The Seaport is the newest large-scale, upscale neighborhood of Boston – and in this, it carries on a tradition of Beacon Hill (beginning in the 1790s) and Back Bay (beginning in the mid-1800s). Each was developed as an affluent enclave with then-contemporary architecture and the latest amenities (which, at that time, was indoor plumbing and gas lighting, but still).

Doesn't feel like a neighborhood. However, one of the common complaints about the Seaport is that it does not yet feel like a neighborhood. Indeed, unlike the traditional neighborhoods of Boston, the neighborhood feels composed of fewer, larger buildings with more space between them. In this way, it evokes Battery Park City in Manhattan – also developed as a cluster of large, waterfront condo towers. However, the neighborhood may develop more street-level activity as more buildings incorporate restaurants and retail spaces into their ground floors.

Built on reclaimed land. The Seaport and adjacent Fort Point are two of many Boston neighborhoods built on, or expanded using, reclaimed land. Over time, reclaimed land can settle and be more prone to horizontal flooding from storm surges and climate change. During the intense storms in January 2018, according to the Boston Globe (and more), and WCVB)

Best blocks and notable buildings

Watermark Seaport (85 Seaport Blvd.) is a luxury rental building with about 280 apartments and 65 lofts. The building has over 15,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities.

Pier 4 (300 Pier Four).

22 Liberty Dr., on Fan Pier.

50 Liberty on Fan Pier is a luxury condo development designed by Elkus Manfredi.

Commercial and retail

The Seaport has become an increasingly desirable commercial address which is drawing a mix of established technology and biotech companies. The desirability of the neighborhood makes it difficult for start-ups to afford the office rents.

The neighborhood's resurgence as a second commercial center, a rival to the older buildings in downtown Boston, began when General Electric moved its headquarters from Connecticut to the neighborhood. That decision, of course, may have helped with a state incentive package of $80-120 million, and a city package of up to $25 million in property tax breaks.

• Residential
• Commercial

Transportation

There are no subway stations within the Seaport. Residents on the west side of the neighborhood can cross the bridge to South Station in the Financial District. Those in the southern part of the neighborhood have a short walk to the Broadway stop on the Red Line, one stop from South Station.

That said, given that the Seaport is becoming one of the most expensive and prominent neighborhoods of Boston for both residents and businesses, the city is considering investing in additional transportation infrastructure to better serve the neighborhood, according to the New YorkTimes. In a parallel to Manhattan's Roosevelt Island, gondola service is being proposed between South Station and the Seaport, according to Boston Globe.

Boundaries

The Seaport comprises most of the northernmost of South Boston's two peninsulas. To the west is Fort Point, and across the channel, the Financial District and the Waterfront. To the south and east are, respectively the West Side and East Side of South Boston.

The Seaport neighborhood has been shaped by two waves of development. First, the neighborhood was transformed when it was
Two waves of transformation: first, reclaiming the land through infill in the late 1800s (most of it today was underwater), to a thriving shipping ... no man's land of warehouses and parking lots.






In 2010, Tom Menino dubbed the area the Innovation District [which means _____________] ... hoped to create a new tech hub to rival Kendall Square in Cambridge.
Thomas M. Menino, a city mayor who died in 2014, had envisioned the area, just across the Fort Point Channel from downtown as an “innovation district,” with state-of-the-art office space, plenty of walk-to-work apartments, numerous restaurants, and pedestrian-friendly streets and parks.

Mayor Menino has long seen the South Boston waterfront as a legacy project, in the same way that White once viewed the redevelopment of the Financial District and Quincy Market. Menino helped transform the waterfront’s parking lots into development opportunities by pairing City Hall’s broad zoning powers with tax breaks and, in at least one case, personal recruitment.

The Big Dig may have been a financial black hole, but today’s Seaport wouldn’t exist without the $14.6 billion project: The new I-93 and I-90 interchange meant that city and suburban dwellers could reach the Seaport in just a few (relatively stress-free) minutes. Meanwhile, the Silver Line, the Big Dig’s mandated public-transit component, ensured that conventioneers, residents, and workers could easily get to and from the airport. The most important change, though, may have been psychological: By burying the dingy, elevated Central Artery — which had previously cut off the waterfront from the rest of the city — the Seaport and downtown were at last connected.



2. The Feds Move In
More than a few eyebrows were raised in 1991 when the city ­announced it was moving the federal courthouse from the heart of the Financial District to the then-desolate Seaport. But when the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse (pictured above) opened seven years later, complete with an 88-foot-tall glass wall overlooking a park and the harbor, ... The Seaport was suddenly a place to conduct serious business. For years, though, the courthouse remained one of the few buildings around, sticking out

3. An Artery Runs Through It (with On- Ramps)
The Big Dig may have been a financial black hole, but today’s Seaport wouldn’t exist without the $14.6 billion project: The new I-93 and I-90 interchange meant that city and suburban dwellers could reach the Seaport in just a few (relatively stress-free) minutes. Meanwhile, the Silver Line, the Big Dig’s mandated public-transit component, ensured that conventioneers, residents, and workers could easily get to and from the airport. The most important change, though, may have been psychological: By burying the dingy, elevated Central Artery — which had previously cut off the waterfront from the rest of the city — the Seaport and downtown were at last connected.

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