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I dunno, I work in an office park with thousands of good, high-paying professional jobs, and there's virtually nothing around. There's a location of J's Deli, that's pretty good, easily my favorite sandwich in Rhode Island.
Suburban Highland Industrial Park in Woonsocket is not really a good comparison to an urban downtown area.
Suburban Highland Industrial Park in Woonsocket is not really a good comparison to an urban downtown area.
But what's the benefit of being urban and downtown if the area is kind of self-contained, as the I-195 plot seems to be? I've seen no indication that it's well-connected to the rest of the city. When I drive by it, it definitely has the feel of a place you'd have to get in your car in order to leave.
The former 195 area was for decades cut off from the rest of the city. I think once new development comes there and fills in this former wasteland, the downtown to Davol Square area will become much more connected and be fully integrated into the city's urban core. It will however not be immediate and need time. It is somewhat akin to the Capital Center project. The elevated railroad lines cut off the downtown from the Statehouse/Smith Hill area. The river was covered up and there were just parking lots. Look at it now. It has taken time and is still an ongoing process nearly 20 years later. The Statehouse, Smith Hill, mall, and Waterplace Park are however now all very much integrated into the downtown urban core.
The former 195 area was for decades cut off from the rest of the city. I think once new development comes there and fills in this former wasteland, the downtown to Davol Square area will become much more connected and be fully integrated into the city's urban core.
But that's sort of my point: I think that's very doable as long as you're building a neighborhood, with walkable streets that connect to the rest of the city, and not an office park. This seems to be an office park, albeit one with apartments and a hotel.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
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Originally Posted by boulevardofdef
But what's the benefit of being urban and downtown if the area is kind of self-contained, as the I-195 plot seems to be? I've seen no indication that it's well-connected to the rest of the city. When I drive by it, it definitely has the feel of a place you'd have to get in your car in order to leave.
Part of that apparent isolation is due to the river. The pedestrian bridge across the river, once built, will help connect it to the South Main Street business district. It's not all that far from PPAC and Weybosset also. Just a few blocks really...
They killed the street car for the area, of course. RIPTA in its "Downtown Transit 2.0" study was considering another transit center at the Garrahy Courthouse for bus service. I don't know what the outcome of that was. The university shuttle buses also service the area.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
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Originally Posted by boulevardofdef
But that's sort of my point: I think that's very doable as long as you're building a neighborhood, with walkable streets that connect to the rest of the city, and not an office park. This seems to be an office park, albeit one with apartments and a hotel.
I haven't been there in a while, but that's sort of the feeling I always took away from Kendall Square in Cambridge. Sure, it had a great cinema and a couple of good bars, but it kind of felt like an isolated office park too.
I haven't been there in a while, but that's sort of the feeling I always took away from Kendall Square in Cambridge. Sure, it had a great cinema and a couple of good bars, but it kind of felt like an isolated office park too.
That's totally nuts. Kendall Square has a Red Line T stop, MIT, and is the epicenter of high tech/biotech employment east of the Mississippi. Isolated office park? There are easily a dozen restaurants within 5 minutes walk of Kendall Square that cater the lunch crowd to all those 5%ers. Off the top of my head, Area Four, Catalyst, Sebastians, Ames Street Deli, Bailey and Sage, Cosi, and chain stuff like Chipotle, Au Bon Pain, and Legal Seafood. I've spent a ton of time there over the years. It's not residential and there is nothing there for tourists. You have the whole rest of Cambridge that is residential neighborhoods. Kendall Square is the engine that drives the region.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
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Originally Posted by GeoffD
That's totally nuts. Kendall Square has a Red Line T stop, MIT, and is the epicenter of high tech/biotech employment east of the Mississippi. Isolated office park? There are easily a dozen restaurants within 5 minutes walk of Kendall Square that cater the lunch crowd to all those 5%ers. Off the top of my head, Area Four, Catalyst, Sebastians, Ames Street Deli, Bailey and Sage, Cosi, and chain stuff like Chipotle, Au Bon Pain, and Legal Seafood. I've spent a ton of time there over the years. It's not residential and there is nothing there for tourists. You have the whole rest of Cambridge that is residential neighborhoods. Kendall Square is the engine that drives the region.
I'm well aware that it is near MIT, and well aware of the high tech/biotech stuff going on. The big box biotech stuff is exactly what gives it that flavor to me. I spent a lot of time in that neighborhood many moons ago, and that is when I was referencing. Note I said it's been a while since I was there so I can't speak to how it is now. In fact when I was in Kendall last, Chipotle had probably just arrived in Boston. Chain restaurants aren't my thing either; that's just generic pablum to feed the masses. Legal Sea Foods? Au Bon Pain? Who cares. Deliver me from Sysco.
That's the antithesis of what I want to see in the Jewelry District/I-195 land.
Kendall often felt like a ghost town at night. Other than Flat Top Johnny's, Cambridge Brewing Company, and Kendall Square Cinema, if I spent any time there at night in the general area it was on Mass. Ave. in Central Sq. It was far more interesting than Kendall and had a soul. Also better were Inman, Harvard, Porter, Davis, etc... Few people I knew made Kendall a destination for life outside of work/school. Hopefully that's changed.
RIPTA in its "Downtown Transit 2.0" study was considering another transit center at the Garrahy Courthouse for bus service. I don't know what the outcome of that was.
RIPTA is looking at Rhode Island Hospital as a hub instead.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
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Originally Posted by mp775
RIPTA is looking at Rhode Island Hospital as a hub instead.
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