Lowe's in Brighton?

Ron Newman said:
But in this location, I don't know how you'd do an "urban" store without parking. There is not much public transit there.
Click to expand...
A fair point. The Brighton/Manhattan analogy sort of falls apart I guess.
 
The analogue to Manhattan would be putting a Lowes or Home Depot in Downtown Crossing or the Prudential Center or the Bulfinch Triangle blocks.
 
I guess another question that can be asked as a result of the traffic study, is how could Lowes (and the city) shift the number of car trips being made to the store without cutting down on total customers. I would propose the following:
- Provide less parking than a typical store (maybe 1/2 as much)
- Charge for parking, even if just a small amount (i.e. $2), potentially variable based on time-of-day (i.e. charge less when demand is less)
- Provide free or low-cost delivery service
- Work with MBTA to increase bus service to area
 
Lowe's and Ikea are the same ugly animal. They only differ in their marketing and clientele.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Marketing and clientele is precisely why more people support Ikea. Even those whose tastes don't run to it will think it marks the neighborhood as "up and coming". You can throw a Lowe's in any old strip mall, but not an Ikea. And Ikea would justify (and has provided) some kind of shuttle service to the nearest transit outlet. Would Lowe's ever do this? Would anyone ever care enough about accessing a Lowe's to want to take it?
 
Case in point, Somerville is allowing IKEA to move into Assembly Square. However, there are many conditions and mitigations to reducing the amount of car traffic to the store. Most notably, a new T station will be added to the orange line directly adjacent to the site (which is also where a large mixed-use development will be going). Unlike Lowes, IKEA provides a delivery service as well, so people can take the T, buy their stuff, and have it delivered.
 
cden4 said:
I guess another question that can be asked as a result of the traffic study, is how could Lowes (and the city) shift the number of car trips being made to the store without cutting down on total customers. I would propose the following:
- Provide less parking than a typical store (maybe 1/2 as much)
- Charge for parking, even if just a small amount (i.e. $2), potentially variable based on time-of-day (i.e. charge less when demand is less)
- Provide free or low-cost delivery service
- Work with MBTA to increase bus service to area
Click to expand...

If you provide less parking customers will park on the neighborhood steets which will not make people happy.
If you charge for parking see first sentense.
Lowes provides a low cost delivery service.
People will not use the MBTA. Most people will drive because they want to compare Lowes with Home Depot which is down the street.
 
There are plenty of places where I'm willing to say "don't provide enough parking, make people take the T" -- but this isn't one of them.
 
Ron, I agree. You couldn't possibly build a store there without a lot of parking. That area is only accessible by one-lane North Beacon Street, which already requires that you have to wait for multiple light cycles to get through Union Square.

There's already a precedent here for why it might be a bad idea: the addition of the Super Stop and Shop and strip mall behind the old new balance factory only made this formerly industrial area more of a grid-locked zone.

If you want to understand the anger that some Brighton and Allston residents have toward this project you have to understand the context of what has been lost: two commuter rail stops (which serviced this specific area) and the Watertown Sq. Trolley (the A-line) which ran along Brighton Ave and Cambridge street. Bus service is, in general, lousy. The B-line slow and past capacity.

I think residents would LOVE to hear Harvard agitating for some sort of trolley service to connect accross Allston into Harvard Square, but I'm not hearing too much. Allston/Brighton residents have been forced to using their cars.

Doesn't anybody have a better vision for what might go here than a lousy big-box store? A few years ago it was a blank slate. If rail access were to return to this area it would be EASY to build mixed-use dense development here. New homes and services for all of the people who will presumably be working in Harvard and BC as they expand.

I grew up on Murdock Street, just up the hill from this area and now, ironically, live close to the new Ikea going up in Red Hook in Brooklyn. Despite the fact that Brooklyn is well-serviced by subways and buses, none of them go near it and I wouldn't dream of going there unless in a car. I think it's a big mistake and a shame. We should expect much better from our cities.
 
mfe said:
Ron, I agree. You couldn't possibly build a store there without a lot of parking. That area is only accessible by one-lane North Beacon Street, which already requires that you have to wait for multiple light cycles to get through Union Square.

There's already a precedent here for why it might be a bad idea: the addition of the Super Stop and Shop and strip mall behind the old new balance factory only made this formerly industrial area more of a grid-locked zone.

If you want to understand the anger that some Brighton and Allston residents have toward this project you have to understand the context of what has been lost: two commuter rail stops (which serviced this specific area) and the Watertown Sq. Trolley (the A-line) which ran along Brighton Ave and Cambridge street. Bus service is, in general, lousy. The B-line slow and past capacity.

I think residents would LOVE to hear Harvard agitating for some sort of trolley service to connect accross Allston into Harvard Square, but I'm not hearing too much. Allston/Brighton residents have been forced to using their cars.

Doesn't anybody have a better vision for what might go here than a lousy big-box store? A few years ago it was a blank slate. If rail access were to return to this area it would be EASY to build mixed-use dense development here. New homes and services for all of the people who will presumably be working in Harvard and BC as they expand.

I grew up on Murdock Street, just up the hill from this area and now, ironically, live close to the new Ikea going up in Red Hook in Brooklyn. Despite the fact that Brooklyn is well-serviced by subways and buses, none of them go near it and I wouldn't dream of going there unless in a car. I think it's a big mistake and a shame. We should expect much better from our cities.
Click to expand...

You can get to Guest St from mMarket St, Western Ave and Birmingham Parkway. This is a commercial area where else would you put it?
 
JohnT said:
You can get to Guest St from mMarket St, Western Ave and Birmingham Parkway. This is a commercial area where else would you put it?
Click to expand...

All three of those scenarios would go through Market street. But most people wouldn't be coming this way unless they were from Brighton or parts of Newton and Watertown. Most would be coming from downtown, Cambridge or the Pike through Union Square onto N. Beacon. It is an awful bottleneck.

Yes, it's a commercial area, but not suited to this type of commerce. It's original use was light industrial that was serviced by a train spur that ran parallel to Guest Street for load/offload of goods. Read: it doesn't support a ton of vehicular traffic. But it could support more suitable development with the aid of some tranportation access.

Where would I put Lowe's? Along a trunk road that can handle the traffic. Or at the end of a highway offramp. Actually, when I think about it I'm not sure any environment is suited for a big box, but that's another story.
 
MFE, Maybe you have been away too long. The people who live near Union Square would go to Loews Woburn (Rt 93) it is faster and easier for them. People coming down the Pike have closer Lowes to go.
 
JohnT said:
MFE, Maybe you have been away too long. The people who live near Union Square would go to Loews Woburn (Rt 93) it is faster and easier for them. People coming down the Pike have closer Lowes to go.
Click to expand...

So... let's not build a Lowe's there at all, right? ;)
 
palindrome said:
Is that where this is proposed for? The old K-mart in brighton mills? I don't understand the area well.
Click to expand...

Loews is in the lower left, right next to the New Balance building and the new WGBH studios. Brighton Mills is squarely in the heart of North Allston.

sdfgfgdhzd3.jpg
 
WGBH is on Market st. It is on both sides of Guest St. and stops at the Pike. It is connected by a "bridge" over Guest St.
This is a perfect place for Lowes. It is away from any residential area. The consumer can shop or compare prices with HD which is not too far away.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top