Garage Nightclub Redevelopment | 20 Linden Street | Allston

Re: Apartment tower, condos could replace nightclub and offices In Allston.

Thanks for posting this! Could we change the title to something like:

"Garage Nightclub Redevelopment | 20 Linden Street | Allston"
 
Significant upgrade of a great location that has been hitting below its capabilities for many years now.

Cambridge Street should see a huge flowering over the next decade......as long as the rising interest rates don't knock it over in the near-term - - which I fear is why so many developers are rushing headlong to get started now.
 
Love the proposal, except...

scrap the parking.

If it costs $30,000/spot on average for a below-ground garage, and they're looking at 203 spots here, that's almost $6 million of the construction cost. Suggested alternative: implement a linkage fee for considerably less (maybe 40% of garage cost... so ~$2.5 million) that can go exclusively to transportation alternatives in the neighborhood. They can go toward the local match requirements for state or federally funded transit improvements.
 
BPDA and the ZBA still need to actually approve all these projects on Cambridge St, which has slowed considerably of late.
 
dshoost88 said:
Love the proposal, except...

scrap the parking.

If it costs $30,000/spot on average for a below-ground garage, and they're looking at 203 spots here, that's almost $6 million of the construction cost. Suggested alternative: implement a linkage fee for considerably less (maybe 40% of garage cost... so ~$2.5 million) that can go exclusively to transportation alternatives in the neighborhood. They can go toward the local match requirements for state or federally funded transit improvements.
Click to expand...

I don't agree.

Transit is mediocre at best in the area today. $2.5m to "transportation alternatives" in the neighborhood, will accomplish approximately nothing in terms of a measurable increase of the sale (or rental) price of the apartments.

The parking spaces do produce something for them, and I find the number of spaces reasonable for the number of units. (and as noted in the article, under the zoning requirements.) I do think that the availability of parking in the building is of significant value to enough of the people likely to be buying these places to fill the spots, especially given no other alternatives to park a nice car in that I can think of in the area.

And unlike dumping money into a black hole of a transit fee, they can recoup the costs of those parking spaces over time from the owners. Figure a reasonable bump in the unit sale price from the parking, plus $200/mo or the like for using it, and those numbers don't look too bad at all.

-----

Anyway, what strikes me as odd about this proposal is that it seems like it would make more sense to buy out the warehouse behind it and have a much bigger lot to develop on.
 
I understand why the developer wants the parking. It's the nimbys pushing for more that bothers me.

People will probably think I'm crazy, but if I were king of Boston I'd put a commuter rail stop here.
 
Justin7 said:
People will probably think I'm crazy, but if I were king of Boston I'd put a commuter rail stop here.
Click to expand...

Not sure where West Station would be but Boston Landing is a half mile. If that's too far the 64 does stop near BL. Not ideal but that's not outrageous of a walk.
 
jklo said:
Not sure where West Station would be but Boston Landing is a half mile. If that's too far the 64 does stop near BL. Not ideal but that's not outrageous of a walk.
Click to expand...

I know, it's only 10 minutes or so to Boston Landing or the B line (and I think a similar distance to west station when it's built), but if you're trying to convince people to use public transportation rather than drive, 10 minutes in the winter can be a problem. Yes, these stations would be much closer than what we're used to seeing on the commuter rail, but still further than most green line stops.

There is a lot of room for redevelopment in this area. Some is already occurring. I think a station here could push things in a better, less auto-centric direction.

Note: I definitely don't expect this to happen. I just wish it would.
 
Justin7 said:
I know, it's only 10 minutes or so to Boston Landing or the B line (and I think a similar distance to west station when it's built), but if you're trying to convince people to use public transportation rather than drive, 10 minutes in the winter can be a problem. Yes, these stations would be much closer than what we're used to seeing on the commuter rail, but still further than most green line stops.

There is a lot of room for redevelopment in this area. Some is already occurring. I think a station here could push things in a better, less auto-centric direction.

Note: I definitely don't expect this to happen. I just wish it would.
Click to expand...

If they are going to put a station anywhere it should be right where they want to put West Station which would be a half mile walk in the other direction.

This development would then be right in between two commuter rail stations a mile apart from one another. I don't see the practicality of putting in another station in between.
 
It's also right on the 66, which leads to multiple employment destinations....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top