1274 Massachusetts Avenue | Dorchester

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Six-story apartment building approved for Dorchester's big-pear square​

“The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved a developer's plans for a six-story, 45-unit apartment building on a parcel that stretches from Massachusetts Avenue to Boston Street in Edward Everett Square in Dorchester, home of the city's largest statue of a pear(link is external).

Developer Doug George's plans for 1274 Massachusetts Ave. include eight affordable apartments. Also: First-floor retail space and 25 parking spaces in an underground garage. In a filing with the Boston Planning Department, he said access to the parking would be via a ramp at the neighboring 1258 Massachusetts Ave., which he previously built…..”

Six-story apartment building approved for Dorchester's big-pear square

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved a developer's plans for a six-story, 45-unit apartment building on a parcel that stretches from Massachusetts Avenue to Boston Street in Edward Everett Square in Dorchester, home of the city's largest statue of a pear. Read more.

www.universalhub.com

 

[DZH22]

It's bad enough 90% of updates nowadays are just a bunch of the "infill" threads showcasing this type of build. (go to Universal Hub and check out their projects feed and this is literally every new project going back multiple pages) Do we really need separate threads for 5-over-1's?

It's like we settled on the worst building type possible and said "let's make the rest of the city out of this." Some of them look better than others, but we know that underneath they all have paper-thin walls and aren't being built to last. None of these types of buildings deserve their own threads.

 

[stick n move]

It has 2 sides the back is different than the front and both sides are brick. I dont think this project is so bad.

The back

The side facing mass ave is next to a large building that was made to resemble an old warehouse and so it looks more like a regular apartment building that would face a main road.

The side facing boston street looks more like 3 row houses which will be tucked in between the existing triple deckers.

Heres the site its going on

And the presentation

2024-07-29_Small Project Review Application (SPRA)_1274 Massachusetts Avenue.pdf | Powered by Box

bpda.app.box.com

Id have no problem living here whatsoever. This looks a lot better than many of the crooked, lead paint peeling off triple deckers around my neighborhood (which is just down the street from here).

 

[kmp1284]

It has 2 sides the back is different than the front and both sides are brick. I dont think this project is so bad.

The back
View attachment 64849

The side facing mass ave is next to a large building that was made to resemble an old warehouse and so it looks more like a regular apartment building that would face a main road.
View attachment 64852

The side facing boston street looks more like 3 row houses which will be tucked in between the existing triple deckers.
View attachment 64853

Heres the site its going on
View attachment 64850

And the presentation

2024-07-29_Small Project Review Application (SPRA)_1274 Massachusetts Avenue.pdf | Powered by Box

bpda.app.box.com

Id have no problem living here whatsoever. This looks a lot better than many of the crooked, lead paint peeling off triple deckers around my neighborhood (which is just down the street from here).
View attachment 64851

Realistically speaking this is the kind of project Boston needs in spades to alleviate the housing crunch, not fantastical towers with the delusion of buyers vacating properties that trickle all the way from a $3m condo to a $500k starter home.

 

[DZH22]

Whether Boston "needs" this type of project or not, I still haven't seen justification for why a random 5-over-1 should have its own thread and not just get lumped in with the general infill threads.

 

[mssrro]

Looks like the site is ready to go as soon as the developer is...as of yesterday:

 

[Charlie_mta]

Whether Boston "needs" this type of project or not, I still haven't seen justification for why a random 5-over-1 should have its own thread and not just get lumped in with the general infill threads.

In the current economy there aren't many mega-projects or towers happening, so that's probably why the smaller projects are getting their own threads.

 

[stick n move]

I made the thread so I can answer to my personal reason why I made this into its own thread. Theres lots of other threads of projects this size. Its a 45 unit building so its a decently large building. When its a new triple decker or smaller building they usually just get put in the infill threads. A lot of times projects of this size or bigger also get thrown in infill threads when ppl dont feel like making a new thread.

Theres no rule on the forum for what projects get their own threads or what dont, so its up to the discretion of the user. I personally think the more threads the better because in the infill threads everything ends up getting buried pages back and essentially disappears over time, but at the same time a new triple decker wont have many updates or discussion so an individual thread wouldnt really be worth it.

In the lynn thread there was a pretty large project that I made a judgement call and just threw in the infill threads because it was already half built and there had been no updates on it and the lynn thread hardly gets updated either because it seems we dont have many users in lynn. So instead of making a new thread that I knew would get no updates so I just put it in infill.

This project being right on Mass ave in a prominent location and also being a decently sized building means it will probably get a decent amount of updates so I feel it makes sense to have its own thread. If it were in the infill thread in order to talk about this project there would have to be lots of people talking over each other as many different projects get talked about at the same time. So when its in its own thread everyone can talk about the one topic at hand. Seeing its already deep into page 2 it looks like I made the right call.

 

[DZH22]

Theres lots of other threads of projects this size....

I personally think the more threads the better because in the infill threads everything ends up getting buried pages back and essentially disappears over time, but at the same time a new triple decker wont have many updates or discussion so an individual thread wouldnt really be worth it......

Seeing its already deep into page 2 it looks like I made the right call.

I'm going to take the exact opposite tack here. First of all, this forum as a whole is pretty much completely unsorted. The heights aren't listed, total floors aren't listed, and project type isn't listed. There's sooooo many threads that it's impossible to remember what is what, other than the heavy hitters.

What that means is that I expect something a little bit more when I click on the non-infill threads. Like oh, is this that 15 or 20 story building that I completely forgot about? No, it's 6. It means I'm now wading through a bunch more unsorted threads with stuff like this, which is the type of "nice-ish" but also "totally whatever" project that people wouldn't blink an eye over in a place like Waltham, Burlington, or anywhere else out on 95. If you wouldn't blink an eye about it in the suburbs, it's infill. So now there are pages and pages of not only infill threads, but non-infill threads that are showcasing infill. It's maddening. There's only so much time in the day and I don't want to click through scores of extra threads looking for a needle-in-a-haystack project.

So if it was already deep into page 2 but 90% of the threads are just stuff like this, then is that really the right call? If I can't find the 15-20 story building I'm looking for because half the named threads are now for 6 story buildings, is that really the right call? If we added more information to the threads like I requested numerous times it would be a lot more acceptable, but since it's often already incredibly difficult to find what I'm looking for I'd say that less is more.

 

[stefal]

If you want to track only tall projects, use the 'Watch' feature at the top of the thread, then click 'Watched' at the top on the homepage.

I appreciate some of the larger small projects having separate updates, especially nicer ones like this. Triple decker replacements or 5-10 unit buildings can go in the infill threads. It turns out people have different preferences for what they follow and read on an architecture forum spanning several cities and states.

 

[kmp1284]

It’s an architectural forum, not your personally-curated pornhub.

 

[DZH22]

It’s an architectural forum, not your personally-curated pornhub.

I used this site as much as any other member here has ever used the site and still can never find what I'm looking for. Seems like a valid complaint. You, on the other hand, bring nothing to the forum other than off-the-cuff troll posts. No pictures, no information, no debating, just trolling. We were all better off when you were tucked away in London, but you found a way to not be happy and brought that unhappiness here.

If you want to track only tall projects, use the 'Watch' feature at the top of the thread, then click 'Watched' at the top on the homepage.

I'm not going to watch every thread over 8 stories. Then I'll be just as lost on the watched threads as I am on the rest of them. If I knew that everything outside infill was either in that 8+ story range, or something REALLY impactful (like a stadium, huge-footprint lab, multi-building complex, etc) then that would literally be enough. We have 64 pages of unsorted projects, with 20 threads per page. It's just too much to then look at a project like this and think it deserves its own dedicated thread. The whole site is a total unsorted mess and putting infill into non-infill threads just clogs it up way too much.

 

[kmp1284]

In my opinion we have far more pictures than we need. It’s discussion forum, not a repository for beam-by-beam status updates and weekly proofs of life of the skyline. I’d much rather read some insightful commentary or get a chuckle from a snarky remark than look at a bunch of pictures almost completely indistinguishable from the ones before it.

And also, I’m not going to stop what I’m doing or go out of my way to take pictures for a few dozen randos on the internet I’ve never met(and in some cases I’d never want to).

 

[DZH22]

I’d much rather read some insightful commentary or get a chuckle from a snarky remark...

Unfortunately for the rest of us we've had to read through 2,273 of your non-insightful comments and counting.

There's plenty of snark but not a lot of chuckles. Considering all you do is troll one would think you'd have some funnier stuff in there once a while, but instead it's mainly just some combination of nasty and miserable.

In my opinion we have far more pictures than we need. It’s discussion forum, not a repository for beam-by-beam status updates and weekly proofs of life of the skyline...

Boo hoo, yeah who wants any photo updates on a construction site? Obviously we all come here just for your troll posts rather than any of the visuals. A picture is worth a thousand words, or in your case it's worth about 100 of your insults.

 

[stick n move]

I'm going to take the exact opposite tack here. First of all, this forum as a whole is pretty much completely unsorted. The heights aren't listed, total floors aren't listed, and project type isn't listed. There's sooooo many threads that it's impossible to remember what is what, other than the heavy hitters.

What that means is that I expect something a little bit more when I click on the non-infill threads. Like oh, is this that 15 or 20 story building that I completely forgot about? No, it's 6. It means I'm now wading through a bunch more unsorted threads with stuff like this, which is the type of "nice-ish" but also "totally whatever" project that people wouldn't blink an eye over in a place like Waltham, Burlington, or anywhere else out on 95. If you wouldn't blink an eye about it in the suburbs, it's infill. So now there are pages and pages of not only infill threads, but non-infill threads that are showcasing infill. It's maddening. There's only so much time in the day and I don't want to click through scores of extra threads looking for a needle-in-a-haystack project.

So if it was already deep into page 2 but 90% of the threads are just stuff like this, then is that really the right call? If I can't find the 15-20 story building I'm looking for because half the named threads are now for 6 story buildings, is that really the right call? If we added more information to the threads like I requested numerous times it would be a lot more acceptable, but since it's often already incredibly difficult to find what I'm looking for I'd say that less is more.

Thats perfectly fine and thats your opinion. My opinion is just different than yours and thats perfectly ok. I’m much more interested in projects like this that are going to add new buildings to the empty lots in the neighborhood around me and make a better ground level in the city. The back side of this project that looks like 3 new brick row houses getting built and the discussion around how it will improve this area is what I like most about coming to this forum.

Other people like pictures and discussion about high rises better and theres room on this forum for that too. I like looking them and talking about that stuff from time to time too. Some people only come to this forum to discuss the trains of the mbta and all of the minutiae that comes with that, and though thats not something I’m super knowledgeable about I love reading about that stuff too.

I think this forum is great because theres things for everybody and people are engaged. You have talented photographers like yourself, people who can create intricate diagrams, people who can think up new ideas for new expansions, people who are architects, traffic engineers… and so on. Not everyone is going to love everything about the forum, but if we respect each others opinions and space I think theres room for everybody. I’m not trying to be all kumbaya but its true, everybody can like what they like and thats perfectly fine.

 

[DZH22]

Thats perfectly fine and thats your opinion. My opinion is just different than yours and thats perfectly ok. I’m much more interested in projects like this that are going to add new buildings to the empty lots in the neighborhood around me and make a better ground level in the city. The back side of this project that looks like 3 new brick row houses getting built and the discussion around how it will improve this area is what I like most about coming to this forum.

My complaints are strictly about the ease (or unease) of general site navigation. It's not about what people like or don't like. It's that there are a million threads without enough defining characteristics to have a clue what they are without clicking into them. We have 20-30 threads with the word "infill" in it, but then we have hundreds more threads that fit the infill definition but are standing on their own. Again, if something said anything along the lines of (residential/office/lab/hotel, X floors, or X feet, or even X amount of units or square feet) then I wouldn't have to click on 100 threads to find the one I'm looking for. The insistence on leaving out all defining criteria, combined with giving any and every project its own standalone thread, often makes the site feel borderline unusable.

When I'm clicking on a thread that says "1274 Massachusetts Avenue | Dorchester" and have ZERO CLUE if it's a residential, office, lab, hotel, or literally anything about it other than the address, how could that be considered anything other than a massive fail?

 

[stick n move]

Yea I can see your perspective if youre only looking for the threads with the high rises in them, which I feel isnt tooo hard to remember which one is which. For me theres usually only a couple threads that update per day and I like to see whats happening with every single project so I dont mind. It would make sense to put some more descriptors in the titles, so idk maybe the forum can make that change if people agree to it. I dont care either way, but I wouldnt mind.

 

[HenryAlan]

My complaints are strictly about the ease (or unease) of general site navigation. It's not about what people like or don't like. It's that there are a million threads without enough defining characteristics to have a clue what they are without clicking into them. We have 20-30 threads with the word "infill" in it, but then we have hundreds more threads that fit the infill definition but are standing on their own. Again, if something said anything along the lines of (residential/office/lab/hotel, X floors, or X feet, or even X amount of units or square feet) then I wouldn't have to click on 100 threads to find the one I'm looking for. The insistence on leaving out all defining criteria, combined with giving any and every project its own standalone thread, often makes the site feel borderline unusable.

When I'm clicking on a thread that says "1274 Massachusetts Avenue | Dorchester" and have ZERO CLUE if it's a residential, office, lab, hotel, or literally anything about it other than the address, how could that be considered anything other than a massive fail?

I think you'd have a stronger point if there were more activity on the page. But it's really not hard, despite the somewhat haphazard organization and inconsistency on topics such as this, to follow and keep track. There just aren't so many threads to require a more rigorous taxonomy.

 

[#bancars]

I think you'd have a stronger point if there were more activity on the page. But it's really not hard, despite the somewhat haphazard organization and inconsistency on topics such as this, to follow and keep track. There just aren't so many threads to require a more rigorous taxonomy.

Pretty much how I feel. If you're even a semi-active (weekly) user I don't think it's too hard to keep track of most of the projects in the Development Projects forum!