Ugly building meets timely demise

By adamg on Tue, 10/17/2006 - 11:39am

Mats Tolander posts photos of 1 Davis Square going down.

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Davis Square

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Comments

1 Davis Square

By Ron Newman on Tue, 10/17/2006 - 12:47pm.

... was originally a Parke Snow department store, and those light-brick semicircles used to be display windows.

What's replacing it, Davis Square doesn't necessarily need: a three-story building with a CVS on the first floor and a Boston Sports Club gym on the second. Davis Square already has a Brooks Pharmacy, and it's a 10-minute walk to the 24-hour CVS in Porter Square. So what do we need this for?

I'd rather have a Trader Joe's.

I'd rather still have a

By Mister Goat on Wed, 10/18/2006 - 8:25am.

I'd rather still have a welfare office, providing service to thousands of people near a public transit hub. Folks who used to use it have been shunted off to Revere, a trip that means switching between 3 T lines. And if people can't get the childcare and time off of work to take the hour for that trip? Why, then they're non-compliant, and risk having their benefits cut off.

I hope that the yuppies who use that Boston Sports Club know what disappeared to make room for them to exercise.

The welfare office

By Ron Newman on Wed, 10/18/2006 - 8:49am.

I asked the developer about this at a recent Davis Sq Task Force meeting. He said that the state decided not to renew the lease, which is what led him to redevelop the site. Perhaps once we have a new governor, the state can be persuaded to reopen a DTA office in Somerville or Cambridge.

Other offices too

By eeka on Wed, 10/18/2006 - 8:57am.

There were other resources in there too. The Haitian Coalition, the youth council, the voc rehab office, and I'm sure a lot of other stuff.

As you said, offices that serve people who mostly use public transportation and don't have a lot of time off. I'm sure they're all moving to various locations out on some minor bus route or in some office park on the edge of town. Ugh.

http://1smootshort.blogspot.com

TJ's!

By Matthew C Smith on Wed, 11/01/2006 - 12:37am.

I was also hoping for a Trader Joe's to be moving in. While I agree that it's dumb to have a CVS move in, its kinda nice to have a gym in the square. I hope they have late hours... since I always want to Pump some Iron at 10PM. :-D