by BostonUrbEx
newpylong wrote:B - Iron Horse is walkable/bikable to/from N. Billerica Commuter Rail station (trains every 30 mins to the hour weekday). 2 miles to I495 and 3, 5 miles from 93 and 8 to 128. From a geographical perspective, it is very easy to get to and fairly centrally located for northside operations. Many of the people who currently work in Innerbelt live up north as well.It is over a mile walk from the station, about 1⅓ or so, whereas walking distance is generally considered ¼ or ⅓ mile. As it is, BET and Sullivan are ¾ mile to Cobble Hill, but people use them. Sidewalks are spotty in North Billerica depending on your route, but High St certainly has none and no paved shoulder, close-in foliage making fairly blind curves. Cycling infrastructure is non-existent in Billerica, whereas Cobble Hill has bike infra and will soon have three bike networks landing at its edges. Street lights are far more infrequent in Billerica, too. Corthell Rd is one of the shorter routes and has no lighting at all, makes for a very uneasy and dangerous walk or ride. An OCC is a 24/7 365 environment, so peak service levels at that station you can trek to don't much matter, anyway. It is convenient only for driving and only for some.
BandA wrote:You want to locate your back-office facilities in low-cost areas, not in downtown transit accessible locationsEmployees at Cobble Hill aren't exactly land-intensive and are pretty cheap to place. Ballparking here, everyone needs a 10x10 desk area or office, add to that multiple shifts and you might average 2 employees per 10x10 work area. Meanwhile, warehousing and maintenance facilities are very land-intensive because you're storing parts, machinery, and trains. BET has 4x the land used for parking, but the property is 10x larger. Barring specific needs or conveniences of the industry, warehousing and maintenance should be on the periphery.
Also, the MBTA already and still owns the Cobble Hill property, as well as BET which is not relocating, and other properties are theoretically available (probably full occupancy) such as High St or the State Transportation Building. There's no pressing need to propagate job sprawl and VMT, which in turn encourages further housing sprawl.
|| REGIONALRAIL ||