Volpe Transportation Center Development | Kendall Sq | Cambridge

Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

DigitalSciGuy said:
What I'd really love is PUBLIC space in Kendall where I don't feel this terrible agoraphobia from being on a naked green with few features to activate the space and even fewer places to sit (I dislike sitting on grass). Another open space still adds no character to Kendall Square; what it needs is public spaces that feel intimate. I wonder if this is what people are really looking for, not just more naked greens that make me feel like I need to hold onto something lest I fall into the sky.
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FWIW, this IS a nice opportunity to potentially get a small public space maintained by a private entity, since it will be a large developer and a large development. Post Office Square is something to shoot for. Water features a plus. Cafes with outdoor seating and other retail frontage a bigger plus.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

DigitalSciGuy said:
Having recently been to some Cambridge neighbourhood association meetings, I can only guess they actually want just more green space just to keep the place from turning into Manhattan overnight...
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Maybe this but my interpretation for the push to get open space was because it ties into a bunch of emotional concept words liberals fetishize like "green", "public", "communal" and "equity" (this last one really has been making scream lately). None of which have any clear definition or any bearing on the actual functionality of Kendall Sq as a desirable urban space, or the issues of Cambridge faces as a whole. Idealism is nice but at a certain point it should yield to pragmatism. Cantabridgians seem to have a hard time crossing that bridge, and it shows in our politics.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

Couldn't agree with you more pixels. "Green" ideology too often trumps common sense and leads to excessive demands for "open space justice." Just as bad are the activists who shout for more housing then denounce dense residential proposals as profit machines for greedy developers. Kendall is a goose that truly lays golden eggs, it needs to be protected from activist zealotry.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

Any person with an actually green ideology wants denser cities so that there is less urban sprawl and therefore less usage of fuel. Don't criticize the term criticize those who use it incorrectly and as you seem to be saying that this is a green ideology that includes you.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

aaaaaa said:
You're wrong about this because you consider there to be a singular green ideology. It's quite a diverse movement, and there is a faction that favors radical depopulation and the end of cities and the industrial world as we know them. They're radical, but they're green.
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I don't want to derail this any further but that is a fringe group not anything that carries wait and overwhelms political discourse. My point is that most logical people in environmental activism understand that cities are necessary and will not be going away and that to make them green they need to be dense. This is prevalent believe it or not. we should have green space in cities but it should not come at the detriment of common sense in density and urban planning.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

As someone who works in Kendall, I'm somewhat disturbed by the fetishization of open space there. The City of Cambridge has shown no ability to run an even halfway decent park - most of the ones in Cambridge are little more than ill-maintained open fields. Despite having a beautiful common, comparable to many other old New England towns, it's neither talked about nor used nearly as much. In Kendall itself, there's the empty field on Rogers St (rarely does anyone spend time there) and the Constellation Center lot, which looks likely to be transformed into yet another "park," and the Kendall square development area with the frequently empty ice rink and grass features no one uses.

Kendall needs an urban fabric, a streetwall, and lots of ground floor retail. Some dense housing would be nice too. Another "park" will just break it up and make the dense parts of Cambridge look like sprawl's idea of downtown.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

To be fair. The open and green space at both the Marriott and at Tech square get fantastic use during the nicer weather. Both Will be full of lunch folk very soon.
Of course they were both built to be an insular park provided as amenities for insular office parks back in the day (KendAll nee Cambridge center and tech square. ) both have mature trees, and programmed usage. They are some of the only places that work.
The open space on top of the garage next to the watermark also gets used, but isn't a green space, more of a courtyard with crushed gravel.

Most other spaces are well hidden, so don't get much use. The walking path next to volpe is nice, but the fences make it just a pass through. MIT really drops the ball on the Kendall side as all of it's open space is unattractive, uninviting, brutal concrete spaces with little to No trees of places to sit and enjoy.

Things are definitely trending in the right direction. Doubling the residential component will go a long way to enlivening the space and justifying new and more diverse retail, and stuff that's open later. I hope it continues as we just signed a 5 year lease at the end of last year, so I'll be here for a while to watch and enjoy. The MIT east campus plans should be some good strides for that portion of Kendall, and whatever comes of the volpe can really help knit the square back to much of the areas north of main and Broadway up to Binney and bent. Whatever goes in will be better than is what's there, but hopefully they shoot for the moon here because There should be a real defining something to bring this area together. Right now the area is tonight gangbusters, but there is no physical identity, just a digital one really. Sort of fitting, but not what it should be. To look at the area it's not inspiring or exciting, but on paper it's one of the most exciting neighborhoods in America. Reality needs to match perception here in a bad way.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

Cambridge has some nice pocket parks sprinkled throughout the city. I think the larger parks are less successful.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

RandomWalk said:
Cambridge has some nice pocket parks sprinkled throughout the city. I think the larger parks are less successful.
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The ones I know that work, work because they are in the middle of residential or at least mixed neighborhoods.

Maybe when/if Kendall actually starts getting more residents, our parks will work better too.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

Broadway and Third Street need retail streetwalls. Period.

The site needs a major residential tower or two. Max out the 300 foot K2 recommended limit and push the inclusionary zoning to the max to appeases the affordable housing crowd (and, you know, provide affordable housing). Cheung was more than a little off his rocker talking about 1000 feet, but 300 ought to be approved without a second thought.

Those items addressed, I see no reason (other than Cambridge's abysmal-to-mediocre public space programing) not to include a significant park/plaza component with the remaining area. Give us trees with benches and cafe seating in the shade. Drive food and coffee trucks right into the plaza.

More commercial/lab space seems like a challenge in the current political climate. And there is SOOO MUCH fallow and under construction already. I'm not saying that Kendall wouldn't absorb more, I'm saying that more isn't going to contribute to the vibrancy issue in the area and upping the urbanism can pay real dividends in keeping Kendall on top of the world once it is built out. 20 years or so into the future it will be time to start demoing the first wave of lab/office space and THAT can be replaced with state-of-the-art lab/office space at that time.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

^ I'm glad he threw out the 1000' bomb though. It's a good absurd opening bid. Always open high, so the end result is higher than it otherwise might be.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

It'd be cool if they proposed something in the 800' range, which may instigate Boston into trying to beat that height with the 115 Federal Street development.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

Whoever the winning developer is (and don't rule out MIT) they are in for at least $250 million before they even start their own buildings. That rules out affordable housing, and pretty much rules in high-cost, high-return lab or premium office space. There are no 700 or 1,000 foot lab buildings. And Kendall is tidal mud; bedrock is 130-135 feet below grade.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

stellarfun said:
Whoever the winning developer is (and don't rule out MIT) they are in for at least $250 million before they even start their own buildings. That rules out affordable housing, and pretty much rules in high-cost, high-return lab or premium office space. There are no 700 or 1,000 foot lab buildings. And Kendall is tidal mud; bedrock is 130-135 feet below grade.
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What about a potential mixed office/luxury condo tower?

How prohibitive is that depth of bedrock? I'm unfamiliar with the ins & outs of construction.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

They could do a 300 foot lab space with another 500 feet or residential which would give an even better return especially if the residential was priced like Millennium.
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

tmac9wr said:
What about a potential mixed office/luxury condo tower?

How prohibitive is that depth of bedrock? I'm unfamiliar with the ins & outs of construction.
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Re: mixed use, see link to Herald article on Federal St parking garage, with some developers opining that mixed office/condo is not successful.

http://www.bostonherald.com/busines...rive_plans_developers_think_beyond_garage_lot

For much of Manhattan south of Central Park, bedrock is less than 30 feet below the surface, in some ares within 15 feet.

The application of that theory illustrates why skyscrapers historically sprouted downtown and in Midtown, but not in between. The bedrock — the formidable Manhattan Schist on which their concrete foundations rest — is closest to the surface in those two areas, though, nowadays, the technology exists to build almost anywhere.

“It’s only a matter of what type of foundation you can afford, or are willing to entertain,” said Michael Horodniceanu, the president of the transportation authority’s capital construction arm.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/n...s-brings-geologists-blessings-from-below.html
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

citylover94 said:
They could do a 300 foot lab space with another 500 feet or residential which would give an even better return especially if the residential was priced like Millennium.
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And where are all the lab hoods going to vent?
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

stellarfun said:
Whoever the winning developer is (and don't rule out MIT) they are in for at least $250 million before they even start their own buildings. That rules out affordable housing, and pretty much rules in high-cost, high-return lab or premium office space. There are no 700 or 1,000 foot lab buildings. And Kendall is tidal mud; bedrock is 130-135 feet below grade.
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There's enough space for high-end residential, offices and labs.

The Hancock and the Pru are built on filled land too...
 
Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge

Mongo said:
Out the side, see the Vertex headquarters building.
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The hoods,go out the top on vertex. The louvers on the mechanical levels are for air handlers. Strobic fans are out the top to get height And dissipate.

This could still happen with a res tower portion. The lab part would be fatter. Step back at that roof lone for fans, and continue up with office, res, whatever. As long as that side has no operable Windows or air intakes. No problem..

Vertex and black fan show labs can go 200 to 300 feet pretty successfully. I think we're going to start seeing taller labs in the area based on the hotness of the market and the land going fast.
 
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