Chelsea Infill and Small Developments

I would like to see every property on Everett Ave., from Rt. 16 to Spruce St. be replaced. Everything except for the Chelsea Clock building. So of course...
 
Are they fucking kidding? That is the only building of value in the entire area!

I had assumed the rag district would eventually see redevelopment, but I hoped Chelsea would master plan the area first. Restoration of all the disappeared streets, historic preservation of the precious few buildings that survived the conflagration, etc. They are going to completely blow this if they don't act NOW.
 
Ahh, Chelsea gives no fucks about the quality of buildings that go up. I want to complain about the at grade parking in every new building, but our public transportation is useless, so what can you do?
 
FBI Bldg
Steel going up.
Data I noticed some steel framing going up on a site West or N West of the Boston North complex. Is this a new development or a phase 2 of the Boston North project? You can just make it out in this photo below the white square.
 
Large Development Proposed for French Club

Some 60 units of affordable housing are being proposed this week by The Neighborhood Developers in a $13 million five-story building that would occupy the French Naturalization Club at the end of Spencer Street.

The property is owned by TND and the City Council earlier this month discontinued the small street that runs between the Club and its parking lot. With that discontinuation by the City, TND now holds full control of the entire site and will go before the Zoning Board of Appeals on June 9.

The plan calls for demolishing the Club and constructing 60 new affordable rental units with 53 off-street parking spaces. The building would be situated in the middle of the site so that it would sit in the middle of the small cut-through street that has existed for some time (but was just discontinued).

The first floor would house a lobby, a community room, a laundry and community space. It would be accented with lots of windows to make clear sight lines through the building from the street.
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http://www.chelsearecord.com/2015/05/28/large-development-proposed-for-french-club/
 
I've been following this for a bit. Glad it's finally public. So excited for this. The whole building will be truly affordable. This is exactly what Chelsea needs in this area, not luxury apartments.

"Floors 2-5 would house all of the units. There would be six studios, 21 one-bedrooms, 24 two-bedrooms and nine three-bedrooms. All of the units would be means tested, which would mean that qualified residents could make no more than 60 percent of the median income (which is currently $59,000 for a family of four)."

Looking forward to a new neighbor and bringing life to this totally dead wasteland of a prime corner.
 
datadyne007 said:
I've been following this for a bit. Glad it's finally public. So excited for this. The whole building will be truly affordable. This is exactly what Chelsea needs in this area, not luxury apartments.

"Floors 2-5 would house all of the units. There would be six studios, 21 one-bedrooms, 24 two-bedrooms and nine three-bedrooms. All of the units would be means tested, which would mean that qualified residents could make no more than 60 percent of the median income (which is currently $59,000 for a family of four)."

Looking forward to a new neighbor and bringing life to this totally dead wasteland of a prime corner.
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Theres HUGE opposition now for this project from surrounding neighbors, even threats of law suits against the city:
http://www.chelsearecord.com/2015/06/18/mill-hill-neighbors-firmly-opposed-to-tnd-project/
 
scorpio02150 said:
Theres HUGE opposition now for this project from surrounding neighbors, even threats of law suits against the city:
http://www.chelsearecord.com/2015/06/18/mill-hill-neighbors-firmly-opposed-to-tnd-project/
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Yeah I know. My neighbors are fucking insane. Sorry for the language, but no other words can describe them. They are an embarrassment to Chelsea.

This is a non-luxury building and they're all complaining. Usually it is the other way around. God forbid Chelsea not eliminate the entire lower income/minority populations. The vitriol that is being spewed at the meetings is intense. People were yelling and swearing at each other over this and I would assume made the development team and architects leave the meeting looking behind their backs.

There was a woman standing outside the French Club the other day protesting and making claims that there would be 12 parking spots for 50 units, when in reality there are 54 spaces for 60 units. My husband said she was all worked up, a total mess, spewing ridiculous things about lower-income people.
 
People are freaking out over the closing of the block of Spencer Ave in front of the French Club like it's going to cause Armageddon.
 
gooseberry said:
People are freaking out over the closing of the block of Spencer Ave in front of the French Club like it's going to cause Armageddon.
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well, the real reason is that they dont want the project period.

I dont know... in a way I wouldnt mind this project but then again I'd rather see chelsea take more advantage of their location and have more living spaces directed towards young professionals and have more hip restaurants and shops.
I guess make it more like somerville/cambridge-shhh in way.
 
^Chelsea can do both.

Sounds like the NIMBYs are worried about affordable housing more so than anything else. Parking concerns is simply a cover for their true feelings.
 
scorpio02150 said:
well, the real reason is that they dont want the project period.

I dont know... in a way I wouldnt mind this project but then again I'd rather see chelsea take more advantage of their location and have more living spaces directed towards young professionals and have more hip restaurants and shops.
I guess make it more like somerville/cambridge-shhh in way.
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Give me a break. Chelsea is rapidly gentrifying. Between One Webster (no longer affordably priced), Atlas Lofts, Flats at 22, Box District, One North (& its addition), etc, Chelsea is well on the way.

Chelsea & all areas of metro Boston need a balance.
 
Originally Posted by scorpio02150 View Post
well, the real reason is that they dont want the project period.

I dont know... in a way I wouldnt mind this project but then again I'd rather see chelsea take more advantage of their location and have more living spaces directed towards young professionals and have more hip restaurants and shops.
I guess make it more like somerville/cambridge-shhh in way.
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datadyne007 said:
Give me a break. Chelsea is rapidly gentrifying. Between One Webster (no longer affordably priced), Atlas Lofts, Flats at 22, Box District, One North (& its addition), etc, Chelsea is well on the way.

Chelsea & all areas of metro Boston need a balance.
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It's doing both. Regardless of what the neighborhood thinks, Chelsea does need more affordable housing for its residents. Sure we're getting nice complexes like One North, but those aren't that affordable. At least to the average Chelsea resident.

And the city even recognizes it has an affordable housing problem due to the lack of it. A few years ago the city passed a law stating that all rental units must be inspected. Now this isn't an invasion of privacy, it's more to make sure many units are in livable condition.

Before passing this law, ISD would inspect apartments and find no hot water, leaking roofs, multiple people living in one unit (beyond fire code regulations).. and many people were paying $$$ to live in these units. So they passed a law to take on absentee landlords and force them to have livable conditions.

I, myself, do not live in a gentrified portion of Chelsea and I live.. not in a complex.. but a triple decker. So I see this stuff go on right outside my front door. I won't talk about the building next door (that was sold and now is being renovated for a family), where 8 people were living in a three bedroom in deplorable conditions (the new owner let us look around when he closed on the building). Sad that some of the hardest working people live in such crappy conditions.

Plus what people need to remember, Chelsea city officials need to do a balancing act on gentrification but not displacing its core residents in process. It's a tricky balancing act.

So the short answer is, yes.. Chelsea does need more affordable housing for its residents. Because if we did, many of these unlivable conditions would not happen.
 
It's fine line, data. Affordable housing can only do so much. Part of a cheap, shitty neighborhood is that it is cheap and shitty and people look the other way if you're poor and wanna cram a ton of people into an apartment. And this is how it's been done since cities first existed. Where to draw the line is the question. Obviously, people need to be protected and shouldn't be exploited because they're vulnerable. But on the other hand, you sterilize and clean up every slummy building and enforce every single code in the book and you're never gonna pack in as many people or replace the ones that you displaced because rents are gonna go up and more affluent people are gonna move int. Tough calls. How to protect the poor without defending the slum as such.
 
FK4 said:
It's fine line, data. Affordable housing can only do so much. Part of a cheap, shitty neighborhood is that it is cheap and shitty and people look the other way if you're poor and wanna cram a ton of people into an apartment. And this is how it's been done since cities first existed. Where to draw the line is the question. Obviously, people need to be protected and shouldn't be exploited because they're vulnerable. But on the other hand, you sterilize and clean up every slummy building and enforce every single code in the book and you're never gonna pack in as many people or replace the ones that you displaced because rents are gonna go up and more affluent people are gonna move int. Tough calls. How to protect the poor without defending the slum as such.
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The Chelsea of Bellingham Square and the Chelsea near the Revere line are very different places. This proposed building is in the area of town near the Revere line right near One Webster. This is pretty much a quiet more residential area of town with plenty of home owners & those with higher incomes. It is not run down in the slightest. There is an affordable means-tested building (Spencer Green, I think) on Spencer Ave next to One Webster owned by the same developer (TND) that wants to develop this new building at the end of Spencer Ave. There are absolutely no problems with that building or its residents at all.

Bellingham Square is the opposite. It definitely needs some help and some nicer buildings.
 
If I were king of Chelsea, I'd want to see yuppies move into the beautiful housing stock on the waterfront side of downtown. Salt mountain = goodbye. I would want to improve the retail mix in Bellingham Square. I would want to see continued "luxury" construction in the box district. And I would want more affordable housing up north of the Tobin approach.
 
datadyne007 said:
The Chelsea of Bellingham Square and the Chelsea near the Revere line are very different places. This proposed building is in the area of town near the Revere line right near One Webster. This is pretty much a quiet more residential area of town with plenty of home owners & those with higher incomes. It is not run down in the slightest. There is an affordable means-tested building on Spencer Ave next to One Webster owned by the same developer (TND) that wants to develop this new building at the end of Spencer Ave. There are absolutely no problems with that building or its residents at all.

Bellingham Square is the opposite. It definitely needs some help and some nicer buildings.
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Just to clarify, Im not calling your hood slummy or shitty! I love Chelsea. But it's weird that it never became part of Boston. If it had a subway it wouldve been turned upside down 20 years ago.
 
Shepard said:
If I were king of Chelsea, I'd want to see yuppies move into the beautiful housing stock on the waterfront side of downtown. Salt mountain = goodbye. I would want to improve the retail mix in Bellingham Square. I would want to see continued "luxury" construction in the box district. And I would want more affordable housing up north of the Tobin approach.
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I frequently run down Eastern Ave, up Central Ave to Bellingham and back to Webster via Broadway. As I run by all the gas tanks, I always get really depressed when I think about how amazing of a corridor Eastern Ave could be if you eliminated all the gas tanks. That is PRIME waterfront real estate. You could have an entire mixed-use neighborhood there with light rail running down Eastern Ave. It is such an incredible lost opportunity.
 
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