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Small South Boston condo project would have way more parking than required
By adamg on Thu, 01/15/2015 - 4:09pm
Architect's rendering.
A 19-unit condo development proposed to replace an old horse-trolley barn between E. 5 and E. 6 streets in South Boston would come with a 33-lot parking garage, according to the developers' filing with the BRA.
Aidan Gregory Feeney and Brendan Feeney of Feeney Brothers Excavation want to replace commercial buildings at 815 E. 5 and 812 E. 6 streets with ten-unit and a nine-unit buildings - 17 to be sold at market rates and two at "affordable" rates.
In their filing, they note the 33 proposed parking spaces is nearly 100% more than the minimum required by the streets' zoning - an unusual commitment these days, when developers try to provide as little parking as possible. The two-building complex would also have 19 bicycle spaces - and a courtyard between the two buildings, all as part of "the replacement of an aesthetically unappealing commercial concrete block building in the midst of a thriving neighborhood with an active and attractive residential development."
The developers note the current structure's history:
The existing building on the site dates from the late nineteenth century. It originally served as a car house and stable for the West End Street Railway Company, which operated a streetcar line to and from City Point. Since the mid-twentieth century, the building has been used as a warehouse and at one time, its upper floor was occupied by a school. It is currently being occupied as a storage facility.
The filing also includes some old photos of the building in its car-barn days, such as this one from 1884:
They hope to begin construction in March, which would let them finish a year later.
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Comments
Too much parking = too many
Too much parking = too many cars on the roads of limited capacity at the same time = roads become parking lots with nothing moving.
Is this really so freaking hard to understand?
The greedy developers probably want to be able to sell the excess deeded spaces for megabucks.
Southie Parking
Actually, the developers seem to have the best interests of the community at heart. There are constantly parking problems in South Boston. Building more than needed for a new apartment building should probably be mandatory.
(If they turn around and sell them, I'll take back any good words about them.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
What is wrong with selling excess spaces?
I would think that would benefit the neighborhood, if it truly is short on parking.
There is no free lunch - there should be no free parking.
Again, why should new developments effectively subsidize unlimited free parking for other properties? That doesn't sound very libertarian to me, Suldog ...
Nope, Not Libertarian
Not everything I espouse is libertarian. I have a mind that can function without referencing party dogma :-)
It's not that I have anything against selling a private parking space, per se, but the original poster theorized that the spaces would be sold "for megabucks". My response, that they seemed rather to be doing the community a service, was predicated on them NOT selling the spaces, so there you go.
As for parking spaces being free on public land, I'm all for it. I'm a libertarian, after all :-)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Good to hear
I'm going to get a small condo for me and the mister, then build each of my sons a tiny house and park those on the street!
Because public = free.
Build Them On Wheels...
... with a means of propulsion. Then they will likely qualify for the legal use of said public space.
I thought my intent was obvious, but I guess not to the intentionally oblivious! If there are designated places to park, it is my belief that they should be free to park in. That was my (extremely secondary and mostly just meant as a throwaway joke concerning libertarianism) point.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Creating extra spaces is just
Creating extra spaces is just adding more cars driving onto roads where there already isn't the capacity to fit them. South Boston seemed to be just fine before the invention of the automobile.
Nobody goes out and drops 5
Nobody goes out and drops 5-15k on a new car they don't use or need just because they have a space to put it.
Hopefully the developer or the unit owners will be able to rent out the extra spaces and take some cars off the street.
Ok
If life was so fine before the automobile, I'm guessing you don't own one? Don't take a bus? What a foolish statement.
Humanity
did fine before we tamed horses to ride around on. You lackeys are so against vehicles, what do you want to do? Go back to walking around in robes and sandals? Stop spreading the myth that people don't like to drive.
Condo Association
Maybe there will be a Condo Association that will benefit from the sale of the parking spots? Good method to build any slush fun an association needs ...
Perhaps. It makes things
Perhaps. It makes things more complicated for the association, though. It's unlikely the developer would give the spaces "for free" to the condo association to later sell for a profit.
And there are negatives to having people who don't live at the property parking there.
Thats Fair
Maybe leading, then.
The cost of those spots would be built into the cost of the units and passed along that way.
Commonly-owned spaces....
... for things like visitor parking? Thart would be quite a luxurious amenity -- but not impossible.
Enough new construction
Really? The Feeney brothers have the best interest in the community? Coming from someone who lives nowhere near where they will be doing the construction. They will disrupt the surrounding people that live near the construction. Not only that, whose to say that the people who have deeded spots there will actually use those parking spaces they have.
So...
You were there first and now nobody should be allowed to build anything new? Great thinking. Yes, I'm sure people who pay for a deeded spot will still park on the street because, you know, it's such a fun thing to do.
Well , why don't you buy it
Well , why don't you buy it from the good brothers and convert it to something that won't disrupt anyone . The brothers know their onions.
enough already!
The only things that should be developed in SoBo are:
1. Open green space/parks
2. Single Family Homes
3. Three Bedroom Condos with a minimum of 2000 sq ft.
4. Higher End Restaurants
5. Offices
no frat boy bars, no apartments and no 1-2 bedroom condos.
- The Original SoBo Yuppie
Throws hands up in air
Whenever I write about a developer proposing less than a gazillion parking spaces, people complain. So here's a developer doing something about it and people complain - or troll, I'd need more convincing you're serious and not just some anonymous shit stirrer.
One of the reasons developers love the new emphasis on transit-oriented development and You Kids These Days with Your Ubers and Bicycles is that parking garages are expensive and cut into the profits and stuff. But, yes, I await your reply about how these guys aren't really from Southie and they're doing this just to ruin the neighborhood.
Building parking is like
Building parking is like feeding pigeons or an addiction. The availability attracts users of and creates an ever increasing demand.
They are from Sligo and their Yard is in Dot
Irish immigrants, getting out there with a back hoe, buy an old mill in Dot, fix it up and work hard and now want to build residential units in a residential area = Yuppie Scum.
That's the Irish dream !
That's the Irish dream !
Feeney Brothers build new home in a familiar place
http://www.dotnews.com/2012/feeney-brothers-build-new-home-familiar-place
I see no problem here
A couple of nice local boys decide to make a few bucks off of the Crossfit and Cappuccino crowd, I say let them.
Don't mess with Sligo, Galway!
Remember, at one time in the 1990s the Lord Mayor of Galway was a Sligoman.
Wrong contractor , C Naughton
Wrong contractor , C Naughton was from Galway as i understand......
Naughton is a Galway name
As is Costello.
To be honest, I don't know why it posted that, except that I always get the feeling that Galway people look down on Sligo people, whereas Galway people think Sligo is a part of Leitrim.
If you ever go across the sea
If you ever go across the sea to Ireland
than maybe at the closing of your day
you can sit and watch the moon rise over Claddah
or watch the sun go down on Galway Bay
Just to hear again the ripple of the trout stream
the women in the meadow makin' hay
or to sit beside a turf fire in a cabin
and watch the barefoot gossoms as they play
Oh the breezed blowing o're the sea from Ireland
are perfumed by the heather as they blow
and the women in the uplands diggin' praties
speak a language that the strangers do not know
Oh the strangers came and tried to teach us their ways
they blamed us just for bein' what we are
but they might as well go chasing after moonbeams
or light a penny candle from a star
And if there's going to be a life hereafter
and something tells me sure there's going to be
I will ask my God to let me make my Heaven
in the dear old land across the Irish Sea
Video ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf3HjUF5dn4
Adam - I'm with you on this
Adam - I'm with you on this one. Are these people insane? Everyone comments when developers aren't building enough parking with new units. everyone! Because "parking in southie is in crisis mode" Everyone got behind changing the resident parking program to continue over the weekend, making spots angled instead of parallel on two way streets, etc. Now we're proposing taking cars OFF roads so that people who already have a car and park ON the road have a slightly better chance of finding a spot, and people are up in arms. NO ONE that moves to southie is going to be any more likely to purchase a car because one developer is building an extra 15 parking spots. People that have cars, have cars. People that don't, don't. It's that simple.
Chances are, they needed a
Chances are, they needed a variance for this development. They probably included the parking to appease the neighborhood association.
Sounds right
This is actually a revised filing, which typically happens after a round of neighborhood meetings.
Which neighborhood has the
Which neighborhood has the most Real Estate development/New Construction going on in the last 6 months.
Is it
East Boston
Or
South Boston
That doesn't make a lick of sense.
Too much parking....is the problem?!?
I can't keep up with you people.
If this were being built in my immediate neighborhood I would definitely explore buying/leasing a spot if the price and proximity we're right for me.
Not sure what you're so pissed about.
Parking at East 5th/6th Development
Outstanding. Instead of parking my second car on the street I can now have a garage spot. Kudos to the Feeney Brothers,
Solution
Just have some JPers chain themselves together with their hands in 55 gallon drums with concrete in them and then block the entrance to the parking areas.
It seems to be the problem solving technique which is supposed to solve a lot of unpopular issues these days.
Not
Boo I was wrong (about below). 4 and at least 7 of the 29 were from JP. :/
I was told most of those protesters are from NH and their "leader" is from CA. But that's from my husband who reads a lot of Reddit Boston. So take that with a giant bag of salt. :)
THIS JPer got to work just fine with less traffic thanks to those meddling kids! Got on 93N at Mass Ave, smooth sailing.
I'm always griping about
All those people who come down from New Hampshire and clog up I-93!
Gee, that's quite a different style...
Not gonna comment on the parking. The building, however, sure looks a lot different than the surrounding buildings. Love that there are plenty of windows but grey is grey ...
How it looks today (building is condemned, apparently) http://goo.gl/uL5m76
Somewhat Different
John - There have been a few infills like this. There are two over on East First Street near K Street which were recently built which look like this.
Also, the current building is an outlier in the neighborhood. The new development will fit well into the overall streetscape.
Cue the Southie is dying crowd.
The building facing E6th is
The building facing E6th is used by residents to park right now. It's looking right into the Elderly Care Facility. Hopefully, the developer does place a tasteful building there that matches the current triple-decker houses. The city should also force the developer to place more trees on the sidewalks of each street to "green up" the space more...
southie is dying!
southie is dying!
K and 1st Streets are many
K and 1st Streets are many blocks away from this development. I disagree with your statement " The new development will fit well into the overall streetscape" . This building looks nothing like the immediate surrounding area. No. It doesn't "fit in".
What part of the work overall does not work for you?
There's a big friggin 5 star fort at the end of the South Boston peninsula. Does that fit in?
There's a movie theatre which has been abandoned going on 35 years between F and Dorchester Street. Does than fit in?
There's a Burger King at D and Broadway. Does that fit in?
There is a huge tower out of post war Gdansk at G Street and Marine Road. Does that fit in?
There's a few Dollar Stores and a lot of bad Chinese take outs. Oh wait.
Relax John Costello
A little aggressive of a response to someone simply disagreeing with you. They said the new building doesn't look like the immediate surrounding area. It doesn't. There is no building that looks like this on either of these blocks. Take it down a notch.
No
I won't.
Modern Take
I'd venture it's a modern take on the mansard roof of the residential building immediately to the right of it.
Triple Deckers
I think developers should consider building new triple deckers rather than all these cramped condos before Southie becomes way too overpopulated in the next 15-20 years
and...
Please tell us, where did you get your degree in urban planning?
What kind?
Triple deckers that also have cramped condos in them, or triple deckers that are single family homes? If you are advocating that single family homes should be built instead, then you are basically pricing everyone out. The reason condos came to be was to make it more affordable by dividing up the cost to live on a single plot of land.
It's about time
developers did this. Simple economics. Parking spaces are worth $50-100k apiece in the City. Take an empty lot, grade it, pave it for cheap money and sell the spaces. Make a boatload of money with limited expenditures.
People still drive cars in this City and people will pay for parking.
Just saying
Since Southie is an area underserved by transit (I know there's bus, but it's not the same without the El, and only 2 T stops way at the edges) putting in parking makes sense.
If we want less cars in Southie, let's get real and figure out a way to restore trains ervice somehow.
The El?
When did the El go through Southie? It went down by Dudley to Forest hills...
Yes, but ...
The whole company used to be called the Boston Elevated Railway, right?
But only 19 bike spaces
AKA only one bike space per unit. Not enough - e.g. my fiancé and I both ride to work and enjoy being able to park out bikes inside our buildings bike room. If we had to bike on the street or haul the bike up the stairs (they are forbidden in our condo's elevators) we might choose not to bike as often as we do. Bike storage and parking should have to have parity, particularly as bike storage costs way less than a parking space in terms of square footage.
If you lock your bikes up
If you lock your bikes up outside you won't be biking at all. Your bike will be stolen within an hour. Nothing is safe outside anymore.
It does seem odd that they
It does seem odd that they only include 1 bike parking space per unit, when in most cases you can only fit one person on a bike. Seems like 1 bike space per bedroom would be more appropriate.
You could just put all of
You could just put all of your bikes in your parking spot if that is not enough room for you.
Very true.
Very true.
We live in a condo building with deeded indoor parking on the west end of Southie. My husband and I both have bikes that we keep at the back of our parking space.
Works fine for us.
Surely you will have
Surely you will have neighbors that wont have a bike, make an accomodation.