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Reflections on the Living with Water Charrette
I had the privilege of acting as co-chair for one of the four sites in the ULI Living with Water: The Urban Implications Charette. This event provided an opportunity for a broad range of professionals with diverse expertise to discuss and strategize resiliency strategies related to sea level rise and inland flooding. The goal of the event was to develop real strategies related to planning, design, and public policy to address ongoing and future impacts of climate change…
Worcester’s Transformation in the Globe
The latest article in the Boston Globe profiles the transformative nature of our CitySquare project in Worcester. Many of the topics discussed in this article go back to our initial discussions for the urban design approach to this project nearly 10 years ago. While the reconnection of the street network and the redevelopment of the urban streetscape seem like obvious goals, the realization of those goals required a complex partnership between our design team, developers, and the community. Arrowstreet is proud of what has been accomplished in downtown Worcester, and looks forward to the next phases of the CitySquare project and its significant impacts on the revitalization of New England’s second largest city.
Mirbeau Construction Update
Construction continues on Arrowstreet’s newest resort hotel. Located at The Pinehills in Plymouth Massachusetts, The Mirbeau Inn and Spa will be the second property in the Mirbeau brand conceived and developed by Gary and Linda Dower. The Plymouth property, like the flagship in Skaneateles NY, is inspired by French country architecture focused on a signature garden with ponds modeled after the Monet gardens of Giverny. Arrowstreet worked closely with the Dowers to design a property which would expand on the brand signatures of the original while developing a distinctive and unique appeal of its own…
Unum Office Building Time-Lapse
Through the wonders of time-lapse photography, you can now watch the construction of our recently completed Unum Worcester headquarters building in under two minutes. It’s interesting to note that there is as much activity in the background and adjacent streets as there is on the building itself. Special thanks to Mike Conlan and Pat Strangie for all their work in CA – each of them probably has a (very) brief cameo in this video!
Side note: the Unum project and the CitySquare development are the topic of this month’s ULI Member Lunch with Donald Birch – if you’re a member of ULI, we look forward to seeing you there.
New DCR Maintenance Building
As part of the Waterfront Square at Revere Beach development, Arrowstreet is currently designing a new building including restrooms, storage of maintenance and support materials, and DCR offices. The building was carefully sited to maintain line-of-sight between the Arrowstreet-designed South Garage and Pedestrian Bridge and the scenic Revere Beach.
Updates @ALISconference
Yesterday I attended the opening session of The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles, and I wanted to share some early themes from the convention. Attendance at the conference is back up to 2,500 (similar to 2007), which some attendees see as a sign that optimism has returned to the market…
Unum Office Building Opens
Worcester’s newest office building will open to employees on Monday, January 21st. The building is the first to be built at CitySquare, the 20-acre development that will revitalize downtown Worcester. This class-A office facility will be occupied by 700 employees of leading insurer Unum…
Revere Bridge Lights Up the Holidays
On December 20th, the pedestrian bridge recently completed as part of the Waterfront Square Transit Oriented Development was lit for the first time. In early fall, our team, with the support of the City of Revere and help from Suffolk Construction and Color Kinetics, mocked up and selected color-changing LED lights at the base of the cable stay pylons. As illustrated in the photos, the lights are now installed and have been fired up with the holiday season in mind. With the recent dedication of the bridge to Congressman Markey’s family, this next step moves the project one step closer to a public opening. In the coming weeks, LED-lit railings and the glass-enclosed elevators will be completed, finalizing the connection between the MBTA’s Wonderland Station and the historic Revere Beach. We look forward to seeing the many color variations of the bridge over the course of the coming months and congratulate the Markey family, the City, MBTA, DCR, and Eurovest Development and on this new milestone.
Mirbeau Inn & Spa at the Pinehills
An article on the Mirbeau Inn & Spa at the Pinehills appeared in the Business Updates on boston.com today. An excerpt, discussing our work on the architecture:
“Architecture for the inn will be “reminiscent of an old manor house in the countryside of France complete with Monet-inspired gardens…
Revere Bridge Update
I was on site in Revere last week at our Waterfront Square project and can happily report that the pylons have gone up for the pedestrian bridge that will connect the beach to mass transit and parking. The walking surface is under construction with the steel span expected to be complete this week. The stairs from the west are in place and paver installation is ongoing on the plaza…