Westwood Station Developments

they tried to get a Home Depot approved but the town said no...expect to see more apartments and quick service food retailers...the hotel is scheduled to start construction any day now...stay tuned
 
kenns15 said:
they tried to get a Home Depot approved but the town said no...expect to see more apartments and quick service food retailers...the hotel is scheduled to start construction any day now...stay tuned
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The HD regional distribution warehouse for all of Eastern MA is right freaking on University Ave. And they NIMBY'd a store???

Man, this development is hopeless even when it's not totally hopeless.
 
kenns15 said:
they tried to get a Home Depot approved but the town said no...expect to see more apartments and quick service food retailers...the hotel is scheduled to start construction any day now...stay tuned
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Any idea where the additional apartments will be located and who the developer will be? I assume it will be in between the assisted living building and the train station

A few other points:
- I've never heard of someone asking for a gas station to be built anywhere, Rt. 1 is 5 minutes away and has more than its fair share
- There is a home depot right down Rt. 1 in Norwood and a Lowe's in the other direction in Dedham. This area does not need another home improvement store.
 
You got it, they are slated to go in between the assisted living complex and the NYAJ/Del Frisco's/hotel area. Essentially, they will be built in the area that is currently the flat grassy area that is fenced off. I saw a rendering several months back that showed another sit-down restaurant on the ground level of this new apt building (maybe an Italian spot?) but that probably won't happen.

I've also seen some plans that show another strip that will be parallel to University Ave that will have 3-4 retailers. I referenced some potential tenants a few posts back.

Right down the street (across from the HD distribution center), the Lost Brook golf course and Meditech building have been sold and rumor is that they are trying to build a Top Golf at the site. This is in Norwood, MA.
 
Bergeron37 said:
Any idea where the additional apartments will be located and who the developer will be? I assume it will be in between the assisted living building and the train station

A few other points:
- I've never heard of someone asking for a gas station to be built anywhere, Rt. 1 is 5 minutes away and has more than its fair share
- There is a home depot right down Rt. 1 in Norwood and a Lowe's in the other direction in Dedham. This area does not need another home improvement store.
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Build an auto-centric density pocket shackled to an individual offramp, fill it up with lodging for out-of-towners who don't know their way around, but expect people to get back on the highway for 2 exits to find a gas station? In what real world does that compute? Also, as someone who has done the gauge-below-"E" pee-pee dance of desperation for a fillup on that stretch of 128 before...it is more than "5 minutes" between Exit 13 and the nearest pumps on Providence Hwy. most hours of the day.

That explanation does not hold a gallon of petrol.



The nearest Home Depot isn't "right down" in Norwood, it's sitting on the Walpole/Norwood town line 5 miles south of Route 128. That's a longer drive from here than the one in Braintree, which is a horrible drive a lot of the time. But more to the point...the Home Depot distro warehouse is one of the largest all-shifts employers of Westwood-taxpaying residents. What is the town's beef with a store on the very same street? Are they just feeling spiteful of all the lumber delivery trucks at the Dedham St. light? Are there not some pretty obvious synergies for the local economy here? And more importantly, if the town's got such a case of the vapours in spite of those obvious synergies...what other opportunities and synergies are they still chasing away with pitchforks from this long-tortured development? There's a certain pattern of local planning behavior directly contributing to that less-than-satisfying feeling the current site plan leaves in the wake of all the years of grander hype.
 
New England Development just sold it for $206MM to American Realty Advisors
 
Yes they did!

However, NED is still going to be the master developer for Phase 2 - the area in between the assisted living facility and the NYAJ / Del Frisco's / Hotel...essentially the squared fenced off grassy area. They are also going to stay on as the property manager and leasing agency, at least for the time being.

Someone correct me if I am wrong about that.
 
kenns15 said:
Yes they did!

However, NED is still going to be the master developer for Phase 2 - the area in between the assisted living facility and the NYAJ / Del Frisco's / Hotel...essentially the squared fenced off grassy area. They are also going to stay on as the property manager and leasing agency, at least for the time being.

Someone correct me if I am wrong about that.
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Nope you are correct, I just neglected to mention that.

Considering they bought the land for $45M back in 2011 and sold the apartment land for $70k/unit...I'd say they did pretty well here!
 
A few updates for those who are interested:

1. Hotel construction is up and running, they are moving quickly.

2. The new Del Frisco's Grille will go before the planning board on 10/4 for a conformance determination / approval and then construction will start. (http://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/index.cfm/page/Current-Planning-Board-Applications/pid/36244)

3. Rumors around town is that Barnes & Noble may take over the old Sports Authority space...not sure if this is true or not

4. Developer plans to announce plans for phase 2 (currently the green space between restaurants and assisted living facility)
 
B&N's got a Braintree Mall location that's just about the busiest in all of MA. Westwood would be big oversaturation for them post-downsizing as they're now focusing on a "come in and socialize" browsing atmosphere that emphasizes judicious rarity of a big walk-in bookstore locations to maximize foot traffic. Braintree gets a lot of special events and brings out a lot of seniors midday and students in afternoons/evenings who just need to get out into a more stimulating environment. I can't see a duplicate location 6 miles away from the Braintree Mall store and 6 miles away from the Walpole Mall store thriving under their new business model. That's exactly the oversaturation they've taken great pains to avoid as they've reshuffled their brick-and-mortar deck.
 
Unless it is divided into smaller spaces, wouldn't the Sports Authority footprint be way too large for even an oversize Barnes & Noble? The Shopper's World B&N is a fraction of the size of the Sports Authority that was a few doors down before closing.
 
Spirit Halloween is opening a temp store where Sports Authority was
 
Does anyone have a copy of the site plan that was leaked online back in 2007/2008 or so? It came from a firm called RFK - they were part of the original development team tasked with the "lifestyle" portion of the retail development.

I know it's a long shot but figured I'd ask. Thanks.
 
Why didn't the Westwood 128 station (or the Dedham one) develop into much bigger park and ride complexes? Seems like demand would be basically limited only by available garage and bus capacity
 
At Westwood Station, 1959

FidelCastro128StationApr1959.jpg
 
The town of Westwood limited the use of the garage's top floor until they upgraded the 95/128 intersection.
 
TallIsGood said:
The town of Westwood limited the use of the garage's top floor until they upgraded the 95/128 intersection.
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mass88 said:
http://www.thecantoncitizen.com/2016/09/23/dedham-st-corridor/

Work is set to begin on rebuilding and expanding the Dedham Street overpass in Canton. This work is directly related to University Ave and it will make accessing the commuter rail/Amtrak station easier for people coming from the south.
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So what happens now, transit-wise?

1) Has 95/128 redo yet triggered the garage been made less-limited?
2) Will rebuilt bridge put park-and-ride on more commuter's mental map?
3) How quickly can service on the NEC be ramped? (could a SS-BBY-128 shuttle be instituted at select hours, even if the peak is near-maxed?)
 
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