Beverly Developments

tysmith95

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70 New Apartments are expected to go up in Beverly adjacent to the commuter rail garage at 112 Rantoul Street. The building will also have a rooftop deck and 4000 sf of ground floor retail. It will include no new parking (residents will have reserved spaces in the MBTA garage).
 
So they are plopping it directly in front of that new garage. Interesting! Was wondering why they left that big patch of grass out front.
 
This is great. There's a big multi-unit going up across the street from the garage now too.
 
As I understad this developer, Windsor, also ownes 3 other blocks along Rantoul Street. The block across from the Beverly Crossing site and the two Kelly Ford blocks just north of the Post Office.

Windsor is producing a mixed bag of results. Some examples follow.
Also on Rantoul.

Condos

Apts

https://flic.kr/p/NRry4h
 
Also in progress is the reconstruction of Rantoul Street (Route 1A) and parts of Cabot Street. It started in 2015 and will end (with luck) by the end of 2017. It started with the removal of hundreds of trees that lined Rantoul and is why the street looks so bare.

https://flic.kr/p/PsUrGR

https://flic.kr/p/PfbU4S
 
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^^ Thanks, very interesting.
My grand parents took in a family of 4 and 2 single adults for a couple of years after the fire. They never moved back to Salem.
 
Without going on too much of a tangent,

salem-fire-at-its-height-bpl.jpg


15154CanalStreetConflagration.jpg


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The fire started perhaps a half mile behind the group of people watching, and generally went from west to east, the direction of the wind. In the last photograph, one can see there ought to be a natural firebreak with train tracks and a tidal stream. The first two photographs are of the street (Canal St.) just to the east of the tracks. I suspect that embers landed on the rear/front porches of the three deckers. Its because of disasters such as this that building codes and fire codes are revised.

My grandparents house was built on a street that burned during the fire; built shortly after the fire as a single family detached, it had ugly, asbestos shingles as siding for decades.

salem_aerial.jpg

^^^ One of the first aerial news photographs of a disaster.
 
It’s truly amazing the growth of Beverly.

The school system was average - now it’s fantastic and has a waitlist for school choice
(Kids from other towns who BevPS allow to enroll in Beverly)

The outskirts were always nice - from middle class Ryal Side to well off Centerville. But now downtown - especially Rantoul was rundown and dreary. Now gorgeous condos are popping up block after block. There are plans to build a fairly decent sized development along the bass river behind the depot. Many in the city are against it due to traffic gentrification blah blah - but it would really top off the revitalization of this area.

In the fantasy department: It’s a shame the geography/topography of the South portion of Beverly because it makes putting Subway service to Beverly a zillion dollar idea that is too crazy for even the crazy thread - with that said a blue line station on Rantoul St would be the epitome of TOD.
 
Why is this? Clear lack of NIMBYs? Extremely pro-growth government? Favorable middle class economics? Obviously there was lots of underutilized land around the station, but none of what I listed is unique to Beverly. And yet their TOD growth is clearly unique among the suburbs.

And I ask this as someone whose mom grew up in Beverly and yet knows very little about the current sociopolitical climate there.
 
Why is this? Clear lack of NIMBYs? Extremely pro-growth government? Favorable middle class economics? Obviously there was lots of underutilized land around the station, but none of what I listed is unique to Beverly. And yet their TOD growth is clearly unique among the suburbs.

And I ask this as someone whose mom grew up in Beverly and yet knows very little about the current sociopolitical climate there.
This area was very run down and composed of garages, used car lots, auto dealerships (which moved out to route 114 or route 1), light industrial, old mills, one story commercial and a lot of dive bars. The rest of town did not give a darn about the area. We got a couple of prodevelopment mayors and local-ish developers who had a vision. Don't forget Cummings took over the United Shoe complex (half a mile from the station) and grew it into a major employment hub. There are still a lot of development sites in the area, but I have started to hear nimbys complaining about too many 5 story buildings. Of course these people live in other parts of town as NoShJFK mentioned. They are getting some "it's too tall" push back on the possible development site down by the the Bass River. The site is currently zone light industrial/commercial which contains an old auto repair shop, and restaurant/bowling alley (all closed). These nimbys are complaining about "Tall buildings" while coming down to this part of town to enjoy all the new (higher end) restaurants, eateries, brew houses, and shops. I for one love what's going on in my neiborhood!!!!! End of RANT.
 

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