Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

Here's a small one from my neighborhood. Over the winter and spring the defunct building at Western Ave and Dodge Street was replaced by new ground floor retail space and a residential building popping up in the back; they did keep the old facade. Not sure if they have a tenant for the ground floor, but I did notice today that the "for lease" sign in the window wasn't there anymore. Anybody know anything?

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This was the building with the Ebony Club, a laundromat, and a small variety store—all closed as long as I've been here, a few years. Here's someone's photo from before:


Laundry & Ebony Club by So Cal Metro, on Flickr
 
Is the residential unit in the back attached to it? Just curious, thought it was on top of the retail until you noted it was "in the back".
 
Oh... should look harder but I'm pretty sure it's attached and possibly using the roof of the first floor as a balcony of sorts. As far as I know it's essentially the upper two floors of the building. I just said "in the back" in reference to the fact that those floors sit back away from the street.
 
New condo complex going up at corner of Bay State Rd. and Birch St. across from the Armory. And going up fast. Took one month flat to demolish these two rickety buildings that used to house businesses and pour the new foundations. First-floor beams went up Monday, and the really big-ass crane showed up today so they're starting to go vertical.

When that's done every structure from the corner of New St./Fresh Pond Pkwy./Bay State to corner of Field and Fern on that side is going to alternate residential/office. And there's a For Lease sign on the vacant factory building next to the old auto parts store that just got converted into a charter school. So I bet that's the next property to get razed on that street for residential.

Odd little mix that's wormed its way onto that street the last few years. When I moved into that neighborhood next to Danehy 7 years ago it was nothing but commercial/industrial from the rotary to Fern St. Now it's flipped almost half-and-half.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
New condo complex going up at corner of Bay State Rd. and Birch St. across from the Armory. And going up fast. Took one month flat to demolish these two rickety buildings that used to house businesses and pour the new foundations. First-floor beams went up Monday, and the really big-ass crane showed up today so they're starting to go vertical.

When that's done every structure from the corner of New St./Fresh Pond Pkwy./Bay State to corner of Field and Fern on that side is going to alternate residential/office. And there's a For Lease sign on the vacant factory building next to the old auto parts store that just got converted into a charter school. So I bet that's the next property to get razed on that street for residential.

Odd little mix that's wormed its way onto that street the last few years. When I moved into that neighborhood next to Danehy 7 years ago it was nothing but commercial/industrial from the rotary to Fern St. Now it's flipped almost half-and-half.
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HOLY COW!

I just walked by this and ALL THREE FLOORS of the right flank of the complex were prefab-lifted and assembled yesterday. It was literal first-floor lobby support beams 24 hours ago, and now there's a complete right-side of building. Fresh Pond Mall parking lot was full of huge flatbed trailers and construction equipment 2 days ago lining the entire Fitchburg Line fence with those prefab building chunks. I thought they were for quickie Lego-block office space additions for something at the Alewife office park. Like linear ground-level office trailers, except more permanent. Hard to tell because they were wrapped in Tyvek sheets.

Nope...that was each of the 3 floors of condo on the right flank. Two halves per floor, lifted by crane, stitched together. Already has interior wall frames and windows, so they can get to work on the inside units. Top floor already has enclosed (bare wood) roof, and they attached a mini-arch dormer on the top. I guess that explains the incredibly oversize crane towering over the whole neighborhood.


Whole freakin' building. 1 day. No condos yesterday morning at 6:00 when I went on my morning reservoir jog. This morning: condos. My jaw was on the ground rounding the corner from Field St. Never ever seen anything like that before on midsize purely residential construction. 3-floor job...it's not like this thing is a massively-involved showcase project. Left flank has its lobby frame fully assembled to same degree as the right flank was prior to yesterday. No new prefab sections yet in the Mall parking lot this morning, just the empty wide-load flatbeds parked along the fence after yesterday. But if they show up, anyone in the area is going to want to swing by and watch that parcel next week. Because that's gonna be another hell of a show when the caravan moves those pieces over. That whole building may be structurally in place before Memorial Day weekend. They are ready for it if the sections arrive in the parking lot. I'm gonna be watching this one very closely and bust out the camera next week if they're working while I'm around (home office and lunches at the Whole Foods counter rocks). Browsing at Bonny's Nursery across the street is good for watching it...they've got the whole contingent of pretty spring flowers for sale out in the yard.

Street's got a billboard with the renderings. It's looking like a near-copy of 24 Bay State in number of units, a little longer as trade-off for 1 fewer floor. Oriented 90 degrees to face the street instead of tucked back like 24 on its narrow parcel.
 
They did something similar at the newish building at Columbia and Hampshire - not overnight perhaps, but within days. Yea - truly awesome
 
Shepard said:
They did something similar at the newish building at Columbia and Hampshire - not overnight perhaps, but within days. Yea - truly awesome
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Watch the project on Rt-2 at Alewife -- as soon as all of the foundations are done -- I'm guessing that the same kind of rapid highly prefab construction

Yesterday in avoiding Rt-128, I took Blanchard Rd. in Burlington and there was a huge open field convered with earth moving equipment -- I think that it will be another rapid condo project (possibly appartments)

This is a rapidly advancing technolgy they are close to prefabbing entire office block floors and installing them
 
Today from 5th and Rogers (East Cambridge)

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I don't remember that core being there a few days ago...
 
The stretch of Mass Ave from Harvard to Central must be where Cambridge zones for all it's ugly buildings to go.
 
Meh, just another piece of an already ugly neighborhood from there down toward Central, as has been noted already. At least it's a different color ugly. And it's taller than its one-story predecessor (except that bit on the left end), which I guess is something. Doesn't bother me much.
 
It's as much of an architectural DERP! as I've ever seen. Now we get to live with it for 50 years.....DERP!
 
I walk by this everyday. they didn't dig down at all as there is already an underground parking garage for genzyme. They just started stacking steel on the ground. But with that they have no concrete core and no external elevator. guys are still just going up on basic ladders from lowes. knowing nothing about construction, how does this work? Are they going to go all the way up, then just drop an elevator and the mechanics at the top? I'm very curious
 
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