January 10 , 2006

NorthPoint: A Model for Smart Growth
By Matthew Shuman, Town of Bedford

A city within a city is rising on an underutilized 45-acre site where Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston converge. Over the next 15 years, five million square feet of residences, commercial, and industrial space will be constructed at a cost of over $2 billion. The project, known as NorthPoint, is being touted as a model for smart growth development in the Commonwealth

Pan Am Industries, Inc. owns the site. The area in East Cambridge was originally part of the Millers River tidelands, but was subsequently filled in for use as a rail yard in the nineteenth century. However, the site long sat vacant and was considered an underutilized area, even an eyesore. With its proximity to downtown Boston and a surrounding urban framework of public transportation and roadways, the site was ripe for redevelopment.

Working to develop a master plan for the site and obtain plan approvals was a challenge. The area had already been rezoned as part of a larger rezoning of the City of Cambridge. Pan Am and their consultant, Spaulding & Slye Colliers, worked with the City to develop a set of specific design guidelines for the site’s redevelopment. The guidelines outlined items such as building heights, parcel sizes, and street layouts, and laid the framework for the larger context for the site, such as its overall image, scale, character, and connection with other neighborhoods.

The plans call for a mixed-use community that will include approximately 2,700 residences, an estimated 2.2 million square feet of office and lab space, as well a shops and restaurants. This integration of differing land uses is a key element of smart growth. NorthPoint will provide a community in which residences can live, work, and shop all in the same neighborhood. There are many other smart growth elements incorporated in NorthPoint’s design, including:

• The street layout and its compact design, which will create a walk able neighborhood;
• Its proximity to major highways as well as two MBTA transit stops, which provide multiple transportation choices;
• A variety of housing choices, including affordable and market rate units, and a variety of housing types;
• Preservation of open space, with ten of the site’s 45 acres being reserved for parkland; and
• A sense of place, created as a result of the planning process and the use of architectural design competitions to develop a unique to develop a unique look for each building.

A Key public benefit of the project will be the planned relocation of the MBTA Lechmere Green Line Station to the NorthPoint site on the west side of the O’Brien Highway. Doing so will not only improve pedestrian access to the site, but will also pave the way for the future extension of the Green Line from Cambridge, through Somerville, to Medford.

Another benefit of the project will be the ten acres of parkland that will be created, including a five-acre central park that will be the focal point of the development. The park will be fully integrated with adjacent public parks along the Charles River and a planned future extension of the Minuteman Bike Path, which connects with suburban communities to the northwest.

A unique aspect of the design of the central park, around which NorthPoint’s buildings will be sited, is its use as a part of the overall stormwater management for the site. The park will incorporate fore bays, swales, and low impact development techniques like rain gardens to control runoff and improve water quality.

According to Peter Stankiewicz, a Project Executive with Spaulding & Slye Colliers, creating this new neighborhood on 45-acres of vacant urban land provides no shortage of challenges. Even constructing utilities is a challenge. Although the site is surrounded by existing infrastructure, there were no utilities- electric, water, sewer, or drainage – on the site. Plans call for phased introduction of utilities, as necessary.

Another engineering challenge has been working with on-site soils. The nature of the urban fill used to create the land, as well as its use as a former rail yard, has created localized hotspots of contaminate soils that need to be managed. In addition, the deep organic that underlie the site are highly compressible. Engineers plan to place additional fill on the site grading. High groundwater is another concern that will also be considered as part of the design of below grade structures.

The first two buildings, a 230-unit condominium complex and a 99-unit building, are already under construction. Once completed, NorthPoint will transform this former industrial site into vibrant urban neighborhood fully integrated with the city that surrounds it. The vision and planning used to create this transit oriented; smart growth development ensures its future success. For more information on the NorthPoint project, visit the website at www.northpointcambridge.com.

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