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Developer wants to put up apartments on site of Brighton building most people have driven by a million times without noticing
By adamg on Sat, 01/11/2020 - 12:03pm
Look familiar? Didn't think so.
A West Roxbury developer wants to replace a nondescript office building off Soldiers Field Road inbound at the ramp up to Brighton with a six-story, 106-unit apartment building.
The Ballas Group's proposal is the latest development proposal for a formerly sleepy bit of Brighton just across the Charles from Watertown. It would go next to the construction site where another developer has started tearing down another office building for a 211-unit apartment building at 1550 Soldiers Field Rd.:
Also nearby: A nearly completed apartment building where the Black & Decker repair center used to be.
In a letter of intent filed with the BPDA this week, the Ballas Group says its new building would have 60 parking spaces "a short walk" from the Boston Landing commuter-rail station, as well as "design-forward" archictecture and "robust open space."
The letter signals that the developer hopes to shortly file more detailed plans for consideration by the BPDA.
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Comments
Looks awesome! How many bike
Looks awesome! How many bike parking spaces?
Letter didn't say
The exact number will probably be listed in the project-notification form.
I know exactly where that is!
I know exactly where that is! I have been there a million times but never noticed it!
As long as the proposal
As long as the developer adroitly phrases the forwardly-designed robust open space with vigorous roofing, beefy lighting and genuinely hunky landscaping, I am all for it.
It's the building behind Vinfen
I'm all for using the space around Soldier's Field Rd better...but all these places touting Boston Landing as a transit option should be more honest.
There's like 2 trains in the morning and 2 trains in the evening worth taking that even stop there (or you have to get there like an hour earlier) and you're getting on a packed train and going home you're getting on a packed train.
There's no bike parking (or car parking) either.
It was a good idea (for people outside the city to get to New Balance and WGBH) but it has less practicality for people trying to get to work every day from Allston/Brighton.
Not to mention that even
Not to mention that even getting to Boston Landing from Soldiers Field Rd will be dicey from that location.
And what constitutes a "short
And what constitutes a "short walk"?
It's an unpleasant 16 minute walk to the station. There's technically a sidewalk on the Soldiers Field Road exit ramp (though Google's walking directions don't think so), which you can get to by walking across some grass. But when you reach the north-south part of Birmingham Parkway, you can only go south, since there's no sidewalk to the north, and no crosswalk to head east. Oh, and of course there's no curb ramps. https://goo.gl/maps/8P4mxjAnN7TVUiR98
The walk would be shorter and much more pleasant if Soldiers Field Place weren't walled off from the east-west part of Birmingham Parkway, and the parkway had sidewalks. https://goo.gl/maps/hWwA3vKB6uuT3pw58
I was thinking the walling off might be due to a former rail line. But even back in 1903 there was just a street there. Though there was a rail spur along the river. https://web.archive.org/web/20161205032408/http://docs.unh.edu/MA/bstn03...
If the station were designed for the benefit of the neighborhood rather than New Balance, it would be centered on Market Street, not Everett Street. The railroad figured that out 130 years ago when they built the station that's now the Stockyard restaurant.
Actually Soldiers Field Place (not road)
The front entrance would have to be on Solider's Field Place not Road -> take the quick right directly after the Acura car dealership. As the road is laid out now, it is all commercial real estate.