.Mods, please delete this thread and start over. Yikes.
You totally missed the point of my post due to your closed mindedness. Boston needs the infrastructure but the need to plan, plan, plan. consult, consult, consult makes building anything impossible. Every special interest group needs to be appeased and coddled.
Definitely agree it blows my mind when people complain about the big dig. Yea it had problems at first but there hasn't been anything significant in a long time. Boston is a million times better than it was before the CAT. In the 80s/early 90's Boston was kind of a turd but has been polished up now and is doing pretty well for itself if no one has noticed.
Exactly, Stick.
Jahvon 09 and Tom of Boston should google what the city was like BEFORE the Big Dig compared to what it is now. It's not even close, and it is no coincidence. Boston was NOT on the list of "World Cities" before the Big Dig, no matter how long it took or how over budget it was. Today, Boston is the envy of almost every other city on this planet.
Does the hack system need to change? You bet. That should be a struggle we should be fighting - - not simply to shrug and give up. Infrastructure is vital and should not be forfeited because 'it is too hard'.
In the meantime, THIS is exactly what is needed and is smart-growth oriented. Every T station in the system should have a mini-city built around it with a good mixture of businesses/residences/services. Good on Stop and Shop for showing some great vision with this.
LOLOL I was living in Boston long before you were a lump in your father's pants.
In my feeble attempt to unfuck this thread I want to say that I think the idea that supermarkets building housing is fucking genius. Why build housing with the hopes of a supermarket moving to the neighborhood when you can build a supermarket that can build its own customer base? Brilliant.
Definitely.
Along with the location of this development by the new station, a new (and reportedly) outstanding version of a Stop and Shop is key. The fact that a supermarket is now actively getting into the development game makes so much sense and is truly a gamechanger. Let's hope Star Market, Market Basket, Trader Joes, etc. keep this going.
Supermarkets becoming developers is a great idea for the future of cities.
Realizing they were sitting on a gold mine, Safeway has developed several of its DC properties with significant residential above. The stores benefit by being able to wholesale renovate their space and having built-in customers ready to shop. Everyone benefits with a nicer grocery store and more active street life. It's a great model.
sorry, i had to repost.
i forgot a couple.....
most cities run a mix of sound policy, sound decision making and crisis management.
then there's our beloved Boston
a small city that failed to incorporate
+ public unions (God, that's a lot of $$$)
+ big union everything (more God, that's a lot of $$$)
+ ancient streets that date back 2/3rds to the middle ages
+ vast stretches of as near as makes no difference, un-taxable land....
+ endlessly complex multi-stage review process to build anything bigger than 32' up or down, fore or aft
+ zoning from the 1950s
+ draconian shadow laws everywhere
+ rendering as near as makes no difference, zero available land for highrise construction
+ endless protected zones from even mid-rise development (less highrises)
+ nimby lunatics running the asylum (who freak out when anything over 189' is proposed)
+ screaming about 160' canyons (a.k.a. Manhattanization) in the heart of 6th largest economic business metro in the U.S.
+ neighborhood preservation groups obstructing projects well beyond the limits of their own neighborhoods
+ 'dug in' parochialism, Irish townies and cronies vs Boston Brahmins & thin-skinned residents
+ miscellaneous special interest extortion groups demanding 'their cut'
+ sanctuary city which presents its own unique and daunting challenges
+ thousands of homeless freezing to death
+ snowmageddon every 3 years (Global Warming, come hither)
vs right-to-work city-states in the sunbelt enjoying exponential growth in the Global marketplace
= crisis management on everything.
+1.
I actually live a few miles away from one of those - - their Wheaton, MD development - - directly across Georgia Avenue from the Wheaton Metro station. I hadn't known that Safeway was actually the developer of that very nice building which is taking that area closer to a smart-growth density. It simply makes too much sense.
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=e...ved=0ahUKEwikv_Cnm43SAhVGCpoKHV4NBvUQoioIczAK
FYI, Stop & Shop has supposedly been calling this "Allston Yards", not sure where the "Boston Landing Station Residences" title here came from.
I changed the title. I think the previous title was just a descriptive place holder.
Just a gentle reminder that archBoston isn't an advertisement platform for various developers. It's OK if the title conveys an accurate description of the project even if it doesn't hue exactly to the marketing materials.
It's kind of funny that this thread is labeled "Allston" while the project next door is labeled "Brighton." I know the projects are, too, but it's still odd.