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.