Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

I don't have photos to share, but demolition has begun (or possibly concluded) in preparation for this project:

386 Prospect St - Eaglebrook Capital

www.eaglebrookcapital.com www.eaglebrookcapital.com

www.cambridgeday.com

Starry will put $15 broadband into CHA homes; The Brook opens; Residences will cross city line - Cambridge Day

The wireless Internet provider Starry will provide low-cost broadband to more than 2,630 affordable homes citywide in partnership with the Cambridge Housing Authority; a high-end apartment building called The Brook has opened near Alewife; and 29 residential units are planned for a building...
www.cambridgeday.com www.cambridgeday.com

Apparently this site is in both Somerville and Cambridge, with the former buildings being located at 118 Prospect and 386 Prospect in each of those respective cities. I'd be interested in knowing the history of the site. Google Maps places the site fully north of the Somerville line, while Cambridge assessors maps show a corner of the former building falling on their side. I didn't see any documentation for the project in either city's online development project databases.

Anyway, the new building looks decent. As with all these infill housing projects, I think it could look good if executed well, but if they skimp on materials and detailing it could end up like those ugly condos up the street at 109, or, even worse, the "Flatiron" a bit farther up.
 
Stumbled across this open house today near Inman. This is a 4,500 sq ft new build SFH on the market for just under $5m. I asked the realtor what was there previously and they said a 2-family. This type of conversions should be illegal.

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#bancars said:
Stumbled across this open house today near Inman. This is a 4,500 sq ft new build SFH on the market for just under $5m. I asked the realtor what was there previously and they said a 2-family. This types of conversions should be illegal.

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That is a shame reducing housing stock, especially in an area that is zoned for multi. If anything, maybe if they were converting a historic property back to it's original form but this is just a shitty flip $$. Also, I bet that 4500sf includes the basement which would be misleading, I don't think you can include basement square footage in the area).
 
Cambridge has been chosen as one of three national hubs for a new federal health research agency that plans to spend billions to accelerate breakthroughs to vanquish diseases like cancers and Alzheimer’s.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, created by the Biden Administration to tackle long-intractable illnesses, said Tuesday that Cambridge will be the site of its “investor catalyst” hub that will work with researchers, entrepreneurs, and financiers to speed the transition of basic research into new technologies or medicines.
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www.bostonglobe.com

Cambridge picked as a national hub for new federal health research agency - The Boston Globe

The agency, dubbed ARPA-H, is seeking to spend billions on breakthroughs for tough-to-cure diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

The other hubs are the HQ in Washington DC, and Dallas (for customer experience).
I expect that most of money will flow through the Cambridge hub.
 
Anyone know what's going on at the corner of Mass Ave and Milton St? American Something or Other Society has chainlink fence all around it and looks like it is prepping for demo.
 
393b40 said:
Anyone know what's going on at the corner of Mass Ave and Milton St? American Something or Other Society has chainlink fence all around it and looks like it is prepping for demo.
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Oh that - American Friends Service Committee. If you were to look it up its street address is 2161 Mass Ave, but since one of my neighbors is a rapid NIMBY I've regularly been sent status updates on this one. It's being treated as an historic building, with CHC being of the opinion its worth protecting as a rare Art-Moderne building in Cambridge, subject to the demo delay ordinance. As such, CHC has given its blessing to a compromise solution - a partial demolition and relocation on the site, plus an addition. The relocation mostly seems to be to create 7 parking spaces on the current driveway, and accommodate their addition in compliance with setback rules. AFAIK, they got all their special permits back in August.

It'll be one ground floor commercial / office unit and 8 residential, mostly 2 bed units. Impressively, the plans haven't meaningfully changed a bit since 2021, but note the renders are somewhat deceptive - there'll be a lot more hardscape than presented. The only real substantive change I see is that the magnolia tree in the front yard got a protection plan. (its a very nice tree.)

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Impressive digging.
I do appricate the corner windows are being returned to somewhat their original mullion layout in the new renovation. I know of one building that has maintained their original 1920s steel frames of this corner type window.
(I should post this on the "Where am I" thread)
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P.S. The wood working shop across the street from 2161 Mass Ave just posted they are retiring so that will be the next project for the NIMBYS to attack.
P.P.S. If you have 20 bucks to drop on a sandwich, try the Wellington at Pemberton Farms up the street from here; amazing!
 
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The Tuscan is tasty. Neither are worth $15 ($14 for the Tuscan), though. People's Republic tax. Cross the line into Arlington and an equivalent sammich would be $7.
 
Stlin said:
Oh that - American Friends Service Committee. If you were to look it up its street address is 2161 Mass Ave
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I grew up a couple doors down and did some volunteering with the AFSC in this building while in school. The outside of the building is fine I guess but the inside was absolutely nothing special. The magnolia tree on the other hand is one of the most delightful trees in North Cambridge with an explosion of color every spring. If I had to choose, I’d say save the tree over the building: it’s actually living and thriving, the building is just stone.
 
LtKije said:
I grew up a couple doors down and did some volunteering with the AFSC in this building while in school.
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Awesome, another native North Cambridge-ian. I grew up nearby. I used to go to a foot doctor in this building when I was a kid, circa 1964.
 

Central Square City Lots Study​

I had missed this until recently but the city is looking at development opportunities on some city-owned parcels around Central Square.

https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/communitydevelopment/centralsquarelots

There was an online community meeting last night (materials not yet posted) where this was discussed. Here is a PDF of the slides from a November 13th round-table. Lots of info there including community feedback about uses of individual sites. Here is a summary of the possible uses at the moment.

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I'm most intrigued by the ideas for the green street garage and library site. I'd love to see something large and full of homes built there with an updated library! Full disclosure: I visit the central square branch with my children at least a couple times a week.

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