Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

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I should have been a photographer, not a model! LOL

I like your pix Boston02124 and thank you for posting them here!
 
Just barely -- hard by the Arlington and Belmont lines. It's always been an office park in my memory, the home of Arthur D. Little company. Not sure what it was before that.
 
Shepard said:
Corner of Broadway and Columbia, this 3 or 4 story residential project seems to have gone up very quickly.

I haven't seen any renders of this and don't really know much else about the project.
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I called the Cambridge Community Development Office today to find out what it will be - all they could tell me was "retail first floor, residential on the top floors". Hoping for a rendering of this along the fence someday soon...

It was previously a sad-looking gas station.
 
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Why can't the city of Cambridge require the developer at the office park to demolish Faces?
 
Ron Newman said:
Why can't the city of Cambridge require the developer at the office park to demolish Faces?
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These two articles indicate there are different owners/developers for the two parcels:

Faces nightclub site gets cleaning, with hints at more than a facelift

Will Faces In Cambridge Ever Be Demolished?

From what I read elsewhere, zoning for that area was changed in 2001, restricting nightclubs from that area unless they were grandfathered in, and that only applies to Faces if it's still standing. It's unbelievable that Martignetti would want to resurrect a nightclub there...but it's also unbelievable that virtually nothing's happened at that property for about 20 years. Maybe he just wants to keep his options open.
 
Grandfathered zoning expires, I thought after 2 years, if you don't maintain the grandfathered use. Hard to imagine that you could resurrect a grandfathered use 10 years after a zoning change.
 
Ron Newman said:
Grandfathered zoning expires, I thought after 2 years, if you don't maintain the grandfathered use. Hard to imagine that you could resurrect a grandfathered use 10 years after a zoning change.
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From Article 8 of Cambridge's Zoning Ordinance:

810 EXISTING BUILDINGS

8.11
This Ordinance shall not apply to existing buildings or structures, nor to the existing use
of any building or structure or of land, to the extent to which it is used at the time of first
publication of notice of public hearing by the Planning Board of applicable provisions of
this or any prior Ordinance, but it shall apply to any change of use thereof and to any
alteration of a building or structure when the same would amount to reconstruction,
extension or structural change, and to any alteration of a building or structure to provide
for its use for a purpose or in a manner substantially different from the use to which it was
put before alteration, or for its use for the same purpose to a substantially greater extent.

8.12
Except as herein provided no building or structure or land shall be used and no building
or other structure or part thereof shall be constructed, extended or structurally altered
except in conformity with the State Building Code and with the provisions of this
Ordinance applying to the district in which said building, structure or land is located.
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However...

8.24
A nonconforming use of a building or land which has been abandoned or not used for a
period of two years shall not thereafter be returned to such nonconforming use. A
nonconforming use shall be considered abandoned when the intent of the owner to
discontinue use is apparent, or when the use has been discontinued for a period of thirty
(30) days, or when the characteristic equipment and furnishings of the nonconforming
use have been removed from the premises and have not been replaced by similar
equipment, whichever shall first occur.
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So you're absolutely right, Ron. There's no good reason for this building to still be standing!
 
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Another place that needs to be renovated, but kept alive, is Lanes 'n Games. There are not enough bowling/bars in Boston area so I'd like to see it stay there, but it really needs to be updated. The monitors used to show your score are straight from an apple 2E.
 
Off-topic, but: Flatbread Company pizza is moving into Sacco's Bowl-Haven in Davis Square, is keeping 10 of the 15 candlepin lanes, and will have a full liquor license. Should be open by late spring or early summer.
 
Is that the same Flatbread Company that's in the Eastern Slope Hotel in North Conway? That is honestly the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life. It's incredible.

EDIT: After further investigation of the website, it is! This is very good news. I love this pizza like none other.
 
^ ur welcome! Last week from 5 camb. center taken with my smartphone.
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CDubs said:
These two articles indicate there are different owners/developers for the two parcels:

Faces nightclub site gets cleaning, with hints at more than a facelift

Will Faces In Cambridge Ever Be Demolished?

From what I read elsewhere, zoning for that area was changed in 2001, restricting nightclubs from that area unless they were grandfathered in, and that only applies to Faces if it's still standing. It's unbelievable that Martignetti would want to resurrect a nightclub there...but it's also unbelievable that virtually nothing's happened at that property for about 20 years. Maybe he just wants to keep his options open.
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The MBTA was looking at building a bus garage in that area...

See Part II.

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/t_projects/default.asp?id=1008

Then I'd also read somewhere that area was proposed to move the Middlesex court as well. (Since they've vacated East Cambridge)
 
Text size ? + Cambridge
State to sell courthouse, move prisoners
E-mail|Link|Comments (7) Posted April 28, 2010 04:55 PM
By Brock Parker, Globe Correspondent

State officials are moving forward with an effort to sell the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Cambridge and are planning to relocate almost 400 prisoners still housed in the problem-plagued high-rise.

Kevin Flanigan, a deputy director with the state Division of Capital Asset Management, said the 22-story building on Thorndike street ?has a lot of issues? and instead of proceeding with the costly repairs the state will be developing a request for proposals in the next few months to sell the courthouse.

?This was a more cost-efficient solution at this point,? Flanigan said.

The building was valued at $40 to $50 million in 2007, but Flanigan said that estimate is no longer reliable because the real estate market has changed since then. He said the state would need to re-establish the value of the courthouse going forward.

Until 2008, the building housed the Middlesex Superior Court, but the need for extensive renovation and asbestos removal prompted the court to temporarily relocate to Woburn. The Cambridge District Court moved to Medford last year.

The stated estimated in 2006 for the cost of the asbestos removal and other renovations was $130 million.

This month Flanigan said DCAM began asking other state and local agencies, including the City of Cambridge, if they have any public need for the building.

Cambridge City Councilor Tim Toomey, who is also the state representative for much of East Cambridge, said the city will look into whether it could use the building.

But Toomey said the courthouse is ?ugly? and the extent of the renovations needed in the high-rise will likely make the building too expensive for Cambridge or any other government agency.

?I?d like to see the building imploded,? Toomey said. ?That?s what I would love to see.?
Flanigan said the state will give Cambridge until July to decide if it has any use for the building.

The state is also working with Middlesex Sheriff James DiPaola on a plan to temporarily relocate prisoners in the county jail in Cambridge to the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica, Flanigan said.

While the courts have moved out, the jail has remained in the top five floors of the building and has been operating with more than twice the 160 prisoners it was designed to hold, DiPaola said. Wednesday, there were 375 prisoners in the jail.

DiPaolo said he believes the overcrowding contributed to an incident last June when nine prisoners smashed and ripped apart the fire suppression system, causing massive flooding and forcing the evacuation of the jail.

But before moving the prisoners to Billerica, DiPaolo said he needs to more information about how long it would be before the jail in Cambridge could be move to a permanent home. He said discussions have been underway to temporarily move the prisoners to Billerica for some time, but the state has yet to provide a time line for how long it would be until prisoners could be moved into a permanent jail.

?I can?t agree to something until I have the whole plan,? DiPaola said. ?I?m all for trying to get out of that place. My predicament is I need a safe plan that would be acceptable to me and would be acceptable to the community of Billerica.?

The Division of Capital Asset Management, which is part of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, is working to identify a long term home for the Cambridge jail, but there is more work to be done on the plan to relocate the prisoners, Flanigan said. He said Governor Deval Patrick?s administration will work to minimize the duration of the temporary relocation in Billerica.

?The administration looks forward to working with the sheriff in developing additional detailed relocation plans and addressing the concerns of the town to the extent possible,? said Flanigan.

Flanigan said the state is also working with the Administrative Office of the Trial Court to develop a long term solution for the courts.

Joan Kenney, a spokeswoman for the state Supreme Judicial Court, said the current lease for the Superior Court in Woburn runs until 2013, and the lease for Cambridge District Court at its temporary location in Medford runs until 2014. The courts have options to renew at both locations, she said.

Kenney said Chief Justice Robert A. Mulligan, who manages the Trial Court system, continues to promote the need for a permanent location for the superior and district courts. She said his first preference is to keep the courts in Cambridge, but the location and time frame for a permanent courthouse will depend on funding.

--brock.globe@gmail.com
 
Also since not much was talked about this, you might want to check out my post #438 (page 44) on this thread. It's a link to a cool development for lechemere station once it is retired.
 
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