Davis Square Somerville Infill and Small Development

Uhh...for the record, I should say I'm a big fan of Ron. Everyone knows he has a distinctive posting style and online persona, so in the spirit of Lurker's caricature proposal I attempted to channel this.

Anyway, I do understand his sentiment on the issue of preserving local businesses, even those located in one-story buildings. I strongly feel that way about Harvard Ave in Allston. Ultimately, though, I agree with czsz that incremental sacrifices are worthwhile in the long run. See Quincy Center for the exact opposite of this approach...
 
Some context, for those unfamiliar with the area: the parking lot has about 60 metered spaces, and is heavily used at certain times of the day and week. It's the largest public parking lot in the Square. It is also the site of a popular farmers' market on Wednesday afternoons from mid-May to late November.

There are no non-metered pay parking lots or garages in Davis Square at all. You either park at a meter (in a lot or on the street), or else you'll get a ticket for parking in the surrounding permit-only residential area.

The zoning for Davis Square currently has a height limit of 4 stories, 50 feet, reflecting a neighborhood consensus that dates back to the coming of the Red Line in the early 1980s.
 
Ron Newman said:
Some context, for those unfamiliar with the area: the parking lot has about 60 metered spaces, and is heavily used at certain times of the day and week. It's the largest public parking lot in the Square. It is also the site of a popular farmers' market on Wednesday afternoons from mid-May to late November.
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I need a picture! I'll start with a map: http://goo.gl/maps/KXuKV

On which "quadrant" of the Day/Herbert intersection are we talking? The "outer" Northwest-of-Day part or the "inner" Southeast of Day quadrant?
 
There's only one parking lot that borders both Day and Herbert streets in that picture. Google Maps has incorrectly labelled it 'Bedford Research Foundation'.

Herbert Street is only one block long, from Day to Chester streets.

The parking lot on the other side of Day Street, behind CVS, is privately owned. It's close to full during the day, but sits largely empty at night. I wish the owner would make it a pay lot at night, as it's quite a waste right now. It would be a better place for the hotel, but the city doesn't own it.
 
Ron Newman said:
There's only one parking lot that borders both Day and Herbert streets in that picture.
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But two that touch "the intersection of". Its hard to introduce the prose-only "metes and bounds" press/gov't types to a world where pictures are cheap and plentiful, but I'm going to try. It will remove ambiguity and improve public participation.

Lot descriptions in public notices are too much like road signs in Boston: Clearly written by and for people who already knew where they were going.
 
I might be wrong about it being the largest public metered parking lot, as there's a possibly bigger one on Holland Street at Buena Vista, next to the Harvard Vanguard medical building. A few years ago, the city had considered that one suitable for hotel use, too.

The Day-Herbert parking lot was once the site of a Congregational church, which was converted to a movie theatre in 1913. The theatre closed after a fire in 1942. I don't know exactly when the building was torn down and the current parking lot created, but I'd guess some time in the 1950s.

The city may have torn down some adjacent houses on Day Street to create the lot, but I don't know for sure.
 
Arlington, the bid document shows quite clearly which parking lot is to be bid on. See Appendix B. There's no ambiguity.

Also, amending the above: from looking at Appendix D, it appears that the city took down two other buildings besides the theatre, and they did this in 1956.
 
Ron Newman said:
I might be wrong about it being the largest public metered parking lot, as there's a possibly bigger one on Holland Street at Buena Vista, next to the Harvard Vanguard medical building. A few years ago, the city had considered that one suitable for hotel use, too.
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I was about to mention that, and it isn't a parking lot, it is a parking deck, there are two floors of parking here. as this deck is where i park every time i have to drive into Davis.
 
Ron Newman said:
Arlington, the bid document shows quite clearly which parking lot is to be bid on. See Appendix B. There's no ambiguity.
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Yes, please. Prose is rarely helpful. Links to PDFs are helpful. Links to pictures and maps are better. Including pictures directly in discussions (and posts) are best of all.
 
found5dollar said:
I was about to mention that, and it isn't a parking lot, it is a parking deck, there are two floors of parking here. as this deck is where i park every time i have to drive into Davis.
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Thank you for posting this. These subtle word differences (deck vs lot; private lot vs public lot vs city lot) --and it is possible to build a hotel on top of any such--are precisely the things that get cleared up with a marker on a map.
 
The Buena Vista parking lot, or deck if you will, has two levels. The upper one is a metered public parking lot. The lower one is private, reserved for patients and employees in the Harvard Vanguard medical building. The city has tried, so far without success, to get the lower level opened for public parking at night.

(to Arlington, once again: the post I made to Davis Square LiveJournal was intended for people already familiar with the area. It links to a number of public documents that make very clear what property is under consideration.)
 
I guess a 4 story hotel can work just fine in Davis Sq. But seeing how it has a heavy rail subway stop, I think it's selling itself a bit short. What I think the hotel should absolutely have is a lobby open to the public. A sizable parking garage would be pretty important as well. At 4 stories that seems like it would be unessasarily limiting. A decent sized hotel, say 8 - 10 stories, with all those amenities would take Davis sq up a notch. It would also help increase the chances that it could have a less dominating footprint. While I think Davis as a whole should stay at it's scale, submerged heavy rail stops should not have quaintness-type zoning laws in it's center. IMO you give that up when you ask for all that urban infrastructure to be spent for your benefit. Why would we not maximize, or at least reasonably increase, returns on investments. It's not fair to all the rest of us tax payers who increased this neighborhoods property values greatly to not get a higher return on investment. And I say this b/c a decent sized, quality hotel there would be a slam dunk there and oh yea all three levels of government are running deficits.
 
As Davis gets further developed and the surface lots dwindle, one of them will end up becoming a garage to make up for the parking loss. Exciting to see some more development talking about in the Davis! It still has a lot of potential to be tapped! I think the Davis area is definitely ripe for a hotel as its popularity grows. Didn't know about the mandated height ceiling. I wonder if it might be readey for an increase.
 
The 4-story/50-foot height ceiling came about because residents here in the late 1970s wanted to keep the neighborhood and the business district intact as the Red Line came in. They did not want a big parking garage for commuters (like the ones at Wellington and Alewife), nor large-scale demolition of existing buildings in order to build high-rises.

I think the neighborhood benefited from this decision and and has turned out pretty well.
 
I don't think Davis needs to turn into Downtown Boston by any means, but I'd like to see that 50 foot height limit at least met throughout the CBD. It seems like there are a lot of 1 or 2 story developments. Bring everything u to 4 stories, 50 feet, with more residences and small offices.
 
That's gradually happening, but please remember that those 1 and 2-story builidngs are almost all fully occupied. Unless you can add floors to the existing structures, making the area denser means displacing what's already here and successful.
 
Ron Newman said:
I think the neighborhood benefited from this decision and and has turned out pretty well.
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And these same people don't complain about the high prices caused by the height controls?

Well, I do agree with MBTAddict that you can do a lot with just 4 stories. Fill in empty lots, renovate end-of-life buildings, etc. Need more of that.

Here's an intentionally facetious question: Why should we believe Curtatone about development around the GLX when he can't even produce around the Red Line?

P.S. you can add floors too -- heck we just had someone do just that in Allston.
 
What do you want the mayor to produce? Except for the parking lots, the city doesn't own any significant property in Davis Square. A little bit of urban renewal happened in the 1980s, giving us the Harvard Vanguard and Citizens Bank buildings.

Some folks here look down the road to Harvard Square, where a lot of historically low-density development got replaced by larger brick buildings, and see a place that gradually lost its soul.

I'm all for incrementally adding floors; in some cases, that would just be replacing floors that were demolished decades ago.
 
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