Consider the “Lobstah Ice Cream” of Seaport’s latest cultural destination, the Museum of Ice Cream. Paired with a sweet roll that marries the naturally buttery flavors of lobster and vanilla, the palette is proudly Boston. The new museum, which opened in December, is only the tastiest in a string of new developments that have rapidly turned the Seaport into one of Boston’s leading culture hot spots.

Formerly an industrial neighborhood, parking lots and warehouses have in recent decades given way to real estate and cultural institutions. In 2006, The Boston Institute of Contemporary Art moved from its home on Boylston Street in the Back Bay to a brand-new waterfront building in Seaport. The Museum of Ice Cream, Boston’s Children’s Museum and the Boston Fire Museum being just a short walk away makes Fort Point and its adjacent piers a cultural zone with density rivaling the area surrounding the Museum of Fine Arts in Fenway.

Boston’s director of cultural planning, Joseph Henry, said the underdeveloped Seaport, so close to the heart of the metro area, was a rare opportunity that many cities don’t get.

“You very rarely get carte blanche to build a piece of city from scratch,” Henry said. “Boston is sea locked on one side and locked in by other cities to the other side. So the Seaport is actually quite rare, in a sense that it was such an extensive part of the city that was undeveloped and therefore a massive opportunity for Boston to deliver on a lot of its cultural, social and economic infrastructure needs it is unable to do in a lot of other parts of the city."

From 2000 to 2015, Seaport’s resident population grew by 104%, according to a 2017 Boston Planning and Development report, much faster than the city’s overall growth of 10% for the same time period. By 2030 the city estimates the Seaport population will have nearly tripled since 2012, and roughly nine million new square feet of commercial real estate development will come with 13,000 new jobs, according to Go Boston 2030, the City’s plan for transportation investments.

The influx of people coming to Seaport for work and living, combined with the surplus of development opportunities, mean it’s likely just the beginning of the neighborhood’s renaissance.

Two government initiatives, Article 80 of the city’s zoning code and an 1866 Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, provide ample funding and framework for the continued growth of the Seaport waterfront as a public use forward destination.

“Article 80 procures community benefits. But often constituents will prioritize or campaign for arts and culture to be that community benefit,” Henry said. “It isn’t exclusive to arts and culture, but it is often arts and culture that is the beneficiary.”

The Waterfront Act is also the basis for an outstanding city Request For Proposals to lease a 4,750 square feet parcel at 5 Necco Street in Fort Point for an annual triple net rent of only $10.00 to a qualified nonprofit, “in a manner that will provide an active destination for the public and enhance public enjoyment of the nearby Fort Point Channel waterfront.”

“Seaport is so new still. It will be a while before the cultural character of Seaport is fully sort of matured," Henry said. “The hope is that we continue to secure more cultural uses across the Seaport going forwards. Hopefully you'll come back in five years and be like, oh, there's even more stuff!”