Riverside Development | 333 Grove Street | Newton

[jklo]

@stick n move I agree with you, mate. Ultra-rich suburb approves a 1M sq ft mixed-use development that was agreed upon by neighborhood groups after negotiations? That is massive.

As mentioned upthread, this is a relatively isolated area. 128 does a pretty good job in separating it from the Lower Falls.

 

[Equilibria]

Knowing that Riverside is a vast surface-lot wasteland that is terribly integrated into the river encircling it, in the abstract I love this proposal and hope it gets completed with lots of bike/riverwalk path features. That said, I haven't read the planning documents, but, is there any reference to a transportation management plan with the MBTA? Specifically, leaving aside traffic congestion during the regular workweek commute, I imagine it's pretty intense leading into Red Sox games and Fenway Park concerts? And that would be one case where the NIMBYs aren't being hysterically rabidly NIMBY. Just curious (and of course, maybe I'm wrong; maybe during Sox games/Fenway concerts it's not so bad...)

No, there really isn't. Mark Development has done a good job planning for shared/flexible parking - the resident spaces become employee/customer spaces during the workday when the residents are gone. The neighbors have indeed focused on the Red Sox condition. As a native, I can attest that the Red Sox/Fenway issue occurs 3-4 times per year: opening day, Marathon day, and maybe 2 others. Traffic sucks, but it's not enough to plan a whole project around.

 

[Equilibria]

Updated project went before the Newton Land Use Committee this week:

NewTV Government

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Amazingly, everyone seems to be on the same songsheet here. Major changes (with community collaboration) include:

- Removal of the high-rise portion of the hotel and a few feet or a floor here or there off of the other buildings.
- Construction of a residential frontage for the parking garage (previously the garage had a false front with fake window openings to look like a building, now it would be a building in front of the garage). Looks like the garage may have gotten a little taller to accommodate this.
- Details on the developer's contributions to the river trail system: a ramp to connect the development to the abandoned rail bridges over 128; full funding of the design process to repair the bridges and build a multi-use path across them; a connection to the DCR/MassDOT multi-use path being planned through MWRA land on the north side of Recreation Road; and rebuilding the "Depot Tunnel" under the Commuter Rail to Auburndale (the MBTA closed it for"safety reasons" a couple of years ago), as well as its approaches.

The Depot Tunnel is a meaningful improvement for the neighborhood that the developer didn't have to include.

At this point, this is endorsed by the neighborhood and completely unrelated to/unaffected by the Northland referendum. If they get financed, it should happen. Having watched the recording, this is about as constructive as a public meeting gets for something like this - the developer and the community deserve kudos.

 

[stick n move]

It was 100% inevitable that it was not being built as first proposed. We know this by now.

That being said this is a wonderful “middle ground”, aka minimal concessions were given. We need to think not about what was lost, but about what is being gained from what exists now, and it is substantial. If this was proposed as it exists now, from the get go, it would have been seen as a huge win. Thats because it is, so Im very happy with this.

 

[jklo]

- Details on the developer's contributions to the river trail system: a ram to connect the development to the abandoned rail bridges over 128; full funding of the design process to repair the bridges and build a multi-use path across them; a connection to the DCR/MassDOT multi-use path being planned through MWRA land on the north side of Recreation Road; and rebuilding the "Depot Tunnel" under the Commuter Rail to Auburndale (the MBTA closed it for"safety reasons" a couple of years ago), as well as its approaches.

Tempting fate here, because it sounds like they are talking about Weston land now.

 

[Equilibria]

Tempting fate here, because it sounds like they are talking about Weston land now.

Land in Weston, but owned by Commonwealth agencies that aren't answerable to Weston.

 

[Equilibria]

Final special permit documentation (warning - big file):

http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/105537

This goes before the City Council at some point in the next few months. It has been shepherded through a lot of community negotiation and multiple rounds of feedback/edits from the councilors, so it is very likely to pass.

The title of this thread should be "Riverside Station | 355-399 Grove Street | Newton".

Updated renders with the new Elkus-tastic office tower. There are more in the PDF.

 

[RandomWalk]

It looks like University Park

 

[Charlie_mta]

The architecture overall looks too tame for my tastes, but still pretty good urbanism for Route 128 suburbia.

 

[shmessy]

Yup. Looks exactly like something that went through a lot of committees.

.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

It's a hold over from New Urbanism but it's going to look more like all the other crap going up around town.

 

[Blackbird]

I like how building 3 seems designed to look like an old textile mill and building 9 seems to have multiple facades to give the illusion that it’s multiple buildings.

 

[jklo]

Ooh, looks like the developer is intending to charge residents extra for parking. Kinda ballsy given that you won't attract any carless residents there.

 

[Equilibria]

It's a hold over from New Urbanism but it's going to look more like all the other crap going up around town.

It looks like Assembly-meets-Waltham Watch Factory, but these are just concepts. We'll see what happens when they start filing actual architectural plans.

There's a ton of influence from the DC area on this, IMO. There's lots of new/old row houses in urbanist pods around there:

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[Vagabond]

Ooh, looks like the developer is intending to charge residents extra for parking. Kinda ballsy given that you won't attract any carless residents there.

?? You won't attract carless residents in a development built in a train station parking lot? A 30 minute train ride from Longwood, one of the biggest employers in the city?

Anyway... the phasing is interesting - makes sense that the parking garage is being built first, but surprised the hotel demolition takes place almost immediately. The first 2 buildings look like they'll be done in 3 years, but the rest of the plan phasing doesn't start for at a long while yet.

 

[chmeeee]

Ooh, looks like the developer is intending to charge residents extra for parking. Kinda ballsy given that you won't attract any carless residents there.

The vast majority of modern multi-family apartment buildings inside 128 charge for parking. This development looks to be pretty aggressively low on the parking ratio (for Newton). The best way to control that is via pricing or your tenants are all going to show up with two cars if you have free parking.

 

[jklo]

?? You won't attract carless residents in a development built in a train station parking lot? A 30 minute train ride from Longwood, one of the biggest employers in the city?

Have you ever been there? It's in an isolated area. The restaurant they build (and the pretty mediocre cafe at Riverside Center) are the only food sources within walking distance.

Might not need it to get to work, but you need a car.

 

[Vagabond]

Have you ever been there? It's in an isolated area. The restaurant they build (and the pretty mediocre cafe at Riverside Center) are the only food sources within walking distance.

Might not need it to get to work, but you need a car.

Good point, but I'd argue that online delivery is very likely to become a norm post-Covid, or at least shifting perceptions of the need for a car for big-box grocery trips and limiting that argument supporting parking minimums at TOD developments like this one.

Online Grocery Continues to Accelerate, Market Share Shifts - Food On Demand

Some new data in the grocery space showed just how explosive the growth of grocery delivery has been and which players are gobbling up market share. The big number: $6.6 billion. That’s how much people spent on online grocery sales in May 2020 alone, according to a survey by Brick Meets Click...

foodondemandnews.com

 

[Equilibria]

Have you ever been there? It's in an isolated area. The restaurant they build (and the pretty mediocre cafe at Riverside Center) are the only food sources within walking distance.

Might not need it to get to work, but you need a car.

Having grown up there, I'll challenge that. This project includes funding for off-street walking and biking paths to make a connection to Wellesley Lower Falls and Auburndale, both of which have restaurants and retail (it's about a 15-minute walk to either). It's isolated compared to Cambridge or Somerville, but pretty typical for Newton.

 

[393b40]

Material quality will make or break this one... I like the concept.