Chelsea Infill and Small Developments

datadyne007 said:
Chelsea Waterfront Vision Workshop, facilitated by MAPC - TONIGHT:



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it'll be more hotels and a tiny piece for a park.
 
^Let's all go and agitate for multiple blocks of Duplo architecture - say, we LOVE what we see in Chelsea and East Boston, let's make 20 blocks of that!
 
On a serious note, I am going to this. I'm determined to get my light rail down a dense Eastern Ave corridor. =P
 
Light rail from where to where?

Also - more seriously - how likely is it for the gas farms, salt pits, etc to ever really go away?
 
Shepard said:
Light rail from where to where?

Also - more seriously - how likely is it for the gas farms, salt pits, etc to ever really go away?
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salt pile is never going away. The city agreed to let them expand in exchange for a park next to the pile.

I would say, how likely is it for the gas tanks and airport parking to go away? Parking & rental companies want to expand.
 
scorpio02150 said:
Did you attend? I wanted to go but had other things to take care of...
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Yes indeed! Was a full house! Very exciting to see so many people excited about waterfront planning. See all the photos here: http://imgur.com/a/QH5jA

Here's a scan of the overview sheet they gave us:

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So here's the deal:
- They are working with the state to de-designate the Forbes Site & Mill Hill neighborhood area (Sub Area 3 below) as a "Designated Port Area" (DPA). This will allow for the greatest flexibility in development, as they can put up whatever they want there once the DPA is dropped.

- The other areas along Eastern Ave such as the gas tanks & car lots are untouchable, but streetscape improvements & small interventions can possibly be made, especially in the interior industrial zone (other side of Eastern Ave) & next to the Chelsea St. Bridge. The gas tanks are "port dependent functions" and aren't planned to go anywhere any time soon. The car lots are allowed in the DPA despite not being port-dependent because they are considered "temporary uses" that the city happens to keep renewing over and over. I spoke to a pol from Chelsea City Hall and he was defensive about the lots (I had spoken up saying it was ridiculous to have car lots on the Chelsea waterfront) because apparently the revenue from the car lots accounts for 1% of the city's entire revenue. That is a lot of money, but I countered asking if the money was really worth sacrificing the Chelsea waterfront for and if development could bring in the same or more revenue.

- As far as interventions go on areas that are to remain as a DPA, MAPC believes the most achievable types of development would be container architecture - retail, office, restaurant, bar etc because they would meet the "temporary use" criteria defined by DPA rules.

Anyway, after the intro presentation about Designated Port Areas (DPA), they broke us into 3 groups and each group went to their first assigned station. There were 3 stations and each represented 1 of the 3 zones identified:
1. Close to Chelsea St bridge/Marginal St
2. Industrial zone along Eastern Ave (gas tanks & cargo buildings)
3. Mill Hill/Forbes site that is likely to be de-designated

Each station had things to rank like Housing, office, hotel, parks, streetscape/crosswalks and you stuck dots on concepts/pictures you liked. Big green dot for things you really liked, little blue dot for things you weren't enthusiastic for. People were also encouraged to leave their own comments for uses that weren't on the MAPC boards.

You can see from the pictures below that is very clear that we want a safer, more pedestrian-friendly Eastern Ave. Overwhelming support for streetscape improvements, traffic calming, road diets & crosswalks.

Pix:
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Chelsea Clock site sold:
Everett Avenue Property sold for $43 Million
April 7, 2016 | By Seth Daniel

A California developer has purchased the Chelsea Clock building and a collection of scrap yard properties once owned by Billy Thibeault of Wood Waste for $47.7 million.

The properties on Everett Avenue, Vale Street, Carter Street, Fourth Street, Fifth Street and Locust Street were previously proposed and approved for 692 units of housing in two towers across the street from Chelsea High School. That proposal was contemplated for years and approved last fall, to the discouragement of many in the City who felt it was too dense and had a desire to save the Chelsea Clock building.

Fairfield LLC has made the purchase and the company is based in San Diego, though it has luxury rental housing properties in the Boston area.

...

Full article: http://www.chelsearecord.com/2016/04/07/everett-avenue-property-sold-for-43-million/
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just came across this rendering of the Chelsea Loft Development project @ the old chelsea clock site:

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On the city's development project site, it has the Forbes site listed as a future development site... I wonder if (after some political transactions) this site will move forward with a smaller scale of what the chinese developers wanted to throw on this site.
 
On Broadway Developers Respond to Call for a More Vibrant Downtown

Scapicchio and his business partner, Mark Heuber, have already purchased the Choice Thru Education building for $650,000 and plan to add three floors on top of the existing building (going from 15 feet to 45 feet) – which will be a retail use, perhaps a restaurant.

The plan calls for 20 units on the top three floors, with one studio, 10 one-bedrooms and nine two-bedrooms. There will be 11 parking spaces in a basement parking garage and ample bike racks.

It will first be heard by the Zoning Board of Appeals on May 10.
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The second proposal is smack dab on Broadway, at the Broadway Mini-Mall.

There, owner David Peach is looking to dramatically refurbish the old Masonic Building with Eastie developer Jay Duca.

Peach, who operates a bakery in the basement, would spend $3.1 million to renovate the existing three floors and to add a fourth floor. The plan calls for renovating the basement and first floor commercial/retail areas and adding 15 units of housing on the second, third and fourth floors. Two units would be affordable units.

There would be two one-bedrooms and three two-bedroom units on each of the residential floors. The housing would replace an old Masonic Theatre that still exists but is not safe to use.

Peach needs 31 spaces for the proposed project, but only has four – meaning he will need zoning relief for 27 spaces.
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The third plan by Jimmy Chan hopes to create 16 units out of an existing eight units above Heller’s Liquors and other existing businesses in a building next to Bellingham Square.

That plan calls for four two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units on floors two and three. The existing floor plan has eight, six-bedroom units on the two floors.
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http://www.chelsearecord.com/2016/0...-respond-to-call-for-a-more-vibrant-downtown/
 
scorpio02150 said:
not impressed with these projects. Adding more ppl to downtown chelsea isnt going to improve the area.
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Jeez. More people means more revenue for the city and for the local businesses. And this actually sounds like smart development… Adding housing on top of low-slung existing retail. Sounds promising to me.
 
scorpio02150 said:
not impressed with these projects. Adding more ppl to downtown chelsea isnt going to improve the area.
Click to expand...

Jeez. More people means more revenue for the city and for the local businesses. And this actually sounds like smart development… Adding housing on top of low-slung existing retail. Sounds promising to me.
 
scorpio02150 said:
not impressed with these projects. Adding more ppl to downtown chelsea isnt going to improve the area.
Click to expand...

Jeez. More people means more revenue for the city and for the local businesses. And this actually sounds like smart development… Adding housing on top of low-slung existing retail. Sounds promising to me.
 
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I attended the meeting for the Mystic River Overlook Park and Dog Park.
Both projects will be handled separately because they will be funded separately (Park by the city & MassDot, Dog Park by private money and other grants that the city is hoping to get).
The city has already started clearing the trash in the area, but the beginning of the project is set to start at the end of summer 2016 with a completion date of Late Summer 2017. The Dog park will have a target completion date of early fall 2017 and this will have a 4,200 sq ft area of available use.
There are still many questions that havent been answered and project leaders hope to have most issues hashed out prior to the start of the project.
 
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