USPS Complex | Fort Point

These guys, according to the site, designed 111 huntington?

then why on earth are they designing a park here when there could be another beautiful state of the art award winning skyscraper built?
 
Here's an open-ended question: It seems that today's Boston has gone as overboard in favor of "open space," "open space," "open space" everywhere as it did in favor of destroying "organic" neighborhoods and paving them over with brutalist bureaucratic buildings and/or highways in the 60s. (Luckily, requiring a park or two that can later be filled in isn't anywhere near as destructive as, say, the wholesale razing of the West End.)

So the question is: When do people really think Boston will get over its park fetish, and what will it take for that to happen?
 
I would be very surprised if there is a large park on this site. Who could possible want it, no one.

What you will see is a push for wider sidewalks and a nice narrow park along the channel, maybe a small plaza, improvements to the neighborhood, and transit improvements. Maybe an internal extension of Kneeland St. There will also be a push for public amenities and access just like Fan Pier and Seaport Square(yes I know they have traditional parks planned there).

I hope they make tearing down the old Stone Webster Building part of this plan. Reconstructing the wing of South Station would be great.
 
Hope they reopen Dorchester Ave too (you'd think it would be automatic, but you never know with these open space freaks).
 
PaulC said:
I would be very surprised if there is a large park on this site. Who could possible want it, no one.
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Everyone wants parks!!! I would bet there will be a park...and probably a large one. Look at all the recent developments that are fairly substantial; NorthPoint in Cambridge has almost 25% of it's total land dedicated to parkland due to community groups in Cambridge demanding open space. Columbus Center, the Big Dig, Fan Pier, Seaport Square, Fort Point Master Plan development, Gateway Center (a huge park), Harvard's plans for development in Allston...etc, etc. Whether they are needed or not, parks are demanded by community groups as a condition for developers gaining the right to develop a property. Commuter guy makes some valid points about several parks in/around the Waterfront. I venture to guess that one of the reasons housing is so expensive in Boston/Cambridge is that a developer needs to keep such a large percentage of his buildable land open as parkland and open space. Parks are wonderful but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Moderation is a good word too.
 
The problem is that there are places where we need good parks and places we don't, but people think we do because the parks that are there don't work right.

Chinatown needs parks. The Waterfront doesn't. Fort Point needs a promenade, the Greenway needs buildings.
 
I would bet that the developers of North Point want that park. Think how much more those units are worth that overlook the park. Harvard wants their campus to look like a campus. Gateway Center is the neighborhoods wish/fantasy plan.

Most of those parks will be heavily used. With the exception of parcel 19 the Columbus Center park will probably be as popular as the South End's section on the South West Corridor. I would have like to have seen that left open, someday that might be the only view of the turnpike.

If you want a list of parks I want to see removed you'd be surprised at how many.
 
Patriots_1228 said:
These guys, according to the site, designed 111 huntington?
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Yes. Here's a partial list of CBT's work:

Completed:
Millenium Place
399 Boylston
Folio
111 Huntington
116 Huntington
The Belvedere
Trinity Place
Watermark

Everything Else:
Trans National Place
Fan Pier
888 Boylston
The Clarendon (w/ RAM Stern)
Columbus Center
Mandarin Oriental
MFA w/Foster
Boylston Square
 
As mentioned in the article, this is not related to the Post Office Complex, itself, but the parking lot across the street. This is as good a place to post this, though.

Post Office Looking To Unload 5-Acre Parcel In Southie

By Paul McMorrow
Banker & Tradesman

USPS parking lot on A Street in South BostonThe cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is unloading 5 acres of vacant land on A Street in South Boston.

The 5-acre plot, part of the Postal Service's extensive real estate holdings in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood, was formerly used for truck storage. It's a sizable slice of a parking lot that creates a gap in the warehouse streetscape along A Street. The lot's sale is unrelated to the agency's planned move from South Station to the area around the Reserved Channel waterway in South Boston, according to Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan

Brennan cast the sale as part of a wider, nationwide effort to combat rapidly falling revenues. The lot is one of approximately 200 pieces of real estate nationwide that the Postal Service is either actively marketing or considering putting up for sale.

"In 2008, we had a $3-billion loss in revenue, and this year is looking exponentially worse," she said. "Nationwide, we're looking at excess property to sell. We have not really embarked upon something like this before. We've never done it at this level. It's a revenue generation opportunity for us. It's our fiscal responsibility."

The Postal Service tried to sell the 5-acre parcel last year, but talks failed. Brennan declined to identify the party the Postal Service was negotiating with last year, saying, "The purchaser cannot be identified until a contract is signed."

USPS parking lot on A Street in South BostonUnder the Boston Redevelopment Authority's 100 Acres Planned Development Area for the neighborhood, the Postal Service's large Fort Point lots are zoned for residential-commercial mixed use and parkland.
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JohnAKeith said:
As mentioned in the article, this is not related to the Post Office Complex, itself, but the parking lot across the street. This is as good a place to post this, though.

Post Office Looking To Unload 5-Acre Parcel In Southie

By Paul McMorrow
Banker & Tradesman
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Images courtesy of B&T
download.php


download.php
 
Banker & Trademan
Developer, FBI Reportedly Want 5-Acre Post Office Parcel

By Paul McMorrow

Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

Two development sources have said that Commonwealth Ventures president Dick Galvin and mayoral confidante Bob Walsh are preparing to make a play for the U.S. Postal Service's parking lot on A Street in South Boston - a move that would enable them to build a new home for one of the region's most coveted tenants, the FBI.

The sources say that Galvin and Walsh took a run at the site last spring, when the Postal Service first put the 5-acre A Street lot on the market. They were unable to come to an agreement on price, but since that time, the Postal Service's finances have been seriously tested, and they may be more willing to compromise, the sources speculated.

USPS parking lot on A Street in South BostonGalvin, who developed neighboring Channel Center and whose firm has offices in the A Street complex, would be well-positioned to leverage the Postal Service plot into significant new construction. Channel Center Holdings, a firm he controls, owns the two vacant lots between the Postal Service lot and Channel Center.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino has long sought to keep the FBI's regional offices in the city. That search has centered on the Seaport. The agency reportedly took a long, hard look at Joe Fallon's Fan Pier before deciding that price and security concerns made the development unacceptable. The FBI, said to be eyeing 270,000 square feet, would have been Fan Pier's anchor tenant. Instead, Fallon's first office tower is now rising without one. And now it appears that it'll be another friend of the mayor's - Walsh, not Fallon - who brings the feds to the neighborhood.

USPS parking lot on A Street in South BostonCB Richard Ellis is marketing the lot for the Postal Service. CBRE declined comment.
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Does this mean they will get out of the JFK building in Gov't Center, because that will be HUGE on numerous levels. Not only is it an eysore, but a hinderence to new development in the area because of security concerns.

I am crossing my fingers that this is the case.
 
Though if I were an A Street artist, I'm not sure I'd like having the FBI for a neighbor. I still think Waltham or Burlington is a better fit for them.
 
Well the good news is the it's not the 1960's anymore and I don't think the FBI still considers all artists to be subversives, so they may be safe.
 
Tommy Boys 2007-2009 records looks like a disaster

Tommy's Tower=Dead in the water
Fan Pier= Not looking to bright
Filene's=Using Taxpayers money to get the project started

Tommy's Crew
Dianne Wilkerson=Bra Payments
Chuck Turner= Chuckies meal plans
Tommy's Son= $145,000 secret securtiy for Boston.

Boston looks to be heading into the dark ages.
 
the bad news is that the FBI will undoubtedly be a terrible, anti-urban, anti pedestrian, neighbor. The RFP calls for enormous set backs from the street. this is the last thing that part of town needs.
 
So is this what they call "good graft?" And just what is a "Mayoral Confidante" anyways? The whole things comes off as a bit sketchy.
 
At least Fort Point has a tenant. Fan Pier development seems to heading for a ghost town.
 
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