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Comments
Davis can use it
There is not enough stay-over space in the area - Kendall and Harvard are the closest, and tend to be very expensive. I'm sure Tufts will be glad to stop shuttling people from the hotel in Medford Square, too.
When my org has big meetings, people usually stay downtown, but I know a few who would request this because they are always trying to get together with friends who live further out.
I agree.
Once you get outside of Harvard, there's no real hotel until you get into the fresh pond area.
The other thing to remember, think outside of a box for a "hotel". Not all hotels are huge high rises (i.e. The Marriott). A hotel can be a boutique one (i.e. Charlesmark in the BB and/or Hotel Marlowe at the Galleria). A boutique hotel would work well in Davis.
Joe
Curtatone has long promoted construction of hotel in Davis. There was talk of one on the site accross from Mike's that got renovated several years ago. A hotel would probably work really well in David in light of Tufts parents and visitors.
I love people being worried
I love people being worried about the farmers' market. The whole idea of those is that they are mobile and can be moved as needed.
No worries. Won't happen!
First, Tufts already has a nice hotel nearby, Homewood Suites in Arlington. Its on 3 bus lines, 2 bike paths, walking distance to Alewife Station, on Mass Ave, Rt. 16, very close to Rt. 2, close to I-93, many corporate offices around Alewife, dining in Arlington, and a CVS next door. Davis is a far less attractive location for a hotel.
Second, there will be no pleasing everyone. Businesses need parking for themselves and customers. Residents will object to building height and shadows. If the developer could put all the parking below ground without a subway tunnel, water mains, sewer mains etc. making it cost-prohibitive, they would still not be allowed to build high enough to keep from losing their shirt. Getting around Davis is a nightmare now. It will be hell on residents and businesses during construction, and worse traffic than now with hotel guests.
Third, if building a hotel at a northern redline subway stop is such a good idea, why isn't there one already in Porter Square?
Davis Square as hotel location
The Red Line does not run under the parking lot that the city proposes to sell to a hotel developer.
The lot in question is 2 short blocks from the Red Line, equally near a bike path, a short walk to 8 bus lines, across the street from a CVS, and has lots of coffee shops and restaurants near it. So as a location, it's a fine place. Whether it's a financially feasible place, with whatever restrictions the city and neighbors place on it, is a different story.
Tufts University runs a free shuttle bus between Davis Square and campus, and there are also the MBTA 94 and 96 buses. No bus runs from the Arlington hotel directly to Tufts.
would a parking garage be included?
so they can dig down and put a deep parking garage under there? We can't lose all that parking!
And what's the story with the lot behind the CVS? Is that going to be built into something? The back of CVS building has no windows, which usually means they plan to put a big building right up next to it.
The private parking lot behind CVS in Davis Square
isn't owned by the company that owns the CVS building. I've been told that the blank wall is required by code as it is right at the property line, in order to protect the parking lot owner's future ability to build there.
In NYC, windows on the
In NYC, windows on the property line are allowed, but they don't count as "legal windows" for building code requirements (bedrooms are required to have windows, etc). Is it different here?
ok, I'll bite
East Arlington to Tufts is convenient by car, if you have a place to park. But it's inconvenient by any other means of transport.
If a developer thinks they'll lose their shirt, then they won't bid.
Was it hell when the Davis CVS was built? Should nothing ever get built in Davis ever again because of construction inconvenience?
With the "why doesn't it exist yet" argument, why have anything new anywhere?