210 Moody Street | Waltham Center | Waltham

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DBM

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This the development at the site of the vacant building at the southeast corner of the Moody St. bridge over the Charles. Directly across from Margaritas on the southwest corner and the gloomy Equity apartment complex that hulks over Margaritas.

It's also just yards from the huge MERC development at Moody & Main that's almost complete, and the new Waltham Landing townhouse development at the extreme southeast corner of Waltham Common, on the far opposite side of the MERC, hard-up against the commuter rail tracks.

I don't believe there's a thread for it yet, but if there is, moderators, please lump this into it, thanks!

These renderings were put up quite recently; I noticed several other pedestrians gawking at them today.

I like all the faux/ersatz Victorian motifs, I think it's busy in a good way. Tasteful way to advance the "Watch City brand" with the turreted clocktower; lots of echoes to Waltham's 19th-c. industrial juggernaut heyday.

But I can see why others might find the faux touches cloying and excessively reverential....

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It will depend on the materials. It could end up looking like plastic disney garbage, or something quite nice and handsome.
 
That clock is obnoxious, regardless of material. Maybe if it actually looked like a factory or a train station. But it doesn't.
 
I can't say it's that bad considering how sterile in appearance recent developments have been.
 
For the record, Beacon Architectural Assoc. is the architect of record (and you can see their logo in the very bottom left of the posters).

Weird how Googling "Beacon Architectural Associates 210 Moody St." draws absolutely nothing though...
 
I like it. At least its something different.
 
Looks like the Victorian Village from a train set blown up to monster size. Awful, just awful.
 
I like it. I'll take a lot more of it too. Architectural boundary pushing be damned.
 
If built with proper materials (granite, wire-cut bricks, standing-seam copper roof) then I'm okay with it as well. I don't even mind the clock -- Waltham is Watch City, after all.

I fear that we'll get something fitting Disney's Lame Street, USA.
 
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It will be ultimate Disney: cheap, thin historical wallpaper on a frame. About as authentic an aesthetic as a Cheesecake Factory.
 
I love this. I'm also happy that it's a hotel, there aren't any hotels that I can think of in downtown Waltham. All of the hotels are near the office parks on 128.
 
For what it's worth the new, taller proposal seems much more graceful and elegant. The prior, squatter one seemed so exaggerated/over-sculpted with its projecting elements. Which is probably why a lot of people (rightly) saw it as faux/Disneyesque. I hope they can lock this current look in.

Also, to a certain extent, the longer the project delays, the better off it might be insofar as it ensures that the MERC's 269 units fill up, and also the 20 Cooper St. project and its 264 units are on-line. That's going to be 800-1,000 residents who're going to have relatives who might want to stay at the hotel when they're visiting them...
 
DBM said:
Also, to a certain extent, the longer the project delays, the better off it might be insofar as it ensures that the MERC's 269 units fill up, and also the 20 Cooper St. project and its 264 units are on-line. That's going to be 800-1,000 residents who're going to have relatives who might want to stay at the hotel when they're visiting them...
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Plus the cronins landing apartments, which has hundreds of units and was built 10 or 15 years ago. Also would be a good hotel location for people visiting Bentley or Brandies, probably better than the hotels on 128.

All these new apartment buildings and hotel will help Moody Street thrive even with new competition from the Polaroid site. Moody Street has the potential to be a Davis Square in the suburbs.

I wonder if NIMBY's will shorten this though. The Merc was originally supposed to be taller but was shortend due to pressure from the city.
 
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