The second annual Curbed Boston Cup, our award for the Hub neighborhood of the year, is under way with our original field of 16 whittled down to the Elite Eight. We'll have one match-up a day this week, and voting for each pairing ends after 24 hours. Let the eliminations continue!
First up in the second round: the South End vs. the Seaport District.
Last year's Curbed Boston Cup champ the South End handily defeated the Fenway in round one. And why not? The neighborhood continued to see in 2012 the sort of new development that powered it to victory in 2011, not least in its northeastern edges. There, projects like the Ink Block and 275 Albany are adding hundreds of apartments and thousands of square feet of commercial space, including hotels.
The Seaport District scored an upset in the first round, besting No. 8 East Cambridge. The neighborhood within a neighborhood (South Boston) had quite the 2012, just like the South End. There were big-time groundbreakings, for one thing: Pier 4; Fan Pier; Seaport Square. And we'll always have the Innovation District, if Tom Menino has anything to say about it.
· O, Albany Street! Building the Perfect South End 'Buffer' [Curbed Boston]
· How to Talk About the Innovation District [Curbed Boston]
· Seaport District's Fan Pier Making It Rain Condos [Curbed Boston]
· Pier 4: the 50 Innovation Units and Their Pals Just the Beginning [Curbed Boston]
· First Part of Seaport Square Under Way—And It's Innovative! [Curbed Boston]