After looking forlornly across the Inner Harbor for decades while the Charlestown Navy Yard, the North End and South Boston waterfronts sprouted pricey condos, gleaming skyscrapers, trendy restaurants and popular outdoor gathering spaces, East Boston’s waterfront is finally getting its due.
The long-delayed groundbreaking last week of the Portside at Pier One mixed-use development may finally be the catalyst for East Boston’s waterfront renaissance. The five-story apartment building will feature 176 units, including 26 for affordable housing, with retail space on the ground floor.
It is part of a larger, seven-building, 550-luxury unit project scheduled to be built over the next few years on Massport property along Marginal Street and on Pier One. Construction of the project began in 2006, but stalled at the start of the recession.
Several other East Boston waterfront projects have already received permitting approvals and could potentially add 541 more residential units along the waterfront.
For Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Portside project signals his commitment to revitalize East Boston’s waterfront, which already boasts Piers Park, a public park with a pedestrian promenade that extends into the inner harbor.
New Jersey-based Roseland, the developer of Portside at Pier One, has pledged to provide a subsidy for planned ferry service between East Boston, South Boston and Charlestown.
But it’s not just East Boston’s shoreline developments that are turning heads east. If it wins the sole Boston-area casino license, the aging, 163-acre Suffolk Downs horse track in East Boston could be transformed within a few years into a $1 billion resort and casino. Suffolk Downs’ proposed traffic improvements have the potential not only to unclog one of the most annoying bottlenecks in Greater Boston, but to spur new retail and commercial development along Route 1A.
While East Boston’s newfound popularity may be a blessing, it could – if not carefully controlled – also be a curse for longtime residents, who are rightfully fearful that gentrification could drive up housing prices and force them out of their homes.
A lesson should be learned from Boston’s Seaport District, where the neighborhood’s commercial real estate success – based on the number of developments and rising rents – is starting to drive out longtime businesses and residents.
East Boston’s livability – for a wide mix of people of various nationalities, incomes and professions – should be treasured as much as its twinkling, nighttime views of Downtown Boston.
