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What does this even mean? As for uniform heights in Boston, it's hard to avoid examples of uniform height neighborhoods that are great. Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End, and the South End all have a clear uniformity in height (and architecture) that makes them some of the most beautiful...

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2026/03/27/in-amherst-delivering-public-transit-is-an-extracurricular-activity Interesting article about PVTA's UMass Transit; they pay college students $21/hr to operate buses. Are there structural reasons that a similar concept couldn't be applied in Boston...

I agree with the general sentiment, but this is right next to JFK/UMass. If transit-oriented development and decreasing VMT are priorities, shouldn't we be going the way of Toronto or Vancouver and building high-rises near stations? 5-over-1s won't be enough to move the needle, and excess demand...

https://homenewshere.com/middlesex_east/article_603d6443-ef64-42b0-a707-e957a460f06b.html My reading of this is that the breakdown is 100% 55+. and on the tax revenue side: So it doesn't look like this would be a big step down from the life sciences dev in terms of revenue, but leaving the...

It's even more perplexing than that. It looks to be proposed as a 55+ community with 0 impact on schools, and the developer stated that traffic is projected to be lower than the life sciences proposal. I really don't get their angle at all.

My "crazy transit pitch" has been the opposite: Convert OC lines to some kind of hybrid HRT through-running with the red line. Procure some funky rolling stock with third-rail + catenary power, 48.5" boarding height compatible with both high-level commuter rail platforms and red line...

If you're "eating into the taxes on market rate units" as Beans put it, you would need to subsidize those students as well. That's a lot of money for the state to suddenly start ponying up with no funding source. And that doesn't even get into all the other increases in services a municipality...

It's not about a decline in revenue, it's about an increase in expenses. The situation a lot of towns in MA find themselves in is this: - Immediate need for affordable housing (need to reach 10% threshold for 40B exemption) - Immediate need for revenue (e.g. 100 unit building adds 30 kids to...

Am I reading it wrong? It seems like it's an effective 5.25% interest rate second mortgage, not exactly nothing...

You are correct. I was looking at the Feb 10th version, which stated 37 units for the 5-story version. Looks like they changed it between then and the 24th. https://www.winchester.us/DocumentCenter/View/13230/2026-02-10_PB-Meeting-Packet?bidId=

Ok, what I don't understand is how a short-term property tax exemption on IZ units could ever fully subsidize them. Rough math: - $900k market rate unit with $300k subsidy - 1.3% property tax rate exemption on $900k = $11.7k per year - 5% interest rate on $300k subsidy loan = $15k per year...

The final agreement was a $2,000,000 payment in lieu of 5 affordable units. While total unit amount only decreased by 1, unit composition had to be adjusted to make that possible. In my reading of the situation, I think the focus on the 6th-floor issue was not a particularly valid aesthetic...

Good point. I think the big question would be how you square this with 40B and Prop 2 1/2. As it stands, this would create a system where a municipality has to collect 0 property tax from 10% of their units to reach safe-harbor status, and yet somehow not raise tax revenue more than 2.5% per...

Not quite accurate. You're looking at the original drawings that compared the 2022 and 2025 versions. The recent debate that led to final approval was based around the 2025 version (the thinner building) with 5 or 6 stories.

I think you're missing what I'm saying. Everyone would not win. Municipal tax dollars are not play-money funbucks. I am fine with extraneous developer profits, but not when they are coming from the pockets of taxpayers. We could get the same amount of housing built out with less subsidy...

I don't know if this is the way to go for Massachusetts. If IZ requirements suddenly dropped to 0 (by being 100% subsidized by municipalities), we would end up with a wave of developers making profits hand-over-fist for a decade before supply stabilized as market rate rents decreased to the cost...

Special permit approved for 10 Converse Place (renamed 33 Mount Vernon St). This permit is for a revised proposal, with only 5 stories and 37 units compared to the prior 6-story 38-unit version...

Bro you're using quadruple exclamation points and anger emojis. That's like definitionally popping off. Chill out.

The Chelsea/Everett developments are looking particularly filled out now

A bit of a non sequitur, but does anyone happen to know the history of all those plus-sign-shaped condos in the background of that picture? There are a number of condo developments littered with that same distinctive shape and roof color around the Commonwealth, both in the Ashland area and up...