Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Agreed. Everything simply costs too much. I am very excited about the GLX and want to see if happen ASAP but it really does seem like it's costing WAY too much money.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

FenwayResident said:
Does this have any impact on the rest of the MBTA's funds? For example, was that $1B already accounted for but now can be used on other projects? Or was it just a hole in the project's finances that the federal government filled?
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They've been counting on the Federal grant for several years now, so I think this will have no impact.

Ever since Obama was elected, they knew they wanted to shape up the GLX to be fed-fund eligible (in a way that the Old Colony restoration was not), so the project has advanced assuming they'd get something (but also working to get it before Obama leaves office).

Part of the hold up was that the T's finances were a shambles and the project was out of control.

Part of the justification for passing the gas tax was to fix the funding side, and the reason for hiking the project costs (mostly a contingency fund and not actual "stuff") was to "fix" the cost side.

Its a good system at the Federal level--which owes a lot to Nixon and Reagan as old-fashioned value-for-money Republicans--to ensure that the money goes to projects with high paybacks (new riders, not just "stolen" from buses), controlled costs (measured in cost-per-new-transit-rider), and goes to agencies that can sustain the operations without a federal operating subsidy.

OT: Progressive critics like Yonah Freemark have suggested inverting the system: less system-expansion help, but more operating assistance (to actually deliver frequent, useful service, not just Big Concrete). Republicans hate operating subsidies, except for Red States: Amtrak's stupid long distance trains and the EAS. Then they love 'em. Happily, the Bush-appointed Amtrak CEO is now calling them on it.
 
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Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Green Line plan brings economic tension to Union Square in Somerville

Rents and local taxes go up

By Naomi KookerGlobe Correspondent December 09, 2014

SOMERVILLE — The owner of Elegant Furniture closed his store this fall after the rent shot through the roof. Capone Foods is charging more for its handmade pasta to cover soaring local tax bills. Riverside Motorsports left its home of 35 years and moved out of town.

The business owners and residents of Union Square are living through the turbulent early stages of big neighborhood change. The Green Line Extension project promises to deliver new public transit service to the square by 2017, and city officials are drawing up ambitious plans to redevelop seven nearby parcels, some of which could be taken by eminent domain.

Even Somerville — a city defined by its reputation as a funky, affordable home to both hipsters and immigrants — is now struggling to manage the forces of gentrification predictably moving into Union Square.

“People are concerned about losing our very soul,” Mayor Joseph Curtatone said. “We hold that in the forefront. We’re not doing anything in a vacuum. We’re being very strategic and thoughtful.”

Curtatone said city officials are keenly aware of community concerns — starting with affordable housing. But people there are also thinking about jobs, open spaces, and a possible influx of national retail chains, he said.

At an August event, Union Square residents were invited to brainstorm characteristics that define the area and write their ideas on a whiteboard. Curtatone wrote “funky and freaky,” “art,” and “creative, original, connected.”

“It speaks to our diversity, creativity, and originality,” he said. “We want to make sure people who want to be here in Somerville have that opportunity.”

Union Square Station Associates, an amalgam of developers, investors, and consultants chosen by the city, will draw up the blueprint to improve the seven parcels targeted by the city. But the master plan is a one-year process that’s just beginning.

“We can’t control or freeze absolutely everything, [but] it’s in our own interest that we don’t lose this character,” said Drew Leff, a project executive working with the group. “When we build new, how do we hold onto that?”

Some recent changes are surely welcome. New restaurants like Bronwyn and Bloc 11 are popular additions to the area. Union Square Donuts moved a few doors down Bow Street last month to new digs that can accommodate expansion plans. Gracie’s Ice Cream just opened last month. Bike lanes stand out thanks to new green paint.

But many people are already feeling the squeeze of a rising cost of living and doing business. Rents for apartments and commercial space are climbing. City revaluations of Union Square properties are driving up real estate tax bills.

Residential rents have increased about 10 percent in the past year, said Max Dublin of Hammond Real Estate. “Three to 5 percent is more typical.”

A one-bedroom in Union Square costs between $1,500 and $2,000. Dublin said he is seeing three-family homes, which often provide affordable apartments, being converted into condos or high-end rentals. “The fabric of Somerville is getting pushed out,” he said. “Somerville is not too far behind what Cambridge has become.”

Omar Alay, the owner of Elegant Furniture, said he was notified earlier this year that the rent for his store was about to go up by 80 percent. Alay said he was prepared to sign a new lease, but then learned he would have to pay for a new sprinkler system as well. He could not afford both, so he left.

“This is it,” said Alay, who closed his store in September after 20 years. “This is the end.”

Albert Capone, who has operated Capone Foods for 30 years, said he increased prices to help pay for local tax bills that jumped by 45 percent this year. “The little old lady who came to buy a pound of pasta can’t afford it,” said Capone. “What we sell here was accessible to low incomes. Not any more, this is an elitist store.”

Nearby, the longtime location of Riverside Motorsports is now empty. Owner Carlo Maugini-Hansen said he received a letter from the city last year informing him the property would be redeveloped and could be taken by eminent domain. He moved the motorcycle dealership to Medford in May.

“Now, the place will be empty for four or five years,” he said.

But what businesses eventually move into Union Square remains an open question. A spokesman for the city’s consultants said developers are meeting with restaurant and bar owners to understand what they need to remain successful in the square and potentially expand.

The city is also working up a Community Benefits Agreement, a document intended to hold developers accountable to fulfill community requests, such as affordable housing and jobs, in return for public support.

But Curtatone said the city is “nowhere near executing” an agreement. Union Square community advocates said they have only started talking with city planners about it.

Some longtime business owners say they will find a way to stay put. Sheila Borges, who owns her family’s Neighborhood Restaurant & Bakery of 31 years, said the business will start opening for dinner if necessary. Her family owns the building, which is not located on a parcel slated for development.

Nearby, Union Square Donuts co-owner Heather Schmidt is looking forward to the future. “I think there’s room for everyone in the square,” she said.
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Boston Globe
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Why does the Globe keep rehashing the same tired articles about Union Square gentrification? It would be nice to see an article about the new businesses that have popped up and what new buildings are in the works for a change.

The Capone Foods owner was quoted in another similar article, complaining about all the "hipsters" who are nonetheless patronizing his store. And I hate to say, but I was surprised to find out the Elegant Furniture store has actually been in business this whole time. The only way a place like that could survive is if they were paying next to nothing in rent.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonObserver said:
Like this

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/...sea-new-zip/yA8togbr4webxxz3XiJP7K/story.html

Last read, probably in the Globe, only 46% of the people in the south end pay market rate. Great reporting again from the Boston Globe
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Before you make complaints like this, consider the very obvious fact that South End is a different universe than it was in the early 70s. While your statistic may, somehow, be technically correct, there is a LOT of public housing in the South End. All over Columbus, Mass Ave, not to mention Tent City and whatever the big projects are between Northampton and Melnea.

As far as non-Section 8 housing goes, the South End is basically unattainable if you're not rich. My parents bought a town home on Montgomery in 1975 for pennies - it's now worth over 2 million (sadly, they sold it in the early 80s). Ever looked on Craigslist, or at a home sale around here? And who do you see walking around the South End? The real South End, as in between Tremont and Back Bay? Maybe I should remind you that when they built the Hancock, developers worried that the back side of Copley was too close to the rundown part of town. Well, statistics or no, it don't look that way no more!

If you live or lived in Boston anytime between 1960 and now, there is no question that the South End is the most blatant, crystal-clear example of gentrification around. Full stop.

whsurveyor said:
Why does the Globe keep rehashing the same tired articles about Union Square gentrification? It would be nice to see an article about the new businesses that have popped up and what new buildings are in the works for a change.

The Capone Foods owner was quoted in another similar article, complaining about all the "hipsters" who are nonetheless patronizing his store. And I hate to say, but I was surprised to find out the Elegant Furniture store has actually been in business this whole time. The only way a place like that could survive is if they were paying next to nothing in rent.
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I think the main point to be taken from this particular article is that it draws attention to the fact that the city has dramatically increased taxes on local businesses, which is something that Somerville may want to rethink in a creative way if it wants to retain older businesses. The other article you refer to was about hipsters and the youth demographic.

Also, I'm glad the Globe is giving potential subjects/victims of eminent domain a voice, because that sure as shit didn't happen (at least to any effect) in the 1950s. Whether or not us amateur urban planning fans are just jonesing to clear out the car mechanics and junkyards, those people were there first and why should our vision of streetcars and boutique storefronts with walkable neighborhoods trump that of real people who already live there?
 
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Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

FK4 said:
The South End is the most blatant, crystal-clear example of gentrification around. Full stop.
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- More increasingly, people like to live in attractive urban places with ultra high walk scores, close access to work places, cultural destinations, shopping, and restaurants.

- There are not many of these places.

- In free markets where there is scarcity of a desirable product, prices increase until they reach the highest point at which they find a willing buyer.

- Those that cannot meet those prices, do not live in those places.

- Those that can, do.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

FK4 I lived in the south end in the 70-80's, I got priced out long ago and I don't see any way I could ever live there again. Why don't you respond to Mike Ross's comment that poor people have been removed instead.

It's also not just taxed it's the electric bills and the water and sewer bills which I believe are among st the highest in the US
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonObserver said:
FK4 I lived in the south end in the 70-80's, I got priced out long ago and I don't see any way I could ever live there again. Why don't you respond to Mike Ross's comment that poor people have been removed instead.

It's also not just taxed it's the electric bills and the water and sewer bills which I believe are among st the highest in the US
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Anyway you look at it --it beats being Detroit

In the universe at large you are either growing or declining -- not many things really remain in a static equilibrium for long
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I don't deny that neighborhoods go through cycles. Right now up and down the East Coast we're in a renaissance of city living and it's basically economics at work. But I can't be the only who feels that cities are turning into the playgrounds of the well off. Downtown areas being expensive ok, but Southie, Somerville, Dorchester, where do the families live? Even Allston now has ripe off apartments. Middle class families are getting kicked out as a whole. It's better than crime and what not and I'm not sure if any other balance exists, but chain stores and ethnic-less yuppies taking over local business and families as a whole does suck. Local flavor is being sterilized.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Right now up and down the East Coast we're in a renaissance of city living and it's basically economics at work. But I can't be the only who feels that cities are turning into the playgrounds of the well off.
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It's perfectly acceptable to embrace the good side of gentrification (economic development, whatever you want to call it), and be concerned about the bad side. Right now, we're like someone who's started exercising, but still doesn't stretch properly. We're doing the right thing generally, but we're going to hurt ourselves longterm if we don't rethink how we're doing it.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

underground said:
It's perfectly acceptable to embrace the good side of gentrification (economic development, whatever you want to call it), and be concerned about the bad side. Right now, we're like someone who's started exercising, but still doesn't stretch properly. We're doing the right thing generally, but we're going to hurt ourselves longterm if we don't rethink how we're doing it.
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That's an awesome analogy. Definitely stealing it.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

whsurveyor said:
The only way a place like that could survive is if they were paying next to nothing in rent.
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^This. The location was worth "nothing" so rents were low, and buildings were let to rot to the level that low rents could support.

Rising rents say to retail tenants: "you should aspire to better" Serve more people, sell more stuff, command higher prices. Merchants are being told by customers (indirectly, via their landlord) that they need to hustle and adapt to local demand.

Maybe the old demand for furniture was from carless, low-income people who had to buy whatever stale stuff was being sold within a walk to their house. That's a viable market, but only if the local's incomes don't rise (whether it is because the same people got better jobs or were displaced by hipsters)
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

^ Agreed. The key though, is making sure that the opportunity is given for retailers to be innovative, and not end up with a rush to conformity by filling up these spaces with characterless chains.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

underground said:
It's perfectly acceptable to embrace the good side of gentrification (economic development, whatever you want to call it), and be concerned about the bad side. Right now, we're like someone who's started exercising, but still doesn't stretch properly. We're doing the right thing generally, but we're going to hurt ourselves longterm if we don't rethink how we're doing it.
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Uground -- in the 60's and 70's Frat Houses and other student living occurred in the middle of the Back Bay -- today the Brady's condo -- large to be sure -- is renting for $35k / month

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen famously sold the penthouse at 310 Beacon Street in the summer of 2012 for $9,271,000 after some epic price-chops..... Now the penthouse they once owned is up for rent.

The 3-BR, 3.5-BA, 5,311-square-foot comes with a five fireplaces, four garaged parking spaces (and one outdoors), two roof decks and (naturally) a gym.......
The asking rent is $35,000 a month.
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http://boston.curbed.com/tags/tom-brady

That would have been unimaginable in the heyday of the English Tea Room @ 29 Newbury St. -- where a student could eat for a few $ when the dining halls were closed during the holidays

Today at the same location http://www.29newbury.com/ you can have a hotdog ala carte for $10
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

The response you addressed to me only replies to my comment in the most circumspect sense, but thanks I guess...
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonObserver said:
FK4 I lived in the south end in the 70-80's, I got priced out long ago and I don't see any way I could ever live there again. Why don't you respond to Mike Ross's comment that poor people have been removed instead.

It's also not just taxed it's the electric bills and the water and sewer bills which I believe are among st the highest in the US
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I already did: poor people HAVE been removed. If you dont have a housing voucher for section 8, you arent going to live in the South End if you are poor. Ditto for many other neighborhoods. When discussions are held about the "affordability" of a neighborhood, it is in reference to free market tenants. There are plenty of people who are poor, and not-so-poor, who have been priced out of the South End. And this is happening, and will continue to happen, to Somerville. With or without the Green Line, I might add; though the GLX will certainly hasten the process.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

When will this new extension open?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Jahvon09 said:
When will this new extension open?
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Details are upthread, but they say that Phase 2/2A (Lechmere, Brickbottom, and Union Sq) will open in 2017 after construction begins in 2015.

That is soon enough and (at last) certain enough to drive up property values (when bought/sold) in an area that was already doing well. As the asset values go up, the rents will rise to reflect that (but not quite as fast...if they rise faster than the underlying property values, then it is short-term demand, and not the GLX that's driving increases...and clearly both are at work).

The GLX project site is only half-updated to reflect the award of ~$1b FFGA by the FTA, but says:
Phase 2/2A extends service from the (new) Lechmere Station to Washington Street and Union Square Stations. The construction of this phase is estimated to be complete in mid-2017, with completion of testing and commencement of revenue service by the end of 2017. These dates assume the FTA issuance of a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) by February 2015. Issuance of an FFGA is a constraint to the award of the bulk of the construction activities to complete this phase.
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They got their FFGA this month (or at least it is certain enough that they'll make whatever technical Feb 2015 deadline they were warning us as a constraint).

Don't forget, that this area will also see an increase in connectivity/mobility across other modes, too.

Buses: THe apps now are amazing. While infrequent, buses have a very "rail" feel when your phone can promise you a bus is on its way. Plus more off-peak buses to and through Somerville starting with the Jan 1 2015 schedules (see upthread too).

Bikes: and the ongoing rollout of bike lanes parallel to the future GLX (see the Beacon St Reconstruction project and the recent bike lanes in Union Sq mean that the area is already getting knitted into the fabric of Cambridge (and higher real estate values) via bike.

And all the other "new" short-trip Urban modes: Hubway, Uber/Lyft, Zipcar (joined now by Enterprise Car Share mean that everywhere the GLX will go is already doing pretty well across the whole spectrum of close-to-work, reduced-auto lifestyles and a younger tech-enriched generation driving up prices (I'd say, "in a good way")
 
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