0 Cape Air targets Boston’s Long Wharf as a seaplane docking spot

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Wil Catlin

Seaplanes are making waves in Boston. Boston Harbor last saw seaplanes in the 1940’s and as the congestion continues worsen it appears they will be making a comeback for trips to NYC.

Cape Air targets Boston’s Long Wharf as a seaplane docking spot

The Boston skyline is viewed from Long Wharf.
GARY HIGGINS

By Catherine Carlock – Real Estate Editor, Boston Business Journal | Dec 6, 2019

Cape Air has its eyes on a new location on Boston Harbor to launch its long-planned seaplane service between Boston and New York: Long Wharf.

Officials from the Hyannis-based airline will host a public meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18 at the Long Wharf Marriott to discuss “a proposal to serve Boston Waterboat Marina, 66 Long Wharf, with a 9-seat seaplane airline service available to the public.”

Andrew Bonney, senior vice president of planning for Cape Air, said in an interview that the airline has worked with officials including the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Boston Planning and Development Agency regarding launching a Cessna Caravan Amphibian between Boston and New York.

Cape Air flights would load at the tip of Long Wharf before taxiing one mile out to Boston Logan International Airport’s Runway 1432 and taking off, Bonney said. The flights would use the same spot for landing.

Before the service can launch, Cape Air would need to obtain a license amendment from the BPDA, which owns Long Wharf.

“The BPDA has asked Cape Air to conduct a community process, including stakeholder outreach, about their proposal for Long Wharf before anything can move forward,” spokesperson Bonnie McGilpin said in a statement. “If there is support for the proposal, BPDA would need to amend the license for Long Wharf to reflect these uses and that would require approval by the BPDA Board.”

If Cape Air receives the city license amendment and other federal regulatory requirements, Bonney hopes to launch by springtime.

A one-way flight would cost between $320 and $340 to travel the 191 miles between the two cities, according to Bonney. Traveling by plane or train from Boston to New York typically takes around three and a half hours, while a seaplane can go downtown to downtown in one hour, he said.

In the 1920s, seaplanes going between Boston and New York would dock behind South Station. But seaplane service hasn’t existed in Boston since the 1940s.

“We think it’s really exciting to be able to bring back this mode of transportation to the city of Boston,” Bonney said.

Catherine Carlock can be reached at ccarlock@bizjournals.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BosBizCatherine

0 How Stable is Boston’s Flourishing Seaport?

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Wil Catlin

Boston’s Seaport will continue to be on the forefront by planning ahead as construction and development continues. Lower-Level and 1st-floor space is no longer used for utility infrastructure, developers and landlords. New projects house these systems on the 2nd floor or the roof, where appropriate.

Credit: The Architect’s Newspaper

290 Congress Street, owned by Boston Properties, utilizes a water fence that gets installed should it be necessary. To-date this has only been used once in March of 2018.

From the Financial Post:

in this old city’s booming Seaport District, General Electric is building its new world headquarters, Amazon is bringing in thousands of new workers, and Reebok’s red delta symbol sits atop the new office it opened last year. Three businesses are testing self-driving cars, other dynamic companies are planting their flag, and trendy restaurants and apartments have gone up virtually overnight. But after bad flooding during a storm this past winter, critics wonder whether it was a bright idea to invest so much in a man-made peninsula that sits barely above sea level.

Environmental activists warn much of the district, transformed from a wasteland of surface parking lots, rotting piers and abandoned rail yards into an economic engine and one of the city’s most expensive neighbourhoods in a matter of years, simply isn’t prepared for the long haul.

0 Former Boston Globe Building in Dorchester Marked for ‘Innovation campus’

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Wil Catlin

The Boston’s Globe’s former office site is poised to be an “Innovation Campus” to foster growth and creativity for our economy. Expected delivery is in the Fall of ’19.

Credit: Dotnews

From Dotnews:

“The BEAT” (The Boston Exchange for Accelerated Technology) will be a life science, technology, and advanced manufacturing facility, a Nordblom spokesman said, its name an homage to the beat reporters who worked in the newsroom headquarters for more than 60 years before the paper moved downtown in 2017, a nod to the nearby Red Line as a neighborhood artery, and a gesture at the lively and open space they hope to cultivate at the fortress-like site.

“Our job is to create something to which people want to go, a great place where they want to work,” [Todd Fremont-Smith, senior vice president and director of mixed-use projects for Nordblom] said. “The city is out of space. The Seaport is done; Back Bay’s done.” And given the need for office, tech, and light industrial workplaces, he said, “we’re trying to do it in a creative and funky way that captures people’s imaginations.”

0 Boston Flower Exchange Redevelopment Plans Introduced

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Wil Catlin

The proposed plans for the Flower Exchange have been released by the Abby Group.

Rendering of office building at Boston Flower Exchange in the South End

Credit: Boston Globe

Plans for the former Flower Exchange, centered on a 1-acre public plaza are cited in a recent Boston Globe article, noting “Abbey is targeting companies that want to be near Boston Medical Center and Boston University Medical School. The cluster of four buildings of lab or tech office space would total some 1.6 million square feet, rising 200 feet or more near the Southeast Expressway. Offices would have large open floor plans, while restaurants and stores would go at street level, as well as a cultural center and plaza Abbey has dubbed ‘Albany Green’.”

The article also includes a quote from Bill Keravuori, a managing partner at Abbey, defining the vision for the project as “a sort of European plaza…[which would] extend public space across the entire ground floor of the project.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe, here.

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0 Seaport Office Market Expands with Growth of 22 Boston Wharf Rd.

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

The Seaport office footprint continues to grow upward. 55,000 square feet is being added to the top of 22 Boston Wharf Road.

According to Banker&Tradesman, “Bentall Kennedy, the real estate manager for landlord Multi-Employer Property Trust, is overseeing construction of two floors of open-format office space totaling 54,712 square feet. Another 55,000 square feet is available on the seventh and eighth floors in space previously occupied by TRO Boston and Red Thread…The space will be ready for tenants to begin interior fitouts as soon as this fall, said David Fitzgerald, a partner at CBRE/New England which is representing ownership.”

The full article is available on the Banker and Tradesman website, here.

0 Globe Photographer Captures Evolution of Boston Waterfront, Seaport

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

The evolution of a Seaport submarket through the lens of Boston Globe photographer David L. Ryan from 1982 to present.

According to the Boston Globe, “more than $1.5 billion worth of apartments, condos, storefronts, and office space is under construction in the Seaport right now, all within the span of a few blocks. Another $850 million in projects is set to break ground soon.”

Click over to view a the evolution of the Boston Seaport as captured by the Boston Globe.

0 New Commercial Development Planned at Boston Edison plant in Southie

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Live, work play is coming to an old power plant near you Southie.

According to the BBJ, “The former Boston Edison power plant, a sprawling pink and red-brick behemoth that has long been a South Boston landmark, could be transformed into a ‘live-work-play’ mixed-use project with ‘a broad mix of adaptive re-use and new development.’”

From the Boston vertical of Bizjournals.com:

At last week’s community meeting, Cox and the Boston Edison development team highlighted eight “guiding principles” for the site’s redevelopment potential, including:

Decommission and continue the clean-up of this heavily industrial site so that it is healthy and safe
Take down the walls and fences surrounding the site, and create connections into and through the site, so that it is accessible and inviting to the South Boston neighborhood, and all the way down to the water’s edge
Convert the site to a ‘live/work/play’ mix of uses that fit with the neighborhood.
Preserve and protect the continuing operation of an active, thriving Conley Terminal
Include retail and other uses, and significant public spaces, that will be used by the neighborhood
Preserve some significant building elements, to give the site character and a sense of history
Minimize the use of cars, by providing better transportation alternatives
Make the site green, sustainable and resilient

0 Dorchester Ave in the Crosshairs of Boston’s Next Development Boom

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker & Tradesman

Growth is inevitable, but where and when it happens fosters much debate. Dot Ave appears to be in the crosshairs of the next development boom for Boston.

According to Banker and Tradesman, “the South Boston Dorchester Avenue plan sees potential for up to 16 million square feet of new development on 144 acres of predominantly industrial parcels over the next two decades. The product of a 10-month study and community review, the plan will go to the Boston Redevelopment Authority board of directors for approval this summer…The study anticipates that the forces of gentrification that have swept through other sections of South Boston and the South End will transform the corridor, which is bookended by the Broadway and Andrew T stations.”

You can read more about the development of Dorchester Avenue on B&T.

0 South Station Tower Adds International Investors

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of a proposed office tower over South Station

Credit: Boston Globe

The proposed 51-story tower at South Station has attracted Gemdale Properties of China. Development rights for this project expire in April of 2017.

From the Boston Globe:

Houston-based Hines said the upper floors of the 51-story tower now include plans for 175 condominiums, with office space below. Thursday night, it won approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority to bring a new majority investor — an arm of big Chinese builder Gemdale Properties — into the project.

“We are delighted to join in this venture with Hines to develop such an important and well-located project in a city which is exhibiting some of the strongest office and residential condominium market fundamentals in the US,” Gemdale said in a prepared statement.