TD Garden owner Delaware North just won the bid to redevelop the uninviting tundra that is Boston's City Hall Plaza into a kind of civic Disneyland, complete with a year-round, 200-foot-high Ferris wheel with 42 climate-controlled gondolas and a sandy beach in the summertime.
While, per Dan Adams in the Globe, "many details of the plan remain fuzzy, especially its financing," Delaware North's city-sanctioned proposal marks a potential watershed for that area of Boston, one likely to become a major tourist attraction and to join iconic addresses such as Faneuil Hall in representing the city conceptually to the world.
Plans also call for a two-story restaurant surrounded by a beer garden and outdoor dining; a ground-level "#BOSTON" sign for the selfie set; a winter garden and ice-skating venue (and space for curling); and semi-permanent food and coffee stalls around the new-and-improved Government Center Station.
Delaware North and the city do not expect to use any public funds for the mighty undertaking. Instead, the company plans to line up corporate sponsorships as well as charge fees for some attractions.
Again, though, things are still as up in the air as the proposed Ferris wheel; and Delaware North's contract is for only three years. Plus, this is not the first time an administration or a firm has tried to enliven the plaza. Still, please, let at least the wheel happen.
- How Unloved City Hall Plaza Could Come to Life [Globe]
- Inside the New Government Center T Station Before It Reopens [Curbed Boston]
- The 12 Most Iconic Buildings in Boston, Mapped [Curbed Boston]
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