This doesn't seem to be new information? More than a year ago their concept plans already showed that they weren't going to be building on that parcel. I'm sure they wanted to buy the house and would welcome it if it worked out, but this idea that they had to pivot and redo the whole thing seems like a dramatization. What exactly was altered?“Their plan to replace the city’s crumbling old facility with a gleaming new one four times its size, and with scores of new units of affordable housing, hinged in part on buying the family home and building on top of it.
But even as they have offered ever more money, the owners of the house with the curved stoop and the garden out front have made it clear they aren’t going anywhere.
So now, as the Y begins finalizing a planned expansion, a decision has been made that may reverberate through the decades: Instead of buying the home, they will simply build around it……”
Somerville YMCA alters expansion plans after family refuses to sell their home - The Boston Globe
As the Y begins finalizing a planned expansion, a decision has been made. Instead of buying the home, they will simply build around it.www.bostonglobe.com
I peeked at Somerville's zoning atlas and I am thoroughly surprised that the "spite" property is zoned the lowest intensity residential use. I would think that the entire area around City Hall would be zoned for more dense development. Did the spite property owners get some change to zoning so the Y (or really any other developer) will be prevented from building bigger?
That would make more sense at least for the difference.
It is still a free country. If they don't want to sell their house, that's completely up to them. It's not like eminent domain for a highway or transit project.It was predictably old people and they have their reasons. “At this stage in their lives, stability, sunlight, privacy, and peace are more important than ever to them,” said Angela Terzides, their daughter. “Their preference remains to continue living in the home they have cared for and cherished for more than four decades.”
Somerville YMCA alters expansion plans after family refuses to sell their home
Instead of buying the home, they will simply build around it.www.boston.com
Oh I agree
