Long Wharf observation wheel a possibility under tentative plan

The Boston waterfront seems destined for a giant observation wheel. Or at least an attempt at one.

Not even three months after one of the proposals for rejuvenating the Charlestown Navy Yard called for a 180-foot observation wheel on its Dry Dock 2 comes news that a group of developers unrelated to that effort is shopping the idea of a 200-foot wheel at Long Wharf, Christopher Columbus Park, or another waterfront spot.

According to the Globe’s Tim Logan, the Long Wharf wheel would extend over the water and would be part of a two-building complex with outdoor seating. Plans are still very preliminary, and the would-be developers face myriad challenges, not least height limitations on the waterfront.

As the push for an observation wheel on the Boston waterfront apparently heats up—who saw that coming?—it might be worth looking down the coast at what happened in Staten Island, New York.

There, developers spent hundreds of millions of dollars—with support from New York City officials—trying to build an observation wheel on the borough’s northern shore. Delays, cost overruns, etc., led to the plan’s collapse in late 2018.

• A 200-foot observation wheel on Boston’s Long Wharf? [Globe]
• Charlestown Navy Yard ‘activation’ proposals include observation wheel [Curbed Boston]
• New York Wheel developers pull plug on ambitious Staten Island project [Curbed NY]