Newton Infill and Small Developments

Projects worthy of activating this thread don't come along that often...


This is exactly the kind of thing that should be happening in Newton. Also, the abutters are going to be righteously pissed. That's empty trees right now and allows them to walk right out of their back doors to the aqueduct path. Tough transition to a bunch of condos looking right into their backyards.
 
Potentially historic Newton development with 14 buildings wins key approvals

“What’s being called “the largest project of its kind in Newton history” has won key approvals from the Newton City Council.

Northland Investment Corporation plans to develop 14 buildings on 22.6 acres at Needham and Oak streets in the city’s Upper Falls area. The buildings are due to range in height from three to eight floors, and 140 of the apartments would be designated as affordable...”
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NEI General Contracting Completes Modular Mixed-Use Development
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“NEI General Contracting announced that it has completed the construction of 28 Austin, a 68-unit modular mixed-use building located at 28 Austin Street in Newton, Mass for Dinosaur Capital Partners....”
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If only we had some progressive planning department that could wrangle a Green Line extension out of these developers as part of a P3.
 
IMO, Newton is about the worst place to invest in a home right now. Prices are way out of line compared to any town in the area (other than maybe Brookline/Belmont/Winchester/Lexington/Concord). Now they're bringing a ton of supply online. And frankly with a huge influx of multifamily the schools (the main reason - along with location - that the town is so expensive) are likely to take a hit. Definitely a sell opportunity...
 
^Newton’s got a long way to go before it sees Brookline’s population density, and I feel like Brookline has always been the model Newton was following.
 
itchy said:
Now they're bringing a ton of supply online. And frankly with a huge influx of multifamily the schools (the main reason - along with location - that the town is so expensive) are likely to take a hit.
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Itchy, I don’t know you of course, so please don’t take this personally, but comments/sentiments like this enforce negative socio-economic dynamics and our country’s legacy of white supremacy, plus it’s just not true. Brookline has plenty of multi-family housing and it’s schools are fine. You are suggesting that multi-family units bring lower income (read: more likely not white) kids into the Newton school district, which will make it somehow worse? This is such a 1950s mindset. I for one would intentionally seek out cities/towns to raise my kids in that are diverse, not 90% white. I grew up in Winchester and it’s lack of diversity is a weakness, not a strength. You logic is also tried and true NIMBY logic, which is not something to be getting behind.
 
itchy said:
IMO, Newton is about the worst place to invest in a home right now. Prices are way out of line compared to any town in the area (other than maybe Brookline/Belmont/Winchester/Lexington/Concord). Now they're bringing a ton of supply online. And frankly with a huge influx of multifamily the schools (the main reason - along with location - that the town is so expensive) are likely to take a hit. Definitely a sell opportunity...
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As awood91 notes, the logic behind this unsubstantiated assertion is dubious at best, and unfortunately traffics in the worst NIMBYism/xenophobic-style rhetoric. The population of Newton has still not reattained its 1960 peak of 92k. Moreover, over the past 40 years, it has grown at an oh-so-modest rate, from 83.6k to 88.4k. Has anyone seen headlines about how that incredibly modest increase has created some catastrophic strain on the city's resources and civic infrastructure? Me neither. And yet supposedly this "huge influx" of new schoolkids is going to severely stress the system? Show us a credible, impartial, non-fearmongering study that soberly analyzes Newton demographic/socioeconomic trends within this vein, and then we can talk...
 
Wait... except for the "but think of the children!" argument... isn't that the goal of adding more supply, to moderate pricing? From an impartial view, Newton is one of the more expensive towns relative to access to Boston - it should be one of the first to top out on the housing bubble. Speculators probably should not invest there looking for the growth rates that have been the norm.

To @vanshnookenraggen point... Upper Falls traffic is going to be a bigger mess from its existing poor connectivity. Newton might just have the political capital to push for a GLX to Needham. Once these developments go up, how far off do we think the push for that spur will be?
 
Vagabond said:
Wait... except for the "but think of the children!" argument... isn't that the goal of adding more supply, to moderate pricing? From an impartial view, Newton is one of the more expensive towns relative to access to Boston - it should be one of the first to top out on the housing bubble. Speculators probably should not invest there looking for the growth rates that have been the norm.

To @vanshnookenraggen point... Upper Falls traffic is going to be a bigger mess from its existing poor connectivity. Newton might just have the political capital to push for a GLX to Needham. Once these developments go up, how far off do we think the push for that spur will be?
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I was only criticizing the "huge influx of multifamily putting a strain on the schools" aspect of itchy's statement, echoing awood91's objection to its NIMBYist (re: classist/racist) connotations (even if itchy wasn't intentionally trying to sound like that). It's certainly possible that Newton's housing values are poised to plummet, for a variety of reasons both macro and particular to the Newton environment.

That said, let's discuss "speculation" for a moment. How much "speculation" actually takes place in a community such as Newton?

For starters, I imagine, even with the ongoing development boom there, that 95%+ of the city's housing stock is still detached dwelling, single-family. Moreover, I would imagine 95%+ of said detached dwellings in Newton are owner-occupied [in my mind, owner-occupied is categorically not "speculation"]. I would also imagine that the extreme demographic bulge of empty-nester Baby Boomers who have yet to downscale, who bought their houses in Newton ca. 1975-1985, has produced one of the highest average number of years of occupancy, in Newton, as compared to the rest of the country. In sum I imagine Newton's been, for some time, one of the least appealing locales for residential speculation in metro Boston.

[But of course... that's all speculation!]
 
DBM said:
I was only criticizing the "huge influx of multifamily putting a strain on the schools" aspect of itchy's statement, echoing awood91's objection to its NIMBYist (re: classist/racist) connotations (even if itchy wasn't intentionally trying to sound like that). It's certainly possible that Newton's housing values are poised to plummet, for a variety of reasons both macro and particular to the Newton environment.

That said, let's discuss "speculation" for a moment. How much "speculation" actually takes place in a community such as Newton?

For starters, I imagine, even with the ongoing development boom there, that 95%+ of the city's housing stock is still detached dwelling, single-family. Moreover, I would imagine 95%+ of said detached dwellings in Newton are owner-occupied [in my mind, owner-occupied is categorically not "speculation"]. I would also imagine that the extreme demographic bulge of empty-nester Baby Boomers who have yet to downscale, who bought their houses in Newton ca. 1975-1985, has produced one of the highest average number of years of occupancy, in Newton, as compared to the rest of the country. In sum I imagine Newton's been, for some time, one of the least appealing locales for residential speculation in metro Boston.

[But of course... that's all speculation!]
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There is some speculation in Newton and it does drive prices and house sizes up - a developer who pays $900K for a tear-down will spend that much again to build new, so the resulting house has to both cost over $2M and look it to make a profit. This = McMansion.

It's why the current effort to eliminate single family zoning across essentially the whole city is a good idea. If 2 units can fit on that lot, each can cost half as much, and Newton becomes more accessible.

Of course, that's all in the future/theoretical. Riverside, Northland, Dunstan East, Washington Place, and Austin Street are all apartments, I believe, so the bubble argument doesn't matter.
 
Equilibria said:
2Life is proposing a large residential addition on the JCC campus:


This may be the worst cladding I've seen in my life. Motion sickness and vomiting may ensue as people drive by.

Also, why hire Perkins Eastman for this? Elder housing isn't really in their wheelhouse, and this seems incredibly cheap.
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I mean, LOVE the massing and program tho, nice to have options for people in the middle. And maybe itl end up freeing up some single families. The cladding . . . at least its creative and doesnt seem to be in a high profile location. I hate ugly cladding in Boston but this place seems pretty tucked away.
 
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