Packard Crossing Phase II | 45-55 Brighton Ave | Allston

#bancars

#bancars

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Second phase of Packard Crossing (45-55 Brighton Ave) now has demo work under way. The old AutoZone building has been torn down.

Irritatingly, a lot of the semis that have been hauling out debris have been parking in the new westbound Brighton Ave bus / bike lane :mad:

While the restoration of the Gardner Street Victorian is quite nice, I have no idea how this project's parking ratio was approved. This project is literally right on the 57, a high-frequency bus route, and a stone's throw from the Packard's Corner Green Line stop. Yet, the Gardner building features 38 units with 39 parking spots (1-1) and the Brighton Ave building features 76 units and 175!!! parking spots. That's over 2 spaces per unit, which is not only astronomically high for most new-ish developments in Boston, but a complete embarrassment given this project's stellar (for Boston) transit access.

Given the MAPC's parking utilization study from this past summer, and the utilization rates we've seen at other recently-completed projects in Allston (e.g. 450 Cambridge), I'd be surprised if this project even reaches 50% utilization. What a waste of space and money. Ugh.

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There's been quite a bit of action on site over the past few weeks. Here are some photos from this morning. You can see Phase I (grey building, 39 apartments) in the background of the last three photos. That one looks pretty close to finished, but I don't know when it is due to open.

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#bancars said:
I have no idea how this project's parking ratio was approved. This project is literally right on the 57, a high-frequency bus route, and a stone's throw from the Packard's Corner Green Line stop. Yet, the Gardner building features 38 units with 39 parking spots (1-1) and the Brighton Ave building features 76 units and 175!!! parking spots. That's over 2 spaces per unit, which is not only astronomically high for most new-ish developments in Boston, but a complete embarrassment given this project's stellar (for Boston) transit access.

Given the MAPC's parking utilization study from this past summer, and the utilization rates we've seen at other recently-completed projects in Allston (e.g. 450 Cambridge), I'd be surprised if this project even reaches 50% utilization. What a waste of space and money. Ugh.
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its not all residential parking:
"As previously mentioned, the Brighton Avenue Project will contain 175 parking spaces. Approximately 123 of these spaces will serve the existing commercial uses at 39 Brighton Avenue, with the remainder serving the residential uses of the Project. "
52 spaces for 114 units.
 
I know I don’t post often, but I am so glad this is gone. That Auto Zone was a nightmare to get into and leave. While I don’t like the building it does cut down on wasted space.
 
I know its necessary for this project but that crane looks so out of place for this small building.

Might be time for some companies in the northeast to invest in some of the smaller European tower cranes.
 
393b40 said:
I know its necessary for this project but that crane looks so out of place for this small building.

Might be time for some companies in the northeast to invest in some of the smaller European tower cranes.
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I can agree. A lot of Boston could use EU/UK/JP/SK standard equipment. Both on the scale of things but also practicality. (Relatedly, I think often about how uncommon bike delivery is, despite distances here being relatively similar to mainland European cities).
 
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