Channelside

COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC ART PROGRAM

Known for its brick and beam buildings, the Fort Point has grown over the last four decades into the largest community of artists in New England. The Fort Point artists are made up of performers, writers, painters, filmmakers, photographers, inventors, poets, writers, and so much more. Channelside intends to capture this creative energy, maintain the character of the neighborhood, and provide opportunities for a solid future for artists to live, artists to work, art organizations to prosper, art lovers to enjoy, and for all neighborhoods to feel welcome and be part of this district.

The Channelside project is committed to the future of this neighborhood and will be a catalyst for the realization of the Fort Points Arts and Culture District.

Explore The Public Art Program

AFFORDABLE HOUSING + ARTIST HOUSING

340 units added to the housing supply in South Boston
Strengthen the availability of Affordable Housing in Boston by delivering approximately 17.5% of the residential units as on-site affordable housing well in excess of the 13.0% requirement
The 60 affordable units will be made available to households earning up to 70% of Area Median Income
Artist live-work housing will be offered to between 25%-40% of the on-site affordable units. Supplemental artist workspace will also be provided within the residential building
$8,300,000 in estimated linkage payments for housing

CONTINUED COMMUNITY TRAINING + ENGAGEMENT

STEM ENDOWMENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS

$300,000 to endow a STEM Chair for Boston schools. This contribution will allow the school to use a portion of the funds as a stipend in addition to the regular salary for STEM teachers to entice and retain talent
$15,000 grant towards a STEM summer program for underserved middle school and high school South Boston students to explore biotechnology and laboratory life sciences through an immersive curriculum to encourage interest in a life sciences career at a young age

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Annual high-school level paid summer construction internship opportunities

OPEN SPACE, ACTIVE RECREATION + PUBLIC REALM

Transform an existing 800-space surface parking lot into a vibrant, mixed-use development with waterfront access to all
Create vibrant, accessible, resilient and connected open spaces including public open spaces, pedestrian and bicycle pathways, plazas, and landscaped open space in what is now predominately surface parking

Creation of approximately 3.7 acres (57.8% of site area) of new public open space including new destination parks under the care and control of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.
As drawn from the Fort Point 100 Acres Open Space Concept Plan, park elements will include an event amphitheater, interactive water feature, shade structures, open civic lawn, public picnic shelters, adventure playspace, a linear plaza designed to host food trucks or temporary markets and opportunities for art and interpretive elements
Provide a Harborwalk along the entirety of the Project site that is at least 18 feet in width. Along much of the Project site, the Harborwalk is complemented by adjacent public open space, thereby creating an integrated public realm that greatly enhances public access along the Fort Point Channel waterfront

ECONOMIC IMPACTS + BENEFITS

JOBS CREATION

Approximately 2,000 construction jobs including City of Boston residents
Implement the Boston Residents Jobs Policy to have at least 51% of the total employee work hours for Boston residents, at least 40% of total employee work hours for minorities and at least 12% of the total employee work hours for women
Approximately 3,000 permanent jobs upon Project stabilization at varying skill and education levels

DEVELOPMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT LINKAGE FUNDS

$8,300,000 in estimated linkage payments for housing
$1,500,000 in estimated linkage payments for job training
Increased Property Tax Revenue

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CIVIC/CULTURAL SPACE

Up to 15,000 sf Civic/Cultural Space with free base rent
Landlord Financial Contribution of up to $750,000 for tenant build-out of the 15,000 sf of Civic/Cultural Space
7,000 sf in G6 Gallery community space + 3,000 sf in G5 cafe and workspace community space
10% of retail space to be discounted by 25% to market rent to City or State certified small disadvantaged businesses

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IMPLEMENTATION AND DELIVERY

Issue Civic/Cultural RFPs in collaboration with the BPDA and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture
RFPs to include goals for the space to provide a vibrant year-round public destination for a diverse demographic
Issue a Request for Information (RFI) for the Civic/Cultural Space to better understand desired uses and resulting base building build-out needs

AFFORDABLE + EQUITABLE COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Provide affordable commercial opportunities for local small businesses, women owned businesses and minority owned businesses through its offering of 10% of ground floor retail space to be discounted by 25% to market rent to City or State certified small disadvantaged businesses
Deliver mixed uses on the ground floor that promote vibrancy, equitable and accessible environments and ensure a public RFP process to select the users for the 15,000 sf of Civic/Cultural space provided by the Proponent to non-profit organizations free of base rent.
Hire a third-party planning and leasing team to provide an executable strategy around diversity, equity and inclusion for the Proponent’s retail program that facilitates tenancies and partnerships with minority/women-owned business enterprises MWBE

WATERSHEET ACTIVATION

Provide a proposed overlook and dock on the Fort Point Channel in cooperation with abutting landowners to provide the public a ‘touch the water moment’, a secondary stage for the amphitheater and to support a wide variety of recreational small boat activities including canoeing, kayaking, paddleboats, model boat activities, special events including races, and other cultural and artistic programming
$25,000 of funding over 10 years as an ongoing financial contribution to non-profits /organizations /local artists for the creation and installation of floating art in the Fort Point Channel to further support the existing robust Fort Point Arts community floating art program
$500,000 financial commitment over 10 years in a partnership with a non-profit organization(s) that will ensure equitable access to the Project Site and encourage access to the watersheet by leading free youth environmental, STEM and STEAM educational programs and programming free events
Fort Point Channel Operations Board Contribution of $10,000/year for term of Chapter 91 License

ENHANCED TRANSPORTATION

Reconstruction of A Street between Binford Street and Garage Access Way to Boston Complete Street standards, including pedestrian safety enhancements through bump outs and daylighting of intersections, protected bicycle lanes, on-street parking and properly sized travel lanes
Approximately $350,000 in funding over 15 years to the MBTA to alleviate capacity issues on nearby bus routes as directed by MassDOT
$250,000 contribution toward the design of pedestrian safety and accessibility improvements on A Street between Melcher Street and Congress Street
Update to the A Street pavement markings between Iron Street to the south and Mt Washington Way to the north to create parking protected bike lanes in the northbound and southbound direction
Provide over $300,000 in funding for Bluebikes as well as space on the Project Site for the Bluebikes bike share system
New, on-site pedestrian corridors and bicycle paths, including completing the South Bay Harbor Trail Bicycle connection
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies and on-going monitoring to measure traffic, transit and parking impacts, report results, and adjust TDM measures. Promote residents and tenants to encourage use of nearby public transportation, promote walking and bicycling by increasing site porosity, street safety, and installing bike facilities
Bicycle accommodations in compliance with BTD guidelines

PARKING COMMITMENTS

Transform an existing 800-space surface parking lot into a vibrant, mixed-use development
Promote sustainable transportation alternatives such as the use of electric vehicles by providing on-site electric vehicle charging stations to accommodate 25% of the total parking, and sufficient infrastructure capacity for future accommodation for 100% of parking spaces
Removal of 800 public parking spaces will reduce the vehicles traveling to the site in the morning and leaving the site in the evening. Approximately 67 fewer vehicles will travel to the site during the morning peak hour and nearly the same number of vehicles will exit the site during the evening peak hour than what was the typical existing parking lot existing experience. Sufficient on site parking in new 400-space underground garage to suffice residential and commercial demands

RESILIENCY

Fully extended and integrated flood protection resiliency without visible berm obstruction
Over 90% reduction in discharge volume from the site

Stormwater Mitigation

Perform Site Utility work to replace existing poor-performing BWSC tide gate with two new tide gates to drastically improve stormwater management function
In a typical storm 202,000 gallons of water is discharged into the Fort Point Channel today versus 14,000 gallons of water discharged into the Fort Point Channel at Project completion

Reduction due to:

Significant reduction in impervious area from today’s 800-space car parking lot condition
Added storage with new infiltration systems, which provides 190,000 gallons of storage
Raised site (up to +21.5 BCB) to accommodate Sea Level Rise (SLR) which raises the elevation of most site catch basin grates above 2070 high tide line Larger and longer pipe runs allowing for added storage

FAQs

Q: what level of lab space will this be?

The lab building will not exceed ‘BioSafety Level 2’, which is consistent with all of the other lab buildings in the area.

Q: What are you doing to activate the channel?

This project will have significant benefits focused on bringing the public to and through the site and providing access to the Channel. We are studying the plans laid out in the Fort Point Channel Watersheet activation plan and will incorporate some of these ideas at the site.

Q: what sort of FPA’s will you have?

We are focused on providing FPA’s and open and inviting community space which will serve the greatest number of ages and people. We have received tremendous input and ideas and look forward to formalizing these in our next filing.

Q: will you do affordable on site?

Related Beal is committed to building affordable on site.

Q: what will the park look like we haven’t seen any plans?

The park size has been increased since our initial conversations about the project. The City hired Sasaki to manage a public process for the Fort Point Channel parks. Their recommendations can be found HERE. We are working to incorporate these recommendations into our site.

Q: why is there increased height?

We have made some minor modifications by lowering the height on 40% of the residential building (G4)and transferring it to the G5 building.

Q: are you considering a library?

This is definitely something we are considering. We are working with our local elected officials and the City of Boston to explore the idea. A library can serve the needs of many residents and also serve as a community gathering space.

Q: how will your resiliency methods help the fort point?

In addition to elevating the site and proposed structures, the project will include a section of the flood defense system proposed by the City of Boston for the Fort Point. Once completely, most likely in the form of a berm, it will provide significant coastal flood risk reduction for a large portion of the South Boston community.

Q: will you include artists in your plans for the new site?

Artists are an important part of the history of this neighborhood and we hope to include opportunities for artists to live, work and display their works at this site.