TIME FOR YARD WORK
Feds plan $3M makeover in Charlestown
The Charlestown Navy Yard is slated to get a $3 million federal investment to transform the historic site into a booming tourist and community space connecting the Boston Harbor to the city’s Freedom Trail tours and other sites.
“When you walk down the pier five years from now it won’t look like this. It will be a pier, a facility, a partnership that represents the greatest part of America which is us, the people,” Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced yesterday at the Navy Yard alongside Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer.
“We often hear the siren song continuously that the U.S. government might be broken, but today we have a bright spot here where we have coordination among government agencies and private entities to produce an asset for you that is truly amazing,” agreed Spencer. “It truly is a bold vision that we have here for the Charlestown Navy Yard.”
A major investment will be toward the design of a new USS Constitution Museum and Navy Yard visitor center that will be in the Hoosac Warehouse, located next to “Old Ironsides.” The old mid-1890s warehouse would house the USS Constitution Museum and the National Park Service’s visitor center and offices and serve as an orientation center, officials said.
The redevelopment of the Navy Yard is part of a collaborative partnership between the National Parks of Boston, USS Constitution Museum, USS Constitution and the Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston that began a year and a half ago to come up with ideas for how the site could better serve and engage the community. The effort, called the “Visitor Experience Plan” was developed by Sasaki Associates of Waltham.
The redevelopment project will address three areas: the Gateway, Great Lawn, and Waterfront. The Gateway portion will feature the USS Constitution Museum but with expanded galleries, access to Harbor Walk and Bunker Hill and waterfront space that could be used for special events. The Great Lawn, meanwhile, is envisioned as a space for community events and concerts.
The revamped waterfront is expected to feature an improved Pier 1 that could accommodate festivals and year-round activities and new Freedom Trail tours connecting Boston Harbor to the shoreside. A new structure would be built in place of Building 109 to offer shade and house events
“The visitor experience plan is an exciting moment in the Charlestown Navy Yard’s history,” said Commanding Officer of USS Constitution Nathaniel Shick. “It is an opportunity for my sailors to engage with the public, for the public to walk through the gates there at the Hoosac building and learn and embrace a deeper meaning of the Constitution’s history before they come aboard the decks of the Constitution.”
Some protesters at the plan’s unveiling, holding “Defend #MonumentsforAll” signs, however, argued that the Trump administration wasn’t investing in public land, but opening it up to fossil fuel development.
“They are destroying our national parks,” said Matt McLaughlin, a Somerville resident and Iraq War veteran. “That money is coming from exploiting public land for fossil fuels.”