Substation

Between the substation and the office building where the gas station used to be.

Roslindale Village Main Street and Historic Boston showed off their latest plans for the old trolley substation the other night. More than 300 people attended and heard plans to turn the substation into a restaurant and to tear down the funeral home next door and build 40 housing units there and atop part of the funeral home's parking lot on Cummins Highway.

Possible renderings and site plans (subject to BRA review) | Basic project background

View from far side of Adams Park. Hey, when did they decide to take the fences out?

Two non-profits that have been trying to turn the hulking brick husk of an old trolley substation in Roslindale Square into something useable say they now want to buy the funeral home next door for housing.

In an e-mail update this morning, Steve Gag and Stephanie Cave of Roslindale Village Main Street say the FJ Higgins Funeral Home on Washington Street is now up for sale - and that the Higgins family has agreed to give the group and Historic Boston first dibs on the property as the family prepares to move the funeral home to a new location.

Gag and Cave say they don't want to let the property fall into the hands of a developer who would use it for something un-Roslindale-Square-like - such as a fast-food drive-thru:

Roslindale Village Main Street had an open house at the hulking edifice in Roslindale Square, in part to solicit ideas on what to to with it. The BRA, which owns the long unused structure, has given the group and Historic Boston a year to come up with a plan. Even without giant transformers, it remains a fascinating - and dangerous - place to explore: One guide had to keep shooing me away from flimsy planks covering holes. It's two levels full of mysterious objects and spaces.