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Developers often struggle to gain approval for waterfront skyscrapers in Boston, but that isn’t stopping one from proposing a towering observation wheel at one of the busiest points on Boston Harbor.
Boston Freedom Wheel LLC, a group of Canadian developers, has proposed activating the end of Long Wharf with a 200-foot observation wheel, the Boston Globe reports. The structure would extend over the water and likely bring more crowds to a point primarily reserved for loading and unloading the Provincetown fast ferry. The development team is also exploring sites along the downtown waterfront as well as Christopher Columbus Park for what they envision will become a major tourist attraction.
The Freedom Wheel proposal would be half the height of the nearby Harbor Towers. It would also almost certainly face stiff opposition from waterfront groups.
Wharf District Council President Marc Margulies told the Globe he wasn’t sure an observation wheel was the best way to draw visitors to Long Wharf. Former North End/Waterfront Residents Association President Mary McGee is already a plaintiff in a lawsuit looking to halt a restaurant proposal at the end of Long Wharf and is equally opposed to an observation wheel.
“I don’t think there was anyone [at our meeting] who thought it was a good idea,” she told the Globe. “The only worse idea was their original proposal to put it in front of Christopher Columbus Park.”
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