Hey, there! Log in / Register

South Boston street no longer all it's stacked up to be

Smokestack being torn down

Eileen Murphy watched the demolition of the Loyal Crown smokestack in South Boston today.

The 120-foot smokestack, built in the late 1930s when Loyal Crown Linen moved into a former munitions plant on Damrell Street, was torn down to make way for Washington Village, an impending development of 656 condos and apartments.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Crown moved to Brockton to a new facility - Cheaper labor and with the new place - new machines / less maintenance - in 2014.

As far as the rest of the complex: a nearly vacant printing plant, a paint store, and a transmission place being gone; good. We have housing for 1,000+ going up within steps of a T station.

Good for Adams Transmission. They moved from 421 Harrison Avenue just over 20 years ago (Across from the Pine Street Inn) to here. They have sold to developers twice. Find out where they are now and buy everything around it and wait.

Before you snark at the name Washington Village, that was the name of Andrew Square prior to when it was renamed for Governor Andrew after the Civil War. It was part of Dorchester until 1804 when it was annexed by Boston. If you look on a City of Boston birth certificate you can see the dates in which various areas of the city were brought into the fold.

This is only one of a number of large Ink Block level developments that are going to get done around Andrew in the next decade. The owners of the big vacant lot at 511 Dorchester Ave have been buying smaller parcels over the past 2 years to maximize their site.

up
Voting closed 0

Very curious name for New England. Something I'd expect in Canada, but not here.

up
Voting closed 0

Bummer! Congrats to the pro-density, foaming at the mouth gentrifiers... another piece of history and icon of a neighborhood destroyed!

up
Voting closed 0

Were you going to buy it and not tear down that toxic waste tower?

The only constant in the world is change. Complain all you want, but the laundry moved some time ago because this didn't work for them anymore.

up
Voting closed 0

I have seen industrial-turned-residential developments in other cities that retain things like smokestacks as decorations and incorporate them into the "theme" of the community.

This one in Atlanta, for example, was a major filming location for The Walking Dead before it was renovated into expensive lofts: http://www.livefultoncottonmill.com

That said, if the "decoration" isn't structurally sound or contains toxic residue, it isn't worth the money to keep.

up
Voting closed 1

Congrats to the pro-density, foaming at the mouth gentrifiers... another piece of history and icon of a neighborhood destroyed!

this actually slows down gentrification. All of South Boston is in HIGH demand. building 1,000 new units will keep the so called yuppies out of the existing housing stock. so landlords and home sellers can't increase prices as rapidly as they'd like to.

btw, no REAL yuppies live in South Boston and there only a few REAL yuppies in boston at all compared to other cities. real yuppies live in Paris, NYC, LA, London, Singapore...etc. People that live off of mommy and daddys money are not choosing boston and certainly not choosing South Boston.

One example is the president. he inherited a fortune from daddy's real estate business... and lives in NYC. We know what side he would have picked in the "kids before condos" battle.

- A South Boston Resident

up
Voting closed 0

Are you confusing trust fund babies with yuppies?

up
Voting closed 1

Why'd they tear the stack down?

Think of all the bicycle parking it could have been used for! Density, people! Use of existing vertical space! Now, all sorts of wasted space as those bicycles are scattered horizontally.

up
Voting closed 0