A Changing Picture

             
         It's five o'clock on a sunny, warm, July, Saturday afternoon in downtown Boston, one of those rare dry days where the humidity that usually permeates the air is missing. The Commons is abuzz with people drawn by the activities that surround it. There's Shakespeare in the Park, couples headed to the theaters, movie goers headed towards the cinema, and dozens of people, strolling sitting or roller blading through the Commons and the Public Gardens, drawn by the restaurants and cafes that surround it. The Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, on the corner are full and the restaurants across the streets are busy.
         Down on the harbor front the new South Boston Marine Park is empty. But recent developments indicate all of this is going to change, dramatically over the next few years. A recent rush of activity some noticeable, like the very first show at the BCEC this week, other more subtle, like the ground breakings for new residences in the South Boston waterfront, the East Boston piers and the Charlestown Navy Yard, and on the wharves in downtown Boston will radically change this picture over the next five years.
         Transportation services which will make it easier to get to these locations will soon be in place. The Silverline will open by the end of this year and there will be more and more water transportation as private developers complete projects that will include docks and floats for ferries, shuttle and water taxis. People, lots of them are coming too. The Manulife building will open in September flooding the waterfront with twice the number of people that currently work there, new residences are about to be completed, at least two new hotels will open within the next two years, new restaurants are slowly starting to appear. The new ICA is now going to break ground.
         More significant, but harder to see are the first signs of a ripple effect from the development of the waterfront. A project in East Boston blocks away from the piers that will provide over two hundred loft style condominiums is taking off, a project that could not be feasible without the promised build out of the piers themselves several blocks away. It is a small, but important sign that the development of the waterfront, even in East Boston is about to transform the inner harbor.
         The other signs of progress are more obvious. Fan Pier may be sold to a developer, the final bidding to be finished this week. The Boston Wharf Company has sold ten of it's buildings in Fort Point finally, opening the way for their redevelopment, at least the ones not currently leased. The Daily Catch just opened on the harborwalk behind the Federal Courthouse, the Channel Center residences are nearing completion and over in Charlestown, in the Navy Yard, they are going to break ground soon for a complex of residences, stores, a marina, ferry and water taxi docks and a public park on the water front.
         It is the beginning of a real breathing, living community on the desolate harbor front, one that will soon draw much of the activity from the city. It will become more active, more inhabited and more lively as these projects are completed. After all there is only so much land, no matter how empty and barren it may be right now. Height restrictions because of Logan will also limit density. But the combination of visitors to hotels, residents, excursion ferries and cross harbor destinations will drive activity into the area and with it the demand for housing, shops, restaurants and other attractions.
         On a July Saturday afternoon in 2006, the waterfront parks may not be as empty. With the right combination of residences, parks, shops, cultural attractions and restaurants and cafes, within five years the crowds along the harbor front may outnumber those in the Commons.

                                                                                                            The Boston Harbor Journal