NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

[awood91]

i take the north commuter rail service often and i pass this site almost every day. construction progresses very quickly.

some basic information:
-right now, there are 3 buildings under construction. two are for residential units and the other is office space.
-when complete in 2013-2014 the development will total 2.3 M feet of commercial space and have 2,700 residences.
-the developers claim that the 2,700 residences will make northpoint one of the most densely populated places in the immediate Boston area.
-the development will have a total of 20 individual buildings, most about 150 feet tall.
-the development features a 10 acre park with wireless Internet that promises to "connect the community to the Charles river park system."
-the project will have a relocated T station on the green line and is also very close to the community college orange line T station. The Lechmere station will be moved across the highway into this development.

discussion topics:
-the developers are targeting bio-tech companies as the most likely tenants for the new 2.3 M feet of space. is there that much demand for the new space, or will we end up with empty buildings like 33 arch street?
-will the 2,700 new condos saturate the market and not sell quickly? the pricing for the units start in the mid $300s, according to www.livingatnorthpoint.com.
-will the design of the development (intended to be a brand new urban neighborhood, complete with day-care, laundromat and gym) allow it to become the lively and cosmopolitan neighborhood its planners are hoping it will become?

let us know what you think!!
anyone want to take pictures of the progress?

[Ron Newman]

Not really "its own new T station". The Lechmere station will be moved across the highway into this development. This is necessary if the Green Line is to be extended further west into Somerville, but it will be inconvenient for many of the station's current users in East Cambridge and the Galleria mall.

[awood91]

fixed it!

[PerfectHandle]

Will North Point and its parks connect directly to Charlestown or will the best connection still be the Austin Street Bridge?

[Mike]

North Point site:

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/index.html



construction updates:

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/construction_update.html


lots of steel going up over there:

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/images/construction/NorthPoint6.06_b.jpg

[Ron Newman]

The park looks nearly finished, but was still fenced off when I last visited a week ago. (It is part of the Big Dig project, not part of this private development.)

[BostonMike]

Actually, I think there are only two North Point buildings going up right now. The third building--the one right at the edge by the Gilmore bridge--is a separate residential development.

I rollerblade by this every day on the way to work. While it's fun watching the buildings go up, I have more fun reading the ever-growing amount of graffiti on the steel.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Looking at these go up I realized how much Boston is changing and how different it will look in 5, 10 years. So good, some bad. 5 years ago there were all these lots and now there are towers. Interesting.

[ckb]

When you look at the angle that this picture is taken from, it reinforces the fears that this development will just be the Cambridge version of the West End. At least we didn't demolish an established neighborhood to get it.

If the photograph were taken pointed 10 degrees more to the right, we would see the towers in the parks contrast with Beacon Hill on the Boston side and East Cambridge on the near side of the river.

[awood91]

bostonmike, do you know what that building that's going up closest to the bridge is called or if it has a website?

[quadratdackel]

When you look at the angle that this picture is taken from, it reinforces the fears that this development will just be the Cambridge version of the West End. At least we didn't demolish an established neighborhood to get it.

The big problem with the new West End is it's really bad from the sidewalk level: tall apartment towers isolated from the street by fences broken up by parking garage access ramps; wide, car-oriented streets, and a complete lack of ground-level retail or other public amenities. Basically, a good demonstration of how Radiant City is a misnomer. Assuming the old West End resembled the North End, that was a major step down.

It's hard to tell how North Point is going to feel. It is trapped between 93 (maybe we should bury it!) and 28 (McGrath/OBrien Hwy), so good connectivity to the surrounding areas will be difficult no matter how hard they try. I couldn't find anything regarding ground level retail on the website, but I can't imagine anyone would build a mixed-use project that big without plenty of it. On the other hand, they do have a long list of restaurants and shopping, including grocery stores, that are in the surrounding area, so who knows. But they are emphasizing transit and walking, so hopefully they'll incorporate what it takes to make it pleasant. Fingers crossed that this area will feel more like Longwood/Fenway than the West End.

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/images/vision/NorthPoint_siteplan.gif http://www.northpointcambridge.com/images/location/walking_map.gif

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/images/location/aerial_boston.jpg http://www.northpointcambridge.com/images/location/aerial_cambridge.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f183/sethbaum/NorthPoint.jpg

[ablarc]

Straddling the line between urban and suburban. Too much parkland, and space still surrounds buildings as much as buildings surround space.

[jass]

I just hope they dont get lazy with the new Lechmere station. Alot of people use it to get to Galleria, and right now, you only need to cross one street. They need to make the highway crossing very easy, with a tunnel or an overhead passage.

Also, will the buses remain on the current site?

[Charlie_mta]

I would have taken a different approach than the plan currently under construction. If the O'Brien Highway had been relocated to the north as a landscaped boulevard, as shown on the following plan I drew up, then the East Cambridge street grid could have been extended out as shown:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b66/karlgame/NorthPoint.jpg

The resultant neighborhood could have been one of mixed height residential, with retail scattered around the new neighborhood on the ground level floors. There would have been a mix of low rise and high rise, with all buildings abutting sidewalks along narrow streets. There would have been vest-pocket parks, but no vast plazas sprouting isolated high-rises.

The extended Green Line would have dropped into a tunnel under the new neighborhood, linking to a ground-level right-of-way to the north towards Union Square. At the southeast end of the development, a relocated Lechmere Station would have been ground level, where the existing viaduct would drop down into the new tunnel. Access from East Cambridge to the new station would have required crossing only Cambridge Street, not the O'Brien Highway.

I know it would have required more infrastructure investment, but money well worth it, because it would have established a new dense, diverse, urban neighborhood tied integrally to the existing East Cambridge.

[vanshnookenraggen]

I know it would have required more infrastructure investment, but money well worth it

For the city but not for the developer. The kind of neighborhoods we love so much arose because they weren't planned, they just sprung up, built by many different people. Your idea for this kind of plan is not new actually. I saw an interesting graphic a while ago which superimposed the Back Bay over NorthPoint, resulting in almost the same thing you have here. It's a great idea but not something that would ever happen in todays market. Sure, you could cut up NorthPoint and sell the land to many developers but they would probably try to then sell the land to other developers or if they did build it out it would end up looking like the South Boston Waterfront.

With that in mind I say we are lucky that NorthPoint is as nice as it's going to be.

Now thats a fucking sad thought.

[ablarc]

Nice plan, Charlie. I would have also subdivided the block with the station.

[FastLane]

North Point update:

Tabula rasa for Spaulding & Slye...
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/th_NorthPoint3.jpg (http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/NorthPoint3.jpg)

North Point Park (when is this opening? the cul-de-sac is completed :lol:)
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/th_BridgeUnderBridge.jpg (http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/BridgeUnderBridge.jpg) http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/th_NorthPointPark.jpg (http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/NorthPointPark.jpg)

Under the Green Line Viaduct...
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/th_UnderBridge.jpg (http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/UnderBridge.jpg)

[Mike]

North Point Park (when is this opening?



The latest photo update on bigdig.com says it will be opening in the fall.

[DowntownDave]

Here are some views of the progress on North Point and those Apartments-Whose-Name-I-Forget-But-Isn't-Part-of-North-Point. The apartments are well along.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-03.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-04.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-05.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-06.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-07.jpg

[TC]

Here are some views of the progress on North Point and those Apartments-Whose-Name-I-Forget-But-Isn't-Part-of-North-Point. The apartments are well along.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CandyFactory/NorthPoint-01.jpg



Those apartments used to be called Museum Towers. Now that they are going condo they may have changed the name for marketing purposes. (and they have been completed for over six years)

Thanks for the pics.

[atlantaden]

I think the new construction shown in the second set of pics is another Archstone Apartment project containing hundreds of units. Thanks for the pictures.

[PaulC]

http://www.behnisch.com/

click on 'infrastructure' then find 'north point gateway'

if you click on the 'news' square the picture that comes up shows news boxes in Boston or Cambridge, kind of odd for a German company

[vanshnookenraggen]

Well this sure looks like your standard office park.

[ablarc]

Towers in a park.

[aws129]

Well...it's not especially inspiring, but at the same time it definitely isn't an office park or towers in the park. The plan shows promise and the fact that they're actually investing in real architecture design (as opposed to the tired, faux brick sh*t we usually get Boston) is a hopeful sign.
I dunno, I'm optimistic...

[TimmyG]

In the pictures it looks like there is still some developable land. Are more buildings in the works, or will it be parks?

[quadratdackel]

Well this sure looks like your standard office park.
So does Northeastern, which I think is a great campus. The big difference between campuses (campi?) and crappy office parks is they're live/work and have lots of interbuilding traffic, so the "park" actually functions. North Point is also live/work; even if not many people are both living and working there, it should help build the atmosphere. I'm still concerned about lack of retail space and lack of connectivity to the surrounding places. We'll see.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Well this sure looks like your standard office park.
So does Northeastern, which I think is a great campus. The big difference between campuses (campi?) and crappy office parks is they're live/work and have lots of interbuilding traffic, so the "park" actually functions. North Point is also live/work; even if not many people are both living and working there, it should help build the atmosphere. I'm still concerned about lack of retail space and lack of connectivity to the surrounding places. We'll see.

I think Northeasterns campus would work better if the buildings actually had a connecting plan, a main street if you will. I went to Wentworth and have walked around the Northeastern campus a lot and it can be very confusing.

And by main street I don't mean Huntington Ave, I mean something IN the campus.

[jass]

Taken today, October 8, 2006

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_5480.jpg


I was looking at the website, and the project finds itself inside THREE cities
http://www.northpointcambridge.com/download/construction/Exhibit1.pdf

Who the hell came up with that city line division?

[statler]

^^ I believe the Cambridge/Somerville line corresponds with an old river (stream?) that used to run there.

[Ron Newman]

It was called the Miller's River.

[justin]

Here's a link to a recent presentation by North Point folks, containing some new renderings, as well as preliminary plans for the new Lechmere station (one of the 'visions' is Berlin's new Lehrter Bahnhof; let's hope Lechmere won't cost $1G and be five years overdue).

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/download/EastCambridgePlanning_10-11-06.pdf

justin

[ablarc]

Monsignor O'Brien Highway will act as a Chinese wall separating East Cambridge from North Point and the Lechmere station. Project seems ill-conceived. Why do the Buildings I and J in North Point closely adjacent to the transit station-- not have ground floor commercial?

[IMAngry]

I heard today that there is a ceremonial groundbreaking of the new Lechmere MBTA station tomorrow, Monday, Oct 23rd, at 11:00 AM.

Yay!

[palindrome]

Why is there nothing on the mbta website about this under the development section? Any renderings?

Thats a disapointment about the lack of ground floor commercial stores too.

[justin]

The 'groundbreaking' is a puzzle: they're obviously only started conceptual design for the station.

justin

[justin]

Monsignor O'Brien Highway will act as a Chinese wall separating East Cambridge from North Point and the Lechmere station. Project seems ill-conceived. Why do the Buildings I and J in North Point closely adjacent to the transit station-- not have ground floor commercial?
I think you're reading too much into that map. The color-coding is confusied, but all buildings seem to have a small dark stripe at the bottom, for ground floor commercial. Besides, I don't think a design for this building exists yet, which is not to say they can't screw up.

justin

[statler]

The train comes to NorthPoint
Ground is being broken on the second phase of a massive project that includes a $70m Green Line station to replace the Lechmere stop

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 23, 2006

The NorthPoint construction project, under way in East Cambridge, is less a new development than a new small town: 5.2 million square feet of buildings on 45 acres, 2,500 new residences, 20 buildings on 19 blocks, a 10-acre central park, and retail space with no telling how many Starbucks cafes.

But urban communities need transit, and in the project's second phase, which the developer is breaking ground on this morning, the T will come to NorthPoint.

Development manager Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate firm based in Boston that now includes the former Spaulding & Slye, is building a sleek new $70 million MBTA station on NorthPoint property.

When it opens in 2010, it will replace the Lechmere T station, operating on the Green Line across Monsignor O'Brien Highway, an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a retail store that no longer exists.

For the time being, the new station will be called Lechmere at NorthPoint, although the developers, Pan Am Systems Inc. of Portsmouth, N.H., and Spaulding & Slye Investments, would like to shorten it to NorthPoint.

Placing the NorthPoint community adjacent to an MBTA station is consistent with the trend toward "transit-oriented development" -- which aims to reduce people's commuting times, combat high gasoline prices, and avoid more sprawl.

Developments are planned along heavily used commuter rail lines in the roomy suburbs, like the planned Westwood Station at 128 Station. Closer to downtown Boston, there are multifamily housing projects under construction on MBTA land at Woodland Station in Newton and Ashmont Station in Dorchester.

Even in depressed downtown Worcester, a large mixed-use project with a substantial housing component is being drawn up, not far from Union Station, on the Framingham-Worcester commuter line.

The new Lechmere Station at NorthPoint is being built as part of a six-year initiative to install most of the transportation foundation for the buildings to come. It includes construction of a street grid for the area, an old Guilford Transportation railroad yard, and a pedestrian-friendly reconfiguring of the adjacent O'Brien Highway.

At least one commercial building, of 270,000 square feet, will be built along with the station, but getting the transit station and roads in, at a total cost of $130 million, will make the rest of NorthPoint possible.

"That opens up six or seven buildings of development opportunity," said Thomas J. Hamill, project director. "With an active market in Cambridge right now, it's great."

Recent market figures from the real estate firm Richards Barry Joyce & Partners bear out the developer's optimism, at least in today's market. "East Cambridge has been the center of an absorption frenzy over the past three years," said RBJ president Bob Richards, "which has brought about dramatic declines in vacancy along with declines in space choices for prospective tenants."

The new road network includes an extension of First Street from East Cambridge across O'Brien Highway and north through NorthPoint, passing by the location of the new T station. It will be NorthPoint's Main Street. "A majority of our retail and amenities will be along this corridor," Hamill said.

The first phase of NorthPoint construction began last year -- two residential buildings with a total of 338 condominiums priced from the mid-$300,000s to the $800,000s.

One building, with 99 units, will open in late spring, with about a third of the units already sold. The second building, with 239 residences, is scheduled to open late next year.

The new phase beginning today will open up 1.8 million square feet of mixed-use development, including a hotel. Four buildings -- one with restaurants and shops, one a lab, and two with office and ground-floor retail -- are scheduled to be completed by mid-2009, just before the new T station goes into operation.

The next three years will also see two parking garages built, with 1,100 spaces, later to be surrounded and topped by residential space.

The centerpiece of phase two is the station, being paid for by the developer but undertaken in a public-private partnership with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Not only will it be "a catalyst for future growth on the project," said Kyle B. Warwick, regional director of Jones Lang LaSalle. In addition, "it does help us knit NorthPoint into the East Cambridge neighborhood."

One major advantage of the relocated MBTA station is it will allow the authority in the future to extend the Green Line to Union Square in Somerville and Medford. The station is being designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff's private division and Handel Architects LLP of New York. Handel was the architect for Millennium Place in Boston.

NorthPoint's master plan was done by Ken Greenberg of Toronto and CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares Inc. architects of Boston.

Under an agreement with the City of Cambridge, the developer will build the roads -- with names like Amelia Earhart Street, Julia Child Street, and Glassworks Avenue -- and turn them over to the city . Jones Lang LaSalle also has agreed to clean and maintain the MBTA station for 10 years.

The tube-shaped structure, made mostly of glass and steel, is a state-of-the-art design, Warwick said.

The Legislature approved MassDevelopment bonds for $130 million -- guaranteed by the value of the NorthPoint land -- to enable the company to build most of the streets, sidewalks, green space, sewage systems, and utilities. That will pave the way for 18 more buildings -- residential, commercial, and parking garages -- as the market calls.

NorthPoint's planners are banking on a strong demand for office, technology, and laboratory space in their development, which when finished will have more than 2 million square feet of commercial space. Although some of those buildings won't be completed for several years, the market currently looks good.

The vacancy rate in laboratory buildings in the area has dropped from 32.2 percent to 6.3 percent in just two years, according to Richards Barry Joyce & Partners figures. In the office market, vacancy has fallen from 27.7 percent to 13.3 percent in a little over a year.

Hamill said Jones Lang LaSalle has been discussing each of the individual commercial blocks with possible future users, who have asked for details of the buildings being planned. "That shows the depth of the market and demand for anything over 100,000 square feet," Hamill said.

The buildings are being designed by different architects, following an international competition that the developer held for NorthPoint in 2003.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Link (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/10/23/the_train_comes_to_northpoint/)

[vanshnookenraggen]

Under an agreement with the City of Cambridge, the developer will build the roads -- with names like Amelia Earhart Street, Julia Child Street, and Glassworks Avenue -- and turn them over to the city . Jones Lang LaSalle also has agreed to clean and maintain the MBTA station for 10 years.


This will be the only clean station in the entire system! :lol:

[Ron Newman]

Lechmere station is not named after the former Lechmere store. It was there before the store was. The names Lechmere Point, Lechmere Canal, and Lechmere Square go back to the 1700s.

And no, the station's name should not be changed to North Point. Not when it's two stops away from North Station.

[Waldorf]

Lechmere station is not named after the former Lechmere store. It was there before the store was. The names Lechmere Point, Lechmere Canal, and Lechmere Square go back to the 1700s.

And no, the station's name should not be changed to North Point. Not when it's two stops away from North Station.

Was this in response to something someone had posted?

[Ron Newman]

Yes, it responds to this:
When it opens in 2010, it will replace the Lechmere T station, operating on the Green Line across Monsignor O'Brien Highway, an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a retail store that no longer exists.

For the time being, the new station will be called Lechmere at NorthPoint, although the developers, Pan Am Systems Inc. of Portsmouth, N.H., and Spaulding & Slye Investments, would like to shorten it to NorthPoint.

[jass]

Yes, it responds to this:
When it opens in 2010, it will replace the Lechmere T station, operating on the Green Line across Monsignor O'Brien Highway, an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a retail store that no longer exists.

For the time being, the new station will be called Lechmere at NorthPoint, although the developers, Pan Am Systems Inc. of Portsmouth, N.H., and Spaulding & Slye Investments, would like to shorten it to NorthPoint.

I dont mind if they call it Lechmere at Northpoint, as long as they dont include that in the train anouncements.

"The destination of this train is Lechmere at Northpoint"

Too long.

Maybe just have that on the "entering" part.

Also, Im glad to see itll take so long. Im still not happy about the station moving far away from Galleria, and given the Boston contruction schedule, this means a 2011 open, only 3 years before the extention.

[justin]

The station is moving just across a (very wide) street. Still, as the project gets built up, it will be much denser than the surrounding East Cambridge neighborhood, which justifies moving the station closer to it, to say nothing of the Medford extension.

justin

[lexicon506]

with names like Amelia Earhart Street, Julia Child Street, and Glassworks Avenue

Oh no, not the corny names! Those names are too long for mere streets. Glassworks Ave is OK, but at least shorten the others to Earhart St. and Child (sounds a bit strange) St. Long, first/last, commemorative names are for boulevards or other big roads! Sorry for making a big deal out of this, it's just really annoying me.

And yah, they should either settle on Lechmere or Northpoint, no Lechmere @ NorthPoint. And considering that this is apparently going to look like a major station, the name Northpoint might get confused with North Station.

[Ron Newman]

Calling the station NorthPoint says to the existing East Cambridge residents, "this is now our station, not yours". A totally unnecessary thing to do. As I said, it's been "Lechmere" for at least 250 years.

As for long street names, Cambridge already has Bishop Allen Drive (used to be Austin Street) and Cardinal Medeiros Avenue (was Portland Street), not to mention Msgr. O'Brien Highway and John F. Kennedy Street (once Boylston St).

[LeTaureau]

^ and Galileo Galilei Way

[Waldorf]

^ good catch.

[justin]

I don't know if this is anything more than conceptual, but here's the rendering of the new station from that Globe article:
http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2006/10/23/1161590734_9298.jpg

justin

[lexicon506]

^I like it, very open, well-lit, and welcoming. It will definitely be one of the nicest stations in the entire system if that is the actual design

[Ron Newman]

Letter I just e-mailed to the Globe:

In his article on NorthPoint (Oct. 23, page E1), Tom Palmer describes the current Lechmere station as "an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a retail store that no longer exists".

In fact, the name 'Lechmere Point' goes back to the 1770s, and was quite familiar to George Washington. Lechmere Canal, Lechmere Station, and the former Lechmere Sales department store were all named for Richard Lechmere, a Loyalist who owned this land before fleeing to England during the American Revolution.

Changing the station's name from Lechmere to NorthPoint might be a good advertisement for a real estate development, but it would be a slap in the face to East Cambridge and Somerville residents who now use the station daily. It could also lead to confusion with North Station, just two stops away. By all means, improve our station, but leave its name alone.

Ron Newman
Somerville

[IMAngry]

Hmmm.

Here is how the story appears now, online:

When it opens in 2010, it will replace the Lechmere T station, operating on the Green Line across Monsignor O'Brien Highway, an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a neighborhood and a retail store that no longer exists.

I think they changed it!

(Maybe this is how he originally wrote it, and they edited it?)

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/10/23/the_train_comes_to_northpoint/

[Ron Newman]

Well that's even worse, because now he claims that the Lechmere neighborhood no longer exists, either.

[Merper]

write another letter Ron!
and now that they've made an entire neighborhood dissappear, i think you should be a bit more stern.

[jass]

^I like it, very open, well-lit, and welcoming. It will definitely be one of the nicest stations in the entire system if that is the actual design

Now imagine the station without any glass and we have a real green line stop!

[lexicon506]

There was an article in the Globe today discussing the station's name and whether it should be changed or not.

Familiar name comes under question
Findings leave city councilors wondering whether they should preserve Lechmere's name on the Cambridge T station

By Janice O'Leary, Globe Correspondent | November 12, 2006

It's so us.

Lechmere T Station. Lechmere Square. Lechmere the store that sold washing machines and toasters to generations of Boston-area families. Lechmere the name that's as familiar as a plate of scrod to natives, but that newcomers have to learn to pronounce (leech-meer).

Who knew that the Richard Lechmere who started it all was a distiller of rum, a slave owner, and a Loyalist who rued the slide in his property values at the start of the Revolutionary War and referred to the rebels as "wicked and deluded people"?

Last month Cambridge city councilors passed a resolution urging the MBTA to keep the connection between the T station, the Revolutionary War, and Richard Lechmere's name.

But now City Councilor Denise Simmons, who didn't know at the time that Lechmere was a slave owner, wishes she could take it back. "Having that additional knowledge now, I don't support it being named after Lechmere," she said.

"Going into the future, we wanted to hold on to some piece of the past," she said. "I'm now troubled. But the vote's been taken. If I could take my vote back, I would."

City Councilor Henrietta Davis said she hadn't known all the details of Lechmere's legacy when she and Vice Mayor Timothy J. Toomey proposed the order. "We wanted to keep the historic connections to the area," she said. "We didn't know about the slave ownership."

Work began last month on a new MBTA station in the nascent NorthPoint neighborhood. When it opens around 2010, it will replace the Lechmere stop on the Green Line, but debate over its naming is already raging. Tentatively, it's slated to be called Lechmere at NorthPoint, but NorthPoint's developers hope that the Lechmere tag will fall off.

Davis said the outing of Lechmere as a slave owner doesn't alter her stance that the T stop not be named for a new commercial endeavor. "I still want to keep a connection to history," she said. "There's something to be said for preserving history but not elevating the man."

Lechmere's slave ownership is documented in an early legal case, James v. Lechmere, argued by Harvard graduate and fellow Loyalist Jonathan Sewall. In 1769, a slave named James sued Lechmere for his freedom. Sewall argued that under the colony's charter any man born or residing in the colony was free. The case was resolved before it could go to trial: Lechmere gave James his freedom and tossed in 2 pounds sterling.

"Maybe we should name the T stop after the slave," said Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio when he heard the story, and his colleague Denise Simmons agreed. "Let's call it James Station," she said. "There are so many other people we could name it after."

"Most important," said Galluccio of the naming issue, "is that the decision be left up to the neighborhood and broader Cambridge community. Our biggest challenge here is to be sure NorthPoint is integrated with the rest of East Cambridge."

He said neighborhood residents are feeling a bit overtaken by the new development and the council doesn't want to see that happen.

"When I think of Lechmere," Galluccio said, "I think of Lechmere Station."

The article is much longer. The rest and a short slideshow on Lechmere can be found here http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/12/familiar_name_comes_under_question?mode=PF

[Ron Newman]

I'm sure this isn't the only place in greater Boston named after a Loyalist or a slaveholder. History should not be wiped out for such reasons.

[Joe_Schmoe]

Copley was a loyalist, and he gets a square and a statue.

[kz1000ps]

Didn't mean to ressurect this thread.. but since I did here's a graphic

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3752/cambridge3hx2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[bosdevelopment]

I dont think anybody realizes the sheer magnitude and size of this project. Only one of these buildings is up right now ( believe building U) and it's enormous. Compared to the other structures on this diagram it's average in size.

[LeTaureau]

Actually, the only buildings currently under construction at Northpoint are Sierra and Tango. The enormous structure you're thinking of is the Archstone Smith Apartments across the street. Watching all three buildings going up at once is quite spectacular though.

[bosdevelopment]

Actually, the only buildings currently under construction at Northpoint are Sierra and Tango. The enormous structure you're thinking of is the Archstone Smith Apartments across the street. Watching all three buildings going up at once is quite spectacular though.

well ill be.

[kz1000ps]

What a nice day for walking today was.. this is the "Tango" building

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4474/img0360ed7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

"Sierra"

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4159/img0361sy4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And this last one was taken from the roof of a garage

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/1069/img0376nf0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ablarc]

I guess we'll have Charles River Park on both sides of the river now.

[JS38]

Project I found online in the Northpoint area. Not sure if this is up to date,
but if so interesting to have Arqitectonica working in Boston. Building itself reminds me of the McLaren in South Boston. Anyways, the link is here:
http://www.smma.com/portfolio/portfolio.cfm?menu=commercial&project_id=27

[IMAngry]

So, is that SMMA project actually outside the "NorthPoint" area? The developer is "Catamount Holding", which I don't think is the developer of the other buildings.

Perhaps other developers are riding coattails?

[PaulC]

Project I found online in the Northpoint area. Not sure if this is up to date,
but if so interesting to have Arqitectonica working in Boston. Building itself reminds me of the McLaren in South Boston. Anyways, the link is here:
http://www.smma.com/portfolio/portfolio.cfm?menu=commercial&project_id=27

Notice there is a building "V' in the model at the current Lechmere station site.

Some more info & pics can be found here:
http://www.arquitectonica.com/flash.htm
click on projects/residential/22 Water

[Scott]

About the potential tunnel for McGrath Hwy from the Cambridge Chronicle:
http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/homepage/8998959752855683071

Emotions ran high at the East Cambridge Planning meeting last week during a discussion of City Councilor Tim Toomey?s council order to depress a section of highway so pedestrians can cross safely. Toomey representatives say depressing the highway and building a pedestrian crosswalk at ground level is the safest solution to the problem and will add greenery to the area....

[jass]

I think thats a good idea. I know I am not looking forawrd to going from the new lechmere to galleria.

Of course, the owners of galleria would support this tunnel proposal

[Mike]

Coasting to a halt? Court ruling may slow Cambridge project
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - Updated: 12:49 AM EST


A ruling by the state?s highest court has thrown a monkey wrench into a plan to transform a stretch of East Cambridge into a new, upscale neighborhood.

More than a year after Cambridge and state officials gave a green light to the 45-acre NorthPoint project, the state?s Supreme Judicial Court yesterday ordered the plan?s developers back to the negotiating table.

The court ordered NorthPoint?s developers to seek a license under Chapter 91, which governs coastal building. The SJC ruled that state environmental regulators were mistaken when they waived that requirement.

The decision could have ramifications for development projects along the Bay State?s coastline, many of which also received such waivers that now appear invalid, waterfront development watchdogs said.

?For the NorthPoint project, it has significant implications, and for other projects as well,? said Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association.

The ruling covers several acres of the NorthPoint development, though it does not affect the project?s initial phases, which include two new condo buildings and a new Lechmere MBTA station. But the initial phases are just the start of a grand plan by Boston-based Spaulding & Slye Investments and a New Hampshire firm that envisions 20 buildings on 19 blocks.

The court ruled that several acres in the planned NorthPoint development, while not directly fronting the Charles River, are nonetheless part of a ?tidal? area that included a Charles tributary. The ruling, in turn, offers a much more expansive definition of what areas should be covered by the Chapter 91 rules.

The coastal building rules, while lauded by environmentalists, are bemoaned by developers, who complain of long delays and heavy restrictions.

In the Hub, a number of planned projects on the East Boston waterfront may now face problems as a result of the court ruling, observers said.



Link (http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=182587)

[bosdevelopment]

If this was already aribitrated (which i believe it was) this sets huge precedent. Appears to be a reversal of res judicata.

[Mike]

Deval says coast is clear: After court ruling, gov moves to aid projects
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Friday, March 2, 2007 - Updated: 12:57 AM EST


Gov. Deval Patrick signaled yesterday he will come to the rescue of Cambridge?s giant NorthPoint project and several other developments endangered by a recent state court ruling.

Administration officials filed legislation that would effectively reverse a recent state Supreme Judicial Court decision - one that threatened to trigger extensive coastal building reviews for NorthPoint and other developments.

However, Patrick?s newest legislative drive - which would restore rules exempting near-waterfront projects from coastal building review - outraged critics of the NorthPoint proposal, who pointed out that two key administration officials previously held top jobs on the Cambridge project?s development team.

Daniel O?Connell, Patrick?s economic developer and housing czar, is a veteran real estate executive who previoulsy led the NorthPoint team. Greg Bialecki, appointed to be the administration?s real estate permitting guru, was the project?s lead attorney.

?I am outraged,? fumed Richard Clarey, a member of the Cambridge activist group that won the NorthPoint case and a lawyer. ?They are helping themselves.?

Meanwhile, John Moot, president of the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, argued the Patrick administration?s proposal would cripple his group?s hard-won efforts to force changes in the NorthPoint plan.

The neighborhood group contends the ruling by the SJC gives it leverage to force NorthPoint?s developers to increase the amount of parkland and civic space in the city neighborhood-sized project. The SJC found that NorthPoint, while not directly on the water, is still subject to coastal building regulations because much of it would be built on ?filled tidelands.?

NorthPoint is just one project endangered by the court ruling, which could affect an array of projects, from new towers proposed for North and South stations to new development around Fenway Park [map], said Ian Bowles, secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Even long-established buildings are now subject to ?title uncertainty? in the wake of the court ruling, he argued.

?This is not about one project,? said Kyle Sullivan, a spokesman for the governor?s office. ?The SJC ruling had a statewide impact.?



Link (http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=185928)

[palindrome]

good ^ :) :)

[atlantaden]

The neighborhood group contends the ruling by the SJC gives it leverage to force NorthPoint?s developers to increase the amount of parkland and civic space in the city neighborhood-sized project.

Good for Gov. Deval. Seriously, how much parkland do these neighborhood groups want? As it is, it seems like the amount of open space in NorthPoint goes above and beyond the norm. Can anyone answer this question....where do these "community activists" get the money to fund their lawsuits? It does take time and lots of money to take these things to court.

[aws129]

very good. that ruling was bad news for economic development.

[Ron Newman]

However, one thing the neighborhood should get from the developer is a traffic tunnel for O'Brien Highway (Route 28), so that people don't have to walk across 8 lanes of 55-mph traffic to get to the relocated Lechmere T station. I hope whatever bill the Legislature passes carves out an exception for this.

[palindrome]

I am sure their were plans for something like that anyways, as i don't think the galleria owners would have it any other way.

[Ron Newman]

No, it's something the neighborhood wants, but it's not something NorthPoint developers have offered. The SJC ruling gave the neighborhood some leverage, and I'd hate to see it suddenly thrown away by legislative action.

Burying this part of the highway would help knit NorthPoint to the existing East Cambridge neighborhood, and is a much better idea than a pedestrian bridge or pedestrian tunnel.

You'll hear more from Rep. Tim Toomey about this.

[DudeUrSistersHot]

Burying this part of the highway would help knit NorthPoint to the existing East Cambridge neighborhood, and is a much better idea than a pedestrian bridge or pedestrian tunnel.

OK, so why don't you lobby for the state Highway Department or the town of Cambridge to allocate some money to bury that part of the highway?

That is what people in normal states do. They don't try to use extortion to get developers to do things for them.

[LeTaureau]

However, one thing the neighborhood should get from the developer is a traffic tunnel for O'Brien Highway (Route 28), so that people don't have to walk across 8 lanes of 55-mph traffic to get to the relocated Lechmere T station. I hope whatever bill the Legislature passes carves out an exception for this.

They are already getting a brand new T station from the developer. As it stands, this is a brownfields development, the city is benefiting just from the reclamation of previously unusable land. Do you want to crush the chances of redeveloping this area of the city by burdensome/unnecessary public demands?

There needs to be a better balance of public interest/private interest in the region in order for progress to be made. Congrats to Deval for taking a step in the right direction.

[kz1000ps]

NorthPoint

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6885/img4200qp2.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4756/img4201fm7.jpg

[KentXie]

Does anyone know what is that brown brutalist building in the background on the 3rd photo.

[briv]

Does anyone know what is that brown brutalist building in the background on the 3rd photo.

That is the Middlesex County Courthouse/Jail.

[jass]

Does anyone know what is that brown brutalist building in the background on the 3rd photo.

That is the Middlesex County Courthouse/Jail.

Those cells on top must have great views

[Waldorf]

That is actually Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary.

[kmp1284]

That is actually Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary.


Please tell us you are joking. That is definitely the courthouse/jail, there is no argument about it. The MEEI is in Boston, abutting MGH

[TheBostonian]

The MEEI is in the background of the 4th image.

[Waldorf]

My bad I miss counted the photos. And yes, I was joking.

[kz1000ps]

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/9576/img4573ul4.jpg

http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4009/img4574xj8.jpg

[vanshnookenraggen]

What the fuck is with all the beige in this city!!!!!

[Padre Mike]

What the fuck is with all the beige in this city!!!!!

It's kind of like computers....until recently hardware was contained in beige boxes. Ugh! In Boston I think the beige is supposed to evoke sandstone trim. The white/grey evokes granite. And red evokes our tempers when builders/architects seem incapable of moving beyond stone colored facades. In San Francisco, I remember a series of apartments that were very modern, very clean and very colorful. The tinted facades were playful and offered a relief from the monochromatic street scene. In Boston we still seem to think that defaulting to brick red, granite grey and sandstone brown, while signature tones for the city (they look good on cloudy days), is our only choice.

[jass]

What the fuck is with all the beige in this city!!!!!

It's kind of like computers....until recently hardware was contained in beige boxes. Ugh! In Boston I think the beige is supposed to evoke sandstone trim. The white/grey evokes granite. And red evokes our tempers when builders/architects seem incapable of moving beyond stone colored facades. In San Francisco, I remember a series of apartments that were very modern, very clean and very colorful. The tinted facades were playful and offered a relief from the monochromatic street scene. In Boston we still seem to think that defaulting to brick red, granite grey and sandstone brown, while signature tones for the city (they look good on cloudy days), is our only choice.

Its because people would complain if you put up a big pink building, like in Miami or Brazil.

For example take this building, which is pink. It also seems to lack windows for some reason, but has a cool 3D effect where the flat wall seems to have texture. Would you like it in Boston?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_5019.jpg

Something I think the city does need is more individual apartment buildings. As in, one family per floor, like this

(even though it is beige)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_4927.jpg

[Charlie_mta]

In the first photo of kz1000ps post, the blue and yellow insulation panels look kinda cool. Why not have panels of that color scheme on the exterior wall? It would break up the beige juggernaut a bit.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Something I think the city does need is more individual apartment buildings. As in, one family per floor, like this

(even though it is beige)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_4927.jpg

I don't know what or where that is but I think it is beyond cool.

[Padre Mike]

I love that building too! The beige is not such a turn off because of the mix of glass and metal...and the fabulous design. The pink building...well, the color's not the problem...neither is the 3-D effect. It's the size of the blank wall that is tedious. Too bad they didn't paint a mural as we find on the brutalist BAC building on Newbury St.

[justin]

I don't know what or where that is but I think it is beyond cool.

lukewarm?

[Waldorf]

Cold?

[Mike]

GLOBE EDITORIAL
All wet on NorthPoint

April 11, 2007


IN EAST CAMBRIDGE last week construction crews were working on the interiors of two condominium buildings, the first to go up in the massive NorthPoint project. This important development and others on filled marshland are jeopardized by an unexpected Supreme Judicial Court ruling earlier this year. Now the Legislature is considering a bill proposed by Governor Patrick that would end this uncertainty. The Legislature's response to the bill will say much about its willingness to set sensible development policies.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in February that state environmental regulators overstepped their authority in 1990 when they exempted filled tidelands that do not abut the water from Chapter 91 -- the law that mandates public benefits for development along the Massachusetts coast. The court said that only the Legislature could authorize these exemptions.

The Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods discerned this flaw in the implementation of Chapter 91 and brought the lawsuit. Now the Legislature must act, without harming the coastal environment or the climate of economic competitiveness in Massachusetts.

Members of the Cambridge group don't like NorthPoint, but the ruling has implications far beyond East Cambridge. It affects development on 4,000 acres in the state, three-quarters of them in Boston, including the Back Bay, the South Boston waterfront, the North Station area, and center field at Fenway Park. Much of this land is a long way from the waterfront.

If the Legislature does not act to clarify the law, landowners throughout these areas might have difficulties in selling or arranging financing on their properties unless they obtain a Chapter 91 environmental certificate. That's a waste of their time and that of environmental regulators. Representative Marty Walz of the Back Bay wants to amend the governor's proposal so that it would apply only to buildings occupied at the date of the Supreme Judicial Court ruling, while the Legislature assesses its options. "I don't think we have to rush to judgment here," she said last week. "We are not in a crisis situation."

Walz's proposal would not offer relief to projects like NorthPoint, which are already being built, or those approved by local authorities but not yet under construction, or those that are proceeding smoothly through the local approval process. The Committee on the Environment heard testimony Thursday from a developer near North Station, from an affordable housing advocate in Chinatown, from Boston city officials, and from Thomas McGee, senator from Lynn, that the ruling threatens to hold up financing and other preliminary work on important projects. The Legislature cannot let the ruling stand with only Walz's adjustment.

NorthPoint is the most compelling example of a project that should not be impeded as it moves toward full build-out. It will provide room for growth in an area that is already attractive to the high-tech jobs the state needs. The two condominium buildings are the first of 20 that will combine housing and office, laboratory, and commercial space. As a community benefit, the developers will rebuild the aging Lechmere MBTA station and move it a short distance to the east, where it will be in position for the extension of the Green Line to Somerville and Medford.

The project has been fully permitted by Cambridge and is awaiting final approval by Somerville, but it has attracted opposition at this late date for varied reasons. Some people think it should offer more public amenities. Others think it should better address the flooding problems in the area; others hope for a return of the Miller's River, which was filled in decades ago to provide land for rail yards; others think the new Lechmere station should be better connected to the rest of East Cambridge. Opponents hope to use the Chapter 91 process to win concessions.

NorthPoint developers have already agreed to build a 5.5-acre park and bicycle trail that will extend across the site and connect under the Gilmore Bridge to public open space on the Charles River. The park is being designed as part of an innovative system to move groundwater from Cambridge and Somerville through the project and into two 30-inch pipes that will empty into the Lechmere Canal. Some of that water would have flowed into Miller's River long ago, and the developers are doing their share to compensate for its loss. Restoration of the river is probably too costly to be practicable.

As for the T station, the developers have pledged to help redesign busy Monsignor O'Brien Highway so that it is friendlier to pedestrians. They are confident that this package of benefits would be enough to satisfy Chapter 91 requirements, but with the first condominiums scheduled to be occupied in the fall, there is no reason to force them over more regulatory hurdles.

NorthPoint is a prime example of a "smart growth" development because of its transit-friendly, urban location. It would be economic folly for the Legislature to gut the governor's bill. The Legislature might decide to study the implication of the ruling on future projects, but those now in the pipeline -- especially those already permitted by local authorities -- ought to be allowed to proceed without delay.



Link (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/04/11/all_wet_on_northpoint/)

[vanshnookenraggen]

Finally someone says something smart about development. NIMBY's are the reason we can't have nice things.

This editorial, along with one about Boston having the worst waterfront (http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699), makes me question the effectiveness of Chapter 91. It seems to me one of those bills that looks better on paper

[stellarfun]

Doesn't anybody read the Herald? Nearly noon and no one has posted this?

The spat sounds pretty serious.

Legal battle could mean NorthPoint?s headed south
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Friday, May 4, 2007

There is no bigger development project in the Boston area than Cambridge?s multibillion-dollar NorthPoint.
But a nasty legal battle has erupted between NorthPoint?s would-be developers, raising questions about the future of this long-planned ?city within a city? near the banks of the Charles River.
Boston and Maine railroad, which owns the 45-acre site on the East Cambridge-Boston line, has filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court against its longtime development partners, which include some of the biggest names in Boston real estate.
The railroad, and its parent company, Pan Am Railways, wants to give walking papers to its erstwhile partners, who include executives from the old Spaulding & Slye, long Boston?s blue chip real estate firm, as well as the global giant that recently acquired it, Jones Lang LaSalle.
The battle comes on the heels of a devastating Supreme Judicial Court ruling, one expected to force NorthPoint to undergo a lengthy Chapter 91 coastal building review.
The railroad company brought in the Spaulding & Slye team to handle development details of the project, but now accuses them of failing to get the job done.
A spokesman for Jones Lang LaSalle, whose role he said was limited to that of a real estate services provider, said the company had met all its obligations.
But the latest legal battle threatens to pull the plug on the sweeping development plan - one that had promised to transform old railway land into thousands of badly needed housing units.
Construction has begun on two condo high-rises, but now, according to the suit, ?the project has been essentially shut down.?
Moreover, after six and a half years of public relations hot air about NorthPoint, little if anything has been accomplished, the suit contends. That would likely come as a shock to anyone following some of NorthPoint?s glowing local press coverage. The project?s marketers have been trumpeting a steady barrage of progress on the 20-building behemoth that would even include a relocated T station.
However, behind all that happy talk has been a knock-down, drag-out fight over how to deal with some very serious - and expensive - obstacles.
A key part of the plan involved relocating the Lechmere Green Line station across the McGrath highway and into the planned NorthPoint development. In exchange for paying for this, the railway company was to receive more land in the area on which to build out NorthPoint. But plans to relocate the T station are now close to collapse amid spiraling costs, according to the suit.
The only construction that has happened so far - two partially completed condo buildings - was wholly financed by a principal of the railway company, the suit contends.
Ouch.
But this just about sums it up: ?Through six and one-half years of the Project, no appreciable progress has been made toward the ultimate goal.?
Still, it could be worse. Just ask the developer of Boston?s Fan Pier, now 25 years in the making.

[ablarc]

The battle comes on the heels of a devastating Supreme Judicial Court ruling, one expected to force NorthPoint to undergo a lengthy Chapter 91 coastal building review.
Another gift from the NIMBYs (actually, the BANANAs).

It doesn't take much (or many) to leverage "environmental" regulations into a work stoppage.

We may see the day when nothing is buildable.

A few NIMBYs can stop anything. Minority Rule.

[vanshnookenraggen]

If NorthPoint just stopped it would be one of the worst things I could think of development wise.
But, as an urbex enthusiast, the prospect of exploring two huge, unfinished condo towers is mouth watering.

[statler]

It doesn't take much (or many) to leverage "environmental" regulations into a work stoppage.

The people behind the Chapter 91 charge have already admitted their cause has nothing to do with the environment (http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=721).

It's all about power.

Thus giving a bad name to those who actually do care about the environment.

[jass]

"A key part of the plan involved relocating the Lechmere Green Line station across the McGrath highway and into the planned NorthPoint development. In exchange for paying for this, the railway company was to receive more land in the area on which to build out NorthPoint. But plans to relocate the T station are now close to collapse amid spiraling costs, according to the suit. "


Except that if the station isnt moved, theres no green line extention

[ablarc]

their cause has nothing to do with the environment.
Does it ever?

Thus giving a bad name to those who actually do care about the environment.
That's us.

[Ron Newman]

My understanding is that the main unresolved issue that the neighborhood has with the NorthPoint developers is safe access to the relocated Lechmere station.

The new location, while essential to extending the line into Somervile, is much less useful to residents (and employees and mall shoppers) than the current one. The neighborhood would like to see McGrath Highway depressed in this block, so that pedestrians can safely reach the new station without dashing across 6 lanes of 45-mph traffic.

Access to public transportation is an environmental issue.

[statler]

Access to public transportation is an environmental issue.

But it's not a wetlands issue, which is what Chapter 91 is supposed to protect.

I think depressing the McGrath and the new Lechmere station are great and needed things, both urbanistically and environmentally. By using Chapter 91 they put this project and both those things in jeopardy.

[ablarc]

The new location, while essential to extending the line into Somervile, is much less useful to residents (and employees and mall shoppers) than the current one. The neighborhood would like to see McGrath Highway depressed in this block, so that pedestrians can safely reach the new station without dashing across 6 lanes of 45-mph traffic.

Access to public transportation is an environmental issue.
I like big projects and big ideas, but tunneling six lanes of traffic is a bigger deal than we need here (Big Dig, anyone?). More reasonable is to tunnel the pedestrians under the highway: one set of escalators at each end, and maybe even a conveyor in between.

(Oh, and don't forget the surveillance cameras.)

[Ron Newman]

The Cambridge Street tunnel north of Harvard Yard is the model that I think the neighbors are looking for here.

[ablarc]

The Cambridge Street tunnel north of Harvard Yard is the model that I think the neighbors are looking for here.
As I said: a big deal.

Oh...and I want ostrich-skin upholstery in my Bentley.

[Ron Newman]

OK, but surely you can understand their issue -- the development as planned would make their use of an existing transit station (one that's been there 80+ years) considerably less safe, pleasant, and convenient. This isn't something to sweep under the rug.

I also seriously doubt that this one issue is sufficient to prevent a huge project.

[statler]

I also seriously doubt that this one issue is sufficient to prevent a huge project.
No, but dragging Chapter 91 into the fight is sufficient to kill the project.
There has to be a way for them to work this out together so the neighborhood gets what they deserve and the economics make sense for the developer.

[ablarc]

OK, but surely you can understand their issue -- the development as planned would make their use of an existing transit station (one that's been there 80+ years) considerably less safe, pleasant, and convenient. This isn't something to sweep under the rug.
I don't have any problem with the issue; of course there should be convenient access to transit for all. My problem is with the proposed solution, which is amateurish in its excess.

Also, what statler says is true.

[stellarfun]

Based on Pan Am Systems (nee Guilford Industries) history, the company is among the most vexatious litigious businesses in New England. (Read the saga of its battles with the Feds and the State of Maine over introducing Downeaster passenger rail service between Portland and North Station some time.) I was actually surprised anyone would ever partner with them.

Their checkered business history can be gleaned from reading Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Railways
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston-Maine_Airways

From today's Boston Globe
Partners' row may threaten project
NorthPoint creators suing each other over payments, contracts

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | May 5, 2007

A partnership formed to create one of the most ambitious mixed-use developments in the Boston area, more than 5 million square feet centered in East Cambridge, is coming apart at the seams.

While the first two residential buildings of the 20-building NorthPoint complex are nearing completion, the two parties -- Cambridge North Point LLC and the Boston and Maine Corp. -- are suing each other in Boston and Delaware.

They are "hopelessly deadlocked with respect to continued development of the project," according to one document in the court docket, that is full of allegations of breach of contract and missed payments. Millions of dollars and the future of the project, a planned mini-city with 10 acres of green space and a location along a new MBTA Green Line station, are at stake, according to court papers.

Boston and Maine, a unit of Guilford Transportation Industries Inc., now known as Pan Am Railways Inc., owns 75 percent of the project, planned for 44 acres of former railroad yards in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston. Cambridge North Point LLC is a group of nearly 100 investors who own the other 25 percent.

Boston and Maine is also suing Jones Lang LaSalle, a publicly traded real estate firm that is managing development, construction, and leasing of the project. In early 2006, Jones Lang LaSalle purchased the privately owned Boston real estate firm Spaulding & Slye, which had made the original NorthPoint deal with Boston and Maine, also a private firm.

Under an agreement that each side says the other has breached, the partners in 2001 formed a separate company to plan, permit, and build 2.2 million square feet of commercial and retail space, about 2,500 residential units, and garage space for 5,000 vehicles.

But in March, Boston and Maine charged in a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court that Cambridge North Point, the managing partner, did not make "any substantial development progress for the first four and one-half years of the project."

Boston and Maine alleges breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, and fraud.

A spokesman for Cambridge North Point yesterday denied the allegations, saying that the other side was trying to force the company off the project. "Boston and Maine is now taking aggressive steps to eliminate CNP," spokesman Scott Farmelant said. A lawyer for Boston and Maine could not be reached to comment late yesterday.

In April, Cambridge North Point filed suit in Delaware, where both companies are based, charging breach of fiduciary duties and asking that the partnership with Boston and Maine be dissolved.

The suit said Boston and Maine owes but has not paid more than $500,000 for development costs incurred in 2006, and $1.6 million for 2007. The suit was reported in yesterday's Boston Herald.

An agreement signed with the MBTA under which the developers would be given land to build a modern transit station is endangered, court documents say.

One residential condo building is supposed to be completed by June, another by the end of the year. Construction on those continues, a Jones Lang LaSalle spokesman said, but progress on parks and roads at the site has slowed because of the partners' differences. The spokesman said Jones Lang LaSalle has fulfilled all its obligations.

The Cambridge North Point complaint says the project's development potential could shrink by 40 percent, there could be "a loss of confidence in the marketplace regarding the project's image and viability," and some or all of the 100 or so condo purchasers in the first two buildings could seek to cancel their agreements.

Despite the claims in the lawsuit, "The long-term viability of the project is not an issue," said Farmelant.

[ablarc]

^ Legally, it's just a swamp anyway.



Give it back to the ducks.

[JimboJones]

Whoa, that was fast.

Revised plans for the project have been released.

Original plans:

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3752/cambridge3hx2.jpg

Revised plans:

http://bostonreb.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/np.jpg

[jass]

^^


That only serves to remind us how massive the development is

[TC]

If that project did provide that much open space maybe all the people fighting against the development would be happy?

Actually what are people complaining about with this project? There are no direct abutters. Is main complaint regarding the Lechmere relocation?

[ablarc]

This would make a dandy railyard.

[Charlie_mta]

LOL.

Or a really nice cornfield.

[ablarc]

Or it could be a swamp.

Oh ... it already is.

[smw2340]

If that project did provide that much open space maybe all the people fighting against the development would be happy?

Actually what are people complaining about with this project? There are no direct abutters. Is main complaint regarding the Lechmere relocation?

There is no way that the developer would pay to create that much open space. It would totally destroy their IRR on the project. They would probably create only the open space they were required to build under their first phase of the development that included those two buildings. Any prudent developer/investor would ensure that they could complete that first phase for a reasonable minimum return (a subjective number, but whatever they can live with) in case the rest of the deal were to blow up, which it seems might happen.

[justin]

Or it could be a swamp.

Oh ... it already is.

Branding, ablarc, branding... It's our own Le Marais!

justin

[Joe_Schmoe]

Here's how they should have laid it out:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b291/Joe_Schmoe/NP/np2.jpg

[ablarc]

^ Good job!

Collage city.

[Ron Newman]

good, except that there needs to be *some* path from the west end of the site to east, for the future extension of the Somerville Community Path from Davis Square to North Station.

Also, the Green Line really does need to be moved into the site so that it too can be extended into Somerville and Medford.

[tocoto]

Back to the future is OK in theory, but the reality is that many parts of Boston that were torn down were really crummy. This picture could serve as a template or starting point, but all that is modern is not bad. The mindset that nothing could ever be as good or better than what has been lost really stunts Boston.

[ablarc]

Also, the Green Line really does need to be moved into the site so that it too can be extended into Somerville and Medford.
Yep, it should run cut and cover beneath that diagonal that functions as Main Street.

[Joe_Schmoe]

Back to the future is OK in theory, but the reality is that many parts of Boston that were torn down were really crummy. This picture could serve as a template or starting point, but all that is modern is not bad. The mindset that nothing could ever be as good or better than what has been lost really stunts Boston.
Perhaps, but I'll never accept that "towers in the park" is better urban planning than the traditional tight-knit density.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Perhaps, but I'll never accept that "towers in the park" is better urban planning than the traditional tight-knit density.

Nor should you. It's interesting you posted this montage because I remember a few years ago in some architecture magazine they super-imposed the Back Bay over the NorthPoint yards showing how much space there was and what could be done.

Edit: This isn't the image I was talking about but it is the same idea. This is to scale.
http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/7259/npbbag8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Also, Charlie_MTA posted this on the first page.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b66/karlgame/NorthPoint.jpg

[Charlie_mta]

Here's what I would do with the area. Relocate McGrath Highway and continue the East Cambridge grid:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b66/karlgame/np.jpg

[ablarc]

A vast improvement over the official scheme, charlie.

Proves "amateurs" can be trusted to come up with environmentally better designs than the pros. That's because you start with the physical form you're looking for, while the "pros" start with the numbers (dollars, square feet, construction costs), with the currently-fashionable theories, with the inflexible rules, and with the expectations of the public and development agencies in all their shriveled glory.

Public, developers and planners alike expect not-too-tall, large-footprint buildings set in or around a too-large "open space." That's virtue to the BRA, to Vivian Li, to the developers and their banks. They can't even conceive of an alternative like yours long enough to test it out and run the figures on it. It's just not the way things are done. It doesn't match any of the professional theories in the current textbooks.

That's because the game is rigged to favor the current official method, but it could just as easily be rigged to favor your outcome. You'd have to rejigger zoning laws, educational methods, financiers' notions of cash flow, contractors' organizational structure and the public's lame-brained misconceptions. A tall order, but not impossible.

It's scandalous but true that you, charlie, can come up in an hour or less with a physical outcome that's clearly better than the product of the informed efforts of the pros and their man-years of "professional" labor. It's clear to many of us on this board because we're enthusiasts, not pros.

Maybe it's time to introduce a little enthusiasm to the pros. They could start by throwing their theories and methods and book-learning out the window. Then they could sit down for thirty minutes, like you, and come up with a better design.

Since I actually do this myself and get money for it, I can tell you the method works, it's the coming thing, and mostly what stands in its way is regulations, narrow thinking and old habits. It's hard (but not impossible) to get things built based on this kind of product-oriented method; practitioners like Leon Krier, Andres Duany and Quinlan Terry have to put enormous and totally unnecessary effort into wrestling down the regulations and peoples' mindsets --but often they actually get things built.

As the public's awareness of global warming and its relationship to built form grows more sophisticated, this will become easier. After the city council overturned existing zoning to approve a little fragment of urban fabric I'd cooked up outside the rules, the mayor pro-tem remarked: "We have to make it easier to get things like this built."

In a nutshell you start with the product you know is right, not with the numbers and the rules, which lead inevitably to what we on this board (and few others) know is city-planning perdition.

[singbat]

Maybe it's time to introduce a little enthusiasm to the pros. They could start by throwing their theories and methods and book-learning out the window. Then they could sit down for thirty minutes, like you, and come up with a better design.

Since I actually do this myself and get money for it, I can tell you the method works,


ablarc, this is a very interesting question to me. in most of life if you break up "stuff" into smaller packages the consumer of the stuff pays more. that more $ is goes back up/down the value chain -- i.e. packages, transportation, retail space and staff, window displays that aren't needed in wholesale, etc., etc. (therefore the VATs, i guess...)

so i'm looking at this very interesting image and thinking -- why doesn't the same logic work in real estate. shouldn't it be in someone's interest to break up lots and sell each lot/development for a markup on the pro rate bulk / wholesale price? (i may not be saying this too well, but you probably get the point).

if nothing else, wouldn't it make more sense from the perspective of the city and state? more small lots taxed without big company accounting with its cost of business offsets, etc. and more people on smaller payrolls purchasing more goods and services overall to keep up their individual lots? (you could see this as an economic inefficiency, but from the local government perspective i would think it was a good thing).

so, what gives? why not?

[vanshnookenraggen]

I think because of the building costs. It costs less to build one big building than 5 small buildings.

For more:
http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=738

[TheBostonBoy]

wow
this sucks, if they don't build NorthPoint i will be pissed
i was so excited for this and it was such a major project....i don't get how one little thing can ruin it all lol
goddamn them!

[vanshnookenraggen]

I think it's interesting that it isn't NIMBY's who took it down but infighting between business partners. At least I can live with that.

[Charlie_mta]

The north side of downtown Portland, Oregon used to be a railyard very similar to the Northpoint land. Portland wisely chose to extend the historic downtown street grid system northward into this former railyard, and offer up the new blocks for a dense development of low-rise condos and street level retail. The vacant land on the north end of the aerial photo linked below will be filled in with similar blocks and high density development.

The area is so similar to the NorthPoint land,. There even used to be an elevated roadway similar to the Gilmore Bridge traversing the area, no longer needed because the rail yard was gone, so they removed most of the bridge and replaced it with a ground level street. In the rendering I did above, the Gilmore Bridge is still intact, but really it could be ramped down to ground level south of I-93, eliminating the barrier of the elevated roadway and enabling continuation easterly of the dense neighborhood grid.


If Portland, Oregon can develop an old railyard in this way, why not Cambridge and Boston?

Here's a Windows Live Local link to the area:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=45.530448~-122.682105&style=a&lvl=16&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5570512&encType=1

[ablarc]

In a regulated context --such as the building or auto industry-- the product's cost and its nature are determined by the government regulations applied to the product.

If, for example, the government mandates catalytic converters, shoulder harnesses and crashworthiness standards, the price of cars goes up. If it were to mandate hydrogen fuel, run-flat tires and crash-avoidance standards, the price would also go up, but it would be a different car.

Car manufacturers comply with whatever standards the government sets for them. Because it's preferable to folding their tents, they will do this no matter what regulations the government cooks up.

Same with developers.

If the government limited lot size or required decorative roofs or limited building heights or regulated function or banished ground-floor retail or required brick cladding, then that's what the developers would do.

(Some of those things are already in the regulations, aren't they?)

[vanshnookenraggen]

Ok, All the Archstone-Smith posts and images have been moved over to the new Archstone-Smith thread here: http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3096

[kz1000ps]

Hooray! Now I don't need to preface every photo post with a "this is Archstone-Smith blah blah"

[kz1000ps]

Ruling calls developers' projects into question

Court faults state's stand on public's access to filled lands
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | May 29, 2007

When the state's highest court ruled in February that developers of a huge mixed-use project in East Cambridge near the Charles River might have to provide more public accommodations, such as a pedestrian tunnel under a busy street, the justices declared there were no broader implications.

That turned out not to be true.

Instead, the decision has thrown into question the legitimacy of scores of buildings and future projects on 3,000 acres in Cambridge and Boston alone. If the question is left unresolved, state permits for existing buildings could be invalid, and agreements between developers and the state for future projects would have to be renegotiated or scrapped.

The court decision concerned a complex case involving owners' rights on tidal lands that have been filled to allow development. The Supreme Judicial Court said state environmental officials did not have the power to exempt the NorthPoint development from provisions of a stringent state law, called Chapter 91, which provides for public access to property near waterways.

Local residents wanted NorthPoint to be required under Chapter 91 to provide some accommodations and amenities, such as possibly a tunnel.

"There's an awful lot in the decision that's questionable," said David I. Begelfer, chief executive of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties' local chapter. "With the land filled in over the last 300 years, some of this is a quarter of a mile from the water -- clearly no longer under the intent of the law."

The SJC later acknowledged its ruling could affect many other properties in tidelands, but delayed the effect of its decision until late summer, in effect inviting the Legislature to fix the problem.

Developers and property owners are now waiting anxiously to see how the matter will be resolved. Governor Deval Patrick, for example, proposed a legislative fix months ago, but it has not been adopted.

Corcoran Jennison Cos. is nearly ready to start on the second phase of its Peninsula apartments on filled land near the Dorchester waterfront. The company has locked in many prices for labor and materials, contracts that will expire over the coming months. If the legal status of Peninsula's permits isn't secure by the time the price guarantees expire, then the project's largest investor may have second thoughts about providing financing, because of potentially higher costs. And that could put the entire 132-unit building in jeopardy.

"The investor is getting nervous, given the SJC decision," said John Mostyn, a lawyer for Corcoran Jennison.

Property right on the water isn't at issue -- anything on the harbor or along rivers is unquestionably subject to the public access requirements of Chapter 91.

Instead, it is those properties on filled tidelands that are set back some distance from the waterfront, such as NorthPoint, that are now in question.

The state adopted regulations in 1990 that gave officials authority to exempt these properties from Chapter 91. But the court ruled the state did not have the right to enact the 1990 exemptions.

"Most people would agree there's a strong value in protecting public access to the waterfront," said Matthew J. Kiefer, a director at the law firm Goulston & Storrs PC. "But it's hard to find a public interest in using Chapter 91 to regulate property that has no meaningful connection to the waterfront today."

The implications of the SJC decision were so broad that Patrick immediately proposed legislation that would validate the permits of the properties in question. But some legislators objected, saying the governor's bill would also allow developers of future projects to disregard public requests for access and accommodation.

In a letter to legislators, the law firm Marsh, Moriarty, Ontell & Golder PC of Boston, which does title work, wrote, "We cannot be certain that lenders will continue to finance acquisition loans or construction loans" if the issue is not resolved.

For now, the firm is telling affected property owners they may be subject to the potentially expensive provisions of waterways protection.

Many prominent properties are affected, such 75 State St. and One Post Office Square in downtown Boston, as well as projects now in construction, such as the Mandarin Oriental hotel at the Prudential Center and the 23-acre Seaport Square in South Boston. They could be required to make expensive public accommodations that no one contemplated, lawyers said.

"Large sections of many of our coastal cities require legislation that provides clarity for existing investments," said R.J. Lyman, a partner at the law firm Goodwin Procter, and for "long-term plans that are extraordinarily important to the agenda of the Commonwealth."

As currently written, a separate bill in the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Environment would clear up the status of current tidelands projects and subject future ones to a different state oversight, the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, which industry executives said would still add too much lengthy review time to developments.

Representative Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat who cochairs the committee, said the current draft would not give the residents in the NorthPoint case the Chapter 91 requirements that they sought, but is a compromise that could expand public access in the future.

The watchdog Boston Harbor Association favors legislation, like that filed by Patrick, that would simply restore the situation to where it was before the NorthPoint ruling.

Changing the law in any other way risks giving the development community an opportunity to weaken existing waterfront protections, said Vivien Li, executive director of the association.

"Taking up other issues will open up a very, very large can of worms that will take years to resolve," she said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

[KentXie]

Northpoint?s legal woes: Liens could cut into condo sales
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter

Friday, July 6, 2007

The stalled NorthPoint project, which is already reeling from a nasty legal battle between its partners, now faces another serious blow that could lead to delays in the opening of condo high-rises.

Contractors who had been working on the multibillion-dollar ?city within a city? have taken out liens on the Cambridge development, saying they are owed more than $1.5 million for work they were never paid for.

The liens could prevent Boston and Maine Corp., a NorthPoint landowner and lead developer, from pushing ahead with plans to open the project?s first two condo buildings, lawyers for the contractors say.

Boston and Maine has been pushing to wrap up work on the two condo buildings in the next several months, despite a bitter legal battle with Cambridge NorthPoint, its local development partners, and Jones Lang LaSalle, an international real estate services company. Would-be NorthPoint residents have already signed up to buy about 100 units.

But attorneys for the contractors and court records suggest the liens could place a major hurdle in front of that goal. At least one of the liens involves work directly on the condo buildings, the related landscaping.

As a result, any routine title search by a prospective condo buyer would turn up the liens and the dispute over the unpaid bills, said Warren Brodie, an attorney for ValleyCrest, a local landscaping company that contends it is owed about $1 million for work it did around the two condo towers.

?I don?t know who would buy a condo that had a lien on it,? Brodie said.

David Fink, president of Pan Am Railways, the umbrella company that oversees B&M, brushed off the concerns.

Since the payments in dispute are for project infrastructure, the liens should not interfere with the opening of the buildings, Fink said.

But requirements set down by the City of Cambridge could pose another hurdle.

City officials want a certain amount of the infrastructure work around the two condo high-rises - including part of a park - completed before granting an occupancy permit for the condo high-rises, said Susan Glazer, deputy director for community development.

Earlier this year, Boston and Maine took its local development partners and Jones Lang to court, blaming them for little or no progress on the sweeping plan for 20 buildings over 45 acres.

?There is still work to be done,? said William Gardiner, an attorney representing Welch Corp., a Brighton contractor that claims it is owned more than $500,000. ?They just told us to stop.?

[KentXie]

Activists: Keep I.M. Pei skywalk
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter

Friday, July 6, 2007

Call it the case of the missing I.M. Pei masterpiece.

Early renderings of the multibillion NorthPoint project, envisioned as a ?city within a city,? have a distinctive centerpiece: a gleaming Pei-designed, glass-encased highway overpass connecting the two halves of the sprawling East Cambridge development.

But the Pei overpass has quietly disappeared from later architectural renderings of NorthPoint.

Now neighborhood activists in Cambridge want it back, saying it solves a key problem with the ambitious NorthPoint project. At the center of the project is moving the Lechmere T station across the highway and into the 45-acre, mixed-use North Point development.

While that is a bonus to residents who settle within the new Cambridge neighborhood, it would force current commuters from East Cambridge who now use the station to cross the busy McGrath highway, contends Stash Horowitz, vice chairman of the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods.

?Without an overpass or some other connection. . . the project does severe harm to the existing commuters of East Cambridge,? he said.

Horowitz also points to a 1999 agreement between NorthPoint developers and the MBTA that mentions the overpass.

But David Fink, a top executive with the company that controls the NorthPoint site, contends the glass overpass turned out to be a budget buster.

?It?s not practical, frankly,? he said.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Not practical because those poor bastards won't be helping my return on investment!

[statler]

Feuding owners aim to sell NorthPoint
Skyrocketing market in commercial projects helped trigger decision

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | July 25, 2007

The feuding owners that are developing NorthPoint, a commercial and residential minicity in East Cambridge, have put the ambitious project up for sale.

Boston and Maine Corp., which owns 75 percent of the massive development, and minority owner Cambridge North Point LLC, have sued each other and, according to a recent court filing, were "hopelessly deadlocked" over the project's future. But now they've agreed on at least one thing: Someone else should take over build-out of the 44-acre site, which could include up to 20 different buildings when complete.

"We set aside certain differences and agreed the market is right and the timing is right to put the property up for sale," said Philip D. Kingman, senior vice president of development for Pan Am Railways Inc., the New Hampshire parent company of Boston and Maine.

A trial is set to begin soon in a Delaware court to resolve some of the many allegations the partners have made against each other.

But in the meantime the two owners have hired Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., to market the former railyard, portions of which are also in Somerville and Boston. Bids will be due in about 90 days, and the owners hope to have a sale completed in five months.

Two modern condo buildings with colorful exterior panels are up on the site -- one complete but not yet occupied, the oth er nearing completion. The owners are permitted to build a total of about 5 million square feet of various uses on the property, which is adjacent to a nearly complete luxury apartment complex by Archstone-Smith and is also near Museum Towers.

Development plans include a 10-acre central park, retail stores, office and lab buildings, parking garages, a possible hotel, and about 2,500 residential units. The developers also are committed to building a new Green Line MBTA station.

Cambridge North Point, which is made up of about 100 investors, most formerly affiliated with the former real estate firm Spaulding & Slye, issued a statement yesterday calling the agreement to sell "a major step forward toward resolving the legal issues between the partners."

It will "allow both parties to take advantage of the project's unique attributes at a time when there's a very positive outlook in the real estate market," the company said.

The sellers have not set an asking price, but the property is on the market at a time when prices for commercial developments are skyrocketing, and existing office and lab space, and land for new facilities, is scarce.

"Through our more recent sales activity in Cambridge we're seeing new price points paid for land that can be redeveloped for life sciences use," said Elizabeth Carrillo Thomas, the executive director at Cushman & Wakefield.

By comparison, the 21 acres on Fan Pier in Boston, with about 3 million square feet of buildings permitted, sold two years ago for $115 million. And 23 acres formerly owned by Frank H. McCourt Jr., also on the South Boston Waterfront, sold for about $200 million last year.

Real estate executives said the bidding on NorthPoint, with twice as much land but on the edge of developed Cambridge, could fall somewhere in between.

Thomas said its proximity to Kendall Square, an epicenter of biomedical and life sciences companies, should drive interest in NorthPoint. "When this was approved, the city contemplated a 20-year development period," she said. "We think it will happen a lot quicker than that."

Already, rents in Cambridge are hitting record levels, with the asking numbers in one premier building hitting $85 per square foot. And asking rents for "biotech-ready" space in Kendall Square are hitting $75, according to real estate firm Meredith & Grew.

The two NorthPoint owners sued each other earlier this year, each charging the other with breach of contract. Boston and Maine, for example, charged in a March lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston that Cambridge North Point did not make "any substantial development progress for the first four and one-half years of the project."

In April, Cambridge North Point filed a suit in Delaware court charging Boston and Maine with breach of fiduciary duties and asking that the partnership be dissolved.

One court document said the two owners have become "hopelessly deadlocked with respect to continued development of the project."

Boston and Maine owned the land near the Gilmore Bridge and O'Brien Highway and entered a partnership with Spaulding & Slye in 2001 to develop the property.

One of the developers' responsibilities is to build an MBTA station adjacent to the development area to replace the decrepit Lechmere Green Line station.

Marketing on the two condo buildings -- dubbed Sierra and Tango -- is continuing. About 100 of 298 market-priced condos are under sales agreements, out of a total of 329 units, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Link (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/07/25/feuding_owners_aim_to_sell_northpoint/)

[stellarfun]

Just my opinion, but Boston & Maine must be one of the more difficult companies to do business with in the United States. As Guilford Industries, the company waged a long battle with the Federal government, state government, and AMTRAK over upgrading its tracks for passenger rail service between Boston and Portland.

And its corporate names are always shifting: they bought the venerable Pan Am name (trademark, logo, etc) from bankruptcy court, and began flying a modest but decent schedule with 727's between the Northeast and Florida, but they've folded that, and now fly small planes between like Portsmouth NH and Trenton NJ, and are called Boston and Maine Airways. (Guilford having taken over the Boston & Maine railroad long ago.)

Its not clear what they want to be, and haven't really succeeded in anything they've tried -- and have neither the background or expertise to pull off a major development such as North Point. They did own the land however.

I'm speculating that Boston & Maine couldn't find another development partner, and thus has agreed to the sale.

[Joe_Schmoe]

Hooray! Maybe we can go back to the drawing board and use something like Charlie_mta's layout.

[palindrome]

Any updates on NorthPoint? It has been a while without hearing anything.

[kz1000ps]

Where did this thread come from? Here's the main thread we've been using for quite some time now:
http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263&start=135

This one should be permanently closed to prevent redundancy or confusion.

[briv]

I combined the old Northpoint thread into this one. I had no idea that other thread even existed.

[kz1000ps]

Thanks, Briv. If y'all haven't figgered out by naw, I'm a stickler for keeping things organizized!

[palindrome]

whoops sry! I just searched NorthPoint and the old thread was the first thing to some up!!!

[stellarfun]

Bidders eye NorthPoint
By Scott Van Voorhis | Thursday, October 25, 2007 |

The sale of the troubled NorthPoint project is grinding to a close.

Several developers have shown interest in building out what is essentially a new Cambridge neighborhood and have submitted their final offers, sources close to the process said.

The rights to the landmark project and the roughly 50-acre site it sits on could fetch anywhere from $150 million to $200 million, according to one executive familiar with the project.

The project?s current owners, a joint venture between the Boston and Maine Corp. and a group of local developers, opted to put NorthPoint up for sale this summer. The move came after a bitter court battle erupted between the development partners, with a Delaware judge now overseeing the sale process, sources said.

Executives at Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate firm hired to sell NorthPoint, declined to comment. However, a new owner is expected to be in place by year?s end, according to executives familiar with the sale.

Dozens of companies took out an initial bid package on the 5.5 million-square-foot NorthPoint project, according to one executive.

The final number of bidders is much smaller, with four or five serious contenders remaining before final offers were recently taken. Top retail developer Steve Karp, who built the CambridgeSide Galleria, is believed to be among those who took a serious run at the project, according to one source. Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, which has done extensive Cambridge development, is also considered a likely bidder.

Boston and Maine Railroad, which has a controlling stake in the NorthPoint development partnership, was also seen as a potential bidder, executives said.

However, a legal cloud hangs over the project. The state?s Supreme Judicial Court ruled this spring that NorthPoint, under current laws, is required to undergo a Chapter 91 environmental review. The ruling came after the project?s developers had secured the city and state permits needed to begin work on NorthPoint.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1040295

[stellarfun]

NorthPoint sold to Goldman Sachs. Thank Gawd Boston & Maine (nee Guilford, nee Pan Am Railways, nee whatever they've called themselves in the past) is outta there.

NorthPoint project goes to Archon
Feuding owners are selling project for more than $175m

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | November 1, 2007

NorthPoint, a new minicity under construction in East Cambridge, is being sold, and its buyer is Archon Group, the real estate arm of the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

"I can confirm we have the property under agreement," Rob Griffin, president of Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., which represented the sellers, said yesterday.

Archon executives declined to comment yesterday, but Griffin said the company, which owns a substantial amount of property in Boston's Fort Point Channel area, was the winner of a stiff competition for the site.

The price was more than $175 million.

The purchase of the former rail yard includes 44 acres permitted and ready to go for 5 million square feet of office, lab, residential, retail, and hotel development. Two residential buildings are near completion.

NorthPoint was put on the market after its owners, Boston and Maine Corp. and Cambridge North Point LLC, got into a fight over the pace of the development and financial issues. The two had joined to develop a complex of up to 20 buildings, including a 10-acre central park and a new MBTA station to replace Lechmere Station.

Boston and Maine Corp. owned the land, located partly in Somerville and Charlestown, and brought in the real estate firm Spaulding & Slye to develop a new ground-up neighborhood. Spaulding & Slye was acquired by the global firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which continued managing development.

But Boston and Maine and Cambridge North Point sued each other early this year in Massachusetts and Delaware, and then in July they said they would sell the mixed-use project.

Cambridge North Point LLC is made up of about 100 investors, most formerly affiliated with Spaulding & Slye, and has a one-fourth share of the ownership. In July, Cambridge North Point said the agreement to sell the property constituted "a major step forward toward resolving the legal issues between the partners."

The feuding sellers chose to market the project as a whole and not split it up, to make closing - with one single buyer instead of multiple buyers - faster.

"The pedigree of the buyers was tremendous," said Griffin. "It's obviously one of the best markets in the country."

Archon has recently sold off some of its substantial holdings in Fort Point rather than develop them.

Meantime, the Cambridge commercial real estate market is tight, and Griffin cited recent corporate expansions by Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. as auguring well for NorthPoint's leasing future.

"Anything of scale has to come to this project, because it's the only permitted project," he said.

Archon specializes in commercial development and could sell the residential portion of NorthPoint - about 2,500 units - or find a partner to build it.

The hotel market remains strong in the Boston area, and NorthPoint, next to the T station, was attractive to hotel developers. "They're very keen on Cambridge," said Elizabeth Carrillo Thomas, executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield.
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/11/01/northpoint_project_goes_to_archon/

[underground]

I guess this is the answer to why they sold off the majority of thier stuff in Fort Point? I wonder why they chose this project over the other?

[chumbolly]

^Did they sell the majority of their Ft. point holdings? If you're thinking of the Thompson Financial buildings and surrounding area, I believe that was another seller. I believe Archon purchased McCourt's land, which is largely just parking lots. I could have this completely mixed up, however.

I'd say North Point is the better site, however, given that it's fully permitted, and Archon's Ft. Point land is not permitted. That's night and day in these parts. Also, there's big demand in Cambridge from tech and bio-tech companies, and Kendall has definitely grown towards North Point.

[tocoto]

Doesn't Hynes now own the old McCourt parking lots?

I think Arcstone sold its permitted rehab and new properties in Fort Point about a month ago.

Did the legislature ever pass anything to get all the tideland projects out trouble after the SJC ruling? Northtpoint is affected and it seems like a problem for a new buyer.

[statler]

Did the legislature ever pass anything to get all the tideland projects out trouble after the SJC ruling?

Yes.

House OKs bill to fix glitch in tidelands law

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 26, 2007

The Massachusetts House of Representatives yesterday voted to fix a glitch in state environmental law that held billion-dollar implications for developers and land owners.

Ever since the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in February in a case brought by Cambridge residents against the developers of the huge NorthPoint development, the ownership and legitimacy of the titles of thousands of acres of land and new and old buildings on former tidelands had been under a cloud.

The court ruled that state environmental regulators lacked the authority to decide that projects in certain locations, such as NorthPoint, were exempt from stringent regulation of land near public waterways. That raised questions about previous rulings the state had made for other developments.

Yesterday, the House passed a bill that clarifies the status of existing titles and marginally increases oversight of future projects on filled tidelands. The legislation is similar to a measure Governor Deval L. Patrick had filed soon after the SJC decision, but some House members had sought to expand the regulation process significantly, adding a new agency to scrutinize the public benefits included in development projects.

The Senate is expected to approve this bill soon.

Both the secretary of energy and environmental affairs, Ian Bowles, and the chief executive of a real estate industry organization yesterday said they approved of the action. "I congratulate the Legislature on settling the issue . . . and lifting the cloud off the title of thousands of property owners in Boston and across the Commonwealth," said Bowles.

David I. Begelfer, head of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties' Massachusetts chapter, called the bill passed by the House "a very good compromise."

"It does put some other obligations on developers, but those are not unreasonable," he said.

Among other provisions, the bill, if passed and signed by Patrick, would ensure that groundwater problems are addressed when new projects are constructed. Under the new law, the secretary of the environment would assess the public benefits of a project located on filled tidelands and make recommendations about their adequacy.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
Link (http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/10/26/house_oks_bill_to_fix_glitch_in_tidelands_law/)

[stellarfun]

Scott Van Voorhis article in today's Herald.

The legal cloud hanging over developments including NorthPoint, one of the largest projects ever proposed in the Boston area, is set to lift today.

State lawmakers are preparing to come to the rescue of the Cambridge development and dozens of other waterfront projects in Massachusetts that are threatened by a recent state Supreme Judicial Court ruling.

The Senate is expected to approve a bill that would essentially give a pass to NorthPoint and dozens of other previously approved projects that would have had to undergo a state Chapter 91 review for coastal developments.

In a decision earlier this year, the SJC ruled that state environmental officials had erred in not requiring NorthPoint to undergo a Chapter 91 review. The project, while not directly on the water, is slated to take shape on land that was once tideland but has since been filled in.

The legislation would allow projects that have already been approved to bypass Chapter 91 coastal development review process. Newly proposed projects would still have to undergo additional environmental review, including an examination of benefits they would contribute to local communities.

The Senate?s pending vote comes after a similar decision by the House and should send the bill to Gov. Deval Patrick?s desk for signing. Patrick has championed the legislation, arguing it is needed to prevent NorthPoint and other projects from being stuck in a legal quagmire.

The legislative action comes just in time for developers, with the SJC decision, made earlier this year, slated to go into effect on Tuesday, said David Begelfer, head of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

?Everyone got it done in the time that was needed,? Begelfer said.

The pending vote is a major victory for the embattled project that would transform an old industrial area near the Charles River in Cambridge. Billed as a city-within-a-city, NorthPoint is slated to cover 20 city blocks with new homes, offices and stores.

The project is also making progress on other fronts, with a new investor group negotiating a deal to take over NorthPoint. That comes after months of legal feuding between the NorthPoint development partners.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1042644

[BarbaricManchurian]

Wow. The legislature is so fucking slow. This issue came 6 months ago and they just got around to resolving it...after what? All the legislature did this year was the budget, not closing the corporate loopholes, not enacting the biotech investment, not doing anything about casinos. And the cynical boston press says "oh, the legislature has to get used to the new arrangment with everyone in the same party, and that takes time." Cut the crap. The legislature is just splitting into two parties now that there's only one left, those who support Deval Patrick and getting stuff done, and those who support Sal DiMasi trying to flex his power and show who's boss by blocking whatever Deval proposes, even if its something that everyone likes such as the biotech investment.

[chumbolly]

^Funny, my thought when I read that article was "that sure was a quick fix." It's a democracy, remember, worst form of government 'cept for all the others. Remember Schoolhouse Rock's "I'm just a bill?" These things take time.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Looks like government worked fast this time around.

Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 2:36 PM EST
Law makes properties on filled tidelands exempt from Chapt. 91
Boston Business Journal

Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill into law that will allow property built on landlocked filled tidelands to be exempted from the state's Chapter 91 licensing process for waterfront properties.

In February, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Department of Environmental Protection, which administers Chapter 91, lacked authority to exempt from properties located on filled tidelands that are not on the waterfront * at least 250 feet from the water and separated from it by a public way * which the agency had done since 1990. Some 3,000 acres of Boston alone, and another 1,000 acres across the state would have had to go through Chapter 91 licensing if not for the governor and legislature's compromise bill.

More here...
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2007/11/12/daily57.html?jst=b_ln_hl

[stellarfun]

The saga with Pan Am Railways, ex-Guilford. ex-whatever continues.
No deal is ever simple with them (Mr. Mellon and Mr. Fink).

NorthPoint buyer backs off. Archon letter stirs investor fray
By Scott Van Voorhis
Saturday, February 9, 2008

A New York investment firm is playing hardball in talks to buy the troubled NorthPoint project, casting a cloud over plans for the largest single development ever proposed in the Boston area.

In a letter sent Jan. 17, Archon Group said it was terminating a $177 million-plus agreement to buy plans and land for the 40-acre-plus city within a city in industrial East Cambridge.

Just a week before, Archon, the real estate investment arm of Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, had executed a purchase and sale agreement for NorthPoint, court documents state.

Archon?s move, meanwhile, has triggered a fresh round of battling between the project?s investors.

Citing Archon?s letter, a group of minority investors in the project has filed suit. The group of prominent local development executives, Cambridge North Point LLC, contends the project?s majority investor, Boston and Maine, violated the terms of an earlier agreement by failing to wrap up the Archon deal.

Cambridge North Point wants to transfer ownership back to a development entity it has a significant stake in, while hiring a new marketing firm to sell the property, documents show.

?It?s unfortunate. You have two sellers that can?t get along,? said one executive familiar with the talks.

The suit is just the latest in months of legal wrangling that has threatened to sink a landmark project that not long ago appeared ready to finally move forward after years of planning.

However, David Fink, president of Pan Am Railways, the umbrella company for NorthPoint owner Boston and Maine, called Archon?s move a ?negotiating ploy.?

Archon opted to pull back because it did not want to commit to paying an $8 million deposit yet, Fink contends.

Given the uncertain real estate market, Fink contends the best thing to do is to push ahead with Archon.

?I don?t think property values and real estate values are going up at the present time,? Fink said.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1072331

[Joe_Schmoe]

I was over by Northpoint this weekend and snapped a couple of quick pictures.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b291/Joe_Schmoe/northpoint/northpointhousing.jpg

Why anyone would want to live in an office park is beyond me. I guess creating real neighborhoods is either a lost art or illegal. What a tragic lost opportunity. It will serve to turn off Bostonians to modern designs for another generation.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b291/Joe_Schmoe/northpoint/norhtpointhousing2.jpg

I was hoping that the recent financial problems would allow time for a redesign, but it looks like much of the landscaping for the ridiculous park has already been done.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b291/Joe_Schmoe/northpoint/Northpointparkland.jpg

[Ron Newman]

Wasn't the park already built by the Big Dig folks, and opened last fall?

[pelhamhall]

That's a different park, Ron. This area is a vast wasteland of immaculate parks tucked under and around on-ramps. I'm so glad our tax money paid for them all, and not private development.

This Northpoint "park" has been paid for by the private developer. I walked by the other day, it's a sad area.

[GW2500]

Yea the park land sucks. Its a bunch of small, but steep hills. Absolutely no one will get any use of it. I'm sure they had to include park land b/c of NIMBY's demands. God forbid we create more neighborhoods in this metro area, only isolated living buildings.

[Spatch]

I guess if you don't want to live in the suburbs but miss the charm of soulless office park buildings, Northpoint is the place for you. Man. I don't know whether I should be scared of the people who'd look at that and go "That's where I want to live!" or if I should just feel sorry for them.

[Ron Newman]

In that case, we need a map, because I did not know there were two different parks, and the one I pass by on the way from Lechmere to Science Park looks mostly flat to me.

(Not that artificial hills are necessarily a bad thing. The ones in Cambridge's Danehy Park work quite well.)

[jass]

I second that, I also want a map, Im confused at where the parks are

[Ronwell Pudding]

http://www.lesvants.com/stock/cambridge/cambridge_3-30-08/pages/3-30-08_cambridge%20stock_4041-167%20copy.htm

No map but this aerial shows the park pretty clearly.

At the risk of being unpopular, I think the park has definite potential. Some mature trees along the creek bank and the berms will really add a lushness, and look very beautiful. I'm imagining a Riverway sort of look. If you fill out the rest of the site with the apartment buildings that they concieved of then you'll have a pretty vibrant area. Architecture aside its still good planning Especially if you connect the parks to bike trail, which I believe is planned, and the Charles. Certainly better than an industrial wasteland and train tracks.

[ngb_anim8]

Is Boston Sand and Gravel that runs along I-93 a permanent fixture? For years as I've driven or take the train into the city from the North I have prayed that it is only there for convenience-sake during Big Dig construction. Someone please tell me I'm right. Someone please tell me that eye-sore will eventually be removed or relocated. Please?

[Ron Newman]

It was there long before the Big Dig. (What would you replace it with?)

[ngb_anim8]

Anything? OK, so that's a sarcastic answer. But right now we have BS&G saying "Welcome to Boston" when traveling into the city from points North....and that's not very welcoming.

The footprint is oddly shaped and is probably not accessible to normal traffic because of the train tracks and elevated highway that surround the area, so and actual development is probably out of the question. But honestly, just clearing out that area would certainly improve the view when traveling from the North. I guess in my imagination I always thought it would be taken down and just replaced with something resembling natural-looking woodlands. Not necessarily parks, like the Common or Esplenade. But just lots and lots of trees that when fully grown would look like they've been there all along.

- clean up the air - clean up the view - make the entrance to the city a little more aesthetically pleasing. Hell...you can even call it parkland, and it can be linked to North Point, and thus the Charles River Basin parks... just to throw the Nimby's a bone.

[underground]

The gravel company's got to go somewhere. At least in the middle of a highway it isn't taking up any otherwise useful space.

[ngb_anim8]

Meh - I'd just stick em' out on Dear Island or out by the airport somewhere. ;)

[Scott]

It is funny how people see things in a different way. I imagine it like a machine churning out the city all around.
You really can't see it well from the expressway and from the Leverett Connector I think it's pretty interesting. At a certain point you have concrete in every direction with ramps crossing overhead and the Sand and Gravel is on the right, with the Zakim beyond. Even better when either the bridge or the BS&G have flags on them.

The city needs industrial areas though someday with the developments in North Point, Rutherford Ave and Inner Belt it will squeeze the area enough where the land will be more valuable for something else, but that is a long way away and there are already enough parks in the area. Unless using some of the land would improve existing parks in the future, I think this area needs housing more than anything else.

[czsz]

Let the sand and gravel stay as long as it likes. We don't need grass-carpeted glades decorating our highways. This is an old Northeastern city, not a glorified office park surrounded by pretty landscaping ala downtown Houston. We should revere our layers of history, even the less quaint ones.

As for North Point, I'm sure it will find buyers. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people whose concern for aesthetics is far outweighed by a desire for a new building with sub-zero refrigerators and a short commute.

[Ron Newman]

I agree. BS&G isn't hurting anything by being there, and it certainly isn't occupying land that could reasonably be developed for any other purpose. I'd target Bunker Hill Community College's parking lots instead.

[Joe_Schmoe]

Ronwell, you can't seriously think this is good planning. Read this thread starting on page 13 for a discussion of how much of a tragic and lost oportunity this whole development is.

[Ronwell Pudding]

Did I say good? I meant decent. I simply like the idea of having a series of interconnected parks, greenways, etc. I thinks its healthy for urban areas and it'll prove its merit as time goes by. Plus when I orginally saw the plan I just thought the park would a flat exapanse of grass. The stream and berms at least add some intrest. Actually I find them quite intriguing. You can't argue taste.

As far as what was discussed previously. I know they are copies of the Back Bay model. Yes its a neighborhood I know and love but Im really not sure you can use those models today. I mean they were planned 150 years ago, economics and building practices were different. I agree the site could use more density and finely scaled buildings. But I thought some plans floated here lacked open space and looked a little bleak. I'm assuming that the quality of construction and architecture would be far below the Back Bay. It seems that the row house has fallen out of fashion; or economically it doesn't make much since in places like Boston where land is so expensive and developers are trying to maximize proft. I'm trying to embrace the modern model and see what works and what can be improved upon. North Point aint half bad.

[GW2500]

I suppose this park will be ok for walkers and joggers, who will pass through it in about 1 minute, and old people, who will just sit on a bench, and dog walkers. But without a little bit of flat ground no one will be throwing frisbees or balls around. And that kind of activity allways makes a park a little better.

[ngb_anim8]

Indeed - the park is poorly designed for what surrounds it at this time. If the plans to build up this whole area as it's own little neighborhood come to fruition then maybe the park will get more traffic and use. Even if the neighborhood itself isn't of the best design in our opinions, you know potential buyers will look at it as a whole and say "wow - we have our own park" as short-sighted as that might be. The whole thing reminds me of Charles River Park: Part Deux.

[Charlie_mta]

Yes, they definitely should incorporate "Charles River Park" into the name for Northpoint. How about "Charles River Park North" or "Charles River Park Annex"?

Just like Charles River Park, NorthPoint is just another towers-in-the-park and suburb-in-the-city type development. How unfortunate.

[cden4]

I remember the whole NorthPoint project originally promoted as new "neighborhoods" with retail and such. Has it just been the breakdown of the project that has caused it to feel so isolated?

[pelhamhall]

Yes - it's just like Fan Pier in this regard: the "plan" is for a vibrant mini-neighborhood, and the reality is that you have two stubby condo blocks in the middle of nowhere. Personally, I love the architecture of these two condo properties and think they look great and change throughout the day based on sunlight/shade - they're good properties that would be great properties if built within the vibrant 24-hour neighborhood proposed.

The same effect is taking its toll on Fan Pier. The plan is for a vibrant mini-neighborhood (9 blocks I think) but the reality is that there is going to be one, lonely little stubby office box sitting out there on those parking lots for the foreseeable future.

Construction phasing is the enemy of these sprawling mixed-use developments. Maybe in ten years or so Northpoint and Fan Pier will be hip little enclaves - but for now, they are lonely buildings standing amidst vast seas of nothing.

[Arborway]

Personally, I love the architecture of these two condo properties and think they look great and change throughout the day based on sunlight/shade - they're good properties that would be great properties if built within the vibrant 24-hour neighborhood proposed.

Are we thinking about the same buildings? They look like the cheapest-looking buildings thrown up in recent memory. Terrible plastic architecture that has little aesthetic value.

[ngb_anim8]

Any neighborhood, including some of Boston's best ones, develope(d) over time. As you mentioned, maybe in a few years the areas you mentioned will become vibrant. But North Point lacks any density and really lacks purpose. There is no reason for anyone to go there other than to live. There will be no "destination" traffic like, and because of the location there will be no real through traffic from other locations. Those two factors are in large part what make Beacon Hill, the North End and Back Bay so great. That and years and years of evolution.

That is also why I think Fan Pier and the seaport stands a fighting chance. There are other reasons to visit that area. There's the courthouse, concerts, museums, trade shows, restaurants, and the water front in general. I have high hopes for that area.... not so much for CRP v2.0 (North Point). But being the optimist that I am, I still have my fingers crossed that NP eventually thrives.

[czsz]

I'm glad CRP has matured over time into such an active urban neighborhood! I can't wait to go hang out at its bustling street cafes and sashay down its packed, vibrant sidewalks!

Time heals all wounds, unless the wounds led to deep scars (the Greenway) or amputations (the destruction of the West End)...

[commuter guy]

[QUOTE=Joe_Schmoe;50637]
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b291/Joe_Schmoe/northpoint/norhtpointhousing2.jpg

I don't mind the look of the building, but it fails miserably in how it relates to the street and sidewalk. Are they trying to isolate this building from the street on purpose? Very uninviting from a pedestrian point of view. If you fill N. Point up with this type of building, it will not succeed as an urban neighborhood.

[Ron Newman]

I assume the fence is there because the building is unfinished and unoccupied?

[commuter guy]

Even if the fence is removed, it appears there is an elevated plaza with planting bunkers between the building and the sidewalk. Its like a mini pre-renovated pru center.

[jass]

The pictures inspired me and I went to visit today

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_3527.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_3528.jpg

And the big dig park, which was really nice
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_3530.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_3540.jpg

My only complaints about the parks are:

Theres a path that leads to a place where a bridge should go, to get across the river. Theres a fence in the way, because theres no bridge.

Theres a very nice bike path, bidirectional with bright lines and even strips to indicate a curve....but its very short, and its obvious its emant to go somewhere else.

[itchy]

this could be the explanation for the missing bridge:

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

By Peter DeMarco
Globe Correspondent / November 25, 2007

It all looked so promising 15 years ago, when $80 million seemed like more money than anyone could possibly spend on bike paths and parklands.
more stories like this

The year was 1993, and to make amends for building a massive bridge across the Charles River, state officials in charge of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project pledged the then-unprecedented sum toward revitalizing the river's "lost half-mile," the stretch between Monsignor O'Brien Highway by the Museum of Science and the Charlestown Bridge that had been an industrial dumping ground for decades.

But as with nearly all things Big Dig, the budget, it turned out, wasn't nearly enough to pay for what was envisioned.

The Central Artery had the funds to construct three impressive parks along the New Charles River Basin, two in Boston and one in Cambridge. But little else that was promised - the pedestrian bridges linking the parks together, basketball and tennis courts, additional parklands, improvements to historic dam buildings - ever materialized.

In just five weeks, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project will come to an official end, as the administration that guided one of the world's biggest construction jobs will dissolve Dec. 31 into its overseeing body, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

Without the missing links - among them, lengthy pedestrian bridges on the north and south banks of the river looping over North Station's railroad tracks, and a pedestrian bridge across the river - some of the paths go nowhere, and the parks that have been built are dead ends.

At best, it appears there is enough money left to pay for just one of the bridges, the north bank bridge, which would link Cambridge's North Point Park to Charlestown's Paul Revere Park.

"Without those bridges, without those connections, this looks like a boondoggle," said Bob Zimmerman, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association. "Without access to these last half-mile of parks, which are absolutely stunning, nobody will figure out how to get to them. And once you're there, you're not really certain how you're going to get out of there."

So, what went wrong?

The most obvious glitch was North Point Park's mildly contaminated soil, which required $14 million to be spent on environmental remediation. In addition, logistical and technical issues plagued the river basin's biggest pedestrian bridges. An awkward division of labor didn't help: While the Central Artery built and paid for the basin's parks and paths, a different agency, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, was responsible for designing them.

Dan Wilson, a volunteer member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the New Charles River Basin since 1995, points to the 2006 tunnel collapse, when a Jamaica Plain woman was killed and $54 million spent to repair faulty tunnel ceilings, as a factor. "I think we probably had a good chance of getting some additional money from the Turnpike to finish the basin, but I think that chance evaporated with that accident," he said. "That was a budget-buster."

In June, a leaders of a dozen community groups sent a letter to Big Dig officials asking them to agree to a "priority spending plan" for the remaining river basin projects. The list included just six items. They got no response.
more stories like this

On what's arguably the most important remaining pedestrian bridge - a complex, 960-foot passing above the railroad tracks between Cambridge and Charlestown, the lowest bid from a contractor came in way over budget - at $15 million, about $9 million more than was anticipated. The Artery now believes it will cost about $24 million to build the footbridge and basic pathways leading to and from it, plus a few million more for a DCR maintenance facility, leaving almost nothing left over for anything else.

When Fred Yalouris, director of architecture and urban design for the Turnpike Authority's Central Artery project, broke the news to activists at an Oct. 30 public meeting, the disappointment was palpable.

Yalouris said a new contract request will be put out to bid for the pedestrian bridge by Jan. 1. With any luck a lower bid will be submitted, he said, and some of the smaller items can be added back in.

As for the basin properties, the Turnpike Authority is committed to building the north bank bridge and whatever else is included in the Jan. 1 bid, Yalouris said. But, he stressed, the agency is under no obligation to do anything beyond that.

What more can be done if state officials don't come through? Potentially, a few things.

Robert O'Brien of the business-oriented Downtown North Association, and Joel Bard, chairman of the New Charles River Basin Citizens Advisory Committee, have sent a letter to the Legislature asking for a one-time appropriation of $10 million to restore the cuts announced at the Oct. 30 meeting. But the Legislature would need to act before Dec. 31, O'Brien said, for the Turnpike Authority to administer the funds.

Wilson said it's possible that an interested party - or even state environmental officials - could file a lawsuit against the Central Artery to enforce the 1993 environmental mitigation requirements, which included the missing pedestrian bridges.

Others say it will be up to private developers to eventually build the missing pieces of the New Charles River Basin.

The role model would be Lovejoy Wharf, whose developer, Ajax Management Partners LLC of Lexington, is spending nearly $10 million on a wide pedestrian veranda along the Charles River that will connect to Central Artery-built basin pieces. Massachusetts General Hospital and other North Station developers could also be asked to pitch in money, to a general basin fund, when ordered by the city of Boston to pay construction mitigation fees.

If Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is sold in the near future, as some expect it will be, its developer will likely be asked to help pay for the missing south bank pedestrian bridge, expected to cost $15 million to $20 million.

None of those solutions, however, appear imminent. Thanks to the Central Artery and the DCR, the New Charles River Basin is vastly improved over the industrial no-man's land it had been for decades. But for the foreseeable future, the basin's missing links will remain just that - missing.

[KentXie]

The pictures inspired me and I went to visit today
Heh I went around there today too and I really do like the park but there's hardly any foot traffic there. Seems almost like a waste.

[TheBostonBoy]

The park looks beautiful, but every time I see pictures of it, there seem to be no human beings in sight haha
That makes me sad

[kz1000ps]

haha
That makes me sad

???

Do you even know that you're typing haha every other sentence?

[jass]

The park looks beautiful, but every time I see pictures of it, there seem to be no human beings in sight haha
That makes me sad

There were 10 other people there, more than I expected based on the lack of connections to the area and how its totally hidden.

The roads nearby however had dozens of cars parked, and dozens of no parking signs to accompany them. Someone needs to send a tow truck to the area.

[TheBostonBoy]

Well haha is my way of showing that I am joking/being sarcastic

[kz1000ps]

Gotcha.

[czsz]

Oh dear god, that region is a trainwreck. Only the park seems to have been done well. Calling urban planners! Someone please take the reins of North Point, Kendall Square, and the South Boston Waterfront, and turn them into a real city ASAP. K thx.

[FastLane]

Some more pics from yesterday afternoon (4/22/08):

The Big Dig park really is very nice. There must be a million daffodils. :!: Most people were families with small children as the park has lots of fun things for kids to climb on and a cul-de-sac to park in.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/IMG_0465.jpg

Like the park on the other side of the river, this one comes to an abrupt end at the train tracks. It will be quite an undertaking to build a bridge here.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/IMG_0458.jpg

I'm still undecided on the two NorthPoint apartment buildings. They sure are going to have a nice big park to themselves for awhile until the rest of the development fills in, but that's pretty much all that's going on there. The back side of the building (facing the park) is nicer than the front. It looks like they've tried to do a modern take on the rowhouse.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/IMG_0466.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/IMG_0469.jpg

[Joe_Schmoe]

The Big Dig park is very nice, especially if they can connect it to Paul revere Park in Charlestown and Memorial Dr. as originally planned. You'd be able to do a park loop around the Charles all the way from Waltham. But just the fact that the big dig park is there shows that there is no need for the Northpoint park, (except for a bike bath connection to the Minuteman Trail which currently ends in Somerville).

[jass]

The Big Dig park is very nice, especially if they can connect it to Paul revere Park in Charlestown and Memorial Dr. as originally planned. You'd be able to do a park loop around the Charles all the way from Waltham. But just the fact that the big dig park is there shows that there is no need for the Northpoint park, (except for a bike bath connection to the Minuteman Trail which currently ends in Somerville).

Why is there no need for the northpoint park? I see no reason to complain about privately built parks.

[Lrfox]

I like those units a lot and with prices starting at about $300k they're also relatively affordable and in a pretty good location as well. I'm really fond of this project and think that once tenants (office, retail and residential) start to arrive, it'll be a pretty lively place.

[commuter guy]

After seeing the latest pics, I have to say that the building's first floor interaction with the sidewalk and street is not as bad as initially thought.

[JimboJones]

LrFox, I've never seen prices listed that low; I think mid-$450's was what I was quoted. Do you have data?

[cden4]

This says prices start in the mid $300,000s:

http://www.livingatnorthpoint.com/sales.html

[Lrfox]

^That's where I saw it as well. Mid $300's not $300 even. My mistake.

[kz1000ps]

yesterday

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4638/img4755zm2.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/759/img4756tz2.jpg

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/2821/img4757yv7.jpg

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/4658/img4759sy6.jpg

images of the Big Dig park coming soon

[kz1000ps]

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9506/img4767bn7.jpg

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/5369/img4768la2.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3503/img4770pr2.jpg

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9743/img4771nb5.jpg

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6853/img4772tn6.jpg

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6481/img4775ok0.jpg

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9246/img4776cx2.jpg

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/3797/img4777vv5.jpg

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/9273/img4778en7.jpg

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3992/img4781uk5.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4157/img4784kx1.jpg

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2817/img4787qj4.jpg

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[bosdevelopment]

shockingly impressive

[sidewalks]

It certainly looks like a wonderful park, but nobody lives there. I applaud the design and the materials, but who is really going to use that space? And how long before that space is completely derelict? I hate to be negative, but this space would have been better served by a mixture of residential development that abuts and is responsible for that parkland.

[czsz]

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3503/img4770pr2.jpg

Would anyone guess this was Boston without the CH tower?

[atlantaden]

Many promises (in order to sell the project) were made during the planning of the Big Dig to include acres and acres of new parkland. This was a prime spot for both parkland and some residential highrise development (totally agree with Sidewalks on this point) but promises needed to be kept. It's a beautiful spot and I'm sure, during warmer weather, residents from the nearby condos, the Archstone apartments and the Northpoint development will make good use of it. I do think that more park benches along the promenades should have been included. People love to sit and look at water and cityscapes and those few benches will fast become prime spots. Is this park fairly accessable to families visiting the Museum of Science? Would also be a great spot for families and school groups to visit after a day at the Science Museum.

[czsz]

Yeah man, there'd be nothing like the vista of the Nashua St. Jail when sitting and reading the latest Ian McEwan.

Seriously, I'd rather the other promises (E to Arborway?) have been kept first. These parks are well-planted but utterly superfluous.

[atlantaden]

The Nashua St. Jail is gonna make a beautiful hotel someday!

[blade_bltz]

cz - Just turn a few degrees to the right and you're staring at CRP - you can't get more iconic Boston than that!

[Mike]

That view will change quite a bit whenever Delaware North gets around to building their towers around North Station.

[ngb_anim8]

Wishful thinking? Has there even been any movement on any of those three buildings (including Nashua St Res?)

[Charlie_mta]

Atlantaden asked: "Is this park fairly accessable to families visiting the Museum of Science? Would also be a great spot for families and school groups to visit after a day at the Science Museum."


It would be, if the pedestrian bridges promised as part of the Big Dig mitigation were to be built. The following is mapping from the MTA website showing these proposed bridges. Who knows if/when they will ever materilaize.

http://www.masspike.com/img/big_dig/multimedia/maps/charlesparks_lg.gif

[JimboJones]

The Globe has an article about East Cambridge in today's real estate section. It erroneously states that "2700 condos are about to come on the market as part of NorthPoint, phase I". As if. First phase is at best 300 units, and define "about to come on the market" ... they are at least eight months behind schedule, and no idea whether or not they can pass title due to outstanding lawsuits.

LOL!

[Mike]

Wishful thinking? Has there even been any movement on any of those three buildings (including Nashua St Res?)

No, but it's just a matter of time. The area is zoned for tall towers.

[ngb_anim8]

^ Music to my ears.

^^^ It looks from that map that people can still access the park from the museum even without the bridge...its just not as direct. Accessible as it is, it will be even better if/when that bridge gets built. The one that baffles me is how they intend to have a bridge from North Point Park to the other side of the train tracks to the Paul Revere Park.

[czsz]

What's the deal with the "North Point Wilds"?

[jass]

^ Music to my ears.

^^^ It looks from that map that people can still access the park from the museum even without the bridge...its just not as direct. Accessible as it is, it will be even better if/when that bridge gets built. The one that baffles me is how they intend to have a bridge from North Point Park to the other side of the train tracks to the Paul Revere Park.

It is very accessible, but you have to know it's there. The green line tracks hide it from view.

[Lrfox]

How old is this? I see that it's put out by the MDC which is no longer (Merged with DEM to create what is now the DCR).

It also says "Fleet Center," so things have obviously changed since then. What this from before the Big Dig?

[Charlie_mta]

I actually got that map off the current Massachusetts Turnpike Authority website.

I believe all of the pedestrian bridges are still proposed for eventual construction, except for the overpasses above Leverett Circle, which have been dropped.

[12345]

NorthPoint buyer quits deal
Other bidders eye 40-acre project site

A Texas-based investment group has pulled out of a deal to buy NorthPoint, a grand city-within-a-city slated to take shape near the Charles River in Cambridge.

Archon Group, which had won a bidding war for the high-profile project last fall, is out of the deal, said David Fink, one of the development?s owners. However, he said other bidders are circling and are interested in making a deal for the sprawling 40-acre site and its ambitious development plans.

?It?s just the capital markets are in such upheaval,? said Fink, president of Pan Am Railways, the umbrella company for NorthPoint owner Boston and Maine Corp.

The deal?s collapse comes with construction in full swing on the first phase of the project, with NorthPoint?s first two condo buildings set to open next month.

All told, 5.5 million square feet of new homes, offices and shops are planned - as well as a new Lechemere MBTA station.

The project?s owners, a partnership between Boston and Maine and a group of top local real estate executives, agreed to put the property up for sale after a falling out that led to a bitter court battle.

Archon had reportedly agreed to pay $175 million when it won out after a bidding war last fall.

But in a market where lenders are cautious about putting up financing for big deals, finding another buyer may not be so easy, said Hub commercial real-estate finance expert George Fantini. He also suggested NorthPoint?s owners may have to lower the bar when it comes to price.

?The storm flags are up,? Fantini said. ?Banks are being very cautious. When you get to large transactions like this, it is going to be a very difficult property to sell.?

A spokesman for Archon declined comment, other than to say he believed the deal is still in progress.

http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1092811&srvc=home&position=also

[briv]

I recently spoke to someone who works indirectly with this project. He told me that One Earhart has been completed for over 5 months and is still unoccupied. Two Earhart would've been completed around the same time but during construction there was a massive flood on the twelfth floor that caused millions of dollars worth of damage to the 5 floors beneath it. Work is still being done on Two Earhart and it should be finally completed within the next several weeks or so. Construction of the park has been put on hold for the time being while the project is stuck in legal limbo, but he said it is expected that work will resume sometime this summer.

He also told me that the Cambridge Housing Authority has agreed to purchase 50-something units in One Earhart that will then be made available to section 8 and low-income families. This struck me as particularly hard to swallow, but he assured me that he had heard it straight from someone on the development team.

If true, this would be extremely interesting to say the least. Anyone else hear anything like this? Jimbo?

[JimboJones]

OMG, that is an awesome rumor! I have not heard anything of that sort ...

Hilarious. That would certainly help solve two problems - excess supply and low-income housing.

I'm all for it. Any other buyer would be extremely unwilling to pay market-value, though, and there's no way a bank would let it happen, at least not at the prices they were asking, before.

How about buying HarborView in Charlestown and doing the exact same thing. Homes at $700 per square foot for the poor? Sure, why the hell not?

[mastertpd]

This is an awesome thread with sweet pictures.
So I notice that closing has finally begun at Northpoint.
Does anyone have any updates on the buyer situation for Northpoint? Is it still up in the air?

[Npoint]

I have been viewing this forum for a few years and have learned a lot from it. I purchased a condo in the Tango building of Northpoint back in October 2005. I finally closed last week on June 20th after a very long and sometimes distressing wait. I have followed the ups and downs of Boston area real estate through this forum and hope to contribute in the future. Now a few facts about Northpoint. The sales office told me that Archon is still in the picture but is seeking a partner to develop the condo portion of the project. Archon is primarily interested in the business portion. There are 5 persons moving into Sierra (the smaller building that was ready in Spring 2007) and about 45 persons moving into Tango at the present time. More persons are viewing or in different phases of buying. Work is still continuing on the tower section of Tango and should be complete in late summer/early fall. The central park is being worked on every day but still needs a lot of work. The Northpoint Park which was part of the Big Dig is beautiful and is being discovered by more people every day. The apartment building by Archstone (which is next to the Northpoint project) is now lit up at night providing a beacon for the area. Npoint

[JimboJones]

Yes, the Archstone tower is lit up ... it is either a remarkable site or a monstrosity, depending on your point of view. (I think it looks quite good ...)

So, Tango is still under construction but the banks let people close? Amazing.

[golden_calf]

Just wanted to confirm briv's report that the Cambridge Housing Authority has bought some units at NorthPoint for sale to low- to moderate-income families. There are several units in both Tango and Sierra, as well as a few at One First Street.

Are people really (and finally!) moving in over there? The park looks like a wonderful rape park, at least until more people start moving into the area.

I heard at one point that they were planning on building a skate park somewhere in NorthPoint. Does anyone know if that's still in the plans?

[Ron Newman]

Skate park would not be in the North Point development, but rather under the loop ramps to the Zakim (on state property).

[JimboJones]

Golden Calf, where can we read more about this?

[golden_calf]

I haven't seen it in the news, but got it from the CDD website. Here is the flyer:

http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/hsg/available/homeown55_flyer.pdf

[JimboJones]

That's great, thanks for the tip.

I wonder though whether this is new, or whether the developer always had an agreement to set aside units as "affordable".

It's a requirement in Boston, of course.

[Npoint]

The inclusion of affordable units has been in the plans from the beginning (at least since 2005 when I signed the Purchase and Sales Agreement). They want to have some municipal workers such as teachers, police officers, fire department personnel, etc. be able to afford to live in the city. I have not heard anything about Section 8 subsidies however. Maybe this was confused with the affordable housing plan. The large park was supposed to have a community center built into one of the hills but this was nixed. The NorthPoint area is still considered private property so we have our own security for now. But more eyes on that park would definitely be a good thing....I know that many members of this forum are not crazy about the NorthPoint future plans (too much park) but I am encouraged that this development has finally turned the corner. Also the 1 billion dollar life sciences bill just signed by the governor will hopefully spur on some development in Cambridge.

[stellarfun]

Decided to post this here, rather than in transit.


T line?s extension at risk
Failed NorthPoint sale delays new Lechmere station
By Scott Van Voorhis
Saturday, July 5, 2008

A grand plan to extend the Green Line to Somerville and Medford could be in danger of derailing.

The collapse of the multibillion-dollar NorthPoint project in Cambridge has thrown a monkey wrench into long-standing plans for a new Lechmere Station to anchor the $600 million extension.

Under plans for a new city-within-a-city at NorthPoint, the project?s developers agreed to build the MBTA a new, $70 million-plus Lechmere Station. In return, the builders, a partnership between Boston and Maine railroad and local real estate executives, were to have been granted additional land.

But the project?s development team has since split up amid a bitter legal feud, while a deal to sell the property recently collapsed.

And local officials who have championed the rail extension are now watching nervously.

?We all know that until the station is relocated, there is not going to be an extension,? said state Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville). ?There is a contract in place, but that developer is gone so there is no successor to the developer to carry out the contract.?

State transportation officials say they are beginning to draw up contingency plans to move ahead with the station without help from a developer.

That would likely mean either borrowing more for the project, using state bonds, or trying to cover the extra costs with federal transportation dollars, one official explained.

?We are aware of the situation and we are undertaking contingency planning,? said Klark Jessen, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Transportation.

But it may be easier said than done finding extra money amid hard budget times and competition among various projects for scarce resources, Provost said.

Meanwhile, state officials are under an increasingly tight deadline to complete the project. Under an agreement aimed at staving off a threatened Conservation Law Foundation lawsuit, state officials have agreed to have the new Green Line extension up and running by 2014.
Preliminary applications for federal funding are due this September.

?Lechmere station is critical for the expansion,? said Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone. ?Making sure that happens is critical.? http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1105080

[Charlie_mta]

For major transportaion projects like this, $70 million is chump change. There's something seriously wrong with transportation priorities in this age of $4.50/gallon gas if they can't scrape up $70 million to help fund this vital rail transit project. On the Big Dig project, no one would even blink an eye at an extra $70 million, yet on this rail transit project it's supposedly a project stopper. Wow, the out-of-date transportation priorities revealed in this are amazing. We should be developing a post-automobile transportation system.

[BostonSkyGuy]

We should be developing a post-automobile transportation system.

Bingo. The problem with the governmental thinking (I include city/state/federal officials in my "Government" generalization) is that it's always short sighted. Eventually cities are going to have to plan for a public transportation that can handle more and more passengers due to the increasing expense of owning cars. In my opinion in 25+ years, cars will be a luxury that not everyone can afford. They're going to have to add this type of thing in the future anyways, why not spend the 70 million NOW and not spend 250 million later when materials, labor, and general expenses go up?

[stellarfun]

Cambridge minicity may soon have buyer
By Scott Van Voorhis
Friday, July 11, 2008

A potential new buyer has emerged for Cambridge?s troubled NorthPoint project, with national developer Forest City taking a look at the massive ?city-within-a-city? building plan, project officials confirmed.

Forest City Enterprises Inc. is one of at least three or four real estate firms preparing to offer bids for the sprawling tract of longtime industrial land near Lechmere station in East Cambridge, according to NorthPoint.

But Forest City is particularly interested, having a long track record of developing property in Cambridge, including the well-regarded University Park development with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As part of the NorthPoint deal, the new owner will be expected to follow through on plans to build a new Lechmere T station, a vital jumping-off point for a long-planned extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford, said David Fink, president of Pan Am Railways, the umbrella company for NorthPoint owner Boston and Maine Railroad.

Overall, the NorthPoint plan calls for 5.5 million square feet of homes, offices and shops spread over a 40-acre site.

?We are trying to move the property,? Fink said. ?That is the bottom line.?

The emergence of Forest City, which declined comment, as a contender for the property comes on the heels of the collapse of a deal to sell NorthPoint to a Texas developer.

Archon Group, the real estate investment arm of Goldman Sachs, had struck a tentative deal last fall for the site, reportedly in the $175 million range.

But that agreement later unraveled, with Archon pulling out of the deal this spring.

NorthPoint?s owners now are preparing to call for bids from Forest City and other would-be buyers, with plans to push forward with a new sale in a matter of a month or so, Fink indicated.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1106353

Lets hope Pan Am Railways, nee Guilford, nee B&M, sells out its stake and walks away from the property. Then something might actually happen.

[Tim Jackson]

Toomey: Move Middlesex courthouse to NorthPoint development

By Jillian Fennimore/Chronicle staff
Thu Sep 11, 2008, 08:39 AM EDT

Cambridge -

At least one politician is looking to put the Middlesex Superior Court back where it used to be ? in Cambridge.

And the sprawling NorthPoint development may be the place to do it, according to City Councilor Tim Toomey.

On Monday night, Toomey expressed his interest in looking at the mammoth East Cambridge parcel to build a new courthouse facility.

?It would be nice to have a courthouse presence back in Cambridge,? said Toomey, who?s also a state representative.

In March, the Middlesex County Superior Court moved from its Thorndike Street high-rise to a newly built 140,000-square-foot, seven-story building at 200 Trade Center in Woburn as its former 22-story home undergoes major renovations.

But chances are the hefty price tag for repairs at the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse, which includes asbestos cleanup, building and security upgrades, and replacement of the courthouse?s aging elevators, could be too much of a burden for the court to move back.

?It?s 550,000 square feet, but not all of it is usable space,? said Middlesex Clerk of Courts Michael Sullivan.

Instead, Sullivan said building a brand-new facility in Cambridge to house all branches of the judicial system might be the route to follow.

?The idea is to be able to bring all resources under one roof,? Sullivan said.

But it won?t be for another seven years before a move is made, considering the lease in Woburn has been extended from five to seven years, according to Sullivan.

In total, more than 180 employees have moved to the newly built Woburn facility, which includes 15 courtrooms, 15 jury deliberation rooms, 22 holding cells with separate areas for men and women and record storage space.

Toomey earlier this week requested that the city explore the possibility of renegotiating NorthPoint?s special permit to include a new courthouse for Cambridge. A special permit was granted by the city in order for the project to move forward in working under specific design and zoning guidelines.

Despite being deadlocked in a Delaware court due to a dispute between developers, the riverside site has welcomed millions of square feet worth of laboratory and office space, residential units, parking spaces and open space, along with the pending relocation of the Lechmere T station.

But Toomey said the process has been ?frustrating and disappointing? since the state?s Executive Office of Transportation is now footing the bill for the new station in order to prevent any construction delays. The relocation will be incorporated in the state?s project of extending the Green Line into Somerville and Medford.

Originally, officials behind the NorthPoint development agreed to build the Lechmere Green Line station off Monsignor O?Brien Highway, in exchange for obtaining the property at the existing Lechmere station.

But councilors are now questioning if that deal can be taken back because of the state?s takeover.

One fellow city councilor agreed that Cambridge should be more proactive as the site develops.

?Let?s get aggressive with this and not be blindsided,? said Councilor David Maher.

LINK (http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x1729993780/Toomey-Move-Middlesex-courthouse-to-NorthPoint-development)

[jass]

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[vanshnookenraggen]

So wait, they ran out of money to build the buildings but built the park? Well, ok, looks really nice (I totally want to take my mountain bike over there).

[czsz]

Looks like Boston's McCarren Park (minus all the people).

[jass]

So wait, they ran out of money to build the buildings but built the park? Well, ok, looks really nice (I totally want to take my mountain bike over there).

Might have been a legal obligation, or a ploy to get residents in.

[ablarc]

No matter how hard they try, they just can't get it right.

Not here, not at the Seaport.

The planning model is all wrong.