Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

375 Market:

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St. Elizabeth's:

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(shot with my crappy phone)

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375 Market:

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St E's is a good candidate for Hall of Shame, all of it's past, present, and future additions included.
 
Color aside, this building will look a million times better with the extra floors added. That shitastic unilock retaining wall destroying Washington Street is another matter though.

Same with the empty space under the older addition, I can't really fathom why they wouldn't throw up a curtain wall there and rent out the space for something. It's completely useless.
 
Baby steps, people, baby steps ...

From Universal Hub:

The Boston Licensing Board voted today to let the Soldiers Field McDonald's extend its closing time from 11 p.m. until 2 a.m.

At a hearing yesterday, representatives from the mayor's office and the Brighton Allston Improvement Association asked for an earlier closing time.

The mayor's office asked for midnight at the request of Boston Police and the neighborhood association asked for 1 a.m., saying it was concerned about the area being flooded by people getting out of area bars between 1 and 2 a.m.

The restaurant already has a 24-hour drive-thru and is near a 24-hour IHOP. It had originally sought 24-hour operations itself - in fact, was cited last year for opening around the clock without board approval - but scaled back to 2 a.m. after meeting with the BAIA.

Also today, the board voted to let the McDonald's open in the morning at 5 a.m., an hour earlier than previously.
Click to expand...

Source: Board votes to let Brighton McDonald's stay open until 2 a.m., over neighborhood, city objections
 
Considering that that McDonald's is in an auto-centric wasteland with very few bars within walking distance, I think the concern shouldn't be about what time it closes but rather how the late night patrons are getting there...?
 
Well I just heard about a fascinating new development plan at 37 North Beacon Street.

This guy wants to redevelop the house and used car lot into a 44 unit 5-floor apartment building. It's about 18,000 sq feet of land. He has two main goals: one, to provide 18,000 sq feet of greenery through a (public) central courtyard, patios, and rooftop garden. And the second one, not to add any more traffic to the surrounding streets. His preferred proposal includes zero dedicated parking spaces, but instead has 6-7 shared-car parking spaces, 40-50 bike parking spaces, and storage in its place. He wants to pursue all options of attracting car-free tenants.

And you know what, he was pretty well received at the ACA. Some were a bit skeptical but supportive.

I'll see if I can get any PDFs but there will be a BRA public meeting about it at Jackson-Mann on the 31st of January, 6pm or so.
 
Great! if he thinks he can attract tenants without them, then thats what the market is all about. Hopefully we see this mentality adopted even more, especially in more centrally located areas.
 
This guy builds fancy stuff. I'd personally wonder if the occupant of a 700k condo would be OK with the 66 and 57 as their transit options (New Balance is a bit far). But - the market will tell...
 
New Balance is only 0.5 miles away. The new commuter rail station will be closer than that, it'll be on Everett Street.

He claimed that he is targeting a "medium" range for affordability. What's 15 North Beacon considered?
 
Oh I forgot to mention that he is including space for a few retail shops on the corner of N. Beacon and Everett.
 
Matthew said:
Oh I forgot to mention that he is including space for a few retail shops on the corner of N. Beacon and Everett.
Click to expand...

Lol, that's a really really important omission, especially for this board. ;-)

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not liking his track record.
 
Haha, yeah I am trying to get the PDFs because this is really something quite different. And I didn't really see anything on the website which is like it.

Admittedly I am a traditionalist and the design I saw is decidedly non-traditional. It's boxy and modernistic, and it does a whole bunch of things to ensure everyone's patio garden gets sunlight. Which is neat, I suppose. He said he would work on a model for the Jan 31st meeting.
 
Ooh! I like that idea.

Here's the Google Maps location: http://goo.gl/maps/CG7LZ

If he says he'll go car-free, I bet he'd be required to promise that his tenants (or condo owners) sign agreements not to apply for permits. They did that across the street here in the South End at Atelier (although later the owners tried to sneak their way into get it overturned).

Regarding 15 N Beacon, as some will remember, that was an apartment building turned into condos (from rentals to sales) several years ago, when the market got hot. They sold them all off (I assume) but it took a bit of time - it's a big building, it's not in a prime location, and the units hadn't been upgraded (as far as I know). Resales now run in a wide range of $350-$490 per square foot (based on sales I can pull up on MLS for the past year). So, a 4th-floor one-bedroom with 615-square feet of space sold for $240,000 in 2012 (including two parking spaces).

Perhaps the developer could offer spaces for rent/sale at 15 N Beacon, but I don't know if they are offered to non-tenants/owners.

The retail at 15 N Beacon isn't great, from what I remember when I've gone by there. Either empty or kind of dumpy. MLS shows several spots being put of for sale for several hundred thousand dollars with no takers. Not sure if retail can be successful further down at the corner of N Beacon and Everett, nor am I sure the neighbors would want it.

Now, if he offered to take over the used car lot next door for parking or for more units, maybe they'd like that.
 
Retail at 15 N Beacon meaning Union Square? That's doing pretty well.
 
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