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Development Projects New urban and/or architectural developments in Boston metro. |
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#1 |
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Location: salem ma and washington dc
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Decided given the prospective scope, this deserves its own thread.
List of attendees, GSA industry day. No MIT, unless they are silent partners with an entity that did attend. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/mediaId/19...and_DOT.action Environmental Assessment, with old aerial photos. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/197447 Some interesting slides, e.g., space demand, in Kendall Square. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/196115
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#2 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
i know i know i know this more pan-kendall than the volpe, but thought id place them here anyway - some of these crop up on other pages of this site, but hell, history is cool:
#1, what might have been... NASA rendering, back in the day the rest of the picture is more interesting than the render the round fountain/globe thing was a roundabout lots of parking lots, but not that many a less suburban/weird binney street much smaller building footprints adjacent to the volpe site and the coolest, the little residential buildings in the lower right ![]() Volpe under construction: ![]() (source: http://blog.samseidel.org/2013/03/ke...al-sketch.html has many goodies) The Volpe in 1980 ![]() (source, http://cambridgecivic.com/?tag=kendall-square with many more goodies) More pics and history of the area http://www.cambridgeredevelopment.org/history/ |
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#3 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Holy crap, I WISH that was built!
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#4 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
That last picture of Kendall in 1990... Hard to believe how much it has changed.
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#5 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
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#6 | |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
For those of you constantly crying about superblocks and suburban towers -- the
URL http://cambridgecivic.com/?tag=kendall-square has several instructive comments in it: Quote:
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#7 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
I think it's dubious that it would difficult to find developers for smaller parcels, considering that a million smaller projects are happening all the time.
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#8 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
I'm trying to imagine the Broad Canal still being there (instead of under). It's a real shame they felt that was "required" to redevelop the area. A canal could really add to the human experience in the area. Also, provide some nice cooling in the summer time, and most likely help with some of the major rainwater management in the area. Too bad.
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#9 | |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Quote:
Anyway -- the point was that 30 years ago there was a problem getting developers -- so when Boston Properties was interested Cambridge let them go to town and Cambridge Center was the result Today, of course there is no problem except to find a piece of property that can be developed anywhere in Kendall / East Cambridge near the Charles River Thus we are now getting some de-super blocking in the case of 88 Ames where part of the garage and some of the street will be used to shoe-horn in the building already getting the appellation of the Tower of Googlers |
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#10 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
I would love to see the Broad Canal daylighted through the Volpe property, with a turning basin of sorts at the end.
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#11 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
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#12 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
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#13 | |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Quote:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3690.../data=!3m1!1e3 The 3D map doesn't include any of the newer buildings on Binney which are under construction either. What a difference we'll see even in just a few years when those are finished along with the Volpe development, the MIT projects, along with the other planned infill projects. |
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#14 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
New zoning changes proposed for the development.
http://www.cambridgeday.com/2014/12/...city-planners/ |
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#15 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
So, almost 3 million sf of new development on the 14 acre site? Good news.
Almost equal parts commercial and residential? Good news. Heights increased to 250 on most of the property & some up to 300 (residential only)? Good news. I'm not sure I'm on board with the $10/sf levy however. It sounds like a novel approach, and I like it going towards open space upgrades, transportation upgrades, and workforce training. All good places to spend money. That's a pretty good percentage per sf if we assume new construction is $200/sf, that's 5% right off the top. Cambridge does a great job of keeping it's taxes low. But, why is it the developers responsibility to foot the bill instead of spreading that out if you want to help out the entire City. No advocating for higher taxes either, but posing the question from the other side. It might seem a little unfair to put it on just a few. No matter how wealthy those few might be..... |
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#16 | |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Quote:
![]() In the article it sounds as if Volpe would stay within the parcel either in a new structure or possibly the renovation of the existing building It also seems as if the part of the project occupied by the Feds would be exempt from the zoning on the remainder -- I suspect the latter will be controversial to say the least |
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#17 | |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Quote:
I'm not sure how controversial the zoning exemption will be... Volpe is a pretty well-known and unambiguous use. The only issue would be if the building proposed for Volpe is significantly taller than the others, say 450'+. I'd actually like them to try to push that envelope since this site has no direct NIMBY neighbors and is buried in the Kendall plateau, but I don't think Volpe needs that much space. |
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#18 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
The new height limits requested here are perfectly reasonable. What is unreasonable is the guaranteed yowling from (and I don't like having to keep describing them this way but it's true) activist moonbats. They will object because of ideology not because they have a legitimate complaint. They will object because objecting to taller buildings is one of their sacred dogmas to say nothing of their love for petty, obstructionist power plays. The tantrums they are throwing over the Sullivan courthouse is a perfect example.
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#19 | |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Quote:
One of these facilities is a "mission control" like center from which all the shipping and all the air activity can be monitored in real-time -0- I would doubt that they'd want to redo these |
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#20 |
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Re: Volpe Transportation Center Development Cambridge
Federally-owned land is not subject to zoning, and a Federally-owned building on Federally-owned land is not subject to zoning. Thus, a new Federal building (owned by the government on government-owned land) would not be subject to Cambridge zoning. The government seeks a new building of 390,000 gsf. How high do you (developer) want to make it?
It does not appear from the RFI that the government is interested in leasing new space. Leased space in a privately-owned building would be subject to zoning. The government has specified that the new building will require security setbacks. What the government really wants is for someone to build a new Volpe Transportation Center building in or near Kendall, at no cost to the government. In exchange, the builder gets a large parcel of land in Kendall Square to develop. Assume a developer devotes 90,000 sq ft of the current Volpe site for a new government building, and that building's hard construction costs are $175-200 million. In exchange, after open space, there are eight acres (of the remaining 12) that can be developed, so the cost per developable acre is around $20-25 million in the heart of Kendall Square. Such a deal!
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