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Anthony's Pier 4 one step closer to disappearing
By adamg on Fri, 12/16/2011 - 7:27am
The BRA last night gave final approval to plans for the first of three new developments on the pier, a 383-unit apartment building, the Boston Business Journal reports.
The BRA has more details on the project.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Menino is describing this as
Menino is describing this as a "24-hour neighborhood" according to that article. Does that mean we should start seeing restaurants with licenses for 24-hour operation? Or is this just going to be another place where "24-hour" means everyone going to bed at 11?
I hope he means it.
Countdown to someone saying "Nobody has any business being out after..." in 3, 2, 1... nah, commenters here aren't like that as much as older locals.
But the cynic in me sees that if there are 24 hour licenses, which we desperately need, people who move to the neighborhood will start complaining that there are people outside at all hours in 3, 2, 1...
I think people forgot how to live in cities.
Sure it's a 24-hour
Sure it's a 24-hour neighborhood... now instead of being empty at 11PM it will have people sleeping
18 hours tops
I don't know about that part of Southie, but most of Boston seems to be getting less and less "24 hours" as the years pass. I read an article in the Globe several years ago about how late night places in Chinatown were starting to close earlier due to lack of business, and if you're in Cambridge or Somerville, the late-night eats are much more scarce than they were 10 or 20 years ago (no Tasty, no Dolly's, etc.). Are there any all-night places in Watertown anymore?
Yeah, there's that...
Deb's Diner (says Pilgrim outside) in Salem is open all night weekends. Ok - it's in Salem. But, it's something.
I remember the diner in Watertown and going there after shows at the Paradise. I hope it's still there.
I think lack of knowledge of these places, the fact that as their customers get older or move out and they make no effort to reach new customers, and lack of transportation after hours are contributing factors to the decline.
Also, there's the nonsense the South Street Diner had to go through when luxury apartments were built nearby. The diner was there first. It's happening in cities all over - even NYC - suburbanites move in town to be where the action is and because cities are safer again, only to complain when it's not as quiet as the 'burbs.
South Street Diner
Yeah, but they won! In fact, a ton of people showed up at a licensing board hearing to support all-night service there, and the board agreed (the kvetchers did not show up at all). So there's hope.
As a counter-example....
The Fish Tale diner in Salisbury, which stayed open all night in my younger days, does so no longer (as I found out to my chagrin during a recent late-night return from Portsmouth). When I was in high school, the Fish Tale and the big restaurant next to it (Italian Sub Base) were both open all night. Later, the Sub Base changed hands and only the Fish Tale was open all night. Now, neither of them are.
I think that the club/bar culture where you close the bar and then go out to eat has been in general decline for awhile now.
24 hours
Who doesn't want to do pub crawls 24 hours a day, then be able to go out and eat something at 3:30 am? Finish the night off by puking on someones front stairs, while they are trying to sleep because they have to work in the morning. Life is good in the big city.
I sea what you did there
dis-a-PIER-ing
Anthony's doesn't think so..
Job posting for waitstaff on Craigslist: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/fbh/2755922596.html
The project doesn't start right away
And I seem to recall (somebody correct me if I'm wrong) that the developer was talking about incorporating the restaurant into the project. But not the current building itself.
2027
That's about when this project will break ground if ever. There are about 2 years of never been occupied luxury condominiums still waiting to be sold, another 4 years of luxury apartments (which will be condos if the market turns) under construction and about 10 years of luxury projects approved and awaiting financing construction etc. So unless you are looking for a pension and a gold watch from Anthony's - I'd go ahead and take the job. Hopefully the financial markets will be more of a brake on this glut than the city's "just build it and they will come" pipedreamers.
You know what would sell?
"non-luxury apartments for young professionals"
It'll never happen because they don't want to chop the feet out of the luxury market. They'd rather sit on their empty projects then cause the market to drop to realistic prices.
You're right
I own some "non-luxury apartments for young professionals" and they rent like hotcakes. But, I think developing anything new like that may not be easy because of the high cost of real estate and new construction.
Auction
Once Anthony's starts auctioning off all the restaurants furnishings you know they aren't coming back. Just like when Jimmy's Harborside closed, they kept telling the public that they would be back on the ground floor of the building that was planned for the site. They sold all their memorabilia at auction and now you wait 2 hours in line for a seat at the new establishments.
Too Damned Much...
...of this city is disappearing, and being replaced by cheap schlock.
It's happening in cities everywhere.
Tourists and whatnot seem to gravitate towards the familiar. It's probably why Quincy Market works so well. It's kind of historic, but "Look, there's Banana Republic!"
It's getting harder to escape.
The city is disappearing on Pier 4?
You do realize, right, that most of Pier 4 is a parking lot? What exactly concerns you about the loss of a parking lot, to be replaced by buildings? It might almost seem that a city is materializing, rather than disappearing.
Henry...
...that's how it works. It isn't one big event, it's countless little ones, until you wake up one day, and entire swaths of what once was, is gone.
And why would it be relevant if they had a large parking lot or not? That wasn't what I was (obviously) speaking of.
Not too sure you understood, anon.
The point about the parking lot is that it isn't something to be missed. A parking lot becoming a building is a good thing. You or some other anon felt that the city was being replaced. If the conception of city is a vast sea of parking lots, then by all means, it needs to be replaced.
OK
I certainly see your point in that.