Parcel 18

Area: 84,822 square feet (1.95 acres)

Bordered by: Oliver Street, High Street, Purchase Street, Atlantic Avenue. Parcel is between One International Place and Rowes Wharf.

Master plan calls for: Open space, highway ramps, possibly a "new and memorable cultural facility."

Other plans: The Artery Business Committee plan calls for museum of Boston history and community culture. The Boston 2000 plan calls for an "urban arboretum," special plantings along the edges of the ramps that would serve as a visual screen.

Zoning: Urban Plaza Open Space Subdistrict (north section), Parkland Open Space Subdistrict (south section). Allowed uses include open space, cultural, restaurant, arboretum, and community.

Notes: This controversial parcel not only contains ramps to and from the underground artery but also connects Mass. Horticultural Society's proposed "Garden Under Glass" to the Wharf District. The ramps make access to the parcel difficult and create a particularly thorny design challenge. Engineers say the structure of the underground tunnel could support a building of up to six stories, though zoning allows only small kiosk-type structures with footprints of 1,200 square feet or less. The master plan calls for parkland with landscaping to screen the roadways, but also recommends a structure "that can physically and programmatically bridge the highway ramps and invite public use."

Parcel 17B | Parcel 19