After decades of delays, construction starts for South Boston's Fan Pier

As development starts on Fan Pier, the City and others are rightly proud of the significant planning done before construction started. The Fort Point District 100 Acres Master Plan and South Boston Waterfront Public Realm Plan are two of the impressive planning documents guiding the development of the City's second-largest ongoing development.

"The whole Seaport public realm plan was probably the best piece of planning the city has ever done," said Kyle B. Warwick, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle.

This attention to planning sits in stark contrast to the award winning plan for our neighborhood that the BRA and Harvard remind us isn't actually a plan. Its is a 'framework for planning' that 'shouldn't be interpreted literally', they tell us.

Not only does South Boston get a plan that is actually being used to guide development, the projects that are being built will benefit that neighborhood in so many different ways.

Far from its gritty industrial beginnings, developer Joseph Fallon said, Fan Pier will now be a place not only to work, live, and shop, but also to have fun. "You can come to sail," said Fallon. "You can come fly a kite. If your spouse tells you to go fly a kite, come to Fan Pier."

Our plan, the North Allston Strategic Framework, promised that places to live, shop, and have fun would accompany Harvard's expansion. There isn't much of any of that in the 8 acres of the Science Complex, but soon we may be shifting our focus to Harvard's Master Plan. Our challenge will be to do better than a suburban office park/campus on the east side of Western Ave while Western Ave west of North Harvard St is left to further rot away. Fan Pier is setting a high standard for urban design. Will Harvard and the City decide to live up to that standard in Allston?

After decades of delays, developer to break ground for South Boston's Fan Pier - The Boston Globe

Fan Pier rising - Boston Globe Editorial