MOBILE WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, April 14
TICKET #2 Big Dig/Rose Kennedy Greenway: Concrete and Greenspace
(8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)
Lunch Not Included

An engineering feat and civic victory, Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway has transformed the area between Boston's Financial District and its waterfront from an area bathed in the rust and shadows of an elevated highway to a glorious boulevard of connecting parks knitting together multiple Boston neighborhoods and creating acres of parkland in Boston's urban core. During this mobile workshop, you will traverse the length of this marvel - from the surface roads to the tunnels below. You will hear the story of how this project came to be, how the complex coordination of major construction in existing Boston neighborhoods was executed, how the project has affected real estate values and development in the Downtown, and what really went on "behind the scenes" on one of the most complex public works and infrastructure projects ever implemented.

 $ 65
TICKET #3 The Fenway District: Reemergence of a Historic Neighborhood
(8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)
Lunch Not Included		 $ 65
TICKET #4 "Bed to Bench": Collaborative Development in the World's Most Advanced Medical Research Community
(8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)
Lunch Not Included

The Longwood Medical and Academic Area (LMA), a 213-acre area formed by the Riverway, Fenway, and Huntington Avenue, constitutes one of the premier medical, research, academic, and cultural communities in the world. More than 40,000 people work in the LMA, 18,000 students attend school here, and more than 1 million patients visit the area’s hospitals annually. This small area generates over $5 billion in annual revenues and attracts billions of dollars in public and private capital dedicated to medical research and life sciences innovation.  It is home to some of the world’s premier medical research institutions, including Harvard Medical School and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This workshop will provide participants with an in-depth look at the forces behind one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and the resulting product from a collaboration of industry experts. The discussion will touch on the collaboration between public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders that seek to strengthen the “bed to bench” concept: a close relationship between ground-breaking medical research and hands-on patient care. There will be an interactive panel discussion with public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders in this unique industry cluster, followed by a walking tour of the LMA neighborhood and an in-depth tour of the Center for Life Sciences, a recently completed BioMed property that houses some of the most advanced technology in the biotechnology field.   		$ 65
TICKET #5 The Ladder District: Urban Regeneration through Hospitality and Housing
(8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.)
Lunch Not Included


 The Ladder District was an area primarily known as a shopping district in the heart of Boston, located due east of the Boston Common and west of the Financial District. Almost 100 years ago, the area featured a multiplicity of large department stores as well as restaurants, music stores, souvenir sellers, general retail and service uses, and street vendors.   The city of Boston attempted to rejuvenate the area after its post–World War II decline caused by the suburban mall trend, by designating a portion of it as the Midtown Cultural District, paying homage to the area’s historical role as home to Boston’s theater, opera, and cabaret offerings.  A wave of development began in the early 1990s with the 1.4 million-square-foot, $500 million Millennium Place mixed-use project developed by Millennium Partners. This project includes, among other elements, the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common Hotel, a 19-screen movie complex, a luxury fitness facility, and 350-plus luxury condominiums. In addition, Emerson College and Suffolk University have made major investments in the area over the last decade, moving the hearts of their campuses to the Midtown Cultural District. A number of former industrial buildings and Class B office buildings have been converted to residential space for both students and condominium owners. Numerous historic theaters have been restored to their original glory. A retail mall of 1980s vintage has been reborn as back office space serving Boston’s financial services industry. Join us for an in-depth look at both the history and import of the pioneering Millennium Place project. Hear from key local developers, urban planners, and college and university real estate professionals who helped spur this ongoing downtown renaissance. This workshop will include a walking tour for a direct experience of the diversity and study in contrasts that the area provides, and will end at the newly opened W Boston Hotel and Residences in the heart of Boston’s theater district. 
$ 95
TICKET #6 NewBridge on the Charles: A New Type of "Mixed Use"
(8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)
Lunch Included

NewBridge on the Charles is a unique, recently completed continuing care retirement community situated on 160 acres of land in Dedham, Massachusetts. Located approximately 20 miles from downtown Boston, it incorporates extensive use of geothermal wells and many energy-efficiency and low-impact development technologies, including a weather station and recycled rainwater for irrigation purposes. The campus features a continuum of care for senior residents including 256 independent living cottages, villas, and apartments all organized around a central village center with dining, fitness facilities, and other amenities. The health center component of the campus represents a state-of-the-art approach to skilled nursing care, with private single-occupancy rooms organized around a common community kitchen instead of a traditional, institutional-type setting. The campus also will feature intergenerational programming since Rashi School, Inc., a K–8 Jewish (Reform) day school, is collocating on the campus and will be open in September 2010.		 $ 95
TICKET #7 Kendall Square: Square of Life Sciences
(8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.)
Lunch Not Included

Cambridge’s Kendall Square, an urban renewal success story after a failed 1960s NASA bid, is home to MIT and more than 100 life sciences, high tech and clean energy companies. And while a successful tax base was created, the 1977 Urban Renewal Plan was less successful in creating a vibrant neighborhood. When in the 1990s a new wave of life sciences construction arrived along with a new generation of students, workers, and neighbors looking for the live-play part of the live-work-play equation, the city of Cambridge and private developers took up the challenge of transforming the neighborhood yet again. You will learn about the history of the area, the planning process, and the public improvements that support these private developments; view Equity Residential’s new Third Square apartments; and, most importantly, hear how life sciences, higher education, high tech, and housing interact with each other and the city. There will be a behind-the-scenes tour of the LEED-Platinum Genzyme Building. 		$ 65