Brookline Infill and Small Developments

New affordable senior housing building opens on Centre Street, with apartments still available​

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“An apartment building which recently opened at 108 Centre Street includes 54 affordable units for seniors, and some of them are still available.

The building, built and operated by the housing nonprofit Hebrew SeniorLife as part of its broader Center Communities of Brookline complex, opened earlier this year. It features 54 one-bedroom apartments designed specifically for seniors aged 62 and older, offering a mix of affordability levels to serve different income brackets.

“This building is 100% affordable,” said James Brown, Executive Director for Center Communities of Brookline…..”

When new builds look like this, it’s hard to say that NIMBYs are wrong.
 
When new builds look like this, it’s hard to say that NIMBYs are wrong.

Context is everything - - this is what it's next to:


And this is what it was 3 years ago:


Paraphrasing Rick Pitino: 'Rowe's Wharf ain't walking through THAT door anytime soon..............' Honestly, this is the BEST possible outcome for that spot. This is 100% affordable housing, sandwiched between two brutalist/utilitarian buildings - were you expecting The Four Seasons? Look again, it's actually a spectacular UPGRADE for that row.

Now, if they could only get rid of the telephone poles/wires............
 
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Developer outlines plan for apartments in old Maimonides School building​

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“Local developer Anthony Rossi is planning to build 35 apartments in a former Maimonides School building located at 2 Clark Road.

Rossi, who purchased the building in early April from the private Jewish school for $7.5 million, outlined his plans for the project in a recent interview with Brookline.News.

Under his proposal, most of the renovated building’s apartments will be one-bedroom units, “most likely” rentals, with an average size of 700 square feet.

Rossi is planning to largely maintain the outside structure of the building, although he does plan to add half a story on top.

At least five of the units will be affordable
, he said, to meet the town’s “inclusionary zoning” requirements……”

Why did the school sell this building?
 
Why did the school sell this building?
A good friend of mine is a employee- evidently their finances/enrollment have not been spectacular for a while, and so they vacated it prepandemic in 2019. It's apparently been leased to the Town of Brookline for 5 years, but apparently the town has also since vacated. I'd guess the school doesn't have the resources to maintain/ update it for a new tenant, doesn't have the enrollment to occupy it themselves, and selling it would help shore up the balance sheet.
 
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Erland Construction Completes New 479,000sf Apartment Community for Chestnut Hill Realty​

“Erland Construction, in collaboration with The Architectural Team and WaypointKLA, has completed a 479,000-square-foot new residence for Chestnut Hill Realty at Hancock Village in Brookline. This significant addition includes 250 apartment units and adds diverse, high-quality housing options on 80 acres adjacent to conservation land. The newly constructed community features 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom units and provides parking for 290 cars.\

“The completion of the Benjamin Franklin Building, the final piece in a series of new residences built by Erland on our property, is an exciting milestone for both our residents and team,” said Ed Zuker, Founder and CEO of Chestnut Hill Realty…..”

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So lemme get this right - “Nina” Crowley wants to KEEP the contaminating dry cleaner next door to her????? :confused:
Wait wtf? This is gonna get rid of Central Cleaners!?
 
Wait wtf? This is gonna get rid of Central Cleaners!?

She wants to keep it only because she claims it contaminates the soil so much that the tear down and build up would be too dangerous.

"Among the grounds listed in Crowley’s complaint is an allegation that the site contains “elevated concentrations of contaminants” because of the dry cleaner currently located on the site.

Crowley’ filed her lawsuit against the ZBA, the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and the developer.

“Dry cleaning businesses are a known source of toxic contamination in soils and groundwater, when cleaning products are not managed and disposed of properly,” the complaint says, arguing that groundwater and soil data about the site are lacking."

No Seinfeld comedy writer would dare this is an episode! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
She wants to keep it only because she claims it contaminates the soil so much that the tear down and build up would be too dangerous.

"Among the grounds listed in Crowley’s complaint is an allegation that the site contains “elevated concentrations of contaminants” because of the dry cleaner currently located on the site.

Crowley’ filed her lawsuit against the ZBA, the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and the developer.


“Dry cleaning businesses are a known source of toxic contamination in soils and groundwater, when cleaning products are not managed and disposed of properly,” the complaint says, arguing that groundwater and soil data about the site are lacking."

No Seinfeld comedy writer would dare this is an episode! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
No, I get that this woman is totally FOS and nuts, but I didn’t know this development was gonna replace Central Cleaners. They’re a great old school business that has been my family’s go to place for my whole life. They have a tailor working there who’s looked like he’s about 90 and looked that way even when I was young. He’s probably over 100, honestly. It makes me sad to hear this place is going to close…
 
No, I get that this woman is totally FOS and nuts, but I didn’t know this development was gonna replace Central Cleaners. They’re a great old school business that has been my family’s go to place for my whole life. They have a tailor working there who’s looked like he’s about 90 and looked that way even when I was young. He’s probably over 100, honestly. It makes me sad to hear this place is going to close…

Perhaps there is a plan to move them nearby and to remediate the soil that they fucked up? (unknowingly, of course, I'm sure they're great people - hopefully, it is a win-win). But to hell with Nina Crowley.
 
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Marion Street Affordable Housing for seniors - Coolidge Corner

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Vernon St in Coolidge Corner - This was a single family house with a small yard. Sorry for the not so great picture, but replacing the single family will be a four story building with 8 units.

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Some early plans to redevelop Centre Street parking lots in Coolidge Corner

I opened the presentation and assumed a traffic study was appended at the end, since it was 367 pages.

The man really presented 367 slides to the City of Brookline. He turned it into a freshman-level college lecture on planning and design.

The frontrunner based on community feedback so far:
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I really like this proposal. It'd be quite unique:
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It would place a covered plaza under the parking garage to host a farmers market and civic events. Perhaps it could be a tad greener, but I think the colonnade plaza would be unique and fit in with Coolidge Corner well.
 
I opened the presentation and assumed a traffic study was appended at the end, since it was 367 pages.

The man really presented 367 slides to the City of Brookline. He turned it into a freshman-level college lecture on planning and design.

The frontrunner based on community feedback so far:
View attachment 66962

I really like this proposal. It'd be quite unique:
View attachment 66963
It would place a covered plaza under the parking garage to host a farmers market and civic events. Perhaps it could be a tad greener, but I think the colonnade plaza would be unique and fit in with Coolidge Corner well.
I could tell without looking that these were drawn by Jeff Speck. He has a signature style.

The argument for "The Side Lot" would be the full activation of a larger plaza and the fact that the rear entrances to the existing buildings are actually entrances that could be improved, not dumpsters and back doors. "The Colonnade" activates Centre Street at the expense of the plaza area, which looks like it would be pretty dark. These drawings are also slightly misleading in terms of what borders the site on the NE (left) edge - it's not a street, it's a parking shelter and driveway that doesn't really warrant activation or improvement.

The Side Lot also works better with a future where the low buildings on Harvard Street get redeveloped in a way that extends a wider pedestrian concourse all the way through the block - the long parking garage walls the block in half.
 
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Really great presentation by Speck.

It's sad to see scheme 1 with just a revamped parking lot get as much support as it did. A 90 minute, dead simple explanation of how good urbanism works and how it can happen on the site - the audience still gave a parking lot 2-3 stars. Meanwhile option 5 (clearly an overbuilt sacrificial lamb, still better than 1) was overwhelmingly 1 star.

Not entirely surprised after seeing the theater was mostly gray haired...
 

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