Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

Marty's moved because the landlord jacked up the rent on them, not because business was suffering. I used to go there all the time, and they were always busy.
 
Shepard said:
Good policy can level the playing field. For example, an excise tax on each customer parking spot levied on a sliding scale based on surrounding density and walking distance to transit.
Click to expand...

Or making customers pay to park. Why should those who walk to the store subsidize those who drove there?
 
^ What form does that subsidy take? I'm not sure I understand.

If customer parking was taxed, and the most flagrantly unnecessary parking spots were taxed the most, then some business that wanted to keep their spots might decide to charge customers to offset that cost.

Of course, the question remains what businesses would do with spots they have but don't want to keep. I suppose the tax might be waived if they improve the spot/lot for public use (e.g. a park?) or they could sell larger parking lots for development...

While we're on the topic of parking, let's charge street parking at market rate on a neighborhood basis and fund the MBTA. The city collected $10m from parking meters in 2005 and if we generously say that on average those meters are 33% of the neighborhood garage rate, then that's at least $20m extra on the table - not to mention an end to meter-cruising on Newbury, Hanover Street etc that accounts for a large segment of the traffic.
 
Shepard said:
^ What form does that subsidy take? I'm not sure I understand.

If customer parking was taxed, and the most flagrantly unnecessary parking spots were taxed the most, then some business that wanted to keep their spots might decide to charge customers to offset that cost.

Of course, the question remains what businesses would do with spots they have but don't want to keep. I suppose the tax might be waived if they improve the spot/lot for public use (e.g. a park?) or they could sell larger parking lots for development...

While we're on the topic of parking, let's charge street parking at market rate on a neighborhood basis and fund the MBTA. The city collected $10m from parking meters in 2005 and if we generously say that on average those meters are 33% of the neighborhood garage rate, then that's at least $20m extra on the table - not to mention an end to meter-cruising on Newbury, Hanover Street etc that accounts for a large segment of the traffic.
Click to expand...

IMG_3960.jpg
 
Slowing Expansion, Harvard Suspends Work on Tower

By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: December 10, 2009

BOSTON ? Harvard announced Thursday that it would indefinitely suspend construction on a high-tech science complex in the Allston neighborhood of Boston because of money problems.

?The altered financial landscape of the university, and of the wider world, necessitates a shift away from rapid development in Allston,? Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard?s president, wrote in a letter released Thursday.

As part of a larger long-term expansion into Allston ? a pet project of Lawrence H. Summers, Dr. Faust?s predecessor at Harvard and now President Obama?s chief economic adviser ? the university also bought a string of buildings there over the last 20 years. But many have remained vacant, to the chagrin of Allston residents who have accused the university of buying land and holding onto it, a practice known as land banking.

The four-building science center, estimated to cost at least $1 billion, was originally scheduled to be finished in 2011. Dr. Faust?s announcement comes 10 months after she announced plans to slow the pace of the project while the university assessed whether it could continue. Harvard has since disclosed that its endowment declined 27 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, to $26 billion, and the university has made several cost-cutting moves.

In her letter, Dr. Faust said Harvard would step up efforts to revitalize Allston, a gritty neighborhood wedged between the Charles River and the Massachusetts Turnpike, even as it delayed the science center.

But Harry Mattison, an Allston resident who serves on the Harvard Allston Task Force, an advisory group, said he was skeptical.

?There?s nothing new here,? Mr. Mattison said. ?We need to get past vague assurances about leasing some of these decrepit buildings, to a comprehensive plan with follow-through.?

The Harvard Corporation, the university?s governing body, voted Tuesday to formally stop the construction. Dr. Faust, who succeeded Mr. Summers in 2007, said the university would continue to expand into Allston ?as resources allow,? but only after an evaluation by a new ?work team? made up of experts in design, urban planning, real estate and business strategy.

The evaluation will start in January. Meanwhile, the scientists who were supposed to occupy the new complex will work elsewhere indefinitely.

?This delay will in no way slow Harvard?s significant momentum in the life sciences,? Dr. Faust wrote.

She raised the possibility of Harvard?s teaming up with private industry, hospitals or philanthropic foundations to continue the science center construction and other Allston projects ? an idea that Mr. Mattison found encouraging.

?We?re going to have to cast a wide net for creative solutions or funding for whatever is going to happen here,? he said, ?because Drew Faust isn?t going to write a check. That?s clear.?

Katherine Lapp, the university?s executive vice president, said it was premature to confirm whether the science center, when construction resumes, would ultimately look the same ? or have the same function ? as originally proposed.

?It?s possible,? Ms. Lapp said. ?The work team will determine as it goes forward what options might make sense.?

The construction will stop by March, when the first phase ? the foundation and a street-level concrete deck ? is finished, university officials said. But Harvard will more aggressively seek tenants for surrounding vacant buildings, Dr. Faust wrote.

Harvard will also develop and support education and job-training programs in Allston, she said, as well as plant trees and finish a new public park.

Harvard has struggled to find the kind of tenants ? like shops and cafes ? that Allston residents want for the vacant properties, many of which are along a dingy thoroughfare with an industrial feel. But Ms. Lapp said she was optimistic, especially since Harvard would now look to lease an additional 100,000 square feet of space in buildings that had been used to support construction of the science center.

?We think we can bring some very interesting activities into the community,? she said.
Click to expand...

Link
 
"Tower"? Did the editor who wrote that headline even read the article / look into the project?
 
Sounds cool, currently it is mainly garages, has no open green space, and also abuts the pike. And pretty much no one lives in this immediate area, but watch all the people come out and demand this and that. And all this neighborhood input will do is dumb it down or at the very least slow things considerably.
 
Shepard said:
While the office towers would likely be buffered from existing residential neighborhoods...
Click to expand...
Buffer those towers! Or eliminate them if you can. Do they soar over five stories?

Shepard said:
...the pike ramp flyover might be located relatively close to the residential neighborhood of North Brighton...
Click to expand...
That's alright, it's not very tall.

.
 
Last edited:
BostonYoureMyHome said:
When are they going to resurrect this project?

pr_hous_comm1.jpg
Click to expand...

Is this the latest rendering? What happened to the "Charing Cross" proposal from Mr. Diamond? I thought it was a little taller, maybe a little better looking. I'd love to see this at 8 or 10 stories, but I'm sure the neighborhood wouldn't agree with me.
 
So New Balance is building a Rockefeller Center for Allston. Boston can haz this somewhere better? There is that gaping vacant lot in DTC no one has stepped up to rescue...
 
Have you seen their offices? What makes you think this could be the next Rockefeller Center?
 
Boston Herald said:
a mega-development...that could include a pair of office towers, hotel, residences, movie theater, shops and skating rink
Click to expand...

That's what.
 
I guess it's substance over style, when you consider the likelihood that this mega-development is executed in bland pre-cast.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top