LA is a long way from Edwards -- but there is no doubt DC is surrounded by Bases of all flavors and there are several bases near to Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia and Atlanta -- so the original point justifying keeping Hanscom as an operational base because it's close to Boston is still invalid.

In fact -- Hanscom has been considered a secondary type of base for many years as few AF planes have anything to do with Hanscom except to ferry brass to/from meetings - with the loss of the Lt. Gen. - that will decrease as well.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Hanscom field has got amazing potential for air freight, which is the one type of freight that is really underutilized in this state. I can't think of a single airport here that handles the freight volumes of even a Brainerd in Hartford or Bradley Int'l. It's sorely lacking in MA. And Logan certainly doesn't have the capacity to do much more than it does. Worcester is the one the State Freight Plan targets the most, but that one's got very mediocre highway access. Hanscom would blow it away if it came available for full-on commercial use. The only thing we don't have in this state is a good freight field with rail access, which is something Brainerd and Bradley in CT do have. But that's luck of the draw. The Lexington Branch ain't coming back as commuter rail, and the Bedford Branch south from Billerica and Reformatory Branch east from Concord were both abandoned in 1960 well before any landbanking statutes. Reformatory B. was the shortest one at 8 miles, but there's obstructions in West Concord preventing any hook-in back to the Fitchburg Line.

But that's not really a problem with 128 being so close. Worcester Airport, despite being so close to the humongous CSX and P&W yards as the crow flies, is too remote to have any spurs built...and the trucking is limited by having to use city streets to get there. Hanscom's got excellent radial trucking routes out of the huge Pan Am yards in Ayer and Lawrence with 495/3/2/93. Less so from CSX, but if they had better truck access out of Readville or set up a transload operation at Westwood where there's an underutilized maze of industrial tracks at a couple big warehouses off University Ave. then they're cooking with gas at link-ups to Hanscom.

That wouldn't necessarily impact what you'd build around the airfield, since air freight isn't locked into surrounding industrial zoning like rail freight is. The airport can do quite nicely with the trucks going out the back way on Hanscom Dr. and 2A to get to 128, and the AFB redevelopment left in peace. But I could definitely see a medical campus link to the airport clustered around time-sensitive freight like live-tissue research...the kind of thing air freight is the best possible mode for. Wouldn't a biomed company or secondary hospital campus rather be located there than Cambridge if it were the kind of thing catered to that specialty?

 

[whighlander]

Hanscom field has got amazing potential for air freight, which is the one type of freight that is really underutilized in this state.

But that's not really a problem with 128 being so close. Worcester Airport, despite being so close to the humongous CSX and P&W yards as the crow flies, is too remote to have any spurs built..... but if they had better truck access out of Readville or set up a transload operation at Westwood where there's an underutilized maze of industrial tracks at a couple big warehouses off University Ave. then they're cooking with gas at link-ups to Hanscom....That wouldn't necessarily impact what you'd build around the airfield, since air freight isn't locked into surrounding industrial zoning like rail freight is.... The airport can do quite nicely with the trucks going out the back way on Hanscom Dr. and 2A to get to 128, and the AFB redevelopment left in peace.... But I could definitely see a medical campus link to the airport clustered around time-sensitive freight like live-tissue research...the kind of thing air freight is the best possible mode for. Wouldn't a biomed company or secondary hospital campus rather be located there than Cambridge if it were the kind of thing catered to that specialty?

F-Line -- as usual you've got the technical details -- BUT policy-wise - Air Freight is probably the least likely use of the AF part of Hanscom -- the NIMBYs fight tooth and nail over a couple of CRJ's a day to Philly or DC -- you can't imagine the uproar from SShare and other local flash NIMBY groups if someone proposed regular 767 or bigger planes landing -- Hanscom gets blamed when the winds force approaches to Logan to fly over Lexington

No -- the prime role of Hanscom is private jets as that's already there -- that means major corporation R&D to benefit from the access

I think the best airport for Air Cargo in the Greater Boston Area -- Pease in Portsmouth NH -- though South Weymouth would have been good if the NIMBYs could have been quelled