West Acton, MA: New mixed use buildings

[FitchburgLine]

Along Mass Ave in West Acton, a series of new developments by New Habitat partners, LLC has been taking shape. So far, it includes one restraunt, several office tenants, and a new commercial spaces for misc. shops.
The newest addition, 525-531 Mass Ave, is highlighted in red.

I forgot to take pictures the last time I went by it but I'll upload the link to the developer's homepage:
http://wave.newhabitatpartners.com/
Honestly, for Acton this is some grade A stuff. Street facing, multistory retail in the only semi-urban area in town, and it doesn't leave significant gaps between buildings (the renders don't show the buildings on the other side of the off street lot, which partially fill in the street wall). My only complaint is the appalling state of bike parking in west Acton, with NO good sized racks, and I haven't seen any proposed for the lot behind here, event though it would be the best location, with lots of space and several nearby draws.
In the event anything else gets approved/proposed for W. Acton, I'll post it here and attempt to take photos.

 

[George_Apley]

Acton seems to be planning some smart growth for the future, especially for a suburb that's on the very edge of MetroBoston.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

My only complaint is the appalling state of bike parking in west Acton, with NO good sized racks, and I haven't seen any proposed for the lot behind here, event though it would be the best location, with lots of space and several nearby draws.

Agreed 100%. In fact, most of Acton is not very pedestrian or bike friendly. It's still a very vehicle-centric community. We lived there for almost two years, and while I liked the town and its amentities, the traffic was awful for a relatively small town.

 

[FitchburgLine]

Acton seems to be planning some smart growth for the future, especially for a suburb that's on the very edge of MetroBoston.

What I'm confused about is who shot the historical district commission so this could go through.
I think Acton is getting a wake up call that it's single family detached housing on huge lots,targeted to school age families, is becoming an unsustainable financial burden, even without talking about services like transit and sewer access. IMO, Acton seems to understand how to fix its sprawly mess, and the NIMBYs in town government (ESPECIALLY the HDC) keep trying to stop change.

 

[FitchburgLine]

Acton seems to be planning some smart growth for the future, especially for a suburb that's on the very edge of MetroBoston.

I should write a better response to this.
For me, Acton has two town governments: the normal one, which is fairly pro smart-growth, and the Historical District Commission. I absolutely guarantee that whenever a NIMBY failfest holds up a project in Acton, it is either 1: In the HDC district or 2: Has some history that gives the HDC a leg to stand on
That's why this project is so weird; it's in the HDC zone, yet got through with a development that isn't terrible. It seems the HDC was bought out by the restoration of a house nearby (it's on Google maps and referred to as the "blue house"), and was just moved ~50 feet, in preparation for its conversion to commercial space. We can also see this weird govt-dichotomy in the South Acton station project: the people in the town settled on a dual platform, bog-standard design (the central-platform with ramp design did not serve the ARRT well, IMO it wasn't a satisfactory proposal), but the HDC demanded mitigation money and concern trolled over the grade crossing design.
TL,DR: Kill the HDC with fire!

 

[George_Apley]

I always forget about this subforum...

Interesting take. I grew up in Acton, but never had much contact with the local government. Acton's 2020 MP released last year seems very forward looking. The Development of "Villages" around the several commercial centers of town looks like the town is looking to implement smart growth and mini-urbanism where it's possible. I'd love to see more TOD in South Acton, but I'm not sure if there's good land opportunities for it.

West Acton is the most walkable center as it is, but it's probably mostly off limits by the HDC. It's too bad the West Acton commuter rail station will never return, because it would be great to try to fight the HDC to TOD around there. Acton Center is historic and civic oriented. Hardly any commercial. It won't see a lot of changes.

Kelly's Corner is the best place for redevelopment, with the Kmart, the old McD's site, the Verizon office, the Baker Whitney, etc. Definitely can be made more walkable. 2A/119 through East and North Acton seems too auto-centric to do anything much with. There aren't really established walkable areas there.

It will be cool to see if the MinuteVan shuttle between Mt. Calvary and South Acton Station ever gets expanded to a more legitimate transit tool like Lexington's Lexpress. Once the centers are further developed, there could be real demand for something like that.

 

[RandomWalk]

I also grew up in Acton and Concord. During my childhood I watched the farms around me transform into housing developments with 2+ acre zoning.

I remember Kelley's Corner always being pitched as "just around the corner" and never coming to fruition. At the time, there were two camps in Acton: The long-time residents without kids and the folks renting their house from the bank so they could send their kids to the schools. The latter group came to town meeting and voted yes on every school issue and no on almost everything else, and the former voted the opposite way.

The sewer system was a particular flash point. The long-time residents disliked the way it would open up the land for denser development, which might lead to more school-age kids.

All that said, it's nice to see Acton slowly coming around to smart growth.