225 Centre @ Jackson Square | 225 Centre Street | Jamaica Plain

[commuter guy]

Looks great to me too. Also I think the 6 stories, with no setbacks, makes a great streetwall.

 

[RandomWalk]

I think the cornice does a nice job of giving the mass a finished look. Most buildings these days seem to lack any cornice, and I feel it makes the buildings look more unfinished and like landscrapers.

 

[kz1000ps]

And this is directly across the street on Columbus:

 

[lynqueezy]

225 Centre is great.

And would be better if it's 2 retail spaces found a tenant already.

 

[Deetroyt]

This whole square could become something really fantastic, a destination in its own right, once the whole plan is built out. More residences going up should help fill out the retail spaces.

 

[kz1000ps]

I enjoy the tall buildings in downtown (and hope more are built), but developments like these are what I would really like to see all over Boston. 225 Centre is great.

Thanks for the photos Kz.

In 100% agreement with you. I really enjoy this building and in particular love its brawny proportions.

 

[FK4]

I like the new building, but there is way too much brick around here with Bromley Heath and the remaining old factory buildings. I also think that rehabbing the old building (I mean the buildings under construction on the Roxbury side) was a mistake; it's not a nice factory building and we don't need to preserve and restore every piece of crap brick building in the area. I just hope they eventually scrub the bricks clean of the old whitewash-y advertisement on the front facade... it would look so cheap and corny if they left it there. Yes, overall, the whole project is definitely adding a lot to Jackson, including the aesthetic redesign of Columbus (aside from the stupid new light for the bus that runs on a set signal whether there are buses or not, 24/7, and also a typically Boston, very poorly done lane merge). I don't think this is going to be a destination, though, for a long time, owing to Bromley-Heath and Academy I. They are just too ugly and imposing. Hopefully, someday when Bromley-Heath gets redone they will do it right, impose a real street grid and decent looking buildings (not the dead end, no outlet shitroads and looks-cheap-as-sin job they did on Mission Main and Orchard Park). What we can more realistically hope for is that eventually, something will get built over the Orange Line across the street from the station (where the MBTA structure is now), and then with the final corner lot developed (Amory-Centre-Columbus), at least the commercial district of Centre will stretch right down to Columbus and liven up the area.

As a real aside, the old New England Hospital for Women and Children - now Dimock - campus is worth checking out, hiding right behind Academy II, for anyone who likes old hospital/institutional campuses.

 

[elemenoh]

And this is directly across the street on Columbus:

That building is Jackson Commons. In total it's 37 apartments, a "community learning center", office space for Urban Edge, and one retail space.

The brick building they're restoring is the Coleman-Webb Building. About $800k of historic preservation tax credits went into making this development possible.

Here's the project on the BRA site: http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/reb/Project_Detail.asp?DivProjID=REMS6514

and at the architects' web site http://www.prellwitzchilinski.com/projects/jackson-commons-2/

 

[FK4]

Thanks... I've actually been through all these files before, just forgot the name of the actual project.. I live around here so this overall project is a pretty big deal. At any rate, just because the building has a name (and someone is guaranteed to dredge up a name for any building remotely old) doesn't mean it it has to be preserved, or has special significance. That building is not that nice; in fact it's rather drab. I'm all for historic preservation but we get so carried away with it around here. I'd much rather see 800k spent on a new building, or saving a better old one. It isn't the end of the world and will end up looking ok, but I do think it's overkill.

 

[underground]

I don't think this is going to be a destination, though, for a long time, owing to Bromley-Heath and Academy I. They are just too ugly and imposing. Hopefully, someday when Bromley-Heath gets redone they will do it right, impose a real street grid and decent looking buildings (not the dead end, no outlet shitroads and looks-cheap-as-sin job they did on Mission Main and Orchard Park).

Agreed. Hopefully those projects get a nice HOPE VI-ing with dense mixed-market units and solid street walls soon. It would transform the area in more ways than one.

 

[FK4]

It's funny how much attention the Roxbury highway projects get, yet the massive destruction of Roxbury neighborhoods for all these housing projects rarely get any press at all. The latter alone (combined area of all the projects and co-ops) must be one of the biggest urban renewal clearances in the country.

 

[underground]

Seriously, it's huge, and so underutilized. There are gigantic parcels of old fashioned Tower in the Park style projects all the way from Jackson Square up to Ruggles. The street walls suck, there's basically no retail, no eyes on the street, there aren't enough units - basically, they aren't doing anything for the people who live there, let alone the larger community. If the mayor's looking for good spots for dense lower to middle income housing, working with HUD to redo all those spots (which is probably on HUD's to do list anyway) would be a good start. It ticks all the boxes he's looking for: close to downtown, good transit, currently underutilized, etc.

 

[HenryAlan]

Re: Jackson Square/225 Centre

Okay so if we assume that's all true, what would you do with this area, or other areas without "the bones" for gentrification? Let them continue to stagnate? Let lots remain vacant because they're not "ready" for development?

Late to this discussion, but Jackson Square is right between two fairly attractive and gentrifying neighborhoods -- Hyde Square and Fort Hill. At full build, this development will neatly tie the two together in a very attractive way. I think it's a huge win for the city, and particularly for JP and Roxbury.

More directly to the comment about gentrification bones, I dispute that notion.

 

[coleslaw]

Seriously, it's huge, and so underutilized. There are gigantic parcels of old fashioned Tower in the Park style projects all the way from Jackson Square up to Ruggles.

Most of the rest of what you say is true but they do not even stretch halfway to Roxbury Crossing nonetheless Ruggles.

 

[underground]

Sorry, I'm talking about the Mission Main/Alice Taylor/Whittier St area. So, not entirely contiguous, but close.

 

[George_Apley]

How would the state go about redeveloping those public housing projects? Do they need to give places for the residents to live while they raze and rebuilt the parcels? Obviously 20th Century housing projects are disgustingly anti-urban and turn people off to public/low-income housing in general. They're inward oriented, have few amenities, little street life, horrid architecture. Redev them in a more urban "complete streets" way and it will do SO much for their neighborhoods.

But again, is there a way to do that without displacing the current residents?

 

[underground]

It would probably be HUD that redeveloped them under the HOPE VI program. That's what's been happening with the most recently redone projects. The new D Street projects are a good example of what the finished product looks like if you want to check it out. Residents do get moved into other housing. I believe they get first dibs at moving back in too.

 

[FK4]

Re: Jackson Square/225 Centre

New Housing in Jackson Square

Total Project Cost: $15 million
Total SF: 46,858 SF
Housing Units: 39 affordable units
Jobs: Approximately 10-15 permanent
LEED: LEED Silver Certifiable

"The BRA Board unanimously approved new transit oriented housing for Jackson Square. The new building at 75 Amory Avenue will replace a vacant lot and is one of several projects planned as part of the Jackson Square Master Plan that will revitalize a key Roxbury and Jamaica Plain crossroads.

75 Amory Avenue will feature 39 units of affordable rental housing nearly three quarters of which will be two and three bedrooms. The project also includes a large common room, a property management office, recycling, bike parking, and a laundry room. The building totals 46,858 square feet and is located close to the Jackson Square Orange line MBTA stop. The project developer is the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation.

The Jackson Square Master Plan envisions a phased, transit oriented, mixed-use neighborhood on 11.2 acres of underutilized public and private parcels. The master plan was developed with the input of hundreds of community residents, youth, and business owners from across Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. 225 Centre Street, the first of 14- planned projects for the area, broke ground in May 2012. In addition a mixed income residential building, Jackson Commons, and a multi-purpose indoor rink are planned."

From: http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho...ino-announces-new-projects-moving-forward-13/

This is a vacant backlot against the orange line tracks. 225 looks to be almost finished with exterior work (I bike by fairly often), but no photos for now.

PNF (essentially) - http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho... K Jackson Square_SupplementalInformation.pdf

Ugh. So I was re-reviewing the files on this and Jackson Sq in general (should someone just lump all the Jackson stuff into one thread?) and had not noticed that the original proposal for this site was to have a greenway along the MBTA ROW - basically a parallel SW Corridor all the way down. Now the greenway is going to be surface parking. How sad and pathetic. This area desperately needs greenspace. The project's already approved, so I dont think much can be done now to change it.

 

[elemenoh]

Re: Jackson Square/225 Centre

Ugh. So I was re-reviewing the files on this and Jackson Sq in general (should someone just lump all the Jackson stuff into one thread?) and had not noticed that the original proposal for this site was to have a greenway along the MBTA ROW - basically a parallel SW Corridor all the way down. Now the greenway is going to be surface parking. How sad and pathetic. This area desperately needs greenspace. The project's already approved, so I dont think much can be done now to change it.

This is Building K, aka 75 Amory Ave.

Worse than the loss of greenspace is the reduction from 36 affordable rental units and 16 affordable condos to just 39 rental units. What was proposed as a mixed rental and ownership building is now all rental and it's significantly smaller. Really disappointing.

And it's a painfully ugly building:

Image clipped from the May 16, 2013 BRA submission (PDF).

 

[Czervik.Construction]

Is Jackson Square getting respectable? When I lived there, it was a shooting gallery. I used to walk the extra distance to Stony Brook station to avoid being repeatedly robbed. Before City Feed and Supply opened, it was a tiny liquor store where everything (and the clerk) was behind bulletproof glass.