New England Revolution Stadium | 173 Alford Street | Boston-Everett

[HubCat]

One major problem with the renderings: Where are the birds?????

 

[Patrick Winn]

extremely wealthy investors that happen to have ownership in other sports & entertainment capital ventures get to build those stadiums for their own private benefits by LEASING THEM for other venues, IOW those stand-alone soccer specific structures aren't soccer-specific that much BTW Soccer-specific GEODIS park is hosting rock concerts this summer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodis_Park

We might just be arguing semantics. Of course the owners will try to get whatever fees from hosting other events they can. But these stadiums are built specifically for the game of soccer, to create more of a European club feel, so I don't think of them as "multi purpose venues" by design.

 

[CBCArch61]

Geodis Park is the largest, soccer-specific stadium (at least when it was completed) in the US. It also has some great technology integrated to ensure that its primary tenant (soccer) puts out a great product. The ownership group was also gifted a 99-year ground lease of 10 acres of land around the stadium for residential and commercial development. It is also directly next to the oldest continually operating auto racing track in the country (Fairgrounds Speedway which Nascar is trying to return to and soccer ownership appears to be fighting against) and the Nashville Fairgrounds which hosts multiple events every month.

I think I understand the "white elephant" comment because these stadiums do need to have a multi-use component as a big element, but the primary driver for these structures is the specific sport. I believe the models (financial, social, etc) for European stadiums is also very different than the US models so it isn't completely fair to look at European stadiums and say "do this".

 

[NoShJFK]

I keep reading contradicting statements about how close this actually could be.

This is as close of a slam duck as possible. A direct connection to the orange line (via bridge) and a CR stop next door to Encore (I know there’s an issue with the slop of the bridge over the river) are the only things short of making this an A+ idea.

I can’t really think of another area in the region that the stadium should be placed in…

 

[DwnTwnr]

I keep reading contradicting statements about how close this actually could be.

This is as close of a slam duck as possible. A direct connection to the orange line (via bridge) and a CR stop next door to Encore (I know there’s an issue with the slop of the bridge over the river) are the only things short of making this an A+ idea.

I can’t really think of another area in the region that the stadium should be placed in…

I give you the Dorchester Bay site--access to red line and 93

 

[Suffolk 83]

I give you the Dorchester Bay site--access to red line and 93

You wont get the neighborhood associations on board with that in a million years. Complete non starter there

 

[HenryAlan]

The so-called Crosstown site (across the street from BPD headquarters) is still available and would be served by three commuter rail lines, Orange Line, and sort of E-Line, not to mention more than a dozen bus routes. It is a far better location in my opinion, but the city continues to look for a unicorn housing, commerce, and cultural center development.

 

[BosDevelop]

and basic stadium could be easily resold to a local college or school and be able to recoup his money back

Huh? You think Kraft is going to sell this stadium to a college after he builds it? Better chance the Patriots move to this stadium.

 

[TheRatmeister]

More of a crazy pitch, and probably not suitable for the size of the proposed stadium, but what about Lederman Park?

 

[DwnTwnr]

You wont get the neighborhood associations on board with that in a million years. Complete non starter there

Totally--but it's a great location. Everett is drafting off of Boston and the impacts on Boston will be primarily negitive (traffic) while Everett benifits from the $. It's a good example of why we need regional planning

 

[DwnTwnr]

The so-called Crosstown site (across the street from BPD headquarters) is still available and would be served by three commuter rail lines, Orange Line, and sort of E-Line, not to mention more than a dozen bus routes. It is a far better location in my opinion, but the city continues to look for a unicorn housing, commerce, and cultural center development.

This is an interesting idea--it's also near existing sports complexes like the one at Roxbury Community college. Honestly, this makes way more sense than the White Stadium plan (IMO)

I think the city thinks that with land they own they should be trying to correct issues that developers don't address--like affordable housing. I'm generally opposed to public money (in this case, in the form of land) going to support the very rich owners of sports teams so it's tough to see this as a better option. Maybe if they paid market rate for the land and then built the stadium on their own dime

 

[HenryAlan]

I'm generally opposed to public money (in this case, in the form of land) going to support the very rich owners of sports teams so it's tough to see this as a better option. Maybe if they paid market rate for the land and then built the stadium on their own dime

To be clear, that's exactly what I have in mind, I wouldn't want the city to subsidize anything. But the location is good, and if they were to sell it for the right number, it could be a win for all involved.

 

[stellarfun]

I am placing this Globe article in this thread because a similar berm is proposed for the site of the Revolution stadium just across the river.

Image courtesy of the Globe.

When the $16 million fortification of John J. Ryan Park in Charlestown is complete, Little League players will trot out to bat behind a 7-foot-tall berm on a field that’s 2 feet higher than it is today — an effort to protect the neighborhood from rising sea levels.

But because the existing park sits on land that was made by filling in tidal flats — like more than 5,000 acres of Boston — building that heavy berm poses some tricky engineering problems.

At the Ryan Playground, engineers are trying to figure out how to ensure the land is strong enough to hold the weight of the berm, which will be disguised as a sloping landscaped area, playground, and river walk.

“We’re very concerned about settlement over time,” said Kunkel, the project’s manager, “as well as the violence of storm events eroding out the walls and compromising them.”

That’s true at the Ryan Playground project in Charlestown, which sits adjacent to the Mystic River. If left low-lying, the park is a weak point where flood waters could infiltrate the Schrafft’s City Center, a busy area for local businesses named for the well-known candy company that was once headquartered there.

To fortify the park, hundreds of narrow stone columns will be drilled up to 65 feet deep with a boring machine. Those stone columns will help to distribute the weight of the new 7-foot berm, as well as an additional 2 feet of elevation added to much of the park. Foam glass aggregate, a porous material made from recycled glass that weighs a fraction of normal soil, will be used to fill in the land, according to Kunkel, the project manager.

The park has another complication: A plume of petroleum is trapped underneath, likely a vestige of industrial activities in the area. It’s safe to remain where it is, Kunkel said, but allowing flood water to infiltrate too deep underground could prompt that plume to move. The architects, therefore, also envision a drainage system of underground pipes.

Without that new berm in the park, 2 feet of sea level rise could bring flooding to Charlestown during an extreme storm. According to the state’s model, the path that storm water would follow closely resembles the shoreline of almost 400 years ago.

Perhaps this will deserve its own thread when two years of construction starts this fall.

Much of Boston is built on artificial land. Itâs vulnerable to sea level rise and hard to protect. - The Boston Globe

As climate change worsens and sea levels climb, the huge share of artificial land in Boston is not just an interesting factoid of history, but a significant engineering challenge.

www.bostonglobe.com