Riverside Development | 333 Grove Street | Newton

It's still the same project. They just keep redoing it. The original plan was approved too.

I think the thing I would worry about is them cancelling it entirely or only doing the lab buildings and nothing else.

It really isn't. The 2013 project was proposed by BH Normandy and was scrapped completely when Mark Development bought out the majority of the lease.

Mark's nearly done with Washington Place and U/C on Dunstan East. It's not 100%, but they have a track record of following through now.
 
Two more buildings up for design review - these are along Grove Street:


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Seriously, why arent 100 of these proposed all over Boston? Everybody agrees red brick buildings are what ppl love about Boston, and theres not enough once you get past the core of the city. We should be building as many of these as we can. We can kill 2 birds with 1 stone here. 1. help the housing crisis by building tons and tons of new apartments, and 2. spread the charm of red brick Boston out into the outer neighborhoods where ramshackle triple deckers make up the vast majority of the housing stock.
 
Seriously, why arent 100 of these proposed all over Boston? Everybody agrees red brick buildings are what ppl love about Boston, and theres not enough once you get past the core of the city. We should be building as many of these as we can. We can kill 2 birds with 1 stone here, help the housing crisis by building tons and tons of apartments, and spread the charm of red brick Boston out into the outer neighborhoods where ramshackle triple deckers make up the vast majority of the housing stock.

Real Brick costs money.
 
I wanted to bump this a little bit (sorry for excitement) but I now work in the area and pass by the site almost daily. There has been a lot of surveyors out on Grove Street, the 128 ramps and the site itsself. There has also been test pits dug near the I-95 NB off ramps and along the edge of Grove Street. In the last few weeks there has also been drill rigs on the site taking soil borings and there is more markings near the bus station for more soil borings. Also National Grid is beginning a gas main replacement project on Grove Street in advance of the project and the City of Newton is planning a water main replacement project on Grove Street in the near future (late 2022)
 
@BeeLine given that we're headed into construction photos, correct the thread name?

"Riverside Development | 333 Grove Street | Newton"
 
BBJ is reporting that this project is on hold. The developer provided the news to a committee of residents late last month:
According to the committee report, Mark is now considering moving forward with the residential component first, before the labs. The developers remain confident that the site will make an attractive destination for life sciences companies, but they may wait a few years for demand in the lab market to rebound before pursuing the life sciences component, according to the committee report.

The report said Mark will not break ground on the project until nine months after it lines up financing, with no start date set.
 
If they really do move forward on the residential component, that's great! I'm willing to wait another year or two if they go back to the hotel/office or go all-residential on the project.

I realize that's an odd reaction given my support for the project, but I could care less about the labs.


Really unfortunate quote from Reibman there. This site has no abutters except Alexandria and the Golf Club, either of whom would be an appropriate target for ire, but I suspect he's referring to the neighbors. This is not their fault at all.
 
If you look on google earth I can count 6 golf courses in the vicinity of riverside and a 7th not much farther down 95 in newton. That is absolutely freaking obnoxious and a massive waste of space, especially in a city as cramped as ours is already. Thats not even including the rest of the golf courses scattered around not near riverside.

Hopefully a few can be bought up and developed eventually. I dont play golf, but I have nothing against it and people should have areas to recreate… but 7 golf courses in one area? Craziness. I think people could survive with 2-3 maybe 4 tops. I wonder if by gauging the avg density of the areas around them if you could find out how many potential residential units that is that were never built. It is in the lower density area of the metro, but idk 30,000?
 
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BBJ is reporting that this project is on hold. The developer provided the news to a committee of residents late last month:

Yeah this project is toast. The talk of doing residential is just them not wanting to give up completely. They wasted too much time screwing around.
 
If you look on google earth I can count 6 golf courses in the vicinity of riverside and a 7th not much farther down 95 in newton. That is absolutely freaking obnoxious and a massive waste of space, especially in a city as cramped as ours is already. Thats not even including the rest of the golf courses scattered around not near riverside.

Hopefully a few can be bought up and developed eventually. I dont play golf, but I have nothing against it and people should have areas to recreate… but 7 golf courses in one area? Craziness. I think people could survive with 2-3 maybe 4 tops. I wonder if by gauging the avg density of the areas around them if you could find out how many potential residential units that is that were never built. It is in the lower density area of the metro, but idk 30,000?

Ironically the only golf courses around there that could have a chance of being redeveloped are the public courses in Newton and Weston which cater to more middle/working class clienteles. The deep pocketed private clubs like Brae Burn, Charles River, Woodland, Weston and of course The Country Club aren’t going away any time soon.
 
If you look on google earth I can count 6 golf courses in the vicinity of riverside and a 7th not much farther down 95 in newton.

How far did you zoom out to locate 6-7 golf courses "in the vicinity" of Riverside? I see Woodland, Pine Brook and Leo Martin within what I would say is a 10 minute drive from Riverside in normal traffic conditions. One of those 3 is a public course. I'd like to see some comparisons to other similar cities supporting the "freaking obnoxious" narrative in terms of too many courses in this area.

Edit to add I missed Brae Burn Country Club
 
Mark Development- providing a needed temp housing resource at former Indigo but upsetting a couple Newton'ites. I get both sides of the story. Housing is needed, I think this is a win.
Fig City News
Village 14
 
Mark Development- providing a needed temp housing resource at former Indigo but upsetting a couple Newton'ites. I get both sides of the story. Housing is needed, I think this is a win.
Fig City News
Village 14
Housing migrants is good, though the City should be preparing for impacts to schools and such. My fear is that this will kill the larger project since Mark Development is making money from the State, but they claim that they have to at least keep working on the roadway improvements regardless.
 
My fear is that this will kill the larger project since Mark Development is making money from the State

Makes no sense to do this unless the project is very dead. This sounds like the City is afraid they are going to leave the Indigo in it's gutted state and will become an eyesore.
 
Makes no sense to do this unless the project is very dead. This sounds like the City is afraid they are going to leave the Indigo in it's gutted state and will become an eyesore.

I think it's a little different since the Commonwealth asked them for the use of the Indigo out of the blue. If they had proposed it, I'd agree with you.
 

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