August 16, 2025 • 16 mins
Just two decades ago, Boston's Seaport neighborhood had a very different look: hundreds of acres of vacant concrete, used mostly for industrial purposes. You'd never believe it if you went there now, with former mayor Tom Menino's vision for an "Innovation District" having come to fruition. One of the main players in the development of the Seaport is The Fallon Company, and they recently topped off their final building on Fan Pier. Executive Managing Director Richard Martini joins Nichole to share the ins and outs of this decades-long project and his thoughts on the neighborhood's evolution.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here, we come together and talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. It is great to have you back with
us this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. So I remember back
in the day. Okay, it wasn't that long ago, but
about twenty years ago or so, the Seaport had a
(00:28):
very different look. It was highly industrial in some cases
all but a vacant lot. You really just didn't go
there unless you had to be there for work. That
all changed with the end of the Big Dig and
when former Boston Mayor Tom and Nino put resources toward
developing a brand new innovation district. It's a thousand acres
of what we now know as the Seaport. One of
(00:49):
the major players during this process has been the Fallon Company.
They recently topped off their final building in a neighborhood
that's made a huge transformation along fan Peer Now. Richard
our Teeny is the executive managing director at Fallon. He
has been there through this whole process. Richard. It is
great to have you here with us, and we're going
to get into your work in the seaport. We'll learn
(01:11):
a lot more about the process, but before we get
to that, tell us more about Fallon Sure.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So Found Company is a mixed use development company. We
do larger projects with a variety of uses in them
and usually complicated so that we enjoy complicated projects and
we enjoy creating new neighborhoods and new areas for people
to live, work and play.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Making new neighborhoods. What is that like when you're working
in a city like Boston, where our city's been around
a really long time, how do you find a new neighborhood?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So very interesting. So, in particular, Fan Pierre was a
large vacant stretch of parking lots and an area that
was you know, everyone thought it was far away because
you had to go over a little bridge called the
Northern Avenue Bridge. It was on the other side of
the channel. And so you know, looking at that land
and looking at its evolution from railroad yards and shipping
(02:06):
and all those things, it had been pretty well neglected.
It wasn't really part of the core downtown for years,
and there were several people that looked at that development,
and it was also assisted by some of the infrastructure
with I ninety five and the mass Pike and the
new tunnel to the airport, so all those things helped
(02:27):
create access.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
To that area.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But more importantly, it was just it was a little neglected.
People had turned their backs on the harbor in the past,
not really taken advantage of the harbor. So we looked
at it as a great opportunity. We had already been
doing work in the seaport. We did park Lane apartments,
and we also did the Western Hotel when the.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Convention Center was being built.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So knowing the neighborhood and seeing this great area of
land and going wow, that has such great potential was just,
you know, it was a great opportunity that we were
able to take advantage of.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I've lived in for a long long time. I remember
not long ago when the seaport was, like you said,
a vacant lot, and that was being really generous about
what you were calling it the seaport. It's really interesting
how quickly it has just become this major metropolitan neighborhood.
You can find anything you want there, the best of
(03:19):
the best, the most luxurious homes. What a change for
a city that's again so steeped in history, on a
lot that a lot of people just never really wanted
to go check out or go spend time on unless
you were working on the docks or something.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean it's interesting because historical Boston, there wasn't a
lot of history left in that portion of the city
because it was industrial, because there was actually filled in
the fifties, you know, that's when you could actually fill
in tidelands and old piers and that kind of thing.
But so it had there wasn't a lot of steep
history in that section other than that, you know, the
(03:56):
revolution and.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Shipbuilding and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
But because of that, there were other things that were implemented.
There were a lot of regulations with Chapter ninety one
and zoning and height in those kinds of things. And
the city was very good about a master plan for
the seaport in terms of really wanting a mixed use
neighborhood of commercial, retail and residential, and I think that
(04:20):
helped a lot. You know, it was kind of like
they'd say a third or third to third, right, we
want a third to third of each of those things,
and that mix will make it vibrant twenty four to seven.
And with that being the goal and also the goal
at the time of Mayor Menino to want to make
it an innovation district. You know, those couple of things
were great impetus to really help help launch the area.
(04:43):
And again even the start was tough. You know, we
bought it and then we had the two thousand and
seven great recession and market crash and all that fun stuff.
Oh yeah, but you know, it's interesting when we opened
the first building that we're actually still in the first
building we opened in twenty ten, our offices are here.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It was like everybody just showed up.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
We built the building in a park, and all of
a sudden, there was like the ants came out of
the anhill.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It was crazy.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And just seeing that and being able to take advantage
of the edge of the water and seeing how people
wanted to be at the water and be in parks
and all those kinds of things was just amazing, but also.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Showed us that it was the right thing to do.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And you know, spend a lot of money on the
infrastructure in the parks and roads and all those kinds
of things.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And we needed the space too. I mean, Boston has
such a housing crunch. I think I saw recently that
our city is at ninety nine percent capacity. So we
were already bursting at the seams when we had this giant,
vacant industrial lot. So it seems to make sense that
of course you're going to want to spread anywhere you can.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right, No, it does, and you know, it's been developed
very consciously. I think that's the other thing that's interesting
about this area. And this area was more much more
of a cooperative development effort I'll call it between developers
as opposed to other as you might compete about. You know,
I want to do this and I'm going to one
up you and one of you. We actually work very
well together to make sure that between the projects it
(06:11):
was seamless.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So parks meet parks, roads meet roads.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, we tried to all have the same high
level of design, integrity and intention throughout. And it was
all about placemaking. You know, for us, it was placemaking
is what are people going to enjoy, not only that
live here, but throughout the city of Boston. I mean,
I'm amazed by the number of people that are down
here at twenty four to seven. Yeah, and on the weekends,
(06:36):
it's crazy. It's just it's awesome to see so many
people enjoying you know, the city in general, but the
seaport in particular.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Oh. Sure, you've got all the restaurants and the businesses,
and you've got the Leaderbank Pavilion, You've got the Alamo Theaters.
You've got so much to offer in such a small space.
At this point, as you're starting off your final building here,
what are your thoughts when you look out at all
of this that your company and other developers have been
(07:04):
able to build. Is this what you had envisioned all
those years ago, or is it a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So it's definitely what we had envisioned.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I think the neat thing about it doing over it
over twenty years is that it was very difficult.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
When we started, everyone was very cautious.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Nobody ever thought we would comply with all the regulations
and build all.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
The open space.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And I think what's interesting is looking back to see
not only did we meet all those expectations, but we
exceeded them. You know, we built larger harbor walk space,
more amenities, all those things.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
That we thought were critical.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Broad events here that were great for the city, like
you know, red boat cliff diving and tall ships and
all the different things that the Volvo Ocean race throughout.
So I think it's really become a real center of
the seaport in terms of that, and I think when
I look back, it's just the evolution not only of
all that public space, but the buildings and trying to
(08:01):
actually do the next building different, not the same, so
everything is in homogeneous. The buildings are intentionally designed by
different architects with different styles.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
But also unique to Boston.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And I think that was also very important as I
look back, saying, you know, really glad we did it,
and being able to maintain.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
The public space is critical.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
One of the unique things about the master plan of
the Seaport and particularly Fan Pier is that all that
we built, all of the public infrastructure, roads, parks, Harberwalk,
we funded that one hundred percent over one hundred million
dollars of cost in that and we also maintain it
so it's privately maintained, so we plow the streets, we
(08:43):
have the security, we maintain all the landscaping, and I
think that helps. It takes the burden off the city.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Number one, it.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Insures it gets done, and in addition to that provides
a huge tax base to the city. This twenty acres
creates seventy five million dollars approximately of real estate taxas
a year, without really school impact, you know, public works impact,
all of the major components. There's great police ambulance emt
all that I'm not saying we don't get services, but
(09:11):
in particulars twenty acres the city doesn't have to.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Be really concerned about.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And is that in perpetuity or are you all eventually
planning Oh.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Wow, that's in perpetuity.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, wow, Yeah, it sounds like a good deal.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Honestly, No, it's a great deal, and I think it
really is a model that it's a model that they
tried to follow with the development across the street, and
it's actually something we're doing in other cities. We actually
have a similarly sized project in Nashville that we're about
to start that actually connects the downtown with East Nashville
in a brand new NFL stadium they're building for the Titans.
(09:46):
That's about thirty acres, So very similar concept to what
we've done here.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Nashville is one of those cities that I mean, as
an aside, I never saw Nashville getting as huge as
it is. Like I would have seen that ten years ago, right,
I'm like, okay, sure, beautiful city and.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Natural is such a great it's such a great city.
It's such a unique blend of people, businesses. That's it's
really cool.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
It certainly is.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I love Boston. My heart's in Boston.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well mine is two And I'm really happy to hear that.
You know, you all are in this for the duration
with the rest of us, and I think about to
climate change. I'm sure that was a huge factor in
your development your thoughts because building an entire neighborhood right
on the water, as our seas are rising and as
our storms are getting stronger, how do you prepare for
(10:32):
something like this while you're planning all this out and
then developing this neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
We've been you know, we've been working on climate change
frankly since day one. One of the things that was
interesting when we purchased the site is it actually had
an area that was flooding in the within the what's
now the harbor area. So we actually rebuilt and raised
a sea wall entirely, and we actually raised the entire
grade of the site two feet, so everything was raised
(10:59):
in the entire fam Heer area. And then subsequent to that,
we've actually designed things like we saw what happened in
New York with one of the storms they had, I
think it was Andrew, So we built our landscape to
withstand that kind of storm and be resilient so it
doesn't all have to get destroyed. It actually is tolerant
to flooding from seawater and those kinds of things. We
(11:19):
built walls at the base of all the buildings to
ensure that it couldn't get into the buildings. So slope
everything away from the harbor walk and the edge of
the harbor, and then raise the grade in different buildings.
And so by doing that and adding flood barriers at
doors and windows, we have what's called an aqua fence
(11:39):
if needed, which we deploy every year to test.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It's a four foot high fence.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
But what's been great over the twenty years is to
see over that time period.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I know it's a projection, but over.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Twenty years we've only had one flood that flooded, or
one event storm event that came up about ten feet
at the edge of the heart walk a couple of inches.
That's it, Okay, nowhere near buildings. So that's nice to
see that, like all that planning worked, Yeah, and so
we're thrilled that and we've been part of it from
day one, working with the city to come up with
(12:12):
solutions for the city overall. Yeah, And I think that's
another unique aspect of kind of all the things going
on in Boston, as everyone being involved in those kind
of initiatives.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Sure, we're all we're all invested in.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
This right about. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, we want to keep our city safe. And you know,
I appreciate that the city is putting so much of
an emphasis on climate mitigation and dealing with this, trying
to get ahead of this because we all know what's coming.
And you know, something I think of too is that
I was talking to so many many years ago and
they talked about how the Back Bay after all these years,
it's kind of sinking a little bit too. So we
(12:47):
have such you know, Boston used to be so much
smaller than it is, and when you're working with filled
in areas, you know, what's the challenge that comes along
with that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Right, A lot of challenges with the foundations and those
kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So the way we had to design and build the buildings.
Incorporating old slips that had filled that were sixty feet
deep was very interesting, so we had to come up
with very creative foundation systems to support the buildings. They're
essentially on what are called big mats labs, so big
thick slabs that float and the mud that's been there
for you know, the clay, the Boston clay that's been
(13:20):
there for two hundred thousand years.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, they basically float in that and so they sit.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
On that land and we're forty feet underground with all
the parking, and that's all completely mitigated with flood barrier
walls and waterproofing and steal and concrete.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So it's got like a trip. I call it our
triple layer bathtub.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I feel much better about parking the seaport now because
usually your forest underground the other unfortunately, Yes, it's okay,
we all want to be there. Look, it's not a
bad thing.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Well, I think the only neat thing is how walkable
it is now.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I mean, it's so accessible if you live in the area,
which I've lived here since since for more than ten years,
live and work here, it's so easy to walk everywhere
to the North End to downtown to everything throughout the seaport.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
I think that's what I really really appreciate the most.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Absolutely, it is super accessible. It's so close to so
much in downtown Boston, are historical areas, the Freedom Trails
not that far away. It's a little bit of everything,
and you know, you've got to feel really proud of
what you and your company have done, along with everybody
else involved the city or other developers. I mean, what
you've been able to achieve here is no small feet.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, no, it's been a really great a great opportunity
and a great development and glad to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's been super So what comes next in Boston when
you're all done with this?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So we have a couple other sites that we're looking
at in Boston, not as large obviously, but we do.
We're working with Wentworth on a parcel over in Wentworth
that could be a variety of uses, so that's still
to be determ and then we have a site also
in Charlestown that we're working with the Owns Company and
Clayton Turnbull. So that's a that's a great site as well.
(15:08):
So other opportunities here, but you know, just being being
a little specific about what we look at, and again
we try not to do one off things as much
as create an area or really enhance something in a city.
So we really like mixed use, We like civic cultural components,
and we love public space, you know, creating public space
(15:30):
that people can enjoy because we kind of look at
it as it starts at the curb. It doesn't start
at the building, It starts at the curb, and you know,
is it the right? Is it what we want to present?
Does it have shade and sun and areas for people
to sit and enjoy and have lunch or a coffee
or whatever it is?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Meet people?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
If people don't want to be there, what's the point right?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Exactly exactly right now?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Well, if people want to find out more about the
Fouling Company, about your work and the seaport and otherwise,
how can they get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So the best thing is go to our website founcompany
dot com and we have a lot of great information
there and there is contact information there, so that would
be the place to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
See the other things for doing.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Cool Well, Richard, I appreciate your time. Congratulations on this.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Huge day, all right, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Nicole, have a safe and healthy and cool weekend if
you can, and please join us again next week for
another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ
News Radio on iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here, we come together and talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. It is great to have you back with
us this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. So I remember back
in the day. Okay, it wasn't that long ago, but
about twenty years ago or so, the Seaport had a
(00:28):
very different look. It was highly industrial in some cases
all but a vacant lot. You really just didn't go
there unless you had to be there for work. That
all changed with the end of the Big Dig and
when former Boston Mayor Tom and Nino put resources toward
developing a brand new innovation district. It's a thousand acres
of what we now know as the Seaport. One of
(00:49):
the major players during this process has been the Fallon Company.
They recently topped off their final building in a neighborhood
that's made a huge transformation along fan Peer Now. Richard
our Teeny is the executive managing director at Fallon. He
has been there through this whole process. Richard. It is
great to have you here with us, and we're going
to get into your work in the seaport. We'll learn
(01:11):
a lot more about the process, but before we get
to that, tell us more about Fallon Sure.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So Found Company is a mixed use development company. We
do larger projects with a variety of uses in them
and usually complicated so that we enjoy complicated projects and
we enjoy creating new neighborhoods and new areas for people
to live, work and play.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Making new neighborhoods. What is that like when you're working
in a city like Boston, where our city's been around
a really long time, how do you find a new neighborhood?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So very interesting. So, in particular, Fan Pierre was a
large vacant stretch of parking lots and an area that
was you know, everyone thought it was far away because
you had to go over a little bridge called the
Northern Avenue Bridge. It was on the other side of
the channel. And so you know, looking at that land
and looking at its evolution from railroad yards and shipping
(02:06):
and all those things, it had been pretty well neglected.
It wasn't really part of the core downtown for years,
and there were several people that looked at that development,
and it was also assisted by some of the infrastructure
with I ninety five and the mass Pike and the
new tunnel to the airport, so all those things helped
(02:27):
create access.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
To that area.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But more importantly, it was just it was a little neglected.
People had turned their backs on the harbor in the past,
not really taken advantage of the harbor. So we looked
at it as a great opportunity. We had already been
doing work in the seaport. We did park Lane apartments,
and we also did the Western Hotel when the.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Convention Center was being built.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So knowing the neighborhood and seeing this great area of
land and going wow, that has such great potential was just,
you know, it was a great opportunity that we were
able to take advantage of.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I've lived in for a long long time. I remember
not long ago when the seaport was, like you said,
a vacant lot, and that was being really generous about
what you were calling it the seaport. It's really interesting
how quickly it has just become this major metropolitan neighborhood.
You can find anything you want there, the best of
(03:19):
the best, the most luxurious homes. What a change for
a city that's again so steeped in history, on a
lot that a lot of people just never really wanted
to go check out or go spend time on unless
you were working on the docks or something.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean it's interesting because historical Boston, there wasn't a
lot of history left in that portion of the city
because it was industrial, because there was actually filled in
the fifties, you know, that's when you could actually fill
in tidelands and old piers and that kind of thing.
But so it had there wasn't a lot of steep
history in that section other than that, you know, the
(03:56):
revolution and.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Shipbuilding and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
But because of that, there were other things that were implemented.
There were a lot of regulations with Chapter ninety one
and zoning and height in those kinds of things. And
the city was very good about a master plan for
the seaport in terms of really wanting a mixed use
neighborhood of commercial, retail and residential, and I think that
(04:20):
helped a lot. You know, it was kind of like
they'd say a third or third to third, right, we
want a third to third of each of those things,
and that mix will make it vibrant twenty four to seven.
And with that being the goal and also the goal
at the time of Mayor Menino to want to make
it an innovation district. You know, those couple of things
were great impetus to really help help launch the area.
(04:43):
And again even the start was tough. You know, we
bought it and then we had the two thousand and
seven great recession and market crash and all that fun stuff.
Oh yeah, but you know, it's interesting when we opened
the first building that we're actually still in the first
building we opened in twenty ten, our offices are here.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It was like everybody just showed up.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
We built the building in a park, and all of
a sudden, there was like the ants came out of
the anhill.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It was crazy.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And just seeing that and being able to take advantage
of the edge of the water and seeing how people
wanted to be at the water and be in parks
and all those kinds of things was just amazing, but also.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Showed us that it was the right thing to do.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And you know, spend a lot of money on the
infrastructure in the parks and roads and all those kinds
of things.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And we needed the space too. I mean, Boston has
such a housing crunch. I think I saw recently that
our city is at ninety nine percent capacity. So we
were already bursting at the seams when we had this giant,
vacant industrial lot. So it seems to make sense that
of course you're going to want to spread anywhere you can.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right, No, it does, and you know, it's been developed
very consciously. I think that's the other thing that's interesting
about this area. And this area was more much more
of a cooperative development effort I'll call it between developers
as opposed to other as you might compete about. You know,
I want to do this and I'm going to one
up you and one of you. We actually work very
well together to make sure that between the projects it
(06:11):
was seamless.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So parks meet parks, roads meet roads.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, we tried to all have the same high
level of design, integrity and intention throughout. And it was
all about placemaking. You know, for us, it was placemaking
is what are people going to enjoy, not only that
live here, but throughout the city of Boston. I mean,
I'm amazed by the number of people that are down
here at twenty four to seven. Yeah, and on the weekends,
(06:36):
it's crazy. It's just it's awesome to see so many
people enjoying you know, the city in general, but the
seaport in particular.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Oh. Sure, you've got all the restaurants and the businesses,
and you've got the Leaderbank Pavilion, You've got the Alamo Theaters.
You've got so much to offer in such a small space.
At this point, as you're starting off your final building here,
what are your thoughts when you look out at all
of this that your company and other developers have been
(07:04):
able to build. Is this what you had envisioned all
those years ago, or is it a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So it's definitely what we had envisioned.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I think the neat thing about it doing over it
over twenty years is that it was very difficult.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
When we started, everyone was very cautious.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Nobody ever thought we would comply with all the regulations
and build all.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
The open space.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And I think what's interesting is looking back to see
not only did we meet all those expectations, but we
exceeded them. You know, we built larger harbor walk space,
more amenities, all those things.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
That we thought were critical.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Broad events here that were great for the city, like
you know, red boat cliff diving and tall ships and
all the different things that the Volvo Ocean race throughout.
So I think it's really become a real center of
the seaport in terms of that, and I think when
I look back, it's just the evolution not only of
all that public space, but the buildings and trying to
(08:01):
actually do the next building different, not the same, so
everything is in homogeneous. The buildings are intentionally designed by
different architects with different styles.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
But also unique to Boston.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And I think that was also very important as I
look back, saying, you know, really glad we did it,
and being able to maintain.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
The public space is critical.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
One of the unique things about the master plan of
the Seaport and particularly Fan Pier is that all that
we built, all of the public infrastructure, roads, parks, Harberwalk,
we funded that one hundred percent over one hundred million
dollars of cost in that and we also maintain it
so it's privately maintained, so we plow the streets, we
(08:43):
have the security, we maintain all the landscaping, and I
think that helps. It takes the burden off the city.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Number one, it.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Insures it gets done, and in addition to that provides
a huge tax base to the city. This twenty acres
creates seventy five million dollars approximately of real estate taxas
a year, without really school impact, you know, public works impact,
all of the major components. There's great police ambulance emt
all that I'm not saying we don't get services, but
(09:11):
in particulars twenty acres the city doesn't have to.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Be really concerned about.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And is that in perpetuity or are you all eventually
planning Oh.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Wow, that's in perpetuity.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, wow, Yeah, it sounds like a good deal.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Honestly, No, it's a great deal, and I think it
really is a model that it's a model that they
tried to follow with the development across the street, and
it's actually something we're doing in other cities. We actually
have a similarly sized project in Nashville that we're about
to start that actually connects the downtown with East Nashville
in a brand new NFL stadium they're building for the Titans.
(09:46):
That's about thirty acres, So very similar concept to what
we've done here.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Nashville is one of those cities that I mean, as
an aside, I never saw Nashville getting as huge as
it is. Like I would have seen that ten years ago, right,
I'm like, okay, sure, beautiful city and.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Natural is such a great it's such a great city.
It's such a unique blend of people, businesses. That's it's
really cool.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
It certainly is.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I love Boston. My heart's in Boston.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well mine is two And I'm really happy to hear that.
You know, you all are in this for the duration
with the rest of us, and I think about to
climate change. I'm sure that was a huge factor in
your development your thoughts because building an entire neighborhood right
on the water, as our seas are rising and as
our storms are getting stronger, how do you prepare for
(10:32):
something like this while you're planning all this out and
then developing this neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
We've been you know, we've been working on climate change
frankly since day one. One of the things that was
interesting when we purchased the site is it actually had
an area that was flooding in the within the what's
now the harbor area. So we actually rebuilt and raised
a sea wall entirely, and we actually raised the entire
grade of the site two feet, so everything was raised
(10:59):
in the entire fam Heer area. And then subsequent to that,
we've actually designed things like we saw what happened in
New York with one of the storms they had, I
think it was Andrew, So we built our landscape to
withstand that kind of storm and be resilient so it
doesn't all have to get destroyed. It actually is tolerant
to flooding from seawater and those kinds of things. We
(11:19):
built walls at the base of all the buildings to
ensure that it couldn't get into the buildings. So slope
everything away from the harbor walk and the edge of
the harbor, and then raise the grade in different buildings.
And so by doing that and adding flood barriers at
doors and windows, we have what's called an aqua fence
(11:39):
if needed, which we deploy every year to test.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It's a four foot high fence.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
But what's been great over the twenty years is to
see over that time period.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I know it's a projection, but over.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Twenty years we've only had one flood that flooded, or
one event storm event that came up about ten feet
at the edge of the heart walk a couple of inches.
That's it, Okay, nowhere near buildings. So that's nice to
see that, like all that planning worked, Yeah, and so
we're thrilled that and we've been part of it from
day one, working with the city to come up with
(12:12):
solutions for the city overall. Yeah, And I think that's
another unique aspect of kind of all the things going
on in Boston, as everyone being involved in those kind
of initiatives.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Sure, we're all we're all invested in.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
This right about. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, we want to keep our city safe. And you know,
I appreciate that the city is putting so much of
an emphasis on climate mitigation and dealing with this, trying
to get ahead of this because we all know what's coming.
And you know, something I think of too is that
I was talking to so many many years ago and
they talked about how the Back Bay after all these years,
it's kind of sinking a little bit too. So we
(12:47):
have such you know, Boston used to be so much
smaller than it is, and when you're working with filled
in areas, you know, what's the challenge that comes along
with that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Right, A lot of challenges with the foundations and those
kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So the way we had to design and build the buildings.
Incorporating old slips that had filled that were sixty feet
deep was very interesting, so we had to come up
with very creative foundation systems to support the buildings. They're
essentially on what are called big mats labs, so big
thick slabs that float and the mud that's been there
for you know, the clay, the Boston clay that's been
(13:20):
there for two hundred thousand years.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, they basically float in that and so they sit.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
On that land and we're forty feet underground with all
the parking, and that's all completely mitigated with flood barrier
walls and waterproofing and steal and concrete.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So it's got like a trip. I call it our
triple layer bathtub.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I feel much better about parking the seaport now because
usually your forest underground the other unfortunately, Yes, it's okay,
we all want to be there. Look, it's not a
bad thing.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Well, I think the only neat thing is how walkable
it is now.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I mean, it's so accessible if you live in the area,
which I've lived here since since for more than ten years,
live and work here, it's so easy to walk everywhere
to the North End to downtown to everything throughout the seaport.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
I think that's what I really really appreciate the most.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Absolutely, it is super accessible. It's so close to so
much in downtown Boston, are historical areas, the Freedom Trails
not that far away. It's a little bit of everything,
and you know, you've got to feel really proud of
what you and your company have done, along with everybody
else involved the city or other developers. I mean, what
you've been able to achieve here is no small feet.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, no, it's been a really great a great opportunity
and a great development and glad to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's been super So what comes next in Boston when
you're all done with this?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So we have a couple other sites that we're looking
at in Boston, not as large obviously, but we do.
We're working with Wentworth on a parcel over in Wentworth
that could be a variety of uses, so that's still
to be determ and then we have a site also
in Charlestown that we're working with the Owns Company and
Clayton Turnbull. So that's a that's a great site as well.
(15:08):
So other opportunities here, but you know, just being being
a little specific about what we look at, and again
we try not to do one off things as much
as create an area or really enhance something in a city.
So we really like mixed use, We like civic cultural components,
and we love public space, you know, creating public space
(15:30):
that people can enjoy because we kind of look at
it as it starts at the curb. It doesn't start
at the building, It starts at the curb, and you know,
is it the right? Is it what we want to present?
Does it have shade and sun and areas for people
to sit and enjoy and have lunch or a coffee
or whatever it is?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Meet people?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
If people don't want to be there, what's the point right?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Exactly exactly right now?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Well, if people want to find out more about the
Fouling Company, about your work and the seaport and otherwise,
how can they get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So the best thing is go to our website founcompany
dot com and we have a lot of great information
there and there is contact information there, so that would
be the place to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
See the other things for doing.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Cool Well, Richard, I appreciate your time. Congratulations on this.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Huge day, all right, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Nicole, have a safe and healthy and cool weekend if
you can, and please join us again next week for
another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ
News Radio on iHeartRadio
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