Newton Infill and Small Developments

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“NEWTON, MA – Mark Development is partnering with Erland Construction and Prellwitz Chilinski Associates to build a new 299,000-square-foot property at the corner of Walnut Street and Washington Street in Newton, Mass.

The new mixed-use development, Washington Place, will accommodate 41,960 square feet of commercial space, 140 apartments, 309 parking spaces (including underground parking), retail, and more than 15,000 square feet of public outdoor space.”
https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/mark-development-partners-with-erland-and-prellwitz-to-build-a-new-299000-sf-property-in-newton/
 
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^ This is well underway already, was in this part of newton earlier this week and the first floor of steel is completely up
 
yes, if you look at the most recent google maps sat image the gas station is already demolished
 
Nice this is the exact type of development thats needed. Theres been a noticeable amount of effort within the last 5 years towards ground floor retail, quality materials, street life, integrating the city fabric. Its great to see because there was a time where most things new were of noticeable lower quality. Now these are all massive upgrades to the areas they go up in that better these areas forever. Its about time and now they need to go full steam ahead now that its figured out.
 
Nice. I know it will never happen, but it would be great for a full/partial deck of the Pike at these locations with similar developments like this. The Pike Trench is such an unfortunate feature along the Washington Street corridor.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
Nice. I know it will never happen, but it would be great for a full/partial deck of the Pike at these locations with similar developments like this. The Pike Trench is such an unfortunate feature along the Washington Street corridor.
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The trench isn't all that deep through most of Newtonville-West Newton corridor, or runs taller on the EB retaining wall than it does on the WB retaining wall. Hence, decking is an awkward construction proposition and you've got things like Star Market petering out mid-air without bothering to anchor to the lower-height Washington street-facing side. It's most pronounced at this Walnut/Washington block where a lot of the side street overpasses make a sudden downgrade dip to reach their intersections with Washington.
 
What is the history behind that Star Market? It seems terribly odd that it's built on expensive decking over the Pike, while its parking lot, which probably has a similar sized footprint, is on terra firma?
 
Corner of Walnut and Washington. The steel along Walnut Street is up, but it's not much further down Washington yet.
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Modular construction going up on the old Austin St lot across the pike next to Star market
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Thanks for these. We dont often see photo updates about this part of town.
 
“By the early 1960s, the push to extend the pike 12 more miles into the heart of Boston was gathering steam. But the controversial route would split in half the villages in-and-around Newton.

And when the Turnpike Authority wanted to go through Newtonville, they wanted to take over the Star Market’s parking lot, said Silverstein.

It took years of negotiations, lawyers, politicians and a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court. But in the end, the Turnpike Authority got its route, and the Mugars were granted the “air rights” to build a new store over top of the new turnpike.“
 
Dunstan East: nice courtyard and bonus points for Cheesecake Brook in the back, will probably be a success. Same Elkus snooze helter-skelter boilerplate design though. They never seem to get that busyness is not at all the same as complexity, that everything plus the kitchen sink does not equal architecture.
 
I'm all for this. That said, I don't understand why Newton is prioritizing development on and around Needham Street and the Pike/Washington St corridors. They should be upzoning and densifying where it makes most sense by mass transit - Newton Centre, Highlands and Waban. Eliot, with its Route 9 access, could be a great location for all-new TOD similar to Riverside.
 
Shepard said:
I'm all for this. That said, I don't understand why Newton is prioritizing development on and around Needham Street and the Pike/Washington St corridors. They should be upzoning and densifying where it makes most sense by mass transit - Newton Centre, Highlands and Waban. Eliot, with its Route 9 access, could be a great location for all-new TOD similar to Riverside.
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Newton suffers from having the Green Line run through richer, single-family areas that would be difficult to upzone. Newton Centre is definitely a possibility, and you can build some units in Waban, but nothing like what you can do on Washington Street or Needham Street.

I agree that Eliot has potential, particularly the area around Route 9/Eliot St. That whole strip mall/gas station/pot dispensary property could become TOD, though that intersection is one of the worst traffic spots in the City.

I think in the long run Newton will be better served by bringing transit to Washington/Needham through a Green Line branch and Urban Rail than by trying to upzone around many Green Line stations (on top of everything else, they tend to be historic districts).
 
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