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St. Francis House wants to build 19-story mixed-income tower on Lagrange Street in Chinatown
By adamg on Tue, 10/17/2017 - 3:28pm
Tower would replace this thing.
St. Francis House is teaming up with a developer of affordable housing for a proposed 19-story, 126-unit building on Lagrange Street.
In a recent filing with the BPDA, St. Francis House and the Planning Office for Urban Affairs say the units would range from "extremely low-income" to market rate and would "turn an underutilized parcel into an economically diverse residential '24/7' neighborhood that will serve a range of incomes and households."
The parcel abuts the former Young Men's Christian Union building on Boylston Street, for which St. Francis and the Planning Office already have city approval to turn into 46 apartments for low-income and formerly homeless people. It's next to the Kensington luxury tower and kitty corner from the Glass Slipper and Centerfolds strip clubs.
St. Francis House hopes to file more detailed plans for the project by the end of the month.
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Comments
19?
What about the shadows and the wind tunnel effect?
How can the city let this go through??
How about this city is in
How about this city is in desperate need of housing, especially housing for people who aren't rich? This isn't sitting on top of the Common; it's in an already densely built-up block and would be surrounded by taller buildings, and it's serving the people who need it most, unlike the luxury apartments around it. A little perspective here, sheesh.
Lol
Nobody's going to pay market rate prices in a building half occupied by "extremely-low income tenants" in Chinatown. These developers are delusional. Not to mention Chinatown has seen a spike in crime the past year and change.
Yeah, they will
At least until the market collapses and foreign investors no longer want to pump money into Boston Proper.
Maybe you won't
But this is a really convenient location for many.
It will rent out in nothing flat.
Is this new or a resubmittal?
So will this be next to the 21-story building at 47-55 LaGrange (the parking lot on the corner) that was already approved or is it a revamp of that proposal?
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/06/16/two-major-apartment-proj...
I think it's next to it
The parking lot (a tiny bit of which you can see in the photo above) is not part of the parcel that St. Francis owns (which includes the YMCU building on Boylston). So looks like we'll wind up with three towers with ready access to the Glass Slipper (four if you include the one on Stuart).
Any development at all would improve this forlorn street
The sooner, the better. Go for it.
Perhaps someday Boston will
Perhaps someday Boston will actually treat market rate middle class housing as a priority. Until than it will become poorer and wealthier at the same time, the rest of us forced out.
You should get out more
Or at least read more Uhub.
At least by Boston standards there is a ton of middle class housing going up.
Oh my God.that building used
Oh my God.that building used to be the bar Good Time Charlie's from the infamous Robin Benedict murder in 1983. Terrible. I'll never forget.
Good for them
They do great work in the face of diminishing grants and contributions. So sorry some of you are less than thrilled with homeless people being on your same sidewalk
How is this street name pronounced locally?
I've never heard anyone say it. Is the second "a" pronounced "ah" or "ay" ?
There's another LaGrange St
There's another Lagrange St in West Roxbury, and we pronounced it with the long "ay" as in "range". And as if it were "La Grange".
Nooo! Not the faceless, grim meth lab /
gummed-reinforcements factory?! When will we finally say no to the gentrification juggernaut?
Old-timers who remember the Ladder District's prior incarnation as a landing place for displaced 18th-century Hugenots know that this street was originally called Rue La Grange, originally named for the barns that lined it to house public-transportation trolley horses and store the hay that was spread in those days on the Common to protect the grass from the few remaining cattle that grazed there.
So, the proper pronunciation is the French one, which rhymes with Yvonne's, for which the Winter Place restaurant named itself in oblique tribute. We, the few who remember, cringe every time we hear the rhymes-with-strange pronunciation, the same way we do when automated MBTA announcements pronounce Tremont as TREE-mont.
L'histoire de vieux Boston sale!
I think this is a wonderful
I think this is a wonderful idea. We need more affordable housing in this city, it is long overdue for this neighborhood. Thank you for all you do to help the city of Boston. Please know I am there to support.
Note: Some comments deleted
There was a comment that alleged certain disdain for the project by Campion's company. I've deleted that (which also took down the followups) because, to be honest, I'm going to favor somebody willing to put his or her name to a comment over a completely anonymous posting.
I'm sorry
Sorries all around. I should've just let his/her comment go since there was likely going to be no follow-up from anyone and his/her opinion would be lost in the ether over time.
There's a reason I worked for myself as a real estate agent. Working for someone else meant you always needed to hold your tongue for fear of either offending your boss or risking your job or your license, etc.
I don't know why it even bothered me. I mean, it's a tough block and I would (If I was still an agent) give a potential buyer client full details on its history, as long as it was relevant to a purchase (and within rules / regulations / laws).
Hard for many people on this board to believe but most real estate agents in Boston (at least, Boston Proper) are honest .. and even hard-working!