[Cotuit]

North Point receives $1 million grant
Thursday, February 19, 2004

Spaulding & Slye Colliers announces that the final federal budget for fiscal 2004 includes $1 million toward the relocation of the new Lechmere Station at North Point. The funding is contained in the fiscal 2004 Omnibus Appropriations Bill Conference Report, which was just passed by the Senate and was passed by the House of Representatives in December 2003.

North Point is a proposed mixed-use project on a 45-acre parcel primarily located in Cambridge, with smaller portions in Boston and Somerville. The site is located across from the Museum of Science and CambridgeSide Galleria, and is adjacent to the Lechmere MBTA Station. Spaulding & Slye Colliers will develop the proposed project, with the firm acting as development manager.

"In a difficult year, we've worked together to try to meet some of Massachusetts' most important public safety, health care, transportation and education priorities," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said. "Today we are one step closer to securing assistance for Lechmere Station at North Point as well as other important projects."

"I am pleased that we are able to secure funding for North Point in this bill," said Rep. Michael E. Capuano, congressman, Eighth Congressional District. "This funding helps improve our transportation infrastructure, support cutting-edge medical research and aid our educational institutions."

According to Ralph F. Cox, senior vice president of Spaulding & Slye Colliers and the project manager for North Point: "This is a giant step forward toward advancing the design of the new MBTA Lechmere Green Line Station. We thank the congressional delegation for assisting North Point, and applaud them for having the foresight to find creative solutions that enhance our public transportation system. This expansion of the MBTA system through Somerville to Tufts University will greatly improve the Route 28 corridor from East Cambridge up through Somerville. It is also a critical part of the urban ring."

Recently, three architects won the International Design Competition for North Point. The following teams were chosen: Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner Inc. of Stuttgart, Germany, and Venice, Calif., in partnership with Next Phase Studios of Boston; architectsAlliance of Toronto; and Steven Ehrlich Architects of Culver City, Calif., in partnership with Symmes Maini & McKee Associates of Cambridge. The winning teams were awarded the design assignment of one of 19 parcels proposed for North Point based on the conceptual design. Construction is scheduled to start in late 2004.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority recently approved its portion of North Point. The project presents an opportunity to re-incorporate an underutilized industrial site into the urban neighborhoods that surround it. The master plan includes a transit-oriented residential neighborhood consisting of office, research and development, and retail space, a hotel, parking, and more than 10 acres of green space. Multimodal public transportation improvements and connections, as well as improved pedestrian access to the MBTA Community College Orange Line Station are key components.

From The Cambridge Chronicle

[Scott]

Lechmere has always been a little too close to the museum of science stop and North Station so it would be better a little bit east but I bet alot of people in East Cambridge will miss there easy back door entrance. It will also move the Green Line further from the Cambridgeside Galleria which is bad. Overall a major new station is definitely called for at this site.

[TheBostonian]

http://www.northpointcambridge.com/

I'm only learning about this now.

[Cotuit]

[TheBostonian]

This is a prime spot for transit oriented development. Though it is surrounded by highways that cut it off from its surroundings--just like the Wellington site. And the master plan blends well with the Museum Towers.

[BostonFaker]

Don't you wish those types of circles could totally encompass all of Boston, especially in the SW near Hyde Park and Roslindale?

[BostonFaker]

TheBostonian, on Jun 12 2005, 04:23 AM, said:

This is a prime spot for transit oriented development.  Though it is surrounded by highways that cut it off from its surroundings--just like the Wellington site.  And the master plan blends well with the Museum Towers.

Highways have to be somewhere, esp. since they are there to begin with. The city just needs to have them be pleasant to pass under and through in the neighborhoods.

This post has been edited by BostonFaker: 12 June 2005 - 09:27 AM

[TheBostonian]

BostonFaker, on Jun 12 2005, 11:24 AM, said:

Highways have to be somewhere, esp. since they are there to begin with.  The city just needs to have them be pleasant to pass under and through in the neighborhoods.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just the pictures in Boston Magazine's story on route 1 from Saugus to Lynnfield reminded me that highways don't have to be lifeless. Think of the Hilltop Steakhouse cactus sign, Kowloon Facade, mini golf dinasour, Border Cafe "Eat" sign, Christmas Tree Shops facade and its neighboring ship restaurant. And that's without even going into these places!

But urban highways bother me. I like how route 2 ends at Alewife where the Red Line begins. What are some good examples of highways that are "pleasant to pass and under and through the neighborhoods"?

[Ron Newman]

VFW Parkway in West Roxbury, Arborway, Jamaicaway, Riverway.

[BostonFaker]

TheBostonian, on Jun 12 2005, 11:38 PM, said:

What are some good examples of highways that are "pleasant to pass and under and through the neighborhoods"?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know. Rte. 1 is not an interstate, so there are places on the side of the road which can make the road interesting. Interstates are really what I meant.

I think the best example is for interstates to be underground, like the Big Dig, and hopefully the future of all of the Mass Pike as soon as it comes by BU. This way, at street level, one would not even know it is there. That's all that can be done since the interstates have been built, scaring the city.

[TheBostonian]

An article in today's Globe about an idea to restore some of Miller's River as part of the NorthPoint development. It mentions that demolition has begun for phase I construction. It also mentions a 15 year time frame for the full project.

http://www.boston.co...ay_be_in_order/

[Cotuit]

The train comes to NorthPoint. Ground is being broken on the second phase of a massive project that includes a $70m Green Line station to replace the Lechmere stop. [The Boston Globe]

[Cotuit]

LivingAtNorthPoint.com
NorthPointCambridge.com

[tombarnes]

That's a huge improvement over the present (dumpy) Lechmere Station. I hope it works out.

[atlrvr]

I wonder if they will start serving it with more than just the E line? For that kind of investment (and that much new development) I would think they would need to extend another line all the way up there, preferably one that currently terminates at Govt Center.

[Cotuit]

atlrvr, on Oct 24 2006, 09:26 AM, said:

I wonder if they will start serving it with more than just the E line? For that kind of investment (and that much new development) I would think they would need to extend another line all the way up there, preferably one that currently terminates at Govt Center.

I'm wondering how they are going to design for train storage. Lechmere is currently a terminus and a small storage yard. The New Lechmere station (in theory) should be a temporary terminus because the line will eventually be extended from there through Somerville to Medford. I think the frequency of trains will have to depend on how the turnaround is handled. Certainly the Beacon Street line should serve Lechmere full time as well.

[atlrvr]

Cotuit, on Oct 24 2006, 11:35 AM, said:

Certainly the Beacon Street line should serve Lechmere full time as well.

I agree that that line would make the most sense to regurlarly terminate at Lechmere, errrr, NorthPoint at Lechmere

[Cotuit]

Familiar name comes under question. Findings leave city councilors wondering whether they should preserve Lechmere's name on the Cambridge T station. [The Boston Globe]

[nowyano]

honestly this has negative and positives to it. The first negative was mentioned earlier as people going to CambridgeSide would not have to cross McGrath Highway to make it, but if NorthPoint becomes a Davis Square type of area (the plan that they as well as Ashmont/Peabody Sq have) then it may work out. I also wonder if the movement has anything to do with extending the Green Line to Somerville/Medford. I would think it would make it easier as there is better space to extend the trolley than to go through the residential buildings behind the old Lechmere station. Of couse having lived in Somerville for a few years now I realize that the Green Line extention is looking to be more and more of science fiction than even a Blue Line extention to Salem...

[Cotuit]

nowyano, on Nov 22 2006, 09:43 AM, said:

I also wonder if the movement has anything to do with extending the Green Line to Somerville/Medford.

It does, moving the station makes the extension possible.