Hey, there! Log in / Register
Apartments for people who like Chinese food approved in Jamaica Plain
By adamg on Thu, 05/02/2024 - 12:59pm
Rendering by Timothy Burke. The apartments approved this week are on the left.
The Zoning Board of Appeal this week approved a plan by the owner of the building housing JP Kitchen, 3510 Washington St., across from English High School, to add two duplex apartments on top.
Owner William Gao's addition would be similar in design to two other apartments now going in atop the building at the end of the short strip of storefronts. Architect Timothy Burke told the board he is talking to the owner to the building to the left of the restaurant in the rendering about possible adding a similar addition. He did not say whether he is also talking to the Christian Science church, which owns the storefront between JP Kitchen and the new units now under construction.
The apartments above JP Kitchen would have one parking spot each in the rear of the building, Burke said.
The project needed a zoning variance because the building is in a commercial zone where residential space is normally prohibited.
The board approved the proposal unanimously.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
More, please.
This is great. Infill housing should go in above every 1 story storefront in the city, tbh. Here's hoping their neighbors do the same thing.
Are there any massage parlors planning to add units?
I wouldn't need more than a studio.
A certain football team owner
He might provide funding.
Zero F's Given
This design looks like a first day photoshop user. Zero effort to even try to make it look good or mate with the building.
sounds like this project is
sounds like this project is for 2 of 4 parcels, the two infilled areas need to be developed, hopefully with the same design intent as these two by the owners. Apparently they are in talks to fill the whole thing in, and then upgrade the street facade once all parties are in agreement.
Condo living...
Looks like Revit rendered in Enscape
But yes, the point still remains, zero care given. They didn't even switch the default brick texture.
Yes the revit quality is
Yes the revit quality is garbage, but its also a low cost project, does not have some designer hanging out on this job for like 8 weeks, someone did this in like 2-3 days.
The rendering may be crappy
The rendering may be crappy but the idea is sound. I give them credit for thinking 'on top' of the box.
Residential space is prohibited
This is so dumb that we have these regulations when we already have plenty of residential-over-commercial, it's just often older, and residential-over-commercial provides benefits to both residences and commercial properties but it's not 1950s single family houses for white people so it's not okay.
wait til there's a grease fire in the hood
and you might understand why the racist zoning code has so many silly provisions. Why is it that so many of those "1950s single family houses for white people" in Mattapan and Hyde Park are now occupied by middle class families of color. Are you advocating some sort of urban renewal initiative to rid us of those structures and the occupants as well?
If that's a worry
then why is there any housing over commercial spaces, especially older units? Shouldn't we have removed all of those existing spaces rather than just saying "well those are fine, but you can't build any more"?
in addition to the zoning code
there is a building code and a fire code. try waiving your YIMBY hand and making those go away.
Because that's not how zoning
Because that's not how zoning codes work. Changing the zoning doesn't magically make every building change its structure to match. It does prevent someone from building a lot of fire traps in the early and mid 20th century, before fully fire suppressed building became much more common.
And yes, we should be building more infill, and no, it shouldn't take a zoning variance, but that would require either doing away with all zoning (not good!) or dramatically altering existing zoning and the law around it (good but too many moneyed interests have stake in the system of "variances for me and not for thee") for that to happen citywide. Where this is being built the city didn't even change the zoning after years of talking up JP/Rox, which would have allowed DENSER construction at this very location! Too many meetings disrupted by Vita Urbana and the city got cold feet, so JP/Rox became advisory, and you still need the variances to build.
Know what?
Pretty traditional for living space happening over restaurants and commercial space.
You might try visiting the city so you can see this.
Right Ari, but...
...the existing zoning (Local Industrial) doesn't allow for residential even though there are a lot of preexisting resi uses. It does allow for restaurants and other commercial activities, but doesn't provide for other uses on upper floors (yeah, its old zoning for a car-centric world, I know). The JP/Rox plan kept restaurant, commercial and industrial uses on the first floor but allowed resi above. I think the new Streets & Sqs zoning does the same but not sure. Because residential is so lucrative, if it were allowed on the first floor too, all the fun restaurant/shops etc would go away because they don't make as much money. So resi subsidizes the other stuff we all agree we like. How long do you think Cat Labs or the Midway (much less the Chinese take-out) would last if they could be a six story condo building instead with $750k units on every floor? Better ice that knee, it took a pretty hard jerk.
The smell from the vents will be overwhelming.
Can’t imagine anyone but those kitchen workers living there.
There are enough people with
There are enough people with anosmia (no sense of smell) that the apartments should be rentable, possibly at a discount.
At the end of the street this is happening
At the end of the street there is under construction some add ons. It would make more sense to just add to the entire block.
Working on it
Sounds like they're working on that:
With each storefront having a different owner it's not so easy to "just add to the entire block," but I think that is the eventual intent and I assume the plans are being designed with that in mind (no windows on the sides that would become adjoining walls, for example).
This seems like a lot of work
This seems like a lot of work for a minimal benefit. It would seem more cost-effective to make the whole strip 4 or 5 stories.
The problem there ...
Is that even though that strip looks like a single building (and maybe it actually is), each storefront section has a different owner.
This is why I don't like
This is why I don't like replying to anons.
Are you from Florida @anon? Single story structures seem sacred in South Florida. Love the sunken living rooms though.
They don't like the design.
They don't like the design. How many years will it take before they demand historical protection for the classic 2020s look?