Dorchester Infill and Small Developments

South Bay expansion

Last fall, plans originating from the Boston-based development firm Samuels & Associates and calling for the dramatic enlargement of the mall were uncovered and distributed to residents around the neighborhood. The firm said at the time that it was in the “very early stages” of a possible project in Dorchester. The conceptual plan listed a Lowe’s and a BJ’s Wholesale Club as possible tenants of new “big box” style buildings.
Click to expand...

http://www.dotnews.com/2013/neighbors-meet-saturday-plans-south-bay-mall
 
Will the expansion turn it into something that feels more like a real mall?
 
What an anti-urban waste of land. It's like it never even entered city planners' minds to incorporate a more urban atmosphere here... The fact that they're still building big-box, exurban crap means we're that much farther away from redeveloping this area.
 
The whole South Bay area needs to be reconceived as an urban zone complete with mid and high rises.
 
Is it common for Home Depot and Lowe's, direct competitors, to both be in the same mall?
 
Ron Newman said:
Is it common for Home Depot and Lowe's, direct competitors, to both be in the same mall?
Click to expand...

I don't know that I've ever seen them share a parking lot, but it is not uncommon to have them within 1 mile of each other.
 
If the Indigo Line is ever actually legitimate DMU or EMU rapid transit the entire area will be in easy walking distance of either Newmarket Station or Andrew Station (with some obviously necessary pedestrian improvements).
 
I think we need to face the fact that, for the time being, South Bay is a niche location for those in the city who DO have a car. There's always going to be a place for those people, and those people will never really go away. This is probably one of the best locations for said people. So it's going to be hard to rid of it, with few other viable options within reasonable distance given the current economic/development conditions.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
I think we need to face the fact that, for the time being, South Bay is a niche location for those in the city who DO have a car. There's always going to be a place for those people, and those people will never really go away. This is probably one of the best locations for said people. So it's going to be hard to rid of it, with few other viable options within reasonable distance given the current economic/development conditions.
Click to expand...

Hear Hear. Lest we all forget, some people have two jobs, kids, etc. and little other food options or retail options from a time perspective. Home Depot, Target, Best Buy, for those of you who own a house is great and time is limited. I have never lugged a vanity onto the Bay View bus and never intend too.

May we stop complaining about South Bay for a bit and not complain about under utilized parcels closer to the core like Druker's parking lot at the corner of Washington and East Berkley or the wasted space taken up by the building just to its north? Nobody complains about "SoWa's", God I hate that name, massive for the area parking lot. What about the post office parking lots in Fort Point. I think these three places are all expamples of places that can be filled first before we go building the New Rome off of Boston Street.
 
JohnCostello said:
May we stop complaining about South Bay for a bit and not complain about under utilized parcels closer to the core like Druker's parking lot at the corner of Washington and East Berkley or the wasted space taken up by the building just to its north? Nobody complains about "SoWa's", God I hate that name, massive for the area parking lot. What about the post office parking lots in Fort Point. I think these three places are all expamples of places that can be filled first before we go building the New Rome off of Boston Street.
Click to expand...

Excellent points.
 
Funny how many of the suburban-oriented developments we loathe so much are on reclaimed land...
 
JohnCostello said:
Hear Hear. Lest we all forget, some people have two jobs, kids, etc. and little other food options or retail options from a time perspective. Home Depot, Target, Best Buy, for those of you who own a house is great and time is limited. I have never lugged a vanity onto the Bay View bus and never intend too.

May we stop complaining about South Bay for a bit and not complain about under utilized parcels closer to the core like Druker's parking lot at the corner of Washington and East Berkley or the wasted space taken up by the building just to its north? Nobody complains about "SoWa's", God I hate that name, massive for the area parking lot. What about the post office parking lots in Fort Point. I think these three places are all expamples of places that can be filled first before we go building the New Rome off of Boston Street.
Click to expand...

I agree with that, but there being higher priority areas for developments than South Bay doesn't mean we should keep building crap big-box strip malls there in the meantime. There are ways the make those sorts of stores more retail friendly without re-creating suburban retail parks.
 
The way I see it, the area itself is not transit-friendly at the moment, unless you're willing to cross over the highway from Andrews, or deal with the buses there, which aren't convenient for many people either. And, as others have pointed out, lugging a flat screen or coffee table on the bus isn't all that fun. I have managed to lug some large purchases onto the red line in my college days, but I can't imagine trying that on the bus.

Since its not a transit-friendly location, it makes sense that the development is going to be more car-oriented. It would seem to me that it would be more important to develop an actual rapid transit line such as the indigo line proposals to the area itself. Then, a transit-oriented, mid-rise, mixed use development could grow much more organically.
 
Has anyone else noticed that Samuels is pretty much the only developer that names/secures tenants on their plans and hence their developments are the ones that actually happen?

They could be developer of the decade in Boston, depending on if Millennium goes ahead with Filene's on schedule...
 
323_zps69006748.jpg
327_zpsccd171f7.jpg
305_zpsddb9b2f1.jpg
304_zps50646fb8.jpg
 
I would not call this location, or anything else on the west side of Morrissey Blvd, "Columbia Point". If this is in Columbia Point, then so are Shaw's and channel 56 and the Boston Globe.
 
Gritty? Curbed needs to get it head of it's tush. Supermarket, office complex, hotel, Radio office building, Major newspaper, Auto dealership, Interstate highway, Expensive private school campus, parkland, beach, Transit stop, Public university, and apartments with affordable housing. Sounds like much of Cambridge to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top