Architect's rendering. See it larger.
GE and the Massachusetts Development Finance Authority today filed their formal plans for the company's new headquarters on Fort Point Channel that will include extensive renovations to two old candy buildings and construction of a new 12-story glass building.
In a filing with the BRA, GE says it hopes to begin roughly 15 months of renovation and construction this spring. In addition to the BRA, the state Department of Environmental Protection will also have to approve the project due to its location on former tidelands along Fort Point Channel.
The new buildings will house roughly 800 GE employees along with "extensive indoor and outdoor public space" that will include space for tinkerers, public "work lounges," classrooms and a two-story museum. The company will widen the Harborwalk along the channel. Also:
To emphasize GE’s commitment to transparency and collaboration, a "vertical village," a glass enclosed core of activity, will connect GE employees and building visitors across floors and teams, encouraging seamlessness and providing a literal window into GE for passers-by.
The buildings will have "vegetated green roofs" and solar panels; they will also be designed to withstand a "500-year flood" of the sort expected with higher sea levels due to climate change. This includes putting key electrical and mechanical services above the ground floor, "adaptive landscaping" to soak up water and "walls, walkways, stairways, and railings will also be designed to withstand saltwater inundation."
The new campus will have only 30 permanent parking spaces; GE says it will work with existing garages in the area to provide spaces for building workers.
GE project notification form (39M PDF).
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Comments
anti-car bias
By John Abdul
Wed, 08/03/2016 - 3:21am
Stop hurting cars' feelings! Cars are people too!
Commuting from NH to downtown Boston
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 3:30pm
That is a choice. You get no sympathy and no special parking perks for making that choice. Bed. Made. Lie.
Actually, I am not saying that.
By whyaduck
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 4:23pm
Folks commute far for a wide variety reasons. Sometimes their jobs get relocated and they do not have a choice. You might of not noticed, but it is very expensive to live in the city and more folks are moving farther away to find affordable housing.
I do not consider a parking space provided by your employer to be "special" perk. My employer provides a wide variety of commuting/parking options which are part of my benefits - nothing special. Perhaps you do.
When the resource is scarce
By anon
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 4:20pm
And everybody else is paying $21-25 a day, it is a HUGE PAYOUT.
Unless you take 200 work days a year x $20-25 less in pay for the privilege.
Put it this way: why doesn't someone who does NOT drive get paid that extra $4000-$5000 a year?
"Cheaper" or "More Affordable"?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 7:21pm
Maybe the sticker price is lower initially.
NH has incredibly high property taxes in areas with worthwhile schools, too.
But here's the kicker: It really isn't cheaper to buy a less expensive house much further out if you end up spending $10000 a year on cars (when you include depreciation of driving all those miles and having to have two cars in working condition).
And it is that much: $24,000 car for 8 years = $3000/yr plus insurance plus maintenance plus gas/diesel/electrons plus car loan interest x 2 cars adds up very quickly. If you can spend an extra $500 a month on mortgage, that matters a lot.
Do many people even consider this when they do the affordability math? I know that we did and we are far better off for it nearly 20 years later.
Choosing NH
By ElizaLeila
Tue, 08/02/2016 - 11:04am
Is not always/only an affordability decision. I don't live there, so what do I know. I just know that everyone chooses to live there for their own reasons. Low hanging fruit decision is the affordability one. Sure, you can blow that one out of the water easily, but there are many other reasons why people do it, so why beat them up about it?
nobody beat anybody up
By anon
Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:54pm
She pointed out that you make your decisions and you live with them.
Don't expect special subsidies for your decisions, don't claim that it is a hardship.
Don't claim "affordable" is the reason when it isn't.
"You might of not noticed,
By John Abdul
Wed, 08/03/2016 - 3:37am
"You might of not noticed, but it is very expensive to live in the city" So what's your point? I don't have the statistics, but I suspect that Boston taxpayers, who should cover the cost of your parking, make on average less than half of what a GE HQ employee will make. Should the market allow for some people:
- to be smart-asses living on the cheap, preferably in house with more rooms than people, and
- to commute in a specific, preferred way, on the cheap, and
- to ship piles of money from the city to whatever low-tax rural area you prefer?
Should the market, in counter-part, create a category of suckers who must pay higher rent, live in smaller houses, commute by public transportation, and cover the costs of your preferred life style?
And should the market fail to give you special treatment, should the voters of Boston and their representatives rig the market in a way that satisfies all your needs?
Yes, living in the city is expensive, but most of us are making the choice of living here knowing that market will adjust itself to limit the number of smart-asses. I pay for a studio the combined price of your commute and you lawn-including mortgage. You despise studios; I disdain your lack of respect for the limited time you have on this Earth. You chose to spend 2-3 hours a day in a metal cage, and you are not doing because "it is very expensive to live in the city". You wanted to spend roughly the same amount of money on the cage and the lawn. Enjoy.
Wah wah wah I didn't want to
By anon
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 3:43pm
Wah wah wah I didn't want to pay taxes and now I have to make lifestyle adjustments to compensaaaaate
Pay for your parking. Maybe somehow, miraculously, it'll karmically make up for the amount of damage you do to the roads
I just used New Hampshire as an example.
By whyaduck
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 4:26pm
My boss commuted from Amherst, Ma to Kendall Square, Cambridge. I have colleagues that commute distance due to the affordability factor.
Not saying they should not pay for parking but there needs to be parking available to pay for it.
No
By anon
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 4:21pm
There does not.
800 employees and 30 spaces?
By polarbare
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 2:07pm
I, for one, would like to thank GE for encouraging carpooling to work. If 20% of employees live nearby, and 5 use the helipad, that leaves about 18 people per car for the carpool. That's efficiency!
Ever look at a map?
By anon
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 2:39pm
Seriously. Um "south station" mean anything to you?
Unfortunately
By bohemka
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 2:42pm
Designated clown car parking is over at the state house.
South Station
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 4:53pm
South Station is a five minute walk/wheel.
I can think of a vehicle that holds at least 18 people,
By aldos
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 3:29pm
and there happens to be a whole bunch of them nearby!
[img]http://img11.deviantart.net/8a44/i/2011/305/5/0/mb...
Oh yeah!
By polarbare
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 4:50pm
As long as GE's hours are:
[img]http://www.signs-unique.co.uk/ekmps/shops/autouniq...
Well then
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 6:47pm
Maybe GE can lead other business leaders in the area to demand better transit.
Sorry Charlie, but it's time to put down the ALEC playbook and the "WWAAAAAHHHH I WANNNA BUST A UNION AND PRIVATIZE SHIT WAHHHH THE BROTHERS PROMISED ME I COOOOOOOOOULD" strawman building routine and show some goddamn leadership in the economic interests of your state!
HMMMMM???
Adorable!
By APB
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 3:08pm
Someone had to say it.
Otherwise, I vote for "copier" and "wind hazard."
But will the employees be terrified?
By dga
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 7:05pm
Life in the Innovation District is getting pretty kushy these days. Here are some folks lining up for ice cream cookie sanwiches at 2:30 this afternoon.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/wVpwk6U.jpg[/img]
Maki
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 08/02/2016 - 8:44am
For Godzilla
but ...
By Jan Galkowski
Wed, 09/14/2016 - 3:21pm
But, as far as I know, GE is still planning to heat and cool the building using natural gas, instead of something modern like their own (brand) heat pumps.
Of course, if theirs are not efficient enough to do the job, maybe they should look into the ones from Mitsubishi or Fujitsu ...
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