Brookline Infill and Small Developments

Updates on the two projects on Centre Street:

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The Landing at Chestnut Hill​

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“City Realty Group has acquired the 5.34-acre site located at 1280-1330 Boylston Street Brookline, MA for $41,000,000.”

“The developer aims to fully activate with a mix of commercial, retail, medical, hospitality and residential uses. “We are excited to work with the town to create a destination meeting place for shoppers, diners, employees, guests and residents alike.” said Stephen Whalen, Managing Partner at City Realty. “We can’t wait to create a striking gateway to Brookline and an asset to the Chestnut Hill community.”

https://www.bldup.com/posts/city-realty-acquires-5-34-acre-brookline-development-site-for-41m

https://atlanticretail.com/investor-listing/the-landing-at-chestnut-hill/
 
Hell yeah. I actually think the Route 9 area of Chestnut Hill only needs a few relatively small tweaks to turn into a decently pleasant urban area (decently pleasant considering it started as a highway, at least; it'll never be the South End). Nothing's ever going to happen to the tennis club, obviously (and I'm fine with such a unique institution like that being there, even if I'll never step foot inside) but building a nice mixed-use residential building on the CVS/gas station/parking lot in front of Star Market and adding a few more pedestrian crossings would count as major improvements.
 
BronsonShore said:
Hell yeah. I actually think the Route 9 area of Chestnut Hill only needs a few relatively small tweaks to turn into a decently pleasant urban area (decently pleasant considering it started as a highway, at least; it'll never be the South End). Nothing's ever going to happen to the tennis club, obviously (and I'm fine with such a unique institution like that being there, even if I'll never step foot inside) but building a nice mixed-use residential building on the CVS/gas station/parking lot in front of Star Market and adding a few more pedestrian crossings would count as major improvements.
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I'm not quite on board with that. You'll never turn Route 9 into Comm Ave.
 
Equilibria said:
I'm not quite on board with that. You'll never turn Route 9 into Comm Ave.
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Of course not. That's obviously exactly what I meant when I said "it'll never be the South End."

But different parts of Route 9 already provide drastically different feels and pedestrian experiences. Thanks to all the new, street-facing development on Route 9 in Brookline Village, that part of it no longer feels like a highway at all; it just feels like a broad urban thoroughfare. I probably still wouldn't be tempted to sip an espresso on the sidewalk down there, but I also don't feel like I'm out of place and I need to keep my head on a swivel when I'm walking on the sidewalk there -- cars, pedestrian, and street-level retail coexist peacefully. There's no reason why the stretch of Route 9 in Chestnut Hill can't feel the same way.
 
BronsonShore said:
Nothing's ever going to happen to the tennis club, obviously (and I'm fine with such a unique institution like that being there, even if I'll never step foot inside).
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We used to sneak in there all the time in summers in high school to use their pools at night (there are two, one shall for laps and the other a small deep one). The gate on Dunster Rd was chained but unlocked, so you could just unwind the chains and get in. We got caught once and then never went back, but it was a regular nocturnal activity for a couple years.
 
I took some shots of the Carlton St Footbridge, very nice restoration.
 

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2 pics of the Muddy restoration, looking good. 2 pics of the adjacent the Longwood Mall.
Interesting park - Longwood Mall.com

The European beech trees on the mall, Fagus sylvatica, are only a fraction of the over 14,000 trees he planted in Longwood. These beech trees may date from between 1836-1840 when David Sears was in Europe. They are believed to have originated in England and were rarely imported into this country at that time. In 1902, the Sears family donated the Longwood Mall to the Town. It is listed in the National and State Registers of Historic Places.

Fast forward forty more years, and Longwood Mall is facing a new threat. A new tree disease, Beech Leaf Disease (BLD), has been decimating Beech trees from Ohio to Maine in recent years. Last year, BLD tragically took the life of a historic Beech tree on Freeman St. (by the former St. Aidan’s church). Fortunately, none of Longwood Mall’s trees have shown symptoms of BLD yet, but community intervention may be the key to preventing an outbreak.​

 

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Longwood Mall is one of those wonderful hidden little spots that only real cities have. I love it every time I stumble upon it.
 
BronsonShore said:
Of course not. That's obviously exactly what I meant when I said "it'll never be the South End."

But different parts of Route 9 already provide drastically different feels and pedestrian experiences. Thanks to all the new, street-facing development on Route 9 in Brookline Village, that part of it no longer feels like a highway at all; it just feels like a broad urban thoroughfare. I probably still wouldn't be tempted to sip an espresso on the sidewalk down there, but I also don't feel like I'm out of place and I need to keep my head on a swivel when I'm walking on the sidewalk there -- cars, pedestrian, and street-level retail coexist peacefully. There's no reason why the stretch of Route 9 in Chestnut Hill can't feel the same way.
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some of those new developments seem out of place still. that new building across from the fire dept and NETA looks nice, but then they put in a kitchen supply store that seems like something you need a parking lot for and isn't going to bring in a lot of foot traffic. The only pedestrians I see on that strip are people buying weed and tourists confused why their Hilton isn't as close to the T stop as it looks on the map.
 
Newmark Properties Link - 2 Clark Rd Brookline A big property for sale just up Rt 9 just beyond the village. This could be a great conversion for housing.. It s just the property on Clark Rd, not the main building.
Brookline News
The 34,670 square foot building, built in 1997, was previously used as the lower elementary school by Maimonides, a modern orthodox Jewish day school.
In more recent years, since 2019, it’s been leased by the Public Schools of Brookline for early education classrooms and administrative offices. That lease is ending this summer, according to school officials.
 
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dhawkins said:
Newmark Properties Link - 2 Clark Rd Brookline A big property for sale just up Rt 9 just beyond the village. This could be a great conversion for housing.. It s just the property on Clark Rd, not the main building.
Brookline News
The 34,670 square foot building, built in 1997, was previously used as the lower elementary school by Maimonides, a modern orthodox Jewish day school.
In more recent years, since 2019, it’s been leased by the Public Schools of Brookline for early education classrooms and administrative offices. That lease is ending this summer, according to school officials.
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I've always dreamed of those townhouses next door to extend all the way down route 9, maybe this would be a good starting point?

Even just knocking down that wall would be nice, i get why a school needs it but opening up brookline always makes me happy
 
Torches and pitchforks come out for the latest 40B proposal on Harvard St in Coolidge Corner:

brookline.news

Developer's proposal for six-story apartment building on Harvard Street tests town's zoning vision - Brookline.News

A developer’s proposal to build a six-story apartment building on the vacant site of a former bank on Harvard Street has frustrated town officials and raised new questions about the role of zoning in shaping Brookline’s housing landscape. In November 2023, after months of negotiations, Town...
brookline.news brookline.news
 
#bancars said:
Torches and pitchforks come out for the latest 40B proposal on Harvard St in Coolidge Corner:

brookline.news

Developer's proposal for six-story apartment building on Harvard Street tests town's zoning vision - Brookline.News

A developer’s proposal to build a six-story apartment building on the vacant site of a former bank on Harvard Street has frustrated town officials and raised new questions about the role of zoning in shaping Brookline’s housing landscape. In November 2023, after months of negotiations, Town...
brookline.news brookline.news
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Honestly with that building across the street that Tatte is in, this isn't even that crazy of a move. 4 floors to 6 floors isn't that much of a jump.
 
#bancars said:
Torches and pitchforks come out for the latest 40B proposal on Harvard St in Coolidge Corner:

brookline.news

Developer's proposal for six-story apartment building on Harvard Street tests town's zoning vision - Brookline.News

A developer’s proposal to build a six-story apartment building on the vacant site of a former bank on Harvard Street has frustrated town officials and raised new questions about the role of zoning in shaping Brookline’s housing landscape. In November 2023, after months of negotiations, Town...
brookline.news brookline.news
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3 stories clad with brick with an offset, paneled 4th story is the recipe to get things approved around there. Six stories exceeds the precedent all the way down Harvard and that freaks them out. The design isn't that great either.
 
Lol thats true if they made an artificial roof line then clad the last 2 top floors in black and set them back a bit it would probably pass…eventually… after they knock a floor off.
 
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