Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

What the hell is that building on Greylock clad with? Looks similar to the crap on the exterior of the Korean Church on Harvard St.

Library Park looks like a maintenance nightmare. I assume Harvard is taking care of its upkeep? There's no way the city can keep it in this condition for long.

Other than that, I think the other infill projects shown here are pretty great. We can use a lot more just like them in other parts of the city. The Brighton Ave addition should serve as a model for every shitty single-story retail street in the city.
 
quinninin said:
Is it bad that I like the new construction on Greylock?
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I like it too, aside from the terrible, terrible cladding. I don't know what would have "worked", but this did not (I do however like the wood, but I'm sure they will skimp on it and it will turn gray).

The korean church on harvard street, however, is terrible. It makes me want to vomit every time I see it. I don't know how brookline let it happen, or worse how anyone designed and or built it. I hate and find fault in most things, but that box is godaweful.

The brighton ave project should be a model in appearance and purpose, but not structure. Along a wide street like that id love to see 4-6 floor buildings.
 
I actually like the cladding -- I know it must be cheap but I am still fond of the overall appearance.
 
That Greylock sticks out like a sore thumb, but that part of Allston is almost entirely rented by people who won't be there in two years, so really build what you want over there.
 
briv, Havard built Library Park, and agreed to pay, IIRC, for maintenance for five years. Part of the agreement with the city on being allowed to build the science complex. Maintenance costs are high, higher than for the Greenway.
 
^ A bit of anecdotal evidence: the only other person in the park besides myself was a lone maintenance guy, looking like he had already been out in the intense sun for quite a while (I passed thru around 11 am).

davem said:
I like it too, aside from the terrible, terrible cladding. I don't know what would have "worked", but this did not (I do however like the wood, but I'm sure they will skimp on it and it will turn gray).
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I agree with davem's assessment. I like its massing and what it does for the streetscape, but once you're within 50 or so feet of it the cheapness of the cladding is hard to ignore. Those white panels look like the plastic wall coverings used in commercial-grade kitchens, only they don't look or feel quite as durable. As I recall there was some "give" to them, which raises questions as to how many weekends of Allston partying they'll survive before looking haggard.
 
stellarfun said:
briv, Havard built Library Park, and agreed to pay, IIRC, for maintenance for five years. Part of the agreement with the city on being allowed to build the science complex. Maintenance costs are high, higher than for the Greenway.
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That kind of upsets me. So in 5 years from now Boston has to spend money (higher than normal) for a park that no one needed (already plenty around) and hardly anyone uses. My apartment's back yard looked out to it, I can tell you better than just about anyone else that it gets used sparingly at best. Meanwhile Boston struggles to keep libraries and after school programs open. Priorities nimbys, priorities.
 
Empty and unused is exactly how the wannabe-suburbanites who live in Lower Allston like it. They demand empty useless "greenspace" because they are scared to death of density. I've heard it straight from their mouths.
 
Isn't this area mostly Harvard grad students, with a scattering of BU folks?
 
Some but they don't come out to community meetings. The ones that do tend to be older, backwards-thinking folks. For example, one woman stood up at the New Brighton landing meeting and said she didn't like the zero-setback buildings because it was allegedly "unfriendly to pedestrians." She demanded more setbacks and filling it with more "greenspace." After hearing that, I began to strongly doubt she has ever walked along a city block in her life. Similarly, at the Harvard-Allston task force, some guy who owns an auto repair shop pushed for 20+ foot setbacks on the new Harvard buildings. When I asked him why, he made up an answer along the lines of "it'll become like Newbury Street!" Amazing, really.
 
Ron Newman said:
Isn't this area mostly Harvard grad students, with a scattering of BU folks?
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Lower Allston is similar to Brighton in that while there are a good amount of transient college students and young urban professionals, there are also extreme pockets (think a block or two here and there) where there is nothing but familes or aged-in-place retirees.

For instance, I worked for MASSpirg doing door-to-door canvasing (I lasted six days haha...boy did that job suck) and one of the neighborhoods I covered was L.A., knocking on every door between Everett St and the Library. As I recall, the area focused on Holton and Brentwood streets--right around the elementary school--were one of those pockets with very few transients.
 
What was the result, Matthew? I'm glad that you were there to push back. But it sounded like you were outnumbered. Were you able to point out that Newbury Street in no way had 20 ft setbacks of grass (he could argue there are setbacks as in stairs to buildings, but then you have to ask if he meant that type of setbacks of just advocating grassy setbacks)? Were you able to counter argue to the old lady that area that are known said to be friendly to pedestrians such as Harvard Square or other examples did not have any setbacks? Or point out places that did have setbacks are "car only" areas?
 
Yes, I was able to counter it, although I am not sure what effect these back and forth discussions have. The folks from the BRA and the architectural firms seem to have their thing in mind and just stand there. Fortunately, it does seem that they understand the importance of creating a decent walking environment, although sometimes it seems like lip service. At least they're talking about things like "making small blocks", "street wall" and "mixed use" though I wonder if they're just tossing out buzzwords to seem current. For example, with the New Brighton landing I pointed out that Union Sq is only about half a mile away - a little far but worth overcoming - and it would really help the project thrive if they could find some way to connect them. The architect spokesman thought that was an interesting idea, I guess I'll find out next time if he put anything into it. It's a little disturbing that they did not think of it themselves though.

As for Harvard-Allston, a resident named Harry Mattison has been putting a lot of effort into making sure that Harvard understands the need for a walkable neighborhood which integrates with the community, so if you're interested in that you should look him up. It also sounds like they picked a sensible architecture firm, but I guess I'll find out more next time. I don't know what became of the setback proposal.
 
?

All that was specified in those days was that buildings had to be 16 feet back from the lot line.
 
Matthew, Harry Mattison sometimes posts on here.

IIRC, there was a laundry list of potential neighborhood bennies that the residents considered, from a community health center to job training to recreation facilities. Library Park was one of the projects chosen. And IIRC, Harvard had originally given the land for the library. And the park, IIRC the institutional master plan, was/is to tie into a longer strip of greenspace extending to the Charles. Again IIRC, the idea was/is to restore long gone Allston creek within this greenspace strip.

In retrospect, a better project might have been having Harvard repair, restore, etc the Olmstead stables at the old Speedway.
 
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Relating to the crazies at the meetings about Brighton Landing, Harvard, etc, there seems to be a decent amount of people from A/B on here (or at least interested in its future), anyone think of us actually getting together to go to these meetings to counter the vocal minority? I feel like I always hear about these meetings after its too late, and I would really like to go to have a counterpoint.

stellarfun said:
Matthew, Harry Mattison sometimes posts on here.
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He's got a pretty good blog I'm subscribed to as well: allston02134.blogspot.com.

stellarfun said:
In retrospect, a better project might have been having Harvard repair, restore, etc the Olmstead stables at the old Speedway.
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Maybe they can land swap the front baseball diamond at the Smith Playground for the Speedway Building and the DCR yard next door. A diamond would fit perfectly on the DCRs land, and I could envision the courtyard and stables of the Speedway building being used for the farmers market and maybe a craft fair. I still think the best use for the Speedway building itself would be a b&b.

The DCR yard should move across the river to those abandoned warehouses.


Somewhat related to my above idea: I saw some construction work going on at the old Taureen building next to the Speedway building, anyone know whats up there?
 
davem said:
Relating to the crazies at the meetings about Brighton Landing, Harvard, etc, there seems to be a decent amount of people from A/B on here (or at least interested in its future), anyone think of us actually getting together to go to these meetings to counter the vocal minority? I feel like I always hear about these meetings after its too late, and I would really like to go to have a counterpoint.
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It would be great to have more people attend the BRA's meetings to support new development that will create a strong local economy and a vibrant, urban public realm.

The next Harvard meeting is 6pm Wednesday at 125 Western Ave.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Autler, Gerald" <Gerald.Autler....@cityofboston.gov>
Date: Jul 5, 3:34*pm
Subject: Harvard-Allston Task Force Meeting

Reminder: the Harvard-Allston Task Force will meet next Wednesday, July 11, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE IN VENUE: The meeting will be held at the Harvard Innovation Lab, 125 Western Avenue. An updated list of meeting dates and locations can be found below.

The tentative meeting agenda for 7/11 is as follows:

**
Continuation of the discussion of Parcel A Mixed-Use Project concepts and options
**
Initial discussion of Brookline Machine Shop RFP

Upcoming meeting dates and venues are as follows:

** * *MONDAY, July 23 (Harvard Innovation Lab)
** * *Wednesday, August 8 (Harvard Innovation Lab)
** * *Wednesday, August 22 (TBA)
** * *Wednesday, September 12 (TBA)

Materials from previous meetings are posted at:

http://www.harvard-allston.org/
 
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