Rising water levels threaten Boston’s waterfront
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/08/03/water-threatening-waterfront-development/b4eCLXFdwk5d8hUHcYdIeI/story.html
Rising water levels threaten Boston’s waterfront
Business is booming from end to end of the waterfront, but the specter of surging sea levels has developers on edge
By Casey Ross
Globe Staff
August 04, 2013
Boston’s effort to redevelop its waterfront is running into a major obstacle: Water.
From downtown to East Boston to Dorchester, rising sea levels are posing an increasingly urgent threat to developers’ plans to build hundreds of homes, offices, stores, and parks along Boston Harbor, with many acknowledging the need to reinforce existing properties and redesign new ones in case of flooding from another Hurricane Sandy-like storm.
“We can’t ignore it,” said Donald Chiofaro Jr. of the Chiofaro Co., which is seeking to redevelop the Harbor Garage along Atlantic Avenue. “We can’t allow ourselves to look the other way and end up in the same situation as lower Manhattan after Sandy.”
Several building owners are already preparing for the growing possibility of flood waters. At Fan Pier, developer Joseph Fallon has moved critical electrical systems higher in his buildings. Nearby, developers of a residential tower at Pier 4 are proposing to use special flood barriers for lower entrances. And the newly built Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown is surrounded by protective walls and landscaping buffers, and no patient programs are located on the ground floor...
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