Jackson Square Infill and Small Developments

elemenoh said:
BLDUP said:
Notable Jamaica Plain developer expands Jackson Square land portfolio: http://www.bldup.com/projects/amory-street-parcels

I'd say "notorious" rather than "notable". He's the property owner who evicted all of the artists from the factory building on Amory St. decades ago and left it (still) vacant (except for the Aids Action Committee office space). He also owns the building in Hyde Square where Bella Luna was and it is (still) empty even though it's a prime spot next to Whole Foods. He was successful in getting the strip mall plaza built at 315 Center St. as part of the Stop & Shop project after the shoe factory burned.

Anyway, I expect he'll just sit on these parcels until everything else is developed and then sell them on, just like the developers in the Seaport did with the parking lots for all those decades.
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Wow. I've been wondering who exactly the evil fuck is who drove the Milky Way out of Hyde Square, and lets so much space in that building sit empty.
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Adjacent: JPNDC called me on Friday about an upcoming BRA meeting for Jackson Square Site 3 Phase 3 this Thursday evening.

Renderings they showed us last December can be seen in the FPIR [PDF].

Neighbourhood can definitely bear some additional market housing. I think we need more no-frills, medium income market housing like my building - 225 Centre. We don't have a concierge, we don't have too many amenities beyond a very basic gym. I presume that some of my rent goes to subsidise that of the affordable housing tenants interspersed throughout the building. It's a good mix of people.

The mix of affordable-to-market housing going into Phase 3 is a good ratio, especially since the market rate housing is probably going to be priced similarly to the existing housing on this end of JP, which is a good $500-1k/mo cheaper than similar accommodations being built downtown.
 
There's a good bit of activity on the (former) parking lot on Columbus ave at Cedar St just south of Roxbury Community College and north of Jackson Square. Any clue what it is?
 
Noticed it yesterday as well. The land is owned by Roxbury Community College, so I assume it's something for the school.
 
curcuas said:
There's a good bit of activity on the (former) parking lot on Columbus ave at Cedar St just south of Roxbury Community College and north of Jackson Square. Any clue what it is?
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They are doing a gigantic renovation project at RCC. Here's what's happening at the parking lot...

http://www.rcc.mass.edu/about-us/construction-updates

From Monday, August 8, 2016 – January 15, 2017, Parking Lot 1 will be under construction and unavailable for use. This scheduled construction includes installing solar energy panels (that will provide electricity to the College), new lighting, and plug-in stations for electric automobiles. During this construction project, all faculty, staff and students must park in Parking Lot #2 or Parking Lot #3 (please see exact locations on our parking map below). Information on the location of handicapped parking spaces will be available shortly.​
 
Thank you for this. I've been wondering what was going on there but was baffled by DCAMM's website.

elemenoh said:
They are doing a gigantic renovation project at RCC. Here's what's happening at the parking lot...

http://www.rcc.mass.edu/about-us/construction-updates

From Monday, August 8, 2016 – January 15, 2017, Parking Lot 1 will be under construction and unavailable for use. This scheduled construction includes installing solar energy panels (that will provide electricity to the College), new lighting, and plug-in stations for electric automobiles. During this construction project, all faculty, staff and students must park in Parking Lot #2 or Parking Lot #3 (please see exact locations on our parking map below). Information on the location of handicapped parking spaces will be available shortly.​
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elemenoh said:
They are doing a gigantic renovation project at RCC. Here's what's happening at the parking lot...

http://www.rcc.mass.edu/about-us/construction-updates

From Monday, August 8, 2016 – January 15, 2017, Parking Lot 1 will be under construction and unavailable for use. This scheduled construction includes installing solar energy panels (that will provide electricity to the College), new lighting, and plug-in stations for electric automobiles. During this construction project, all faculty, staff and students must park in Parking Lot #2 or Parking Lot #3 (please see exact locations on our parking map below). Information on the location of handicapped parking spaces will be available shortly.​
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The huge new "roof" (the panels) makes for a very unpleasantly shady walk along that side of the street now. Dozens of mature street trees removed and replaced with a hulking metal structure.
 
sm89 said:
The huge new "roof" (the panels) makes for a very unpleasantly shady walk along that side of the street now. Dozens of mature street trees removed and replaced with a hulking metal structure.
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Seriously disappointment in that covered parking structure - call it what you will, it's a crying shame that it was built within 1/4 mile of an Orange Line stop. It's not even designed to be converted into a more than one-story building in the future, a terrible use of good urban land.
 
This just in:

BPDA Board Approves Plans to Double Size, Add Turf Field at Jackson Square Rec Center

The BPDA board approved plans on March 17 that call for a 75,000 square foot recreation center at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Ritchie Street across the street from the Jackson Square MBTA Station in Jamaica Plain. Earlier plans had the project at 34,000 square feet, said BPDA spokesperson Bonnie McGilpin. The size increase is due to an the addition of another floor to the project.​

The rec center has been part of the Jackson Sq redevelopment project since the very beginning. Here's hoping they actually have the funding to build it!
 
Elemenoh, this would really be a "game changer" (even though I hate that term) - getting three out of the four corners of the intersection developed will make a huge difference for how the area looks - and this, of the two corners, is far more ugly since everyone coming down centre stares at parking lots and the salt shed as it is exposed now. The new render also looks taller, with another floor plus visible mechanicals, which would screen more of the salt shed as well.

I fear that they don't have the funds, though... maybe instead of sinking millions into that absurd Roxbury CC parking monstrosity (TOTAL WASTE OF $) they could've used that for this project instead.*


* yes, I know it doesn't work that way… But that project bugs the shit out of me, and I don't think it's been documented on archBoston at all.
 
Randomgear said:
Seriously disappointment in that covered parking structure - call it what you will, it's a crying shame that it was built within 1/4 mile of an Orange Line stop. It's not even designed to be converted into a more than one-story building in the future, a terrible use of good urban land.
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It is supremely stupid. I am most upset that it is clearly really expensive and therefore will prevent any good redevelopment of that space for decades. If there was ever a site that was crying out for a few floors of housing over parking with solar on the roof this is it. Instead we get a hulking single use project that is not adding anything to the street or community. It is really backwards, short term thinking.
 
Eventually this project might deserve its own thread:

Centre Street Partners Chosen to Complete Phase One of Mildred Hailey Apartment Redevelopment

The proposed development will replace five existing, high-rise residential buildings on Centre Street with five new residential mixed-use buildings. Approximately 625 rental units, including one-for-one replacements of the current 232 subsidized apartments and 393 new market rate apartments. Four of the five buildings are proposed as mixed income housing, with a 2:1 ratio of market rate to affordable units. The fifth building will serve elders in the apartment complex community.
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The developer is a partnership between The Community Builders, JPNDC, and Urban Edge.
 
elemenoh said:
Eventually this project might deserve its own thread:

Centre Street Partners Chosen to Complete Phase One of Mildred Hailey Apartment Redevelopment



The developer is a partnership between The Community Builders, JPNDC, and Urban Edge.
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What they should do:
1. Restore traffic throughput for the entire Bromley-Heath zone - at least 2 roads connecting Heath to Centre, and another connecting those roads together and to Walden St.
2. Instead of doing what's always done in Boston, which is not bothering to correct roadway and/or sidewalk narrowness when a major project is proposed, they should WIDEN the sidewalk along Centre since it's woefully inadequate for the traffic volume
3. Please, please line the facades up with Centre St to make a streetwall instead of the screamingly obvious public-money-funded-this-project thing where the buildings are placed on a diagonal to the streetwall.
 
I still think it’s incredibly shitty that they didn’t plan for a bike path here. They totally could’ve made the driveways more narrow and accommodated one. There’re basically no opportunities for protected linear corridors anywhere in Boston, to give this up is such poor vision.
 
FK4 said:
I still think it’s incredibly shitty that they didn’t plan for a bike path here. They totally could’ve made the driveways more narrow and accommodated one. There’re basically no opportunities for protected linear corridors anywhere in Boston, to give this up is such poor vision.
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Word.
 
They are planning for a bike path here. There are a few different landowners and developers, so it's not as easy as it sounds. Until it is possible to construct it, they've arranged for a mixed use path.
 
Nice but boring. I do like the site plan. I think the small spaces will be well used. I also think this could have included a taller tower given how close it is to the T.
 
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