USGBC Emerging Professionals MA 2017 Bike Tour: Allston/ Brighton Sustainable Development

By Moira Cronin

August 26th, the USGBC Emerging Professionals MA Bike Team selected the Allston/Brighton neighborhood of Boston for this year’s tour because of the area’s influx of new, sustainable development. The route varied from public and private community spaces, to mixed-use, mixed-income, transit oriented developments (TOD) in the post construction, lease-up phase. All stops on the tour were chosen to highlight Allston/Brighton’s vibrant and unique neighborhood as well as compliment team member’s professional backgrounds and interests.

The first stop of the Bike Tour was Boston Landing’s Warrior Ice Arena, 90 Guest Street, a state of the art ice rink facility. Both The Boston Bruins and the public can use the gorgeous rink, hours of use are listed on their website.

Pictured Above: Warrior Ice Arena

Facility manager, Marissa Marwell, gave an enlightening tour of the rink explaining the science behind the rink and the igloo-like window design.  The rink also recycles the heat distributed from the chilling process under the ice and distributes that warm air into the function rooms and other areas of the facility that require heat.  All the equipment used in the facility is electric to improve the indoor air quality.

Warrior Ice Arena opened one year ago this month and is open for public skating on the weekend.  Check out the “Rock n’ Skate” on Fridays from 8-10pm or some of the other fun events on the master schedule!

Pictured Above: The Bike Tour group at Warrior Ice Arena

Marissa also detailed the growth of Boston Landing including the adjacent New Balance Headquarters, new Boston Landing Commuter Rail Station, 280+ condominium units at the Residences at 125 Guest Street, restaurants, retail and upcoming track for the New Balance Running Team.  The New Balance Headquarters is attaining LEED v2009 Platinum and is the only building in the US to achieve all IEQ credits.  There are several unique features to this building that can be viewed during one of the Greenbuild building tours. Learn more about the TM11 – Developers Changing the Status Quo tour!

Next we biked to Allston’s newest condominium community, Trac 75. Addressed 75 Braintree Street, Trac 75 is a LEED silver, 80-unit condominium building.  It has an expansive roof deck, with views of the City and surround area.  The new building also has a landscaped dog park named Bark Park, dog spa and on-site fitness center.

Pictured Above: The Bike Tour group at 430 Cambridge Street

Then we rode over to 430 Cambridge Street. A mixed-used, mixed-income rental apartment style building in Lower-Allston.  Minutes from the Pike, numerous bus lines and Harvard Square, Cambridge.  This building is in the final construction and lease-up stages.  Designed to have almost as many bike spots as there are vehicle spaces- reflecting the City’s urge to reduce vehicle dependency.

 

Pictured Above: The Bike Tour group at Continuum

Next we learned about the sustainable design of Continuum, located at 219 Western Ave, from a previous EP Ryan Montoni, Project Manager at The Green Engineer.  Continuum is v2009 LEED Gold mixed-use, mixed-income rental apartment complex adjacent to Harvard University’s Business School and athletic facilities.  There is a large, beautifully lit terrace between the two buildings, as well as a large bike storage facility and fitness center on site.  A Trader Joe’s, coffee shop and Jewish deli, Our Father’s Deli is opening in Continuum’s retail space.

Pictured Above: The Bike Tour group at Library Park

We rode over to the Raymond V. Mellone Library Park, on North Harvard Street, to take a sustainable lunch break in the serene gardens of Allston.  Located behind Allston’s Public Library, this lesser-known park is an oasis from the ever busy streets of Allston.  As part of the Harvard University Lower Allston Master Plan vision, this 1.75 acre of reclaimed green space serves as an anchor to the future green corridor to connect Lower Allston to the Charles River.  The park highlights many sustainable features including salvaged material use, native plantings and stormwater mitigation through groundwater recharge and an extensive rain garden. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates designed this park with funding from Harvard University.

Pictured Above: The Bike Tour group at HBS Tata Hall

With refueled energy, we road to the Harvard Business School Tata Hall.  Built in 2013, Tata Hall is LEED Platinum and a mixed- use building.  It has thick glass sidings to maximize natural light and transparency to the green spaces surrounding the building, providing panoramic views of the Charles River.  Tata Hall provides 48% water saving compared to an Energy Policy Act of 1992 baseline.  Also a notable 43% reduction in energy costs compared to the baseline standard (ASHRAE 90.1-2007), estimated via energy modeling.

Pictured Above: The Bike Tour group at the Warrior “#selfiestick”

We closed out our bike tour riding along the Charles Esplanade, enjoying the views and knowledge gained from our tour guides and friends at Boston Landing and Continuum. Thank you to Jenna Dancewicz, Ben Silverman, Aminah McNulty and Moira Cronin, for planning the tour!  Thank you once again to our sponsor, NB Development Group!

Join in on the fun next year!