Longwood Place (Simmons Residential Campus) | 305 Brookline Avenue | Longwood

[king_vibe]

Complaints about shadows emerging:

Inside Longwood’s shadow debate

A proposed cluster of buildings overlooking Riverway Park has divided locals.

www.axios.com

Brain dead. Ban these people from public debate.

 

[stefal]

No more than 2 hours in March! There's also no set-in-stone rule that says they can't build this because of shadows. I hope their new $1 million shadow study counts how many people are using that park in March and they move on..

 

[HenryAlan]

Yeah, I had a bit of back and forth with one of these shadow loons on Twitter a few weeks ago. They even have an on-line petition demanding that the project be stopped from destroying the park. I'm glad the one hour limit isn't actually codified. The shadow concerns have no legal force.

 

[mass88]

So some of these people are concerned about a small amount of shadow being added to what is a heavily tree lined park?

 

[Justbuildit]

I mean, these people don’t actually ACTUALLY care about shadows. They feel entitled to space that doesn’t belong to them and will use whatever powers they think they have to prevent this project from happening. It’s just weirdo conservatism that is unprincipled and untethered. These people shouldn’t have anything close to decision making power.

 

[curcuas]

Axios should not amplify this nonsense.

 

[bbfen]

So some of these people are concerned about a small amount of shadow being added to what is a heavily tree lined park?

Building shadows are *so much* different and twelve times more harmful than the naturally-occurring tree shade that protects pedestrians from the sun. Everyone knows this!

/sarcasm

 

[bigpicture7]

A few updates on this project, which appears to now be underway:

Skanska to Build $311M Mixed-Use Campus in Boston

Simmons University’s new development will feature more than 390,000 square feet of office, residential and social spaces.

www.commercialsearch.com

 

[Equilibria]

LOI for Phase 1: https://bpda.app.box.com/s/4h698i4ctaubdknclqfmlwrgbec04erc

 

[Equilibria]

Globe Story: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/24/business/simmons-dorms-lab-housing/

 

[stefal]

Globe Story: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/24/business/simmons-dorms-lab-housing/

Man, tosh33 is still filling the comments sections up. I'd like to meet them some day... see if they're foaming at the mouth over building heights in real life as well..

 

[kz1000ps]

NO NEW SHADOWS! Come on everyone, you know the words! Sing along with our folk hero!

 

[Czervik.Construction]

What a blast from the past!

 

[stick n move]

-New pnf:

https://bpda.app.box.com/s/4ah377rotxnw0efdhqdium2zbgg84a17

 

[HubCat]

---

https://bpda.app.box.com/s/4ah377rotxnw0efdhqdium2zbgg84a17

Thanks for posting this. As a non-professional planner/designer, could somebody please let me know what makes pavement and seating "playful"?
I suppose a beanbag chair might be playful, no idea what that could be for pavement.......

 

[JS38]

New Globe story:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/25/business/simmons-dorms-longwood-redevelopment/

 

[stick n move]

It does appear the park has shrunk

New

Old

 

[Jeremi]

North Hall and South Hall at Simmons are very stately masonry buildings. It's a shame they're just getting demolished.

 

[itchy]

North Hall and South Hall at Simmons are very stately masonry buildings. It's a shame they're just getting demolished.

Completely agree. This entire row of masonry buildings is nice. There are so many parking lots or horrendous relics from Urban Renewal in the city ... such a shame when we miss the opportunity to address those and instead replace the structures that make the city pleasant with Assembly Square-style structures (which are better than parking lots and Urban Renewal projects ... but generally worse than prewar masonry!).