News & Updates

Mayor Menino Announces Approved Projects and Activities Along Waterfront

Jun 12, 2012

Office Space and New Parks Approved for Fort Point Channel
Private investment / Total project cost: $225M
Jobs: 1,200
Total square footage: 198,335 SF
Office: approximately 521,000 SF
 Retail: approximately 4,000 SF of ground floor retail

The BRA Board unanimously approved the One Channel Center project of $225M for a half million SF office building, two new parks, and a parking garage, which will create 1,200 construction jobs.  The project replaces a vacant parking lot with a state of the art facility. The proposed project is under PDA zoning and will require final approval from the Boston Zoning Commission. The campus-like project by Commonwealth Ventures includes a lease for 521,000 SF of office space by State Street Bank & Trust Co.  The proposed mixed-use office building is 150 feet tall with 4,000 SF of ground floor commercial space, a 970 space parking garage, and two new parks. Iron Street Park, a 9,000 SF open space, will be maintained by the Channel Center Owner’s Association, and the other new park of 72,000 square feet will be designed with community input and maintained by a new non-profit of property owners within the 100 Acres Planning Area. The parks will continue to “green” Fort Point Channel, and they will enhance the area’s connections to the Harborwalk and across Fort Point Channel to the Greenway. One Channel Center is part of the greater Channel Center complex, a collection of historic wharf buildings constructed by Boston Wharf Company in the 1830s.  It is located in an area of the South Boston Waterfront known as the 100 Acres.  In 2006 the BRA designated this area of underutilized land for development of a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood with new open spaces and significant infrastructure improvements. One Channel Center is the largest new development since the area was identified for growth.   BRA Board Sponsors Harbor Islands Excursions for Boston Teens  The BRA Board unanimously approved $25,000 to sponsor ten Boston Harbor Island excursions for 130 teen apprentices from Artists for Humanity (AFH).  The excursions are part of AFH’s intensive seven-week training program in the visual arts and creative industries.  While on the islands the teens will take inspiration from the cultural, social, aesthetic and scientific qualities of Boston’s waterfront and temporary, site-specific sculpture based on the work of Andy Goldsworthy. For many of the teens, the excursions will be their first boat ride and first visit to the Harbor Islands.  Repeat field trips will give the teens additional opportunities to learn “earth art”, plain-air painting, landscape and seascape painting, and drawing to expand their appreciation for Boston’s natural resources. The teens’ fine art and reflection pieces will be displayed at the End of Summer Exhibition in the AFH Lewis Gallery and other locations in Boston.  The teens’ work will also be featured on http://www.afhboston.org/ and http://afhboston.blogspot.com/. AFH is a not-for-profit youth development organization that trains and employs under-resourced Boston teens to create, market, and sell fine art, industrial design, and digital graphic services at its 100% renewable energy EpiCenter in South Boston.  Teens are awarded paid apprenticeships in the visual arts and creative industries, including Painting/Murals, Sculpture/Industrial Design, Screen Printing, Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Photography, Web Design, and Video.  Follow AFH @AFHBoston.   Request for Proposals to be issued for Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan The BRA Board unanimously approved the advertising of a Request for Proposals for a planning and design consultant for the Downtown Municipal Harbor Plan to codify the Use and Development Guidelines for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway District.  The Greenway District includes Chinatown and the Leather District, Dewey Square, the Financial District, the Wharf District, Town Cove, Market District and Government Center, and the North End. The Greenway District Use and Development Guidelines encourage residential, hotel, and mixed-use development with active ground-floor and streetscape designs and ground floor retail programming, all with the goal of animating park edges to contribute new populations to the Greenway and Downtown.  The guidelines were created by studying the macro and micro context of each parcel to determine how to maximize its benefit to the Greenway Corridor. Since the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway opened in the fall of 2008, the parks have blossomed into one of the most important open spaces in Boston and created connections among the park, its programs, and the downtown, the harbor, and the South Boston Waterfront.  Those bonds will continue to grow.  Properties along the Park are continuing to be redeveloped and are currently subject to a variety of zoning articles, none of which have been guided by a vision of the Greenway as a distinctive environment within Boston.  With the drafting of the Downtown Municipal Harbor Plan, these guidelines can be shaped into the appropriate zoning mechanism to ensure the Greenway continues as a premiere open space in Boston.

Related Tags

Artists for Humanity Boston Harbor Islands Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan Fort Point Channel One Channel Center RFP Rose Kennedy Greenway 

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