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Developer to rethink Lewis Wharf hotel/apartment complex after North End residents protest
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Comments
Somebody Wants to Replace A Really Mediocre Parking Lot?
How dare they!
I ran a mixed income condominium development nearby here in the 90's. The mix of the North End / Waterfront community of people who think they are really important because they live in a waterfront condominium conjoined to the crowd that thinks Anthony is still running through the streets for Prince Spaghetti makes any developer need to have the intestinal fortitude of a WWII dive bomber pilot or at least a death wish. I still shudder when I drive down Commercial Street.
Somebody wants to replace a parking lot and extend the harbor walk with housing and a tax and jobs revenue generator along the lines of Battery Wharf? God help us all, because we all know Battery Wharf destroyed life as we know it.
Case in point: the protracted
Case in point: the protracted legal battle costing the state millions over whether or not to put a small restaurant into a currently existing subway vent and emergency exit (AKA, a place to shit and/or shoot up). Best part is, they and their enablers call themselves "The North End 10" like they're a group of downtrodden civil rights campaigners getting attacked by state troopers instead of a bunch of rich entitled BANANAs.
not quite the same
Long wharf they are trying to turn a nice quiet park like area into a noisy restaurant spot. This case they are trying to put housing on a parking lot...
Agreed.
Getting stuff built in the North End is almost as bad as dealing with the Beacon Hill crowd.
But as an aside, I think the Battery Wharf complex was a badly designed complex. It is completely isolated and few people go down there, even though it has a beautiful harbor walk. None of the commercial spaces are rented and there is little to draw people in. It seems totally detached from the rest of the North End. Maybe that is what the resident want, but it just doesn't seem like it is part of the North End community.
Yes, but
Was it any different before? What could you put down there that would really attract people to that area? It's a good distance from the "heart" of the north end, and out on a pier. People aren't going to be walking by and swing through. So instead it's a quiet residential area with a solid italian restaurant and a nice hotel. Not the worst use of space and sure beats the parking lot on Lewis Wharf.
I don't know
Maybe a better mixture of business and residential. Commercial, Lewis and Sargents Wharfs all have people milling about during the day. Especially during the summer. It just seems like life ends at Sargent's wharf.
how to attract more people to these piers?
Rowes Wharf seems to have figured that out nicely, especially with the live music and movies on summer weekdays. Perhaps Battery Wharf and the future Lewis Wharf development can learn from their example?
But places like Battery Wharf
But places like Battery Wharf, and from the looks of the design Lewis Wharf, dont want to attract people, they want their own private pier, like the people in the harbor towers who fence in the green space around their building. The city needs to work with the right developers to create a harborwalk that encourages all the people of Boston to explore and do things on the cities old piers, not use them as exclusive private parks. Rowes Wharf works hard to get people to visit there, Battery and the Harbor Towers work hard to keep people away.
But
Rowes wharf is pretty much right on the greenway as opposed to the end of a pier. unless something was built right on commercial, it's not going to get the same foot traffic rowes wharf gets.
Rowes Wharf was busy even when the Central Artery still stood
It's a lot more pleasant now, being across from the Greenway instead of a busy semi-elevated* highway, but it attracted people as soon as it was built.
* this is about where the old elevated Central Artery sloped down towards the Dewey Square tunnel
Ferry Slip
That's because the ferries left from there.
Long wharf has similar traffic for the ferries.
Launch boats from Lewis (East Boston ferry?), and there will be foot traffic.
Meanwhile
When is that burned out eyesore on the harbor going to be cleaned up?
Im sure its facing the same scrutiny
From the Ivory tower club along Commercial Street.
Don't expect anything new soon.
How dare people who lives in
How dare people who lives in a neighborhood or town get together to debate future development. It's not like that has been a New England tradition for about 400 years. Anyone who opposes letting developers have their way must be stuck in the past or something, if not some other baseless, disparaging assumption.
Sarcasm.
Yeah, this is just some good
Yeah, this is just some good old traditional "Sticking Your Nose Into Other People's Business" with some olde tyme "Hyperbolic Chicken Little Screaming." It's a Boston tradition!
"Really Mediocre Parking Lot"
Do tell us the finer points of what makes for a good parking lot.
So what's the issue?
Not quite sure what the problem is... The article doesn't saw what the complaints are. the 'save the waterfront' web site says "The buildings, as proposed, would be 55 feet high, ... This development would significantly eliminate the view and natural vistas of many of the residents of the current North End/Waterfront and thousands of residents of Boston and visitors who enjoy the waterfront every day"
Isn't the current condo complex around 55' high, and thus also blocking the 'natural vista'???
Interesting that web site does not think the extended harborwalk or a hotel are a public purpose, but also quotes the law that says building warehouses is OK. Perhaps they should build a huge grey warehouse as outlined by the original 1839 agreement. Maybe some nice oil storage tanks would be better than a hotel...
Molasses and a Rum Distillery
Couldn't get any more historic than a giantass Molasses tank and a "artisinal" distillery for rum!
I'm sure they would really go for that. A nice tasting room to bring folks down to the waterfront would be good, too.