Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

I took a closer look at the crane at the Harvard science site. It is definately a crane that is not hositened up. I'm going to be pessimistic and say they are probably just storing it there for now.
 
I can't tell if they're takeing down the plywood or adding it?
211-3.jpg
210-3.jpg
212-3.jpg
209-4.jpg
I don't think this is a "Real" crane
213-2.jpg
 
^^ They are taking down the plywood. They (Harvard) will supposedly replace it with a wooden fence, perhaps similar to the Great Allston Wall fence. They (Harvard) have said they will landscape the concrete slab this summer, at least the perimeter of it. Also, apparently some of the underground garage under the slab will be used for parking for new tenant(s) at the former WGBH building that can be seen in the third picture.
 
^^^ So basically this is a cock-tease. Thanks for the info though.
 
Has anyone seen the new bike lanes on Harvard Ave?
 
Boston Zoning Board turns down Greylock project in Allston
By Meena Ramakrishnan
Wicked Local Allston
Posted Apr 13, 2010 @ 06:38 PM
Allston, Mass. ?

A development project for a housing complex on Greylock Road in Allston was turned down today by the Zoning Board of Appeals. The project had the approval of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Mayor Thomas Menino and City Councilor Mark Ciommo, but was voted down without prejudice, terminating Greylock Glenville LLC?s plans.

Greylock Glenville LLC, RODE Architects and the representative attorney declined to comment.

The project at 17-23 Greylock Road had five variances violating the city zoning code. The zoning board called the changes Greylock Glenville LLC made insignificant, according to Allston resident Bob Pesseck who attended the hearing.

?One of the people on the board described that plan as ?pathetic?,? he said. ?It?s just too big. People said it looked like a prison being dropped on it. Architecturally, there?s nothing special about it.?

The structure would have replaced two colonial two-family homes and a single family home built in the 1880s with a three-story 20-unit residential building. The complex would have had one and two-bedroom units in a 21,000-square-foot building.

Though it gained the support of the BRA, many community members and organizations opposed its construction. The Brighton Allston Improvement Association and the Allston Civic Association have repeatedly opposed the proposal in the past.

Pesseck went on to say that the structure would be bad for the neighborhood and bring in transient residents in an area already overpopulated by college students.

?You?re going to have a transient population bringing in U-Haul trucks and leaving garbage all over the place,? Pesseck said. ?That guy didn?t care about our neighborhood and just wanted to make a lot of money off Allston.

Greylock Glenville LLC must wait one year before they can present another plan. Pesseck hopes that they choose to maintain the properties currently standing.

He said, ?Many people in community said fix them up and enlarge the places for modern living. Improve them, and I don?t think anybody would have opposed him.?

Copyright 2010 Allston/Brighton TAB. Some rights reserved
Click to expand...

i just can't even care anymore.
 
YOU LIVE IN ALLSTON! THERE ARE COLLEGE KIDS, DEAL WITH IT!

I'm sorry for the caps, I've been using them a lot recently. I'm just getting very annoyed by all this news. I'm not saying the project was a good idea, but the grounds the rejection was based on infuriate me.
 
The project doesn't sound that great to me. I'm imagining the neighborhood like the old family homes which may have some architecture flair being from the 19th century. What do they gain out it if they approve it?

Also, while Allston is college kids territory, part of "dealing with it" is to not approve things that make them even bigger if they are in the position to do so.

Edit: Looking back more, I'll play a larger Devil's advocate. From my understanding, very few people after they get married, will live in an apartment, even the lower middle class. Malden, where I was raised, was a working-class blue-collar majority (see wikipedia for median income) neighborhood, not yuppies. They still live in a family house, the houses are closer to each other more compared to more subburban areas, but it is still a house.

The reality is, they are correct in their assessment that the people who will buy the new units will not be more families, but college students (or those who will subsequently buy and rent it to them). A one to two bedroom apartment is exactly what a college student want, but very few families want. One person from this board marrying and moving into an apartment will only make you an exception. The majority wants a house and those people see the type they want more as those types of people.
 
They wanted to build 20 units, the property is zoned for TWO! What a joke. Guess we gotta make sure we keep those housing costs high, huh?

And this area is full of apartment buildings by the way.

We seriously need comprehensive zoning reform, or else this city is screwed.
 
Once again, college kids are people too
Click to expand...
.

I know. I am a college student. Right here at BU actually.

JohnAKeith said:
Right. Their opposition is classist, nothing more.
Click to expand...

^ Already is screwed.

If you don't up-zone a city, how can it grow? It's like bound feet in China.
Click to expand...

Explain. What are the benefits if this is built... in the eye of an Allstonian? Even in the eyes of fans of city development.

Unlike Columbus Center, where were get to stitch up neighborhoods separated by canyon with a river of cars...

Unlike the Boston Arch, where we get rid of an ugly garage, receive some new aesthetically pleasing towers, more people to an area that needs it, and millions of dollars in taxes...

...where I can see the good outweighs the bad. For the cost a few years of noise and a few people's views, we gained the above. For this one, I don't really see how much good is gained out of it, except maybe a little more tax revenue. That maybe justified enough for some here, but in my view, unless it is really that much, I tend to sympathize with the people who been then for years until we started to show up with the noise, urination, trash, and stupidity. Briv's argument is the best I heard so far, that it is already full of apartment buildings. However, for the Allstonians who are not part of that demographic, what reason do they have to support bring in more of said student.

Read this flame-fest of comments between Allstonians and BU-BC college students. Full of entitlements. "It's Allston, it's college student territory." Which somehow denotes that we spend all our energy in the very actions that piss off people who are not college student. To be fair and honest, getting ludicrously drunk can have its moments, it make a few good stories too. Though even at my craziest moment, I didn't vandalized or threw-up and everyone around me was friends. Most of the time, I prefer a good dinner with a bunch of my friends. The one in Allston, have many incidents like a story a person told me, while she is one of the quieter ones, her neighbors were engaged in a game of throwing glass bottles to each other roofs.

On a side note: It find it bothersome that our culture push us to act as such. Writing about this reminds me of an observation, on nights staying in, I and a few other who are not feeling like going out feel a sense of shame. Another element of our culture that drives us to engage in these behaviors.

To the eyes of Allstonians, what is in their interest in support bring in more of said people. The college students have already concluded the whole town is their territory and free to be as loud and obnoxious as they want. Are we all that loud? No, but enough that opening a new building will do just that. They see little "progress" when it means bringing in people where it will eventually force them to move out.
 
I'm not saying that the apartment building itself is a good idea, in fact, a large out-of-scale apartment complex is probably not something I would support.

What I have a problem with is the reflexive opposition due to the very idea of college kids. You are a testament to the fact that not all college kids are horrible beings capable of nothing but debauchery. The students are equally responsible, however, and need to do their best to end the idea that the neighborhood need be residents vs. students.
 
I think people like me are outnumbered by the other type of college student. I have a friend who is living in a apartment that does not allow college students, but he got in anyways (not sure how). He manages to make things work, but he doesn't really care for heavy drinking or those types of stuff, basically act as a mature adult by nature.

However, he is just one man. Trying to fill an entire apartment, probability says it will be of the not-so-quiet ones rather more of my friend or myself.

Basically, until culture changes of what is a fun night, I would say their reaction of playing by the numbers is correct. What other reaction can they take? "Well... there's this one kid who I wouldn't mind having as a neighbor?" We will only displace them and make Allston more of a college kids zone rather than an extra plus to them.
 
kennedy said:
I'm not saying that the apartment building itself is a good idea, in fact, a large out-of-scale apartment complex is probably not something I would support.

What I have a problem with is the reflexive opposition due to the very idea of college kids. You are a testament to the fact that not all college kids are horrible beings capable of nothing but debauchery. The students are equally responsible, however, and need to do their best to end the idea that the neighborhood need be residents vs. students.
Click to expand...

This building wasn't out of scale. That is the problem.


It was 3 stories. It is surrounded by 3 story buildings on almost all sides. It is a 3 minute walk to the greenline.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&c...23 greylock allston&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

the building wasn't an architectural gem, but the developer was willing to make changes. The ZBA response was to call the proposal "pathetic" and now the developer must wait a year to even propose something else.

If i was the developer, I wouldn't invest a dime more than required into those properties.

That's my problem with these people.

"...where I can see the good outweighs the bad. For the cost a few years of noise and a few people's views, we gained the above. For this one, I don't really see how much good is gained out of it, except maybe a little more tax revenue."

How about the natural growth of an urban area? I think that is more important than any 1 factor.
 
Last edited:
Mixed-use project proposed for Brighton
Boston Business Journal - by Craig M. Douglas

Hera Development Corp. has submitted plans to the Boston Redevelopment Authority to construct a three-building mixed-use site in the city?s Allston-Brighton neighborhood.

If approved by city officials, the two-parcel development would replace 83,685 square feet of existing retail and office space now housing a Grossman?s Bargain Outlet and the Vocational Action Center.

The proposed project includes 20,400 square feet of commercial space; 122 apartments comprising 148,000 square feet; and 219 ?below-level? parking spaces for residents and retail purposes, according to the proposal. A 4,700-square-foot day care center also is part of the plan.

The development will be bordered by Market, Vineland and North Beacon streets.

Hera Development is based in Brighton and has roughly a half dozen similar projects in various stages of development throughout Greater Boston and southern New Hampshire.
Click to expand...

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2010/05/31/daily32.html
 
palindrome said:
This building wasn't out of scale. That is the problem.


It was 3 stories. It is surrounded by 3 story buildings on almost all sides. It is a 3 minute walk to the greenline.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&c...23 greylock allston&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

the building wasn't an architectural gem, but the developer was willing to make changes. The ZBA response was to call the proposal "pathetic" and now the developer must wait a year to even propose something else.

If i was the developer, I wouldn't invest a dime more than required into those properties.

That's my problem with these people.

"...where I can see the good outweighs the bad. For the cost a few years of noise and a few people's views, we gained the above. For this one, I don't really see how much good is gained out of it, except maybe a little more tax revenue."

How about the natural growth of an urban area? I think that is more important than any 1 factor.
Click to expand...

Huh, I must have forgotten about this thread...

The natural growth seems to be pushing out the people who are protesting the construction. Once that get built, eventually, one can justify the next bunch of homes can be taken down and done the same. After all, 3 sides are are the same and it's natural urban growth. That's great, but how's that great for the people who lived before student came in and declared it is a college hell zone (and yes, some students did said that, in a Daily Free Press article, some students did said that).

It's self-preservation. Three sides are the same type, but the one side is the leading edge of neighborhood that is getting pushed out and replaced with people, that I have to say even though I'm part of that demographic, are not very likable.
 
Kind of liked Grossman's, but all well, I could allways go to the one in Malden.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top