Zolak & Bertrand: 6 potential TD Garden replacements
On Friday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Matt McCarthy dove into 6 potential TD Garden replacements for the Celtics.
We need rapid transit…
McCarthy: I have six options for you, Paul. Six. I’m going to go six to one here. All right. Six.
Perillo: Six options?
McCarthy: Yes. City planner, here’s the most important thing. It needs to be close to the highway and close to an MBTA station. A subway stop, not just commuter rail, subway. Alright, rapid transit. We need rapid transit that we’ve got to move people, Paul. City planner, Matt McCarthy, we’ve got to move people. All right.
Perillo: I like when you go into your Ted Sarandis voice. ‘Rapid transit.’
McCarthy: We need rapid transit. Have you seen that new stadium in Seattle, caller? They have a retractable roof. This thing better have a retractable roof, Paul. City planner, Matt McCarthy. Option No. 6 — I’m going to go six to one here — you might hate this because you’re a north-of-town guy. I’m not saying this is the best option, but I’m going to put it out there. The 128, 95 interchange, just north of that where they were going to extend 95 into Boston before Hyde Park threatened to secede. This is going way back. Sargent Moratorium on highway construction inside of 128 you put it down there. It’s right near University Ave. You could probably put an orange line station there. You’d need to extend the orange line. This is starting to get expensive, though, but you could do that. There’s plenty of land there, not a terrible spot. I’m not saying it’s my No. 1 option.
Perillo: It’s a little far away from me, but I won’t be selfish. I’ll be willing to listen.
You might hate this even more. No. 5, the Braintree Marketplace at Union Street.
Yeah, that’s definitely out for me.
McCarthy: South of town, not popular for people north of town. Here’s what it has going for it.
Perillo: With ridiculous traffic at that at that spot.
McCarthy: Oh, but we’re going to find a place without ridiculous traffic in metro Boston? The whole traffic thing, you’ve got to get that out of your head.
Perillo: You see the difference is, if I’m going to sit in ridiculous traffic, I’m going to go to metro Boston.
McCarthy: You don’t want to go to Braintree.
Perillo: Correct.
McCarthy: OK, a couple of things that has going for it. (Interstate) 93, 128, Route 3, right at the corner of that. Three major highways. Right on the red line. Three commuter rail lines service that it does have a little something going for it. I’m not saying it’s the spot, but it has a little something going for it. I drove by it the other night. I’m like, ‘That wouldn’t be the worst place for an arena.’
Perillo: I heard a caller with Mike and Tony earlier in the week, and brought that up. And not surprisingly, Mike and Tony, were out.
McCarthy: Of course. Braintree, out. Oh, my God. Oh, Metro West, those fancy Metro Westeners. Oh, we have to go down to Braintree?
Perillo: I actually agree with them in this particular case.
McCarthy: OK, No. 4, maybe this will tickle your fancy a little bit more. Allston-Brighton, the rail yard. They’re going to reroute the Mass Pike in there, is that a little bit better for you? I’m sure Mike and Tony would be in on that those Metro Westerns.
Perillo: You’re right off the pike. There’s something needs to be done because, I think Mike was talking about this a lot too, the exits off the pike are a little as I think he likes to say, ‘wonky.’
McCarthy: Yeah, not great.
Perillo: It’s not great. But again, if I’m going to deal with traffic, and I know I’m going to deal with traffic regardless. OK, at least I’m going in the city. Allston not exactly downtown Boston, but close enough. I can deal with that one.
McCarthy: Here’s the problem. No rapid transit. You’re going to have to do something about that. Commuter rail, yeah and they’re going to add West Station by 2040. Paul, they say they’re going to add West Station because that’s definitely going to happen on time. So by 2040, you will have a commuter rail stop out there. So you could go out to Worcester, and you could catch the Express into Boston. It’ll take about an hour, and you can get to the new Celtics arena at Allston Brighton. That’s the problem with that. No Rapid Transit. One commuter rail line. It’s an issue.
Perillo: That’s tough.
McCarthy: That’s the problem with my third option, the Seaport. Up and coming fancy, everybody loves it, the new fresh neighborhood in Boston. Perfect spot for an arena, right?
Perillo: Isn’t the other part sort of the old Seaport that’s kind of empty now?
McCarthy: It feels one of the few places in the city where it still feels like you could find enough land for an arena.
Perillo: Yeah, because I’m not overly familiar with the seaport, that kind of got really big as I was little too old to sort of enjoy that. I wasn’t going in the city as much as I was when I was younger, but that one makes sense to me.
McCarthy: Here’s the problem. You need to upgrade rapid transit. You need to upgrade the silver line. You could maybe make it work, right? But if you’re just relying on a silver line bus to get you to the arena, who’s doing that? And parking? You would need that too.
Perillo: Yeah, it’d be a lot of infrastructure to be tackled.
McCarthy: I’m going to put them out there, but there are problems with those. Here are the two good ones. OK, No. 2, the Bayside Expo Center.
Perillo: I know that got some love this week too.
McCarthy: Maybe got a little bit of development going on there. You can buy those people out. Whatever you’ve got Jeff Bezos coming in or Steve Wynn. You can buy those people out. It’s off the expressway. ‘Oh, but McCarthy, the traffic on the expressway.’ Screw that. There’s going to be traffic everywhere. Right, on the red line, commuter rail, close to South Station.
Perillo: Close enough to the city that you’re not necessarily saying when it’s traffic and you’re out of the way. You’re in the city ish. It’s close enough. That one, I don’t hate that one. Even though I’m north of the city. I would have to go through the city to get there. I can deal with that.
McCarthy: Well, Paul, you could just take the commuter rail into North Station and then catch the North to South (Station) rail. Oh, wait, no, we still don’t have that.
Perillo: You really should have been a city planner. You give a lot of thought to this.
You can take blue line…Oh, but no. The blue line doesn’t connect to anywhere.
Yeah, you don’t want to go the blue line.
McCarthy: No. ‘Oh, well, what about Suffolk Downs? Oh, it’s on the blue line.’ Oh, screw that. Nobody has…I grew up here. I’ve been on the blue line twice in my life. Twice!
Perillo: Yeah, it’s not a well-traveled line.
McCarthy: The blue line. Come on, don’t you give me, ‘Oh, but the Sumner Tunnel. Oh, just take the Sumner. Oh, no, it’s closed.’ Never mind. The No. 1 option. This is it. I don’t want to hear anything else. The new location for the Celtics arena, the Gillette World Shaving Headquarters.
Perillo: Yeah, that’s the one that seemed to get the most love when I heard it talked about during the course of the week. I think there’s a lot of things that are already there for that in terms of parking. It’s huge. It’s a massive plot of land. I think that there would be, obviously, there is no perfect solution, but I think that one comes with the fewest amount of questions.
Listen to the full segment!