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BRA approves controversial South Boston condo project
By adamg on Thu, 03/12/2015 - 7:06pm
The BRA today unanimously approved a developer's plan to turn the old Gate of Heaven school at 609 E. 4 St. into 26 condos - half of them units spanning two stories.
Unusual for a project in a dense neighborhood, the project would have more parking spaces than units - 40.
The proposal had been opposed by neighbors fed up with the condoization of the neighborhood, who argued the building should be sold to somebody willing to turn it back into a school.
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Comments
Pony Up I Street Heroes
If you want it to be a school, pool your resources and pay for the building which your great grandparents and grandparents already paid to build but it had to be closed because Bernie The Pimp needed the dough.
The irony here is great. Smaller household sizes owing to defying the RCC's teachings on birth control means less kids, which means less need for large housing units, which increases the vibility of smaller living spaces, such as condos. Very few couples go beyond a second kid in a condo, which if they do go to replacement level it makes them move to larger living spaces, now more likely in the suburbs, which means less need for the school in the city.
You should have had more family planning sex people of the eastern slope before the single family townhouse on East Sixth was broken up into three units by your family. More kids would have meant you kept the school and there wouldn't be condos there.
What?
Two Citywide charter schools wanted to rent the building which would have meant yearly income to the Parish over a 20 year lease. The Church told the neighbors that it's the Archdiocese's policy not to rent to charter schools which we all know is a lie.
You Still Think The Archdiocese Does Right by the People?
Ha. Money still talks with the now Braintree ensconced Lake Street Chancery. Cash up front was better than any long term lease at least here. You noticed they had no problem ground leasing the parking lot on East Dedham Street for 99 years a few week back.
If they cared a lot more churches would be open, not all of course because demographics and cultural changes, but money, money, money works best with the RCAB.
Shutting St. Pius X in Scituate and other churches which had loyal followings showed that the bottom line comes first, the flock second.
He's the developers brother.
He's the developers brother.
Thanks Mannix
Now since you are such a great detective, go find the other half of Karina Holmer and her killer next please.
I'm sure Pat will be thrilled when he finds out that somebody with a misunderstanding of the basic use of an apostrophe thinks I'm related to him.
bad info
The two schools that expressed interest only viewed it as a short term solution until a more adequate/permanent site was found. The music school only wanted it for 2-3 years until their Roxbury location was built and the bccs for the same until the plummers union hall was transferred to them. So why would the church say no to 5m in exchange for a few years of a lease to a school. Makes no sense.
Sir,
Sir,
Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however, I and many others I'm sure, find your asshole attitude completely offensive and unnecessary.
Sincerely,
B
That's a big building
Those are going to be huge apartments.
Stop
Southie's legit being ruined, it's a shame. For everyone that thinks it's cool to move to Southie now....just wait for 20 years until the neighborhood is the yuppie/college student equivalent of Brighton/Allston..
Apples and Oranges
Yuppies = Good Thing
Allston/Brighton Frat Boys = Bad Thing.
Yah
Bring back Whitey and the boys. Southie was a real gem back then.
Even Better
Let's keep Whitey and the boys out and keep frat boys out...so SoBo can continue to be a gem!
Allston is the best
Allston is the best neighborhood for restaurants in Boston. Southie is by far the worst. Becoming Allston would be an upgrade.
Fort Point and Waterfront
...are part of South Boston. So, No. South Boston is not the worst.
If by "yuppy" you mean good
If by "yuppy" you mean good restaurants, well maintained property, less crime, and people who dont believe in slashing tires over parking spots, then i cant wait for this neighborhood to be "ruined."
what is your issue with the yuppification of the neighborhood, exactly? I never quite get it.
And yes, im one of the new arrivals who has purchased a condo in south boston
Welcome!
Welcome to the neighborhood. I think the problem people (life long residents and new ones) have is with Frat Boys. The ones that have the mentality:
"Hey, I live in South Boston. It's the city. I can be as loud as i want. i can make a mess, let my dog crap everywhere, I can urinate on the sidewalk if I am drunk...its the city! its supposed to be dirty!"
If you are not that, then most people don't care if you are new or not. Of course there is still a small percentage of townies who hate anyone who is not like them but those townies are dying (literally) out.
Mayor got his kickback!
Marty Walsh got campaign contribution TODAY from Patrick Costello, owner of the developer (Brenco Construction) of Gate of Heaven project. (Source: OCPF Report http://www.ocpf.us/Filers?q=wals&cat=C#filer-data). His crew is listed as developer on BRA website (http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/ec2d2496-2710-...)
ugh... Enough already.
South Boston is going to buckle under all this development. I am all for a neighborhood with diverse household sizes but every new development is catering to single people.
Families/Couples keep a neighborhood stable and are involved in making sure our neighborhood doesn't turn into Allston/Brighton frat scene. The only thing that should go here are:
1. Single Family Homes
2. Large Condos (3 Beds/3 Baths/2000 sq feet)
3. Green space
No more 1-2 bedroom condos, no more apartments of any size!!
Marty Walsh - don't have another epic fail.
You've been to Southie, right?
So, all the families in Southie, many of them quite large by today's standards, living in a floor of a three-decker, you know, with 1000ish square feet, 2-3 bedrooms, one bath, no yard and not much parking...and you're going to say that families won't live in Southie unless they have a hugeass place with as many bathrooms as bedrooms?
Pretty much
Yea, pretty much. Although 2000 sq ft isn't "hugeass".
It is hugeass for the city
In fact, the vast majority of people in the city I live in have at most 1600 square feet - and we have our own driveways.
Forgot one
4. Mosque or Synagogue
How dare people without a
How dare people without a million offspring want a roof over their heads!
There are plenty...
...of "roofs" in South Boston for people without a million offspring already. No need to add more.
Marty - squash this development!!
You elitist prats make me
You elitist prats make me sick. You act like you have proprietary rights over every thing and every one.
Mr Costello, don't badmouth the Archdiocese. Yeah, Law should have been burned at the stake on Boston Common, but the people of Southie rejected the Church because they preferred being white to being Catholic.
Ricky and SoBo-Yuppie, just where are us young people supposed to live? Refrigerator boxes underneath highway overpasses? Those of us fortunate enough to get decent jobs in this city have just as much right to live in it as you do. And guess what -- thanks to all the college debt and decades of infrastructure univestment, plus decades of failing to properly fund public pensions, not to mention decades of funding Massachusetts' communist welfare statism on the backs of the young people starting billion-dollar businesses in their dorm rooms in Allston-Brighton and Cambridge -- we can't afford to have families, we can't afford to buy homes.
If you can tear yourselves away from thinking about your cars and "your" parking spots for ten seconds, you might notice the real world. You might notice that it changes a lot from year to year and decade to decade and we can't live like it's the 1970s and the only people who matter are you Baby Boomers and your holier-than-thou Port Huron hedonism. You might not have noticed, but South Boston is in a city, not Saugus.
And, as an Allstonian, let me just say this: go soak your heads.
Dumbest Argument Frat Boys Make
Psst. Every city has residential sections to it. Just because a neighborhood is within city limits doesn't mean every street can be treated like Landsdowne St after a Sox game.
South Boston is both a residential and commercial neighborhood. However this particular development is in the residential section. It's not near Broadway T stop or the South Boston Waterfront.
Which billion dollar businesses again?
Fidelity?
Biogen?
State St?
Raytheon?
MGH?
Seriously which are the 'billion dollar businesses started in dorm rooms'? I don't think you can claim that our welfare state is propped up on CA based businesses like Facebook.
I wanna hear more about this
I wanna hear more about this communist welfare statism, where can I get me some of that?
I always laugh
During my early years in Boston, a friend clued me in that Gate of Heaven sounds like Gator Heaven in the local accent. "She went to Gator Heaven High," he would chortle. (Except I don't think it was ever a high school, just K-6.)
You're wrong, it was a high
You're wrong, it was a high school back in the 1970s.
It's fun to make fun of a regional dialect, huh?
Funny but in a nice way
My goodness, what a bad mood we're in and it's Friday.
Cheer up, SB (not verified). Yes, it is fun to make fun
of a regional dialect. I'm sure you've done it yourself.
Wrong
Was a high school for many years, and after the high school closed it was K-8 for a very long time.
Gate of heaven had a high
Gate of heaven had a high school until the mid seventies and then only up to 8 th grade until closing