Charlesview Redevelopment | Western Ave | Allston

cden4

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The PNF for the Charlesview Redevelopment on Western Ave has been published, and is available at the BRA's website:

http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/Dev...rojects.asp?action=ViewProject&ProjectID=1326

Most importantly, it contains a site plan and number of renderings of the proposed buildings.

Personally, I think the plan looks terrific. It's absolutely the kind of development that will improve North Allston/North Brighton. Removing part of a strip mall to build human-scale housing and retail in a small street grid will return at least part of the area to a more urban form. I love that the plan has a mix of housing types, all fronting the street, with parking hidden underground for the most part. It also has larger mixed-use buildings with ground floor retail along Western Ave.

My hope is that someday the other half the shopping plaza can be redeveloped in a similar way, integrating the existing stores into a mixed-use environment. I also hope that the neighbors embrace this plan. Perhaps a few tweaks can be made, but overall I think it's great.
 
Ouch, that file took me like 7 minutes to load. It felt like 1998 (so does the architecture, but I like the urban plan. Doesn't "New Street" seem unnecessarily redundant, though?)
 
From Boston.com

See link for picture of photo of model of development: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news...00m_charlesvie.html?p1=HP_Well_YourTown_links

Work begins on $200M Charlesview relocation, expansion in Allston

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Officials broke ground Monday on the first phase of a $207-million, mixed-use, 340-housing unit project that will relocate and expand the outdated Charlewsview residential complex to the former Brighton Mills shopping center several blocks away.

The 40-year-old, 213-unit Charlesview development will vacate its current 4.5 acre-site near Harvard Stadium after a new complex is built on a swath around twice that size along Western Avenue that Harvard University swapped with the complex?s owners, Charlesview Inc., an interdenominational nonprofit formed by three neighborhood congregations in 1969.

The new site is officially dubbed Charlesview Residences at Brighton Mills, but speakers at Monday?s ceremonial groundbreaking repeatedly referred to the development ?Charlesview 2.?

The project?s plans stalled at times and evolved over the past eight years as residents raised and debated concerns over its scope and design. A slew of community meetings created tension particularly between the neighborhood and the city?s redevelopment authority and also between residents and Harvard.

?It has a million reasons for never happening and yet we?re here now to celebrate it,? Patrick Clancy, president and CEO of the Community Builders, said of the project.

Elected leaders, officials from the state, city, and Harvard, and development partners joined local residents and religious leaders at the groundbreaking in the former shopping center?s parking lot Monday morning.

?This is a wonderful development for the residents of Charlesview, the Allston-Brighton neighborhood, and the city of Boston,? said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ?It will provide beautiful new homes for families, revitalize and enliven a section of our city, and add much-needed jobs.?

The public-private project calls for 240 mixed-income rental units and 100 homeownership units set at both affordable and market rates. Officials said it will be ?one of the largest new multifamily developments in the region.?

The 22-building site will also include a new community center, 14,000 square feet of retail space, a half-acre park and a 243-space underground parking garage.

Officials hope the first occupants, most of which will come from the original complex, will begin moving in by mid-2014.

The bulk of the project will be built during its first, $157-million, 28-month phase. The second, $50-million phase?s timing is market dependent and will add 80 condominiums on Telford Street, officials said.

The project will be developed by The Community Builders and financed through private debt, tax credits, and other funding, including a "substantial cash payment" from Harvard to cover the relocation costs and a $106-million loan from the state?s affordable housing bank, MassHousing.

MassHousing said the investment was its second-largest in its 45-year history.

The development is expected to create over 600 union construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
 
today
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me too! they tore down some nice old brick factories to build this crap,what come's around go's around :)
 
They're making quick work of that half of the plaza. Little bit of a nightmare getting through the driveway to the Shaw's, but I agree...wholly satisfying to watch. That thing's been vacant for half as long as it's been around. I'm surprised the Petco does half as well as it does with the vast expanse of empty parking spaces more or less isolating it from Shaw's.
 
yep pretty much gone!^cool nite shots^ today>
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seeyah mc-d's
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the 1st pix is the former gas station
 
Just to add a few:

The blank wall of Shaws (I REALLY hope they dont put a ghettotastic mural here)
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From the former loading bay of the K-mart:
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Stone salvaged from the pillars: (I was really happy to see these arent going in the scrap heap)
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Its kind of hard to see, but they have already started putting in sewers, which is the concrete thing the backhoe is resting on.
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Whats left of the Micky-Ds, as well as the regrading of the future Telford St extension. Just to the left of this they had done more digging for sewers and such:
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Semi-related, they have started exterior work on the sushi buffet place. I hope it will open soon, I'm looking forward to a place on this side of the pike to eat that's not pizza or bar food
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An update: I rode by last night and they have started putting in the footings for the new mcdonalds. They also painted that cinderblock wall black (it might be some kind of weatherproofing) and have dug out most of the old foundations. It was too dark for any pictures with my crappy phone.

At the pace they are moving it wouldn't suprize me if they have the foundations laid before the ground freezes. I for one can't wait until the new streets open up, its a bigger pain then you might imagine walking around to the other side of the shaws for everything.
 
Boston.com
Affordable housing investment in Allston clicks for Google

When most people hear the name Google, they think Internet searches, not affordable housing.

But in Allston, the search-engine giant is investing $28 million to help construct 240 units at the Charlesview residences, one of the largest low-income housing developments in the country.

On its face, the investment seems strange because it puts Google Inc., typically focused on the virtual world, in a corner of the affordable housing business dominated by big banks and investment companies.

However, Google and other companies know something that others don’t: Rental and low-income housing projects are now among the most lucrative investments available, with businesses from Apple Inc. to Sherwin-Williams Co. buying millions in government tax credits used to finance affordable homes in Massachusetts and other states. These companies use the credits to significantly reduce their tax bills, while builders get desperately needed funds to provide affordable housing to low- and middle-income families.

In its most recent fiscal year, MassHousing, the state’s affordable housing bank, helped provide financing for a record $446 million in rental-housing deals, due in large part to renewed interest among private companies and other investors. That’s up from just $89 million in the 2009 budget year, when the economic downturn dried up funding for such projects.

“A lot of these nontraditional investors have said, ‘Wait a second, this is a good deal,’ ’’ said Greg Judge, chief operating officer of Boston Financial Investment Management, which specializes in low-income housing investments. “It’s affordable housing, so it makes them feel good, has a great investment track record, and it’s one of the best deals around right now.’’

An executive with Google said the technology company was attracted to affordable housing in part because the projects seldom encounter financial difficulties and almost never result in a default.

“We want to be responsible corporate citizens, and that’s what drove us to invest, but the returns are also quite good considering the risk,’’ said Axel Martinez, an assistant treasurer for Google. “Charlesview is one of the places where we were able to add value, when in the past projects like that wouldn’t have gotten done.’’

The Charlesview project, expected to employ hundreds of laborers over the next two years, involves the relocation and expansion of a 213-unit affordable housing complex on Western Avenue that was built in the 1970s and has fallen into disrepair.

The new Charlesview will be a half-mile down the road, on part of the former Brighton Mills Shopping Center. Its nonprofit developer, Community Builders Inc., is constructing 240 apartments and eventually plans to add a 100-unit condominium tower that will include 26 low- to moderate-income units. The project will also result in a new park, retail stores, a community center, and an underground parking garage.

Developers are allocated tax credits by government agencies, and in turn sell them to investors and use the proceeds for construction. The traditional buyers are banks and lenders that not only use them to lower their tax bills, but to fulfill the requirements of the federal Community Reinvestment Act. The act mandates that lenders fund housing construction, small business development, and other initiatives in the communities where they operate.

The tax credits have become a critical source of funding for affordable housing, but in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008, many builders found it difficult to find investors with the wherewithal to finance these projects. Banks and other traditional buyers were saddled with huge losses during the period and withdrew from the market, which forced the federal government to step in to provide funding to keep the sector afloat.

Investors came back to the market in 2010, when banks and other buyers earned enough profits to be able to use the tax credits, and prices for them had dropped so much that they had become investment bargains. Companies could buy a dollar of credits for 70 cents or less, allowing them to get double-digit returns that are exceedingly difficult to get elsewhere.

And while prices for tax credits have risen in recent months - to 90 cents on the dollar or more - even at those prices they still produce better returns than other investments.

Many of the affordable projects financed during the past few years are just now getting under construction, providing badly needed jobs in the hard-hit construction industry.

“This work is enormously helpful,’’ said Greg Vasil, chief executive of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. “Market-rate stuff is so difficult to build right now, and unemployment in the building trades has been as high as 50 percent, so it definitely helps.’’

MassHousing is providing a series of loans for the Charlesview project, along with $72 million in financing from Harvard University and the $28 million from Google, which stepped up its investments in low-income housing in 2010, when the prices of tax credits were between 60 and 70 cents on the dollar. In addition to Charlesview, Google in August 2010 participated in an $86 million fund managed by US Bancorp used to build 480 affordable projects in California and across the Midwest.

Among other companies to invest in Massachusetts projects recently are Apple Inc., Sherwin-Williams, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the financial company founded by billionaire Warren Buffett.

One of the questions now facing the affordable housing market is whether those investors will stay in the market with rising prices for tax credits eating into their returns. Google, for one, has said it intends to continue investing, although many others have come and gone over the years.

“The good news is that some people do stay in the market,’’ said Judge, the executive with Boston Financial Investment Management. “If you take these investments away, it’s impossible to make the numbers work on (low-income) rents. Ninety percent of these projects would not get funded.’’

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
 
Word. Great idea.

How so? Just means for money from less taxes for big fat companies that don't hire the likes of which they're housing. All I see out of this is a widening gap. It's a noble idea, but I don't see how this solves anything.
 
How so? Just means for money from less taxes for big fat companies that don't hire the likes of which they're housing. All I see out of this is a widening gap. It's a noble idea, but I don't see how this solves anything.

Perfect!!!


Google has many many $Bs sitting around

Google portray itself as the Greenest Hightech Company -- beeves in public transit, living in cities, urban-ism, bicycles, fitness, eating well etc.

Google is sitting in Kendall Sq.

DTX is 5 min on the Red Line from Kendall Sq. -- 5 min on the red & Silver Lines from the SPID

Let's get Google to fill the Filene's hole

Google can be given carte blanche to build the Greenest Tower in history as its East Coast HQ -- One Google Place - aka One Franklin -- including (I offer the following free of charge):

Google tech shops
Google shape (fitness)
Google house (hotel)
Google village (KW and lower scale housing)
Google Gesellschaft und fabrik -- R&D
Museum of Innovation (Franklin was born a couple of blocks away, the telephone was created a couple of blocks away....)
Google View Restaurant
Googleplex (the ultimate 4D experience)
 
One could argue that a better housing environment begets better students which in turn helps stop the cycle of poverty.

It's tenuous, but not impossible.
 
How so? Just means for money from less taxes for big fat companies that don't hire the likes of which they're housing. All I see out of this is a widening gap. It's a noble idea, but I don't see how this solves anything.

It is a way to move money to housing development without first passing it through the federal or state bureaucracies. There may be some efficiency in this, but additionally, it keeps the project more within the free market realm, which means we'll get more idiosyncratic and innovative ideas. Unless you are suggesting that there should be no subsidized low income housing, I'm not sure what your beef is with this arrangement.
 
It is a way to move money to housing development without first passing it through the federal or state bureaucracies. There may be some efficiency in this, but additionally, it keeps the project more within the free market realm, which means we'll get more idiosyncratic and innovative ideas. Unless you are suggesting that there should be no subsidized low income housing, I'm not sure what your beef is with this arrangement.

Pretty much. I think public housing just induces a wider wealth gap and more need for public housing. Maybe this makes for a better quality subsidized housing or something like that, but it sounds like this only accelerates such a gap. Honestly, it sucks that people can't afford what we all think everyone should have, but I think all this intervention by the government, either by directly building or by giving big $ to private industries which build it, is just more harm.

On the other hand, it may have a more up-beat and neighborly feel to it, being of a potentially higher caliber, encouraging more ethic and lower crime. Which could in turn lead to these people rising from their unfortunate conditions, but who knows. That's a pretty big assertion, and I can't say I've ever heard of such a large scale project, successful or unsuccessful. But if this ends up like a regular public-built project, I'm convinced it is actually more harmful.
 

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