Malden + Melrose Infill and Small Developments

GW2500

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Stone Place construction to begin
E-mail|Link|Comments (6) Posted April 21, 2010 10:04 AM

Courtesy of Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc.

By Alix Roy, Town Correspondent

Construction on Stone Place, a 300-unit apartment complex on Washington Street, will begin this summer after two lawsuits launched against the project were dismissed last winter, city officials said.

According to City Planner Denise Gaffey, Stone Place Limited Partnership of Burlington plans to close on the purchase of the 7.8-acre property in June in order to break ground on the project in July.

?They've been working on getting their financing in order,? Gaffey said on Tuesday. ?From what I've heard they plan to start around July.?




< Read Full Article
Project plans call for the redevelopment of two existing factory buildings on the former Boston Rubber Shoe mill site and construction of four new buildings. Of the resulting 300 units, 27 will be designated as affordable housing, the plans state.

Progress on the project, which falls within the city's smart growth district near the Oak Grove MBTA station, was stalled last summer after the Town of Stoneham filed two lawsuits in Middlesex Superior Court alleging that the Melrose Planning Board failed to include the street address of Stone Place in its notifications to abutting communities. Both lawsuits were dismissed last winter, according to Melrose City Solicitor Robert Van Campen.

?The matters were resolved with the Town of Stoneham to the satisfaction of both parties,? he said.

No changes were made to the scope of the project as a result of the lawsuits, said Gaffey, but the city will take steps to address traffic concerns raised by Stoneham officials in areas surrounding the Middlesex Fells Reservation.

Construction on the development will be done in two phases, with the first phase focusing on converting one existing factory building and constructing two new structures. Two thirds of the complex's total units will be complete by the end of the first phase, Gaffey said. The second phase will involve construction of the remaining two new buildings.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Just about all of these TOD on the northern side of the Orange line are not the most urban, but since 04, between Wellington (3 new apt complexes), Malden Center (not too much there but a newer 10 story apt bulding) and then Oak Grove (soon to be 2 large complexes) a lot of housing has gone up near T stations. That is something and sooner or later these new residents will want more amenities in their imediate areas.

Also when you include the new apts/condos built accross from Sullivan Sq and also everything that will get built at Assembly sq. There will be a lot more T friendly (which almost allways makes them urban friendly) people coming to the north side of Boston. It will hopefully help change the collective suburban mindset of most these cities.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Can you post the link when you post the article please?
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

There's also a project going on at a small lot off Lebanon St, Melrose.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=washi...541,-71.062073&spn=0.000926,0.002411&t=h&z=19

I believe it's 10-15 Condo units, which I would assume is significant for this area and that lot size. Construction began earlier this week on the long-time empty lot. I can't recall what the project is called and haven't found any info on it online.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

There's also a project going on at a small lot off Lebanon St, Melrose.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=washi...541,-71.062073&spn=0.000926,0.002411&t=h&z=19

I believe it's 10-15 Condo units, which I would assume is significant for this area and that lot size. Construction began earlier this week on the long-time empty lot. I can't recall what the project is called and haven't found any info on it online.

Update to mine.

Apparently it's just 4 units. 3 are 2 level and one on the top floor.

http://www.century21sd.com/detail.asp?listingid=70782043&agentid=201760

Not quite as interesting as I thought it would be...
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Supposidly Malden is having a final Master Plan meeting soon. I imagine the old timers who are insecure in the fact that their city isn't Martha-Stewart-approved will push for more flowers and subrubinazation (even though they won't live to see it). But hopefully they choose to increase density in squares. Here is a presentation from a year ago.

http://www.cityofmalden.org/download/visioning/Master Planning Forum Presentation.pdf
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

I love all the stats in that presentation. Very suburban, very ill informed, very polarized. Very American.

Oh man, we should propose a Mosque in Malden, see what happens.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Update to mine.

Apparently it's just 4 units. 3 are 2 level and one on the top floor.

http://www.century21sd.com/detail.asp?listingid=70782043&agentid=201760

Not quite as interesting as I thought it would be...

5060016019_44329770e5_b.jpg


I was driving by so got a picture for the hell of it.

Sign said 6 units sold, 4 left.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Also, any news on Stone Place? Definitely no construction yet.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Yesterday I saw Stone Pl from my train and it looks like some of the lot that's a part of the project was torn up and some trees cleared. Finally the project moving forward?
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Boston.com
300 apartments to be built at Melrose mill site
Posted by Marcia Dick September 23, 2011 10:04 AM

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Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc.

A rendering of the Alta Stone Place apartment complex.

By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent
An Atlanta-based developer has broken ground on the first phase of a project to convert a historic mill site in Melrose to rental housing.

Wood Partners intends to build 212 apartments in the initial phase of the development, 93 of which will be located in a renovated former mill building. Another 88 units would be added in a second phase, for a total of 300.

The overall 7.8-acre development area, once part of the site of a Boston Rubber Shoe Co. mill, is within a 15.5-acre ‘‘smart growth district’’ Melrose established in April 2008 on former industrial land on Washington Street.

Richard Dickason, Wood Partners’ managing director for the Northeast region, said the firm began initial work on the first phase several weeks ago.

‘‘I’m very excited,’’ he said. ‘‘This is my first opportunity to become involved in an historic renovation of a beautiful building. This is a tremendous opportunity for us in a spectacular city.’’

Wood Partners took over the project in May when it purchased the property from a prior developer, Stone Place Limited Partnership.

City officials have enthusiastically backed the project from its inception, and say they are pleased to have it underway.

‘‘It creates another entryway to the city that respects the history of the property, revitalizes its use and promotes smart growth, which limits motor vehicle transportation and protects the environment,’’ said Mayor Robert J. Dolan. ‘‘It also further creates, like [the nearby apartment complex] Oak Grove Village, a blossoming new neighborhood in our community that involves some new businesses and some new residents, and they will be welcome with open arms.”

Denise M. Gaffey, the city’s director of planning and community development, said the project, Alta Stone Place, meets several key criteria of smart growth, including proximity to mass transit — it is near the Oak Grove MBTA station — and its use of a site with existing infrastructure.

“We are not taking down any additional green space,” she said.

She said the revitalization of a historic building is another positive.

The Boston Rubber Shoe Co. built its mill at the site in the late 1800s, producing boots, shoes, and other footwear. In the 1940s, the property was sold to a division of Firestone, which manufactured latex at the site.

“These old mill buildings convert really nicely to housing and it makes for a very unique project,” Gaffey said, noting that the developer also will be carrying out streetscape improvements, including new landscaping and lights.

Gaffey said the overall project is estimated to generate a net gain of $600,000 in annual property tax revenue for the city, taking into account the added costs of city services. That tax benefit will not be fully realized until after five years because the city — through special legislation it secured last year — is allowing the developer to defer payment of a portion of its taxes during that period.

The first-phase plan calls for renovating the four-story wood-beam building that will house the 93 units and constructing three new buildings to house the remaining 115 units. Two of those will be four-story buildings with garage parking beneath, and the third a three-story building containing a clubhouse. Four small mill structures will be demolished on the 5.2-acre site.

The renovation will retain and enhance many of the mill building’s original features, including its copper gutters. The mill’s century-old brick smokestack will remain, as the centerpiece of a landscaped garden area.

Dickason said the first phase, targeted for completion by February 2013, is being financed by private lending.

The second phase calls for construction of two buildings to house 88 units on a 2.6-acre site that is separated from the first-phase site by Marty’s Furniture. An existing mill building would be razed. That represents a change from the previous developer’s plan, which called for renovating that building and constructing one new one.

“It’s not a building that is deemed historically significant by the city and it doesn’t lay out very well for residential use,” Dickason said.

Dickason said his firm needs to secure financing for the second phase, and approval from the Planning Board to amend its existing site plan to allow for the proposed changes. Provided it can clear both those hurdles, he said the second phase could begin next spring.

To comply with a city ordinance, Wood Partners plans to set aside 10 percent of the units it builds on the site as affordable. The rest will be market rate. Dickason said the first phase apartments will be a mix of studios and units with one, two, and three bedrooms.
He said the firm is confident it can market the development, keying on young professionals and “empty nesters.”

Dickason said the project was attractive to his firm because of the site’s proximity to the MBTA station and downtown stores, and the chance to do a mill building conversion.

“I love history, and the historic significance of the mill building is pretty important to me and I think to a lot of people who live in that area,” said Dickason, whose wife has relatives who worked in the old shoe factory.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

Kudos to the developer for restoring the mill.

But the facade on the right looks like a guy opening both sides of his coat to sell some cheap watches.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

"Oh, look, we have a perfect template for what makes an attractive building. Let's ignore that."
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

But the facade on the right looks like a guy opening both sides of his coat to sell some cheap watches.

Oh. my. god. What has been seen cannot be unseen.



I'd love to get a place in the mill, wonder how much they'll be. It doesn't look like there will be any retail or anything, though, kind of isolated and residential-only.

I don't know which other parts they're demo'ing, but I wish they'd either keep it or at least recycle the bricks into the new structures, the mills look great, the new portions, not so much.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

I love all the stats in that presentation. Very suburban, very ill informed, very polarized. Very American.

Oh man, we should propose a Mosque in Malden, see what happens.

Can you tell me what's wrong? It seems Center and Squares is the most popular choice, which doesn't sound very suburban, ill informed, or polarized. Unless you are just talking about the second place finisher of Slow Growth, which still loss by a 30% margin.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

"Oh, look, we have a perfect template for what makes an attractive building. Let's ignore that."

Stat --- Right-ON!! They could just take the original brick as a model and re-imagine it in 21st Century materials and structural underpinnings -- perhaps with a slim glass entrance, clubhouse, small retail in the middle

Then we'd have a perfect new-urbanism experiment -- price the two groups of units (old mill, new 'mill") the same -- see what the demand is for the old versus the new

later -- for phase 3 --- they could just replicate the winner of the "experiment"

As for the stuff (4 small mill buildings "deemed not historically significant") which are being demolished -- my guess is it is much more modern industrial style "In the 1940s, the property was sold to a division of Firestone, which manufactured latex at the site."
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

A week or two ago:


The area around the substation, on the northern end of the development:

6236249736_d7c653ce5a_b.jpg


Directly next to that, to the south, with the mill in shot:

6236250352_f271e43ea6_b.jpg
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

National Grid's Commercial St. site to be developed
Posted by Amanda Stonely November 14, 2011 10:03 AM

The Malden Redevelopment Authority has issued a request for proposals to redevelop a 6.4-acre site owned by National Grid at 100 Commercial St.

The utility plans to relocate its gas operations from the site to an electric distribution facility it owns on Medford Street by the spring.

The company is exploring future uses for the Commercial Street site under a plan in which the authority would lease the parcel, then sub-lease it to developer. The proposal asks potential developers to say how their project would benefit downtown Malden.

Proposals will be accepted until noon on Dec. 1. Materials may be obtained from the Malden Redevelopment Authority office at City Hall.

-- Kathy McCabe

I have no faith this will end up being anything other than a shitty strip mall with a sea of parking. But the potential is huge.
 
Re: Malden/Melrose

I have no faith this will end up being anything other than a shitty strip mall with a sea of parking. But the potential is huge.

Stat isn't that near to the Piantedosi Bakery -- that's a sort of industrial area?
 

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