Marina Bay (Quincy, Massachusetts)
Encyclopedia
Marina Bay is a mixed-use development
neighborhood of condominium
, commercial and entertainment facilities in Quincy, Massachusetts
. It includes five housing
complexes (including detached, townhouse
and low-rise
apartment
units) and one assisted living
complex, office complex
es, numerous restaurants, a 685-slip marina
and a seaside boardwalk
. It is situated on the northwestern part of Squantum Peninsula at the mouth of the Neponset River
where it meets Dorchester Bay
in Boston Harbor
. The permanent residential population of Marina Bay in 2000 was about 1,300 according to the United States Census Bureau
, however the Boston Globe reported in 2004 that the complex had 2,000 residents.
, a naval airfield that was closed in 1954. The surplus base was sold at auction in 1956 by the U.S. Government's General Services Administration
to the Boston Edison company, the major electric utility
in eastern Massachusetts
at the time. Although other uses were discussed, it was generally assumed that Boston Edison would use the 600 acres (2.4 km²) site to build an electricity generation
facility, with the construction of a nuclear power
plant included in the speculation. The company did not act to develop a plant and instead leased the property to a company that maintained a large marina on the site in the 1960s, using the main hanger of the old naval air base as the main marina building.
Boston Harbor Marina Inc., later Marina Industries Inc., became interested in development of the land as a mixed-used complex in the 1980s and a group driven by Quincy developers William and Peter O'Connell was able to gain support and finally approval from the city of Quincy for the project in 1985. Construction proceeded in phases for several years until the recession of the early 1990s brought it to a halt and eventually forced the O'Connells to declare bankruptcy
. Development continued under other management with the involvement of the O'Connells after foreclosure
. During the 1990s and beyond it became recognized as a highly desirable location by companies and urban professionals and has been cited by the state of Massachusetts as a successful example of "traditional neighborhood development", an aspect of what has come to be known as New Urbanism
.
The development has not existed without controversy. The initial concept and construction was opposed unsuccessfully by residents of the adjacent Squantum
neighborhood of Quincy who feared traffic congestion
and noise pollution
. Later, environmental groups successfully opposed expansion of the complex into an area of wetlands used as a bird sanctuary, fighting a five-year battle that ended in 2002. Noise from a large nightclub
known as Ocean Club, formerly Marina Bay Beach Club, formerly WaterWorks, has prompted complaints from as far away as the Boston neighborhood of Savin Hill
, located 2000 feet (609.6 m) across Dorchester Bay, and has been an ongoing source of political struggles.
database of named places in the United States. However, in 2004 it gained temporary notoriety as such when New England Patriots
linebacker Willie McGinest
was interviewed at home on a nationally televised NFL playoffs
broadcast and the location for the live pictures was given at the bottom of the screen as "Marina Bay, Massachusetts". This designation is not officially recognized by the United States Postal Service
, which only accepts presorted mail destined for the 02171 ZIP code
that is addressed to either Quincy, North Quincy or Squantum, MA. Nevertheless, Marina Bay residents and the local media took note of the broadcast and a story in the Boston Globe outlining the success of the complex and its popularity among athletes and local celebrities appeared shortly after the McGinest interview.
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
neighborhood of condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
, commercial and entertainment facilities in Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
. It includes five housing
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
complexes (including detached, townhouse
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
and low-rise
Low-rise
A low-rise is a building that is only a few stories tall.There is no universally accepted height requirement for a building to be considered a low-rise...
apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
units) and one assisted living
Assisted living
Assisted living residences or assisted living facilities provide supervision or assistance with activities of daily living ; coordination of services by outside health care providers; and monitoring of resident activities to help to ensure their health, safety, and well-being.Assistance may...
complex, office complex
Office complex
Commonly referred to as a plaza, an office complex is often confused with an office building. Complexes are just one storey, with extensive fields available in retail positioning, but primarily used for medical practitioners along with a stronghold potential for community development.This due to...
es, numerous restaurants, a 685-slip marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
and a seaside boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
. It is situated on the northwestern part of Squantum Peninsula at the mouth of the Neponset River
Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. The headwaters of the Neponset are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near the Gillette Stadium...
where it meets Dorchester Bay
Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor)
Dorchester Bay is the smallest of the three small bays of southern Boston Harbor, part of Massachusetts Bay and forming the south shoreline of the South Boston neighborhood and northeast shoreline of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, as well as the north shore of the city of Quincy in...
in Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...
. The permanent residential population of Marina Bay in 2000 was about 1,300 according to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, however the Boston Globe reported in 2004 that the complex had 2,000 residents.
History
Marina Bay is situated on the former site of Naval Air Station SquantumNaval Air Station Squantum
Naval Air Station Squantum was an active naval aviation facility during 1917 and from 1923 until 1953. The original civilian airfield that preceded it, the Harvard Aviation Field, dates back to 1910. The base was sited on Squantum Point in the city of Quincy, Massachusetts...
, a naval airfield that was closed in 1954. The surplus base was sold at auction in 1956 by the U.S. Government's General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
to the Boston Edison company, the major electric utility
Electric utility
An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...
in eastern Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
at the time. Although other uses were discussed, it was generally assumed that Boston Edison would use the 600 acres (2.4 km²) site to build an electricity generation
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
facility, with the construction of a nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plant included in the speculation. The company did not act to develop a plant and instead leased the property to a company that maintained a large marina on the site in the 1960s, using the main hanger of the old naval air base as the main marina building.
Boston Harbor Marina Inc., later Marina Industries Inc., became interested in development of the land as a mixed-used complex in the 1980s and a group driven by Quincy developers William and Peter O'Connell was able to gain support and finally approval from the city of Quincy for the project in 1985. Construction proceeded in phases for several years until the recession of the early 1990s brought it to a halt and eventually forced the O'Connells to declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. Development continued under other management with the involvement of the O'Connells after foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
. During the 1990s and beyond it became recognized as a highly desirable location by companies and urban professionals and has been cited by the state of Massachusetts as a successful example of "traditional neighborhood development", an aspect of what has come to be known as New Urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
.
The development has not existed without controversy. The initial concept and construction was opposed unsuccessfully by residents of the adjacent Squantum
Squantum (Quincy, Massachusetts)
Squantum is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts. Located in the northernmost portion of the city on the Squantum Peninsula, it is bordered on the north by Dorchester Bay and Boston Harbor, on the east by Moon Island and Quincy Bay, on the south by Quincy Bay and North Quincy and on the west by...
neighborhood of Quincy who feared traffic congestion
Traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...
and noise pollution
Noise pollution
Noise pollution is excessive, displeasing human, animal or machine-created environmental noise that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life...
. Later, environmental groups successfully opposed expansion of the complex into an area of wetlands used as a bird sanctuary, fighting a five-year battle that ended in 2002. Noise from a large nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
known as Ocean Club, formerly Marina Bay Beach Club, formerly WaterWorks, has prompted complaints from as far away as the Boston neighborhood of Savin Hill
Savin Hill
Savin Hill is the first album by punk band Street Dogs. This is the first new material featuring lead singer Mike McColgan since he quit Dropkick Murphys in 1998...
, located 2000 feet (609.6 m) across Dorchester Bay, and has been an ongoing source of political struggles.
Neighborhood identity
Marina Bay is not a city by itself, and unlike all other neighborhoods of Quincy it is not yet listed in the United States Geological SurveyUnited States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
database of named places in the United States. However, in 2004 it gained temporary notoriety as such when New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
linebacker Willie McGinest
Willie McGinest
William Lee "Willie" McGinest, Jr. is a retired American football linebacker in the National Football League.-Early life and career:...
was interviewed at home on a nationally televised NFL playoffs
NFL playoffs
The National Football League playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held at the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the...
broadcast and the location for the live pictures was given at the bottom of the screen as "Marina Bay, Massachusetts". This designation is not officially recognized by the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
, which only accepts presorted mail destined for the 02171 ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
that is addressed to either Quincy, North Quincy or Squantum, MA. Nevertheless, Marina Bay residents and the local media took note of the broadcast and a story in the Boston Globe outlining the success of the complex and its popularity among athletes and local celebrities appeared shortly after the McGinest interview.