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Home for Little Wanderers to become Home for Big Construction Project in JP
By adamg on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 1:57pm
The Globe reports a developer has submitted plans to the BRA to build a 200-unit apartment building - with 150 underground parking spaces - on the Home for Little Wanderers' Jamaica Plain campus.
The Home announced last summer it would sell off the land and wander to Walpole.
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Comments
Look across the street and
Look across the street and then tell me you need $10,000,000 worth of parking spaces: http://g.co/maps/ccqt2
I think proponent should consider a leasing agreement with the owner of the neighboring lot and garage.
The lot and garage belong to
The lot and garage belong to the VA Medical Center and aren't even sufficient for the employees and patients of the hospital, many of whom resort to driving repeatedly around the neighborhood looking for parking. Many patients arrive late to appointments (or miss them entirely) because they are unable to find parking. A leasing agreement with the VA for spaces in the lot and garage would make sense if those living in the apartment complex only needed parking on weekends and overnight on weekdays. I would think, though, that the VA would be reluctant to enter into an agreement that might exacerbate the parking problems at the hospital. Already far too many people who are not employees or patients at the hospital use the lot to park close to the T.
Does Willard Know This?
For months, Willard Romney has been saying that not only is the recession NOT over, but President Obama has made it worser. Now you can't pick up the paper around here without seeing some new construction project somewhere: Boston, Somerville, Quincy. Come home, Willard (or one of your homes) and check it out.
We live in a bubble
The economy around here is FAR, FAR better than almost anywhere else in the country outside of ND and maybe TX - which is where Willard is (full disclosure - I'm not supporting him - but I'm not supporting anybody right now).
This looks like exactly the kind of project we need - middle (OK maybe upper middle) class housing. Coupled with what they are putting on the Ink Block sounds like some of the developers are getting smart about what might actually sell or rent around here. Doesn't bode well for downtown development - but it'll be far better for the city as a whole.
he didn't change his rhetoric
he didn't change his rhetoric during the New Hampshire primary....
Affordable to whom?
Boston Residential Group is renowned for its "luxury apartments."
Will the anti-gentrification people be out in force soon? Although I had heard this news before today, I have heard nothing from JP's anti-gentry people as of yet. This seems to be as significant a development - or more so - than a health food store. Boston Residential Group will actually be encouraging the wealthy to move to Jamaica Plain rather than simply serving people already in the neighborhood.
Also, as for 'affordable' - what is the definition of same? It is a very broad term and can mean almost anything.
As if
Uh the JP NIMBY brigade will stop this project in its tracks. The developer must be pretty naive to think it will get built as proposed. The building is in a neighborhood design overlay district, so it's gonna be damn hard to tear that building down. And if that historic Hyde Square group takes aim at it the thing will end up a Boston landmark in a month. They did the same with a building at the church down the street. The JP Pond association will probably ask for some bribe, er, community benefit, as will the anti-gentrification league. The developer obviously didn't do his homework. He'll spend a lot of money to go nowhere fast.
Once again, even in JP
If we had zoning around here that reflected the plan we are trying to achieve, there would be little the NIMBY's could do (except for landmarking which is a fairly high standard). As for the community benefits - well if you build to zoning you don't have to worry about that - but if you want exceptions, you have to pay the piper - I'm not a fan of the system -but that's the way it works contributing to our ridiculous cost of housing around here. Having to make 15% "affordable" doesn't help either - again it all drives up the cost of developments which is at least as much to blame as short supply for high housing costs.
Two contending spheres of influence here
There are two spheres of influence in contention here. One is the affordable housing people. They want to keep lots of poor people in Hyde Square because they get their money based on the poor people head count. So they are against anything that might encourage middle-class people to live here (market-rate housing, Whole Foods, etc.)
The other contender is the Pondside residents. They want to keep poor people out of their neighborhood. They blocked Maple Hurst Builders from building luxury condos at Burroughs and the Jway for 6 years. One Pondside resident said, "We don't want the kind of people who buy condos to live here." (The condos sold for $1 million and up when they were finally built.)
So which group decides to lay claim to that area might influence the process and maybe the outcome.
However, some developers are big enough and experienced enough to be undeterred by groups of crazies like the affordable housing people. If that's true of this developer, then we might end up with beautiful, market-rate housing regardless of which group wins the turf battle.