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Roslindale Square skyline could creep a little higher
By adamg on Thu, 11/13/2014 - 3:25pm
The owner of the single-story Washington Street building that houses Tony's Market and Redd's in Rozzie wants to add two floors and put eight apartments in them.
Vincent Marino goes before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 25 to seek a variance because the project and floor-area ratio would both be higher than allowed under the square's zoning and because he wouldn't have enough of a rear yard.
While it's a project that would barely solicit a yawn in some other neighborhoods - it's too small to warrant BRA notice - it's the third residential project proposed for the once sleepy square of late.
On the other side of Washington Street, work continues apace on the substation project, which will add 43 apartments and re-open the substation itself as a restaurant. Workers were busy today:
On the other side of the square, just past the train tracks, work is also continuing on a 14-unit condo building on Robert Street.
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Comments
2 floors? Stop turning Boston
2 floors? Stop turning Boston into Manhattan!!!
roslindale is starting to look like Kowloon!!!
and what about the parking? It's hard enough to find a parking spot immediately in front of where I'm going and about half the time I have to park an entire 100 feet away! and all those parked cars not going anywhere are going to cause gridlock!
You can't find parking within ten feet of the storefront?!
Confirmed! We need more parking! No business should be allowed to open unless they can demonstrate exactly where and how every single one of their prospective customers will park.
That's pretty much the policy my hometown is using to kill downtown.
Great idea
Can we put another level above Wallpaper City and the old Bob's Pita space too?
FYI, the second photo is of a barn...
Barn picture fixed
Sorry about that.
All good ideas
Someone's been listening to me about Rozzie Square! Now about Centre Street....
Given how close to home this is...
I hope "we" can put together a innovative parking policy for the area. It will become an awful hazing experience for future area development if they force this one to have minimum parking requirements.
Now for my wishlist: "It would be cool if..."
- Space normally dedicated to minimum parking requirements could be replaced with additional housing or other mixed uses (retail/office/clinic stuff or whatever is really needed in the area)
- Develop a "new" variance that prevents these residents from purchasing RPPs (maybe even throw in increased height for additional mixed use space). This should help with the anti density/traffic/car crowd.
- Start a parking benefit district: Collect revenue for the improvement of the district rather than have growth stunted by traffic, pollution, and minimum parking requirements.
I want a better, walkable Rozzy...
Would take quite the effort though. And change is hard... :(
Now queue the "what if i want/need/must have a free place to park my car" enthusiasts!
walkable?
You don't find Roslindale 'walkable'?
There's lots of parking behind the uniform store and tons of buses. Any smaller scale development like this should have parking requirements waived. When I lived in the Fenway or Mission Hill it was street parking or bust - no reason not to have the same set up for these places.
I agree.
I find Roslindale walkable and would would like it to stay that way. I want more good! :P
But perhaps I am thinking a little too far ahead. If everything else stays equal (i.e density goes up, no adjustments to parking policy), parking is likely to get "worse" and existing residents will push to limit density. "We" as a whole should get ahead of that or the discussion will become about the parking.
No one wins then. =/
Don't worry
RVMS is working hard to keep those storefronts empty!
Just kidding (mostly).
Mr Vaughn K- you are just
Mr Vaughn K- you are just mean. Even if you are kiddiing. Thats not funny! I have noticed lots of negative comments by you in the past.
Roslindale's biggest problem
Roslindale's biggest problem isn't that it's not walkable, or at least, no more or less walkable than other neighborhoods not the North End, it's that everything seems to shut down around 5 o'clock. I go there for meetings at 7, 7:30 and all the stores and some of the restaurants are closed. Instead of having the same 9-5 hours as the commuters who make up most of the residents, the merchants should open and close later.
The other problem is that Roslindale is kind of hard to get to without a car. It's doable, but it involves some long bus rides and an interminable wasit at Forest Hills. Roslindale and West Roxbury would be much better served by more frequent and seven-day train service.
Probably not likely with old Big Dig Baker in charge now, but if the Royals can win the AL Pennant anything is possible.
While I would love to see
While I would love to see both your suggestions, I would describe them as enhancements to the Square, as opposed to solutions to problems. By and large, the Square is thriving and not behest with problems.
Maybe
Um, the answer is that this is cool as long as Tony's and Red's stay in place.....if not, I am chaining myself to the building with Tony's sausage links to prevent it from happening.
Never sausage a thing
My wife will be right there with you to protect Tony's.
same here
redds and tonys really need to stay where they are - tony's is an institution (geesh- I'm there once a week!) and redds is one of the restaurants in the square I go to on a fairly regular basis... there are other buildings in the square that could easily go three stories without causing any issues with existing business. IMO - the one building that is the most in need of redevelopment is that awful bank of america building. buy them out and build there first.
Who is Red , and what
Who is Red , and what happened to the Greeks ?
It's Redd
And he's a man. The Greeks are next door, above Romano's.
Also, this is awesome, and I want it to happen to every single story commercial building in Roslindale.
Let me guess, you work in
Let me guess, you work in real estate...
Let me guess
Let me guess. You believe that apartments and offices above storefronts provide affordable places to live and work and help promote the density that contributes to walkable, healthy neighborhoods.
Belief has nothing to do with it
Study after study has demonstrated that this is true. Also, basic economics -- more supply of housing stock lowers demand pressures on rent. Roslindale is well configured for greater density, and this is a good example of how to do it.
I belive it too
And I think about it every time I walk home through West Roxbury.
The Greeks was the barroom
The Greeks was the barroom where Red is, is Red related to them ?
how long has it been since you've been to the square?
Redd's has been there for a few years now - before that it was an amercian/french bistro called Geoffrey's and before that it was an italian place called Salute...
Something before Parkway Gardens?
Can't recall any place called the Greeks. But the last bar in that location (Parkway Gardens) probably closed more than ten years ago.
That sounds like it, two
That sounds like it, two Greek brothers , Alex and mmmmm can't recall , was next door to a used car lot , Astoria Motors. Everyone called it the Greeks. Last time I was there , it was snowing and gave a guy a ride to VA JP .
Red's and Tony's apartment additions
I can remember when they tore down the upper two floors around 1969 or so. For trivia the second floor was the first location to show silent movies in Roslindale. The first movie theater
Awesome
That is an amazing fact. Thanks for sharing. One of the things I love about Roslindale is that there are people who have lived there forever who remember these kinds of things. Any idea why they tore down 2 stories?
The 2nd floor oabove Redds and Tonys
I once heard the two floors that were once above at this site burned down many years ago.
See my other
The upper floors fell into disrepair and were closed off. After a file the upper floors were removed and the building was reconfigured as you see it today.
FWIW - JB Edwards (aka Kiddie Land Clothing) had a 2nd floor as well. That door on the left side of the building used to go upstairs.
As to movies - spot on for the silents. Also the Rialto Theater where I saw many first run movies as a kid was situated where the health center is now. There are historical pictures of it available. It also had a small theatre organ when it first opened for silent films, and for before and between movies during intermission, though I don't believe any silents were ever shown there. There is a database of old theatre organs that will show this location as having one.
There was also one at the Bellevue Theater, now the block where Stash's (formerly MJs) is located. The theater stretched up Iona Street, now populated by housing.
huh - so building up might not be as big of an issue
so - structurally it would probably be ok, but not sure about egress and sound issues of living above a restaurant...
Anything goes in Roslindale
Anything goes in Roslindale these days. I expect the head of the main streets will be working for the BRA this time next year.
Just don't mess with B.K.'s
Just don't mess with B.K.'s and we're all good.
Tony's Market and Redds in Rozzie
If you have an opinion, I would encourage you to attend the OPEN HEARING for community input, to be held on Monday, November 17th, from 6:30 to 7:30 at the Community Center in Roslindale.
We, at Tony's, have not seen the proposed plans or been given a firm statement about how this proposed change would be made. We do not know if it would entail a redo of the support and foundation of the building, for instance, or what affect potential construction could have. In fact, we only heard about this meeting when one of our customers sent us the Stub Hub article. Thank you Stub Hub, for getting the word out!
We are going to this meeting to hear the official presentation, and hope as many of you as are concerned will be there as well.
Deborah DeBenedictis
2nd and 3rd floor is not new
For the newbies (*) who live in Rossie, that building used to have a 2nd and partial 3rd floor, i.e. 2 1/2 story building. The upper floors fell into disrepair and were closed off for many years.
After a fire, the building had the upper floors removed and the first floor capped off to the configuration you see today. The front door to the upper floors was between Redds and Tony's.
Quite a few buildings in Roslindale Sq were multi-floor units that were reconfigured, and some of that just since the 60s or 70s.
So the developer (building owner) is looking to return what was once there. It will be an interesting meeting
*Newbies is anything under 25 years by the way. LOL!