Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

As someone who walks past it every day, I think it's an improvement. Not spectacular, but better.
 
MIT to build new undergraduate dorm at 125 Vassar Street (at the current location of West Garage):
MIT-West-Garage_0.jpg


Press Release out today:
http://news.mit.edu/2017/west-garage-site-identified-new-undergraduate-residence-hall-0208
 
I really hope they continue to push with daring and disparate looking architecture. The disparate look of the dorms really helps sell the motif that each dorm has its own culture at MIT.
 
Mixed feelings. Sucks to lose an establishment, but at the same time, I and many others never buy print newspapers these days, so maybe it's just a sign of changing times?
 
Gameguy326 said:
Mixed feelings. Sucks to lose an establishment, but at the same time, I and many others never buy print newspapers these days, so maybe it's just a sign of changing times?
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I mean, it would be one thing if they were going out of business because the market dried up, but that's not what happened here. This was a landlord booting the tenant to get bigger rent bucks. I can see why people are unhappy by this.
 
Globe now reports colliers has offered them a spot a few addresses down brattle.
 
As this project wraps up, I just want to give a shout-out to the design and construction teams on MIT's Building 31 Renovation/Restoration...this was an historic 1929 building in very rough shape, and with several cobbled-on additions. It was a mix of brick, concrete, cinder-block...anyways, the team at Imai Keller & Moore did a fantastic job with choice of materials and color palette. They took something that looked like an industrial building put through a blender, and transformed it to a sharp, crisp, stylish research/lab/academic space. This is how you do restoration!


A couple of shots from this morning:
YbkOQ5K.jpg


5Uqg2la.png




Project page: http://capitalprojects.mit.edu/projects/aeroastro-and-meche-building-31
 
Thanks for this. It's this kind of stuff - that I wouldn't notice or see on my own - that makes this site great.
 
Globe: Cambridge wants something to happen with Harvard Square Theater

Boston Globe said:
Cambridge officials are marking the fifth year of the closing of the former Harvard Square Theater by threatening an extraordinary intervention if the owner of the long-vacant property doesn’t quickly move forward with redevelopment.

The move comes as the City Council is considering an ordinance to discourage real estate investors throughout Cambridge from the practice of “land banking,” or sitting on vacant properties for long periods for later profit with no intention of redeveloping them.

The building on Church Street has been vacant for five years after the cinema went dark in 2012. The property was purchased in 2015 by a trust controlled by billionaire businessman Gerald Chan, but city councilors said they have heard nothing from Chan about his plans for the property.

Councilors want the city to request Chan, who owns many other properties in Harvard Square, to produce a development plan for the former cinema within 30 days. Meanwhile, councilors said they will explore other options the city could take “to rid Harvard Square of this eyesore,” according to a proposed order before the council. One could even include taking the property by eminent domain, said City Councilor Marc McGovern, who is also vice mayor.

[...]
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That's a lot of BS Chan is laying on there. The City should seize it and turn it back into a theater. Harvard Square needs one.
 
Cambridge approves rezoning for Central Square business district (Cambridge Day):

In addition to no longer counting rooftop space (including staircase head houses) against how much a property owner can build, the new zoning does the same for residential balconies, a change that, in the words of the petitioners, stops forcing developers “to decide between creating usable space and balconies that might otherwise enhance the livable conditions of a building.” In general, the zoning increases the “floor area ratio” available to a property owner, which is aimed at creating more housing and mixed-use buildings. As a result, the square is expected to see more two- or three-story buildings eventually be converted to buildings as high as six or seven stories.
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[emphasis added]

Additionally, small businesses (literally, <1500 sq ft) won't count towards FAR to encourage diverse uses, bank retail frontage will be limited, and nightlife will be less limited.

Parking can also be bypassed by developers if they invest in a district improvement fund. Hopefully this (and the other changes encouraging diverse mixed use with some extra reasonable height) means Bishop Allen can finally take up its role as a secondary corridor/dense housing hub instead of its current role (parking lot/Mass Ave bypass, ugh).
 
Small businesses – literally smaller than 1,500 feet – are excluded the same way, which would encourage developers to include them in their buildings. Controls for “formula businesses,” meaning mainly franchises that follow the branding of corporate chains, replace decades-old limits on “fast food,” which have become so restrictive they’re blocking businesses residents would prefer to see allowed. Banks and other financial institutions are specifically limited in terms of how much building frontage they can occupy on a block, while the zoning allows businesses such as nightclubs more freedom to spread throughout the square if the Planning Board “finds that such location will not adversely impact adjacent residential uses”; in most parts of Central Square, it’s required that they have entrances on Massachusetts Avenue.
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This is superb. This is the answer, or it may just be the answer, to saving downtown districts from horrible franchises, "formula" places, and chain banks.
 
^Thanks, I shouldve used the clocktower for reference but I got mixed up and couldnt quite figure out what I was looking at. That actually will be a decent gateway, the only concern is that the lines resemble One Broadway wayyy too much.

F7CB3465-F369-4BAB-936E-9BFD90226605.jpg


Edit --- but, I doubt this design is very fixed, since they're pretty far from building this one.
 
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