Developer would move eatery, chapel
A developer has proposed moving the Barking Crab restaurant from its current home on the edge of Fort Point Channel as part of
the Seaport Square development. The restaurant site would be donated to extend the city's HarborWalk.
(George Rizer / Globe Staff File)Developer John B. Hynes III said yesterday he wants to accommodate city officials by moving the funky Barking Crab restaurant into his new Seaport Square waterfront development and donating the old restaurant site to extend the public HarborWalk along the Fort Point Channel.
"I've had conversations with one of the partners," Hynes said. While the partnership that owns the Barking Crab has made no commitment, Hynes said, "It works for us - everybody seems to win."
Hynes, who leads the Gale International and
He said yesterday the restaurant would be moved into a new building - one of the first of 20 buildings to be constructed - entirely at Seaport Square's expense.
Likewise, Hynes said, St. Vincent de Paul Parish's Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel, which exists on 10,000 square feet of land in the middle of the Seaport Square land, would be moved into a new church built at the developer's expense.
"They've signed a letter of intent" to make that swap, Hynes said.
One owner of the Barking Crab said yesterday he was surprised to learn of the possible move.
"He was flattered to read of the interest in the Barking Crab," said George Regan, a spokesman for Scott Garvey, who declined to be interviewed. "However, it would be nice if someone asked us."
Hynes said he spoke to co-owner Lee Kennedy and attributed the confusion to an apparent "miscommunication" among the restaurant's owners.
Seaport Square is proposed as a 20-block development with 2.65 million square feet of residential space; 1.5 million square feet of offices; 1.25 million square feet of retail stores and restaurants; a half-million square feet of hotels; and 600,000 square feet of cultural, arts, and educational use.
It would include two parks. The possible relocation of the Barking Crab was first reported yesterday in the Boston Herald.
A recent presentation of Seaport Square and other Gale projects - including the redevelopment of the old Filene's building in Downtown Crossing and a $25 billion ground-up community in South Korea - can be viewed at web.mit.edu/cre/education/pdf/08-0208_john-hynes-presentation.pdf.
The Seaport Square property, now used to park cars, was formerly owned by Frank J. McCourt Jr., who now owns the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball franchise.
Architects are ADD Inc. of Cambridge and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC of New York.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
