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Used cars could be replaced with self storage, retail and housing in Forest Hills

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports on a proposal for the Flanagan & Seaton property on Washington Street.

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"It begins to make a pedestrian cityscape... It makes Washington Street friendly," said Fred Vetterlein, co-chair of the SNA.

Erm... that's quite a hill to climb, actually. That stretch of Washington Street is pretty desolate, what with the overpass marring the view in one direction and a the huge vacant lot full of unused MBTA buses marring the other. It's not especially safe (my sister-in-law was mugged there last fall), and there's zero pedestrian traffic there at the moment to support 22,000 square feet of retail space.

But! I honestly wish them all the best--it'd be great for Forest Hills to have more easily-walkable destinations, and it's not that far from the business district on Centre/South Street, or the housing developments on the other side of Forest Hills.

I also like that they're getting the community involved, in stark contrast to most other developers operating in the area. (I'm looking at you, JPNDC) It sounds like both the neighborhood association and New Boston Ventures were totally civil about the discussion, which is totally unprecedented in JP. Like I said: I hope it all works out, especially since we now know the bus station is going to continue to blight that whole area.

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Yeah - thank God they have the community involved. Like the Forest Hills MBTA parcels that are still sitting there empty because of endless community meetings.

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very true. there has to be some happy medium. one thing that kills me is the constant concerns around parking. if you're so concerned about your parking move elsewhere. in this case, the subway is down the street.

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