North Point is a neighborhood within the East Cambridge section of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. A former railroad yard, the site was originally built by the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the e ...

. It is triangular in shape and bound by the

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA's) transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track on 12 lines to 142 stations. It ...

Fitchburg Line, the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

and associated

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

with the Lechmere Viaduct, the former Lechmere wetlands, and

Millers River The Millers River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in northern Massachusetts, originating in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Ashburnham and joining ...

remnant that once divided Cambridge and Charlestown, along with the Interstate 93 Northern Expressway viaduct to the northeast. After development continued in the area surrounding, it was decided to turn portions of the now-unused rail yard area into a large development, containing commercial, retail and residential development, along with a relocated Lechmere Green Line transit station. The area was master planned and partially constructed under the name NorthPoint, from which the neighborhood received its name. After development stalled, a different developer, DivcoWest, took over the remainder of the site and named it Cambridge Crossing. A new master plan envisioned a center for innovation and collaboration with a central retail hub surrounded by acres of open space.

Transportation

North Point is positioned between two MBTA stations ( Lechmere on the Green Line and

Community College A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

on the Orange Line), adjacent to Kendall Square, one MBTA stop away from North Station. Lechmere opened on March 21, 2022 as part of the Green Line Extension project.

Construction phases

Completed as of January 2022 are two original North Point buildings containing condominiums, one life science building, one retail and office building, and a central retail building along with acres of green space. In progress as of January 2022 are four life science buildings and one residential building. Phase 2 includes additional life science, residential and retail buildings along with new streets being constructed. The final plans for the complete area include 4.5 million square feet of commercial, residential, and retail buildings and 11 acres of open and green space, including a segment of the Mass Central Rail Trail.

References

External links

Neighborhood ProfileDeveloper web site
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