Roxbury parcels 9 & 10 | Melnea Cass Blvd | Roxbury

It is somewhat a shame but the owners are nice people trying to make a resource for the community. They came out and talked to us at the Dudley Square WalkBoston tour, and there are other plans afoot. Across the street is a deserted lot being used to store some construction equipment, and I think there are plans to redevelop that eventually. Then there's the old police HQ site near the bus station, which is being envisioned for a sizeable mixed-use complex. And of course Melnea Cass has lots of empty land along it.
 
A parking lot and a big blank wall along Melnea Cass Blvd. The fact that the city would approve this is completely unacceptable!
 
Oh please guys, check the PNF before you flip out. The new building is right on the sidewalk of Melnea Cass and Shawmut, no setbacks. It's two floors, the first for customers and the second for a warehouse and ops. Just this part is fantastic, it allows a local supermarket to vastly expand to compete with WF and TJs.

Besides that, there is a residential component. The new store allows Tropical foods to vacate their current digs at the other end of the lot, in a four story brick and beam building currently boarded up and abandoned minus what the supermarket uses on the first floor. Madison Park is going to restore that building, rehabbing 30 apartments and first floor retail.

The corner of Melnea Cass and Washington is also getting a five floor building for office, first floor retail, and below-grade parking. The surface parking is unfortunate, but it's mostly contained to the interior of the lot, and the main entrance is on Melnea Cass and not Washington. I'm sure a future developer will put all of it below grade and build on it eventually, but there is no way Madison Park could afford to do that. It's really a miracle they are pulling this off at all.

So yeah, the new Tropical foods building isn't the best, but they located it at the ugly side of the lot, and are restoring the streetwall on Washington. Lets also keep in mind this is the first privately funded part of Dudley's "renaissance" that is actually going vertical.
 
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Ugly and with little activation but a definite improvement.
 
Parcel 8 Roxbury

In July, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed House Bill No. 4363 which prepares the State-owned Parcel 8 in Roxbury for transfer to the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the city of Boston for disposition for development. Among other things, the bill requires that an archeological survey be completed of the southeastern portion of Parcel 8 (once an edge to the colonial period Roxbury Neck) in order to understand what historical material lies beneath this area so transformed in the 1960s and 70s by the unsuccessful Inner City Belt Highway project.
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http://www.historicbostonblog.org/2014/11/archeology-part-of-roxburys-parcel-8.html#.VH3S69LF-uk
 
RE: Tropical foods (NW corner)

coleslaw said:
Ugly and with little activation but a definite improvement.
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Ugly perhaps -- Activation???? --- its a floggin supermarket!!

if you need to activate the front of a supermarket -- you have got a real problem
 
whighlander said:
RE: Tropical foods (NW corner)



Ugly perhaps -- Activation???? --- its a floggin supermarket!!

if you need to activate the front of a supermarket -- you have got a real problem
Click to expand...

It turns its side to Melnea Cass.
 
Looks like Parcel 9's hotel is undergoing some community hiccoughs:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/02/23/roxbury-developers-divided-over-hotel-plan-for-dudley-square/wf2Dj3717xusOQhmXA0SRP/story.html?p1=Article_InThisSection_Bottom

The project seemed assured, with the BRA board set last month to give its final blessing. A groundbreaking was planned for May. But late in the process, opposition began to mount, leaving developers fretting that their work — including securing tax credits — could be undone.

Advocates say the neighborhood has been racked by high unemployment and economic neglect, and they cannot allow development to occur without ensuring residents benefit.

They formed a jobs coalition two years ago as development surged in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, and fears emerged that many low-income residents might be pushed out.

The advocates began picketing outside the Ferdinand Building after noticing a lack of women and people of color working on the project. They protested the Tropical Foods construction site, complaining the developer reneged on a promise to pay construction workers $50 an hour.

And they established job standards for redeveloping public land, such as higher wages for workers – comparable to union pay – and the ability to organize.
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^Good, real smart community activism: demand the undemandable from developers so nothing happens. I often support the community but let's face it, this area is as dead as a doornail and getting a HOTEL for crying out loud would do great things to make this not seem like a forbidden zone to outsiders.
 
I agree that the "activism" is short-sighted and potentially harmful.

Separate note: I think drivers can access Tropical Foods both from Washington Street and from Melnea Cass. They seem to be trying to emphasize the Washington Street entrance but when I was on Melnea Cass last week, twice, it was a true clusterfuck.
 
This isn't new and is partially the reason areas like Roxbury have been undeveloped for so long. Look at the blow up when the state tried to build the 28X bus line; the "citizens" cried bloody murder and got it killed because they didn't get to have a say (oh, so you don't want a faster bus downtown?).

A lot of it come down to the pathology of neglect. Basically the residents have been neglected by the city, developers, corrupt local politicians, etc for so long they don't trust anyone coming in to build anything. They throw up these demands for community services but when it looks like something will actually get built they freak out and try to demand more to stall. It comes down to trust and the point is these residents won't trust these developers ever.

And, most obviously, they fear the march of gentrification. Rightfully so since the lowest income residents have the fewest options already.
 
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