North Station Expansion Project

[Ron Newman]

MOVE MASSACHUSETTS

June 2006 Membership Meeting
Friday, June 16th, 8:10-9:30 AM*
Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels
One Financial Center, Eighteenth Floor, Dewey Square, Boston
(across from South Station)

North Station Expansion Project

with

Chris Maher
Vice President
Boston Garden Development Corporation


Mark Boyle
Director of Real Estate
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority


All Interested Parties Are Invited to Attend & Participate
Coffee, Tea and Juice will be served.

Please RSVP by return e-mail to danwilson1@verizon.net
to be added to the visitor's list for building services.
Photo ID is required for entry to building.


Forward this notice to other interested individuals or organizations.

*Access to the eighteenth floor and conference room is not available before 8:00 a.m.

To be removed from this mailing send your request to danwilson1@verizon.net

Dan Wilson
Executive Director
Move Massachusetts
PH 617.720.4334
FX 617.720.0404
danwilson1@verizon.net

[chumbolly]

Funny how this meeting about North Station is across the street from South Station.

[castevens]

geez, I wish I was around Boston for the summer!

[ChunkyMonkey]

Did anyone go to the dedication of the North Station annex ? How does it look? I'm curious.

[Ron Newman]

I went. Looks OK, but nothing spectacular. It needs food stands, vendors, and a train-departures board, all of which it's eventually supposed to get. They should really have delayed the dedication until these things arrived.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Thanks Ron. Sounds rather spartan... oh well, what can you expect from the MBTA.

[Ron Newman]

It will be fine once it's finished. It was just dedicated before it was finished.

[kz1000ps]

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1978/img1700af0.jpg

[jass]

Looks pretty good actually

[kz1000ps]

Yeah I'm in North Station maybe once a year and had forgotten about the expansion, so when I came across it yesterday I was pleasantly surprised. Besides the above comments, my only complaint is the ceiling being all black--I think it makes the place feel a bit too dungeon-ish.

[jass]

Yeah I'm in North Station maybe once a year and had forgotten about the expansion, so when I came across it yesterday I was pleasantly surprised. Besides the above comments, my only complaint is the ceiling being all black--I think it makes the place feel a bit too dungeon-ish.

I like it, looks very industrial

[Ron Newman]

it's the same ceiling that was there before, when it was above railroad tracks instead of a lobby. Look up and you'll see signs saying "DANGER - Do Not Walk on Ceiling". (I am NOT making this up)

[DudeUrSistersHot]

it's the same ceiling that was there before, when it was above railroad tracks instead of a lobby. Look up and you'll see signs saying "DANGER - Do Not Walk on Ceiling". (I am NOT making this up)

And they probably saved millions, or at least hundreds of thousands, by doing that - and the end result may look even better than if they had redone the ceiling. This is the kind of efficiency you get from a private business. I can guarantee you a T-constructed expansion project would have cost 5 times as much, not been as functional, and would have taken much longer.

[kz1000ps]

^ When I hear stuff like that I'm always reminded of how Trump fixed up the Wollman Rink in NYC in less than four months and under budget while the city had left it in disrepair for 6 years before then and was saying it would take them 2 years to get back up and running. From the day he proposed to take over the project to the day it reopened was in total 5 1/2 months.

[chumbolly]

^On the other hand, nothing about this space suggests a grand entrance. Train terminals should proclaim that you've arrived; this does not.

And yes, it was probably delivered on time and under budget because it was privately built, but the T got this station in exchange for giving up an easement allowing for the construction of a larger station that would have created an entrance directly onto Causeway Street. I believe we're now stuck with those pathetic little side entrances for eternity. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ron Newman]

Whatever's built on the Old Garden site should connect into the New Garden lobby, but Delaware North is dragging their feet about ever developing that site. A hotel would be the most logical choice.

The old North Station lobby in the Old Garden was rather plain and didn't really shout out "You've arrived!" either.

[DudeUrSistersHot]

A hotel next to one of the two major transit hubs of Boston? I would think that a large office building would make much more sense given the fact that it would create (or more correctly, facilitate the creation) of many more jobs and would generate a lot more transit rides and riders.

[Ron Newman]

I'm for any development that works here, but I'm not sure an office building would attract tenants. It's a considerable distance from where most other offices are in downtown Boston.

Hotels do make sense next to transit hubs.

[Roxxma]

I think the best use for that site would be a mixed use retail/office/hotel. The first (and maybe second) floor having a retail concourse from Causeway St to the North Station waiting room with a grocery store, a few coffee shops and restaurants and some service related outlets too (dry cleaner, flower shop, shoe repair, etc) and then mid to high rise office/hotel building(s) built above. Being a transit hub with a lot of foot traffic, a retail area there would offer commuters and area residents one stop shopping on their way to/from home/work without having to go out of their way. See Penn Station in New York (and Grand Central Terminal, to a lesser extant) and the Hauptbahnhofs in Berlin and Hamburg Germany as good examples of this sort of use.

[kz1000ps]

STARTS AND STOPS
Reader hungry for more at North Station

By Tom Long | March 8, 2007

The newly renovated North Station is "all dressed up with no place to go," according to Doug of Peabody, who expected shops and restaurants in the commuter rail station.

The rehabbed station was unveiled in February. Tables, chairs, and benches were added during the $5 million overhaul. The restrooms were upgraded, and 20,000 square feet of space was added to the concourse.

But still no shops and restaurants.

"Any info on when it might be completed?" asked Doug.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo reports that the T is awaiting the final plans for the layout of vendor locations from Delaware North, the owner of TD Banknorth Garden and a partner in the renovation. During the next six months food court- style vendors are due to be added.

[TheBostonian]

The expanded concourse has a Dunkin Donuts and an Emack and Bolio's on the verge of opening, in addition to a newsstand and some sort of bar already in operation.

[ablarc]

Impressive.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Any pics?

[TheBostonian]

I don't have any pictures. The Dunks and Emack are behind temporary walls anyway.

[Ron Newman]

On some other forums, people complain that the new retail is taking space that people need while waiting for trains. As far as I can see, it's not -- all the seating is still where it was.

[czsz]

Not all people sit down while they wait?

[underground]

On some other forums, people complain that the new retail is taking space that people need while waiting for trains. As far as I can see, it's not -- all the seating is still where it was.

At the very least, the waiting area is about three times larger than before the renovation. They couldn't put enough kiosks in there to bring the waiting area back down to the size it was when it was just a hall way.

[mvinyard26]

I'm in North station every single day, and the retail expansion has been great as far as I'm concerned. having the news stand there is great - it sucked before not being able to get a magazine or something to eat (thats not a donut). I will say I worry about the location of the new Dunks - a long enough line will interfere with the gate traffic, but we will see what happens.

oh, and the bar that they put in has been the PHENOMENAL - my job just keeps getting more stressful, and when I'm waiting for the 8:40 train back to Woburn I'm grateful for the ability to have a scotch before I get home...

[Lrfox]

^^ I rarely ever use North Station (Downeaster occasionally) but hasn't there always been a Mcdonalds there("always" meaning before the renovation)? I know it's not a huge upgrade over dunkin donuts (whose flatbread sandwiches aren't terrible, btw) but it's different anyway.

[Ron Newman]

Yes, there has "always" (or at least, for about the last ten years) been a tiny McDonald's and a Dunkin Donuts in the narrow corridor. I assume that the relocation of Dunkin Donuts will result in an expanded McDonald's, but I don't know that for sure.

[TheBostonian]

I'm impressed with further incremental improvements. All the retail has opened. Classic park benches were added, increasing seating quite a bit. Poster-sized ads were placed here and there, and they actually help make the space seem complete to me. The original single electronic schedule board now displays concert promos and two new boards show schedule information.

This expansion is so simple, was very necessary and is well-designed. I suppose there is nothing complicated about making a major passenger rail station work. I nominate the North Station expansion for project of the year.

[nico]

Has the Dunkin' Donuts at North Station changed to a Donutn' Donuts as it has at Wellington and Sullivan?

[ChunkyMonkey]

Project of the year... that's high praise. Would love to see some pics.

[buju b]

Having not been to north station in over a year (the last time was right around the time they had completed/opened the expansion of the lobby area but nothing else), I must say I was very impressed with how it has turned out.

The retail fits well, the seating is a definite improvement, the big depature/arrival board is nice . . . even the weird semi-dark lighting--something I was very unimpressed with initially--seems to be less of a problem now.

[kennedy]

The dark ceiling also goes along with the arena atmosphere, if you can call it atmosphere at the Garden. Most arenas leave the ceiling uncovered, and painted black, as do many theatres. I like it.

[Corey]

I was there for the first time since it was all re-done last weekend and was very impressed. It should have been like this since day one.

[Arborway]

I was there for the first time since it was all re-done last weekend and was very impressed. It should have been like this since day one.

Having never been in the pre-renovation North Station (well, not the Commuter Rail / Amtrak lobby anyway) I couldn't believe the pictures I saw of the old layout. It looked like a hospital hallway - not even a waiting area.

I love the way it is now.

[jaggedbagpipe]

I like the renovation as well, although I can't understand why they haven't dug a concourse from inside N. Station to inside the T stop. I would think that it would have made sense to do this when they put they green line under ground or when they renovated N. Station.

[Ron Newman]

The T's expectation was that the owner of the vacant lot in front of the New Garden would develop it, and that development would absorb the current subway headhouse and provide an indoor connection to the commuter rail station. Hasn't happened so far.

[jaggedbagpipe]

Should've happened, but you know some love a big empty space downtown.

[el raval]

I was just in North Station after a long absence, and the currently remodeled waiting area is some of the most modern design in the city...there's nothing that's vaguely bowing to Boston's traditional faux-historicism. Graphically it's rather modern and industrial.

However, functionally it still lacks a proper lobby with shops and restaurants. That grandeur won't arrive until the parcel in front of the building is built out...if Del North still owns it, I wouldn't hold my breath.