Commuter rail service is off to a running start near the new Boston Landing campus, world headquarters of New Balance Athletics, in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, thanks to the planning and design work of STV.
The new Boston Landing Station was designed by STV as part of an approximately $25 million public-private partnership (P3) between NB Development Group and Massachusetts transportation officials. The station provides a vital link to the popular shoe and athletic apparel company’s 250,000-square-foot world headquarters and the overall Boston Landing development, encompassing 2.15 million square feet of office/lab, sports, entertainment, retail, hotel, and residential space, including practice facilities for the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.
The station will serve customers along the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) Framingham/Worcester Line and its opening will mark the return of commuter rail service to the Allston-Brighton neighborhood for the first time since three stations were eliminated in the 1960s to make way for the Massachusetts Turnpike. The station is designed to provide easy access for employees, visitors and residents of the 15-acre Boston Landing development and surrounding Allston-Brighton neighborhood. The station is initially expected to serve about 2,400 daily passengers.
“The completion of this station provides a vital transportation link to the overall development of Boston Landing and the immediate neighborhood,” said Keith Craig, director of development at NB Development Group. “We were able to make a strong finish with the help of clear communication and coordination between the design and construction team and our DOT and MBTA partners.”
The station features a state-of-the art 785-foot, high-level, center island platform with two platform canopies, accessible stairs, pedestrian bridge, and glass-enclosed elevators that provide easy access to the Boston Landing campus, Arthur Street and the Everett Street bridge overpass. NB Development Group pursued the rail station as part of an overall Transit-Oriented-Development (TOD) initiative to maintain and attract a high-quality workforce along with first-in-class tenants to fill the commercial and residential components. The addition of transit also fulfills New Balance’s sustainability commitment – its corporate headquarters achieved the highest LEED status of Platinum – and the overall campus is intended to be a first of its kind “health and wellness district” that focuses on fitness, sustainability, and support of the local economy.
STV has been involved with the project from the very beginning, developing the master plan for the commuter rail station and working with both the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the MBTA on one of the Commonwealth’s first P3 projects. The use of the P3 allows NB Development Group to create a TOD that will provide access to an expanded workforce and give the MBTA the needed resources to reinstate service to the Allston-Brighton area.
STV went on to provide extensive engineering services for the design and construction of the new station while working with the MBTA and freight rail operator CSX to keep trains moving with minimal disruption.
