Convention center looking at adding auditorum

Southie hall may expand
High demand seen for auditorium
By Scott Van Voorhis | Friday, January 25, 2008 |
http://www.bostonherald.com

The Hub could gain a showcase auditorium for fast-growing biotech companies and major political events as part of an expansion of the city's new convention center.

An auditorium that could seat thousands is under consideration if a decision is made to expand the new, $800 million Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, said Dean Stratouly, a member of the state board that oversees the hall.

An auditorium is in demand among the life sciences, high-tech and financial firms that have been flocking to the new center since it opened, Stratouly said. Such a venue would also be available for major political events as well, from presidential debates to mayoral addresses, James Rooney, chief executive of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

... (read full article)

Mtg Tues for 241 A Street

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The Fort Point Cultural Coalition (FPCC), Spaulding Tougias Architectes, and Superior Dining have formed a partnership and are attempting to develop 241 A St. (to be 40 Channel Center St). They're hosting an introductory community meeting on Tuesday to discuss the project:


Introductory Meeting for 241 A st.
January 22nd6pm
Midway Studios (15 Channel Center St.)


"The building is envisioned as a space for local firms (we have priced it and been marketing to mostly local design firms), a home for STA who has been in the neighborhood for 14 years, a restaurant on the first floor and a subsidized/reduced rent on the lower level for a direct arts use. We have also started some conversations about public art. At this point, as you can imagine there are a lot of unknowns and the planning is now beginning in earnest, but it seemed to make sense to start talking as soon as possible."

FPCC was founded in 1999 to "preserve, promote and expand the cultural community of Fort Point, by securing permanent, affordable space for neighborhood artists and arts organizations." The most tangible results of their work is Midway Studios at 15 Channel Center, which provides 89 live/work studios for artists. The project has a been a huge success, allowing a number of artists to remain in Fort Point and others to move into the neighborhood. There was concern over their choice of tenant for the large theater space. Neighbors were in an uproar when Longwood Events signed a lease for Artistry, a 1,200-person wedding and corporate events business. However, because of the community's concern, Longwood's owner, Jim Apteker, was never able to get a liquor license for the venue and backed out.

Mtg Thurs for 368 Summer St. Building Demolition

Berkeley Investments is holding a community meeting to discuss their development on 368 Summer St. Of concern is their planned demolition of a building built in 1901 to house boilers. The Boston Landmarks Commission delayed demolition of the boiler room for 90 days at City Hall on Jan 8th.

Please come out and make your voice heard:

Thursday January 17th, 2008
6:30 PM
Children's Museum, Boston Dewey Room
(enter from 308 Congress)

Article on FBI Eyeing Fort Point

There's an article in the Globe about the FBI looking to build on the Post Office's land between A Street and the convention center. There have been rumors about this project since at least last spring and it looks like it's getting more serious:
FBI May Seek Move to S Boston

The last paragraph of the article shows a clear lack of understanding of the project or the neighborhood as it talks about the fact that it could "help accelerate development of a neighborhood". A 270,000 square foot, highly-secure office building is likely to do nothing but discourage further development towards a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood. What developer is going to want to put together a project next to something like this:




?

Research Labs in Fan Pier

There's an article in the Herald about Fallon talking with biotech firms about building labs in Fan Pier. Becky Dwyer from the Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC) is quoted as being upset that it will create an "office wasteland", but I don't understand the concern over this particular item. We need to continue to make sure Fort Point is a mixed-use neighborhood in the future with a significant amount of the new development going to retail and residential, but, at least according to the article, the BRA and Fallon aren't talking about increasing the allocation of office space in the development. They're simply deciding to allocate some of the office space for biotech companies. Of all of the ways office space could be used, I think someone like Vertex is much better than most of the other alternatives (like the FBI, for example). Vertex's lab space on Kendall St. in Cambridge is in an interesting building that's recognized by the American Institute of Architects. And it has a restaurant space, open to the public, on the ground floor and a large public space in front where there's music shows in the summer and skating in the winter. That's about as good as you get for office space. If they built something similar in Fan Pier, I think that would be great.


http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1054994&format=text

Vertex eyes Fan Pier
By Jay Fitzgerald | Thursday, December 20, 2007

Developer Joseph Fallon is in talks with Vertex Pharmaceuticals and other biotech firms about building research labs within the new $1 billion Fan Pier complex - a move that’s raising concerns among some activists about the future makeup of the South Boston waterfront.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority today is expected to vote on Fallon’s request for some research-lab space to be allowed within the massive Fan Pier project.

Spokesmen for Fallon and city officials would only say that there’s been “some interest” expressed about life-science firms moving into the massive Fan Pier project.

But sources say Vertex, which has more than 1,000 employees, many of them at its headquarters in Cambridge, is one firm in talks with Fallon. The developer broke ground on the first phase of the Fan Pier build-out in September.
...
Susan Elsbree, a spokeswoman for the BRA, said any labs would be within the 1.5 million square feet of office space already approved for Fan Pier. The development’s other 1.5 million square feet would remain for condos, retail space and a hotel.

Schlow to Open New Restaurant in Seaport

According to the Boston Business Journal, Michael Schlow is opening a restaurant in the Seaport Marriot on Congress St which is set to open later this winter:

Schlow to open new Boston restaurant
Michael Schlow, owner/operator of Radius, Via Matta and Great Bay in Boston, as well as Alta Strada in Wellesley, has signed a consulting agreement with the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel to open a restaurant there. The Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel is slated to open in South Boston's Seaport District this January. The restaurant concept and name are currently under development. A name has not been chosen. The restaurant will be located street-side and feature an exhibition kitchen, a chef's communal table, floor to ceiling wine displays, and an outdoor seating area.

Fort Point in the News

Our neighborhood has been in the news a lot recently. Here's a collection of articles from the Globe discussing Fort Point. Many thanks to Linda for diligently staying on the lookout for them.

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Jimmy's site being reborn on waterfront
Jimmy's Harborside Restaurant, a landmark on the South Boston Waterfront for decades, will be replaced by two mostly glass buildings with two large restaurants and a waterside public plaza.
But it appears that Jimmy's, since 1955 a dining destination for business folks, pols, and tourists that was demolished earlier this year, won't return.
Cresset Development, which recently signed a 75-year lease for the site, filed building plans with the state this week for 69,000 square feet of restaurant and office space at the Northern Avenue location and will separately submit plans to the Boston Redevelopment Authority today.
...

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Boston Waterfront in 2017

The Globe created an interactive map of what our neighborhood and the surrounding area will look like ten years from now: Waterfront 2017.


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Fort Point Channel vision clouding over
The man who helped reinvent New York's vibrant Soho and Florida's South Beach had a similar bold vision for Boston's Summer Street neighborhood. But that was a year ago.
Since then, Tony Goldman and investment partner Archon Group have sold seven of the 17 properties that were to be the building blocks of a revitalized 24/7, live-work-play district in the Fort Point Channel area.
And now they have put two more buildings on the market - 316 and 322 Summer St., historic warehouse structures whose renovations were to kick off the transformation of Summer and adjacent side streets.
The city approved the prominent brick buildings for conversion into luxury condos, but the residential market has cooled significantly in the last year.
"We found it very difficult to do that project in an economically feasible way," Goldman said in a telephone interview yesterday. "The construction costs being where they are and the market being where it is, it doesn't pencil out."
...

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Post Office to sell 2 sites, consolidate in S. Boston
The United States Postal Service asked for proposals for redevelopment of the 16-acre site at Dorchester Avenue and Summer Street where its processing and distribution center is located. The Postal Service will also sell 23 acres on A Street and use both proceeds to move to another location in the South Boston industrial neighborhood, it said. It has hired the firm CB Richard Ellis/New England to find a developer for the site on Dorchester Avenue. Redevelopment will also allow expansion of railroad tracks at South Station. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

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Waterfront growth accelerates as city OKs South Boston complex
Development on the long-stalled South Boston Waterfront got a kick-start yesterday, as Waterside Place, a 1.1-million-square-foot urban shopping plaza, hotel, and residential complex, won unanimous approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Construction for the vast block of buildings, proposed for the land and air space between the World Trade Center and the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, is scheduled to begin early next year.
It would be the second major mixed-use project to get started on the waterfront, following an office building on Fan Pier set to break ground this fall.
The Big Dig's Interstate 90 extension through the Seaport district is complete, and residential buildings and a new hotel nearby are finished. Fan Pier developer Joseph F. Fallon and two other developers of large-scale projects are rapidly planning to get projects underway nearby, after years of empty promises and inaction on the waterfront.
...

Build the parks first

There's an interesting story in the Globe about what's happened with the parks on the Charles near the Musuem of science that were promised as part of the Big Dig:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/25/on_the_charles_new_parks_missing_links/

Cost-overruns have soaked up a lot of funding and this has forced the project to be greatly scaled back and it's currently at risk of being much use at all.

It's a good reminder that, no matter how firm a promise is made, when budgets run tight, public spaces are always what gets cut. As the development of our own neighborhood unfolds, it's important that the timelines include doing projects like parks and other public amenities before the buildings go in, or there's a good chance they never happen.

For more information about development projects around Fort Point, see FPNA's development resources on our website.

Meeting on the Planned Gillette Renovations

There's a meeting tomorrow at Midway Studios to discuss Gillette's plans for renovating their plant to accommodate more office workers. The renovations are in the section of their facility towards West 2nd street and, among other things, they plan to move their loading dock onto A St.

Informational Session
Monday, November 26th, 2007
6:30 PM
At the Midway Mezzanine
15 Channel Center St.

Please come out and make your voice heard.

For more information, please contact:
Casey Flynn, Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services
617-635-3485

Article on Barbara Lynch's Congress St. Restaurant Complex

There's an article about Barbara Lynch's new restaurant complex on Congress St. in the Globe.

It's all in the preparation
Barbara Lynch's new restaurant complex in the Fort Point area will put top-of-the-line equipment to use in concepts the chef has fine-tuned for years
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | November 19, 2007

Chef Barbara Lynch's new restaurants, under construction in a luxury condo project on Congress Street in the emerging Fort Point neighborhood, don't have names yet and won't be taking reservations before next spring.

But the 15,000-square-foot complex will be a place to eat like foodies in this city have never seen before.

The $7.5 million project will include a fine-dining restaurant, a casual restaurant, a bar, private dining rooms, and a retail chocolate shop and bakery, all of which will be supported by dozens of cooks working round-the-clock in spacious cutting-edge kitchens....

The Fort Point area is only starting to take shape as an urban location for living, working, and nightlife, and opening luxury living and dining locales there presents "a risk for both parties," said Edward F. McCabe, president of Cafco, a Boston construction management firm that specializes in restaurants - including Sel de la Terre in Boston and Natick and Sonsie on Newbury Street.
...

The staff will use a large "prep" kitchen on the ground floor, a half-floor below street level, and four separate "finishing" kitchens. Fine dining for 70 and two private dining rooms that together can seat 45 will be on the upper floor, along with the casual restaurant, which will have counter-style seating.

A small retail shop selling Lynch's made-on-premises chocolates and baked goods will be near the entrance. A 40-seat bar with its own kitchen will be on the lower level.

The lower level is the heart of the "back of house," where groceries are received and vegetables are inventoried and washed. Lamb, beef, and chicken are weighed, butchered, and refrigerated.

... (Read full article)

Landmark District Meeting Tonight

A reminder that the Fort Point Landmark Study Committee is meeting this evening:

Monday, Nov 19, 2007
5:30-8:30pm
Boston Exhibition and Convention Center
Room: 201/202

and again in December:

Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
5:30-8:30pm
Boston Exhibition and Convention Center
Room: 201/202

The Committee is working on designating a section of our neighborhood as a Landmark District to recognize and protect a section of our historic neighborhood which contains an unusually coherent and well-preserved collection of 19th and early 20th century buildings. The neighborhood reps on the committee are Valerie Burns, Steve Hollinger, Pratap Talwar and Michele Yeles. For more information, check out their website: www.cityofboston.gov/environment/fpc/meeting.asp

A presentation from their status update meeting is available here:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/environment/fpc/pdfs/11-8-07_pres.pdf

FPNA in the Boston Biz Journal

Our own Cam Sawzin was quoted in a recently Boston Business Journal article about the development of the neigborhood (many thanks to Linda for typing this in):

Fort Point Channel residents await their neighborhood
This is Real Estate Roundup by Michelle Hillman

"Residents of the Fort Point Channel are worried that their lively cultural district will turn into a boring, 9-5 environment full of office buildings and little else. The fears are becoming a reality as more property owners consider building office space rather than residential units.

The highly visible Gillette manufacturing facility has been part of the Fort Point scenery for years. But now, it's getting company. The U.S. Postal Service has announced plans to move its facility deeper into Fort Point, to a 25-acre parcel near the Greater Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The Postal Services' move from its current Summer Street location will free up 16 acres of prime channel real estate for development.

The FBI is weighing a move to a D Street facility owned by Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. If the FBI decides to move its headquarters to the D Street building, Intercontinental's plans for 585 residential units on the site will go out the window.

Another large and previously approved project, called Channel Center, was acquired earlier this year by Commonwealth Ventures LLC. At the time the Connecticut development firm stated in a published report it would redevelop a portion of the 16-building portfolio into 280,000 SF of office space. Nearby on Summer, Melcher and A streets, the Archon Group LP has made little progress in developing the portfolio of wharf buildings it purchased in 2005 into residential. In fact, the developer has said it is waiting for the market to cooperate before moving ahead with the plan to build 87 units at 316-322 Summer St.

To some residents' dismay, the rejuvenation of the old industrial and warehouse neighborhood hasn't taken hold. Developers instead are allowing market forces to dictate what gets built.

"We just want to make sure, now that the residential market has softened, that we don't find ourselves surrounded by office buildings, "said Cameron Sawzin, a resident and member of the Fort Point Neighborhood Association.

Sawzin said she's by no means anti-development. In fact, she views many of the changes that have occurred -- the addition of restaurants and retail -- as exciting. But she is concerned that the promise to create a 24-7 environment with a mix of uses could be in danger.

"We just want to make sure that the mix that was promised to us is kept the same," said Sawzin.

Sawzin and the Fort Point Neighborhood Association want to protect the historical character of the neighborhood and keep it an artists community, not a place with "50 Cheesecake Factories and The Gap": She's not alone.

"There is a real pressure from market forces to dictate what the outcome is in the Fort Point area", said Steve Hollinger, co-founder of another neighborhood group, the Seaport Alliance for Neighborhood Design.

Hollinger said he fears the Fort Point Channel may never become a dense urban environment as planned. He said the Fort Point Channel has always been seen as a back-office location for Financial District tenants but he said he doesn't believe the market should dictate what gets built, because "what happens in Fort Point ripples and has an effect on the Seaport District. The goal is to have a really lively Seaport, a really lively waterfront. I won't say I'm disappointed, but we definitely could be doing a lot better.""