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In the New Boston, underground parking garages and rooftop pool decks become 'edgy'

This is a promotional video for Ink Block South End, the mixed-use development being built atop the remains of Wingo Square. From the blurb:

From the city block that was once the home of the old Boston Herald building will rise the INK BLOCK South End, Boston's edgiest new neighborhood. Street life at INK BLOCK South End will be alive with a flagship Whole Foods Market, trend-setting new restaurants and exciting shops. Four new residential buildings will each bring a unique South End style to the INK BLOCK. Lounge on a rooftop pool deck, relax in the theater, enjoy a workout in the fitness center, spin your wheels in Bike Central or enjoy the luxury of underground parking. All this and more make INK BLOCK South End Boston's hottest new place to live and play.

Bonus points for appropriating images and music from the black community to sell expensive housing to white people.

H/t Chris, who adds, "That video, man. . . so it's edgy. . . like Boston Herald edgy. . . like yellow lab edgy. . . like use-the-same-two-CGI-skyline shots-over-and-over edgy. . . no it's Whole Foods edgy. . . no wait it's South End Buttery edgy."

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Comments

I bet the Future Boston Alliance is all about this new hip Boston.

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Attention young people, it's official, you need to invent a new form of music now that advertisers and developers are using this song to sell condos to yuppies.

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Nicely done.

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It would be great if the project could generate some life in that desolate corner of the city. There no doubt with a Whole Foods the project will create a new center of gravity over there. It will be interesting to see how the dominos fall on the other underutilized lots over there.

BTW Adam, your snark level has been on the rise. Whats up with that? Yeah they overdid it with the whole "edgy" thing, but next to what Steve Samuels is doing in Fenway, this is potentially one of the best bits of development I have seen come forward in the City lately. I think we can cut them some slack for trying to publicize the project to a broader audience than just architecture nerds and old people.

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oh god.

completely clueless.

jeez, I sure hope they can "clean-up" that part of town and make it "nicer" for young professionals.

Presumably the person singing "I was born in Boston" is one of the persons who'll be cleaned up.

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Of course its "Herald Edgy", the owner of the Herald is one of the investors in this project. He didnt just sell off the land and walk away, for better or worse he is involved.
And who cares how lame a promo video is for a development?

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i don't begrudge the developers in general and that's definitely a dead area that could use a little life, but you have to at least snicker at the video and the "South End, Boston's edgiest new neighborhood" assertion. you're allowed to laugh at how ridiculous that is and not be accused of excessive snark. the video looks like it was transported from the 80s.

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Their Idea I thought was to brand the "Ink Block" as the new neighborhood that is so "edgy". Ok yes that is a little corny. A lot corny. I just appreciate that they are going to bring some gravity to that neighborhood, its a dump right now.

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Surely you jest.

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Near the Herald? Its blighted at best.

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about a year ago, good time. Walked around the neighborhood, AT NIGHT EVEN! Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

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Retro is hip.

Bonus points with the hip urban youth for making us old pharts cringe.

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That was the best satire I have ever seen. Ever. It puts "gettin' real in the wholefoods parkin' lot" to shame.

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Egdy was the word used to describe the South End in the promo materials for every freakin' new luxury condo building in the South End a few years ago.

Guess what happened? Every luxury condo is now occupied by people from the "W" towns - empty nesters from Weston, Wellesley, Winchester... and their obnoxious kids for whom they bought a luxury condo as an investment.

When the 3 luxury cafes in the South End (how edgy!) (ooh, a cafe! And they have luxury cupcakes!) have lines of luxury-needing, former Winchester-ites and Wellesley-ites, all straight, white and shiny, a neighborhood isn't really edgy anymore. And just think - an edgy Whole Foods!

I guess moving rich white people into a desolate area just blocks away from drug activity and dead bodies makes it edgy.

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So what is the alternative? Urban decay? You should be glad investment is coming into the city. Yes, they have money. That brings in services to the neighborhood, and stores that need to hire entry level help. I wouldn't worry about the "poor" so much. They are protected in Section 8 and public housing projects. And, sorry, not all rich people are European-American. There are Asian-American, Latin American, and African-Americans with money as well.

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As someone who lives on Harrison Ave, about 2 blocks down from where this development is going, I have to say that I am thrilled about it. The stretch between Herald and East Berkeley streets is disgusting - lots of abandoned buildings and shady business going on. I don't like walking home from the bus stop late at night and will usually walk down Washington instead since there seems to be a little more life. This is a very neglected area and I think it's great that they are developing it, creating a bridge from Bay Village/Chinatown to the South End. While the video is a little 80s, the general message behind it is pretty exciting.

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Mock the video, but welcome the development.

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there is not ONE, abandoned building on Harrison Ave., until you get south of Melnea Cass. Not even near the Pine Street Inn where those pesky homeless assholes live. OR across from Whittier, and we ALL know what goes on there.

You are literally surrounded by high-end residences and stores...what reality are you living in?!

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Where did they find that song?! Send it back to 1993!

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I'm curious why you think only white people will buy at "INK Block"? It's not exactly Atlanta here, but I spend enough time around the Boston demographic they are targeting to know that it isn't all white at the restaurants, shops, bars, clubs, etc that Young Urban Professionals frequent. You seem to be suggesting that black people as a rule can't afford to buy a condo here--if so i'm afraid that conclusion is all on you.

And for the record I think its kind of a cool name, thank god they are not just smashing together abbreviations of a cardinal direction and an adjacent street--maybe its only because SoWa was taken, but there was still NoAl EaBe and WeHe.

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Not on black people.

Watch the video again and tell me how many people who might be black you see. I saw a black kid on a bicycle - who obviously is not going to be renting an apartment anytime soon - and, I think, a black woman in one of the bar scenes. Otherwise, every single shiny, bubbly edgy person in the video is white.

It seemed kind of jarring for a project in Boston in 2013 (even the "ghost" figures are white).

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how about NoPike?

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The BPD Licensing Division?

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I'd be very surprised to see if any retail will be drawn to that area. Even with a couple hundred residential units in the development, there really is nothing else around there and its very cut off from the other areas in Boston. You've got Rte. 93 walling it off from points South and South Boston. You've got the Tunrpike cutting it off from Chinatown and Downtown. Although the other two sides are South End adjacent, its a long, deserted walk from that building to the South End proper.

When the blocks of luxury condo's starting sprouting up like weeds on Washington and Harrison and the cross-streets, it took a very, very long time to attract retail to the ground floor spaces. In fact, go to the corner of Berkeley and Harrison right now and you'll see a lot of ground level retail space that has been sitting empty for a couple of years. That's because despite what people who live in the South End think, the area is really just a shithole, simple as that. I don't see people from the S. End, Chinatown or Downtown flocking to that Whole Foods unless they're in a car. Its not a nice or even a safe walk.

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Talk about douche-bag central! You'd have to pay me to live in the "Ink Block". It's like a gated community in the city.

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I don't even understand. This video told me absolutely NOTHING!

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..but how did it make you feeeeel....?

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