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Developers plan to keep historic JP building in their apartment complex; assume most tenants won't have cars
By adamg on Sat, 11/07/2015 - 10:55am
Architect's rendering of old and new buildings at Goddard House complex.
A Cambridge company this week filed formal plans for a 167-unit apartment complex at the old Goddard House at 201 South Huntington Ave.
Eden Properties LLC says it will convert the one-time Home for Aged Women into 110 apartments and add two more modern buildings for 57 more apartments.
The proposal calls for spaces for 170 bicycles but just 83 cars - and adds that tenants who want a car space will have to pay "market rates" for it. In its filing with the BRA, the developer explains that South Huntington has a fair amount of on-street parking, the site is an easy walk to either the D or E branches of the Green Line, is served by several bus lines and apartments will likely be rented by people who would rather rent a ZipCar than own their own vehicle.
It is anticipated that vehicle ownership by Project residents will be low based on the following demographic and vehicle ownership trends, transit oriented location, walkable access to services and amenities, and access to major job centers by transit. According to the American Community Survey, City of Boston five year average 2009-2013:
- Approximately half of Boston renter’s own zero (0) cars and renters are 3.5 times less likely to own a car than homeowners.
- Boston household composition is small - Approximately 70 percent of all Boston households are comprised of either one or two people with the majority of those being one-person households. And over half of one-person households don’t own a car.
- Half of Bostonians don’t drive to work.
One of the proposed new buildings:
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Another thing...
No cars and only white people.
I don't get it
What's the race trope I'm missing here? Sounds like a shot-in-the-dark troll, but a bunch of people have voted it up, so...
I've never noticed it until someone mentioned it
If you look at the people in the illustrations for developments (both residential and commercial), all the people are white. They do this even if the development is in a very diverse place like Dorchester.
I'm so white I don't call myself white (I'm Irish, dammit) but even I think the whitewashing of potential residents is pretty bad.
and yet, there are two black
and yet, there are two black people in the first rendering in this post...
I don't see them
There are 2 women with black hair, but they could be Italian or South Slavs. Heck, the chick in blue standing in the middle of the driveway could be Black Irish for all I know.
if you download the PNF, you
if you download the PNF, you can see quite clearly there is a black woman in a purple shirt and jeans. There is also a black man in a suit.
Yes
If I did, which would also involve tracking it down, since it is not linked to the story.
But the first commenter was probably basing the comment on what is in front of us, which in turn is what I saw and commented upon.
Beats the ghost people on the
Beats the ghost people on the renderings I've seen for other projects. Who the heck would want to move to a haunted building anyways?!?
explain your comment, please.
explain your comment, please.
South Huntington had a fair
South Huntington had a fair amount of on-street parking. I'm all for building this and the other two buildings on that stretch that are in progress, but the addition of 558 new units between them will without a doubt make parking in the area much more difficult. That said, I like that the area is getting some interest.
Now, now
Haven't we learned that using this forum for pointing out the logical fallacious and fallacious facts associated with plans to not include (ie pay to build) parking spaces in new developments will only invite accusations of witchcraft for those wicked enough to suffer a horseless carriage to live?
Someone
Didn't read the facts presented in the post.
Par for the course with Markk's minime, though.
I read it thoroughly
It's near the end of the E line and more than half of renters in Boston don't have cars. It's also the case that I'm not so sure how practically transit-friendly that location would be considering that a good share of the likely occupants would be working somewhere like BMC or WRoxbury VA, or in Newton and would have a reverse or circumferential commute, which that spot is actually quite good for.
The developers' reasoning isn't too good either. If they were building in Back Bay or somewhere like that, I wouldn't have a word to say, but the "a lot of Boston renters" they talk about live in places built a hundred+ years ago so they *can't* have cars, are students who live near a campus and don't *need* cars, or live in a more central location where they can't have cars and don't need cars.
Assuming that cohort won't age out of that time of their lives where they don't cars or space when planning new development is somewhat specious reasoning, but since it makes the anti-car crowd feel good, why not go with it, amiright?
Nope: "considering that a
Nope: "considering that a good share of the likely occupants would be working somewhere like BMC or WRoxbury VA, or in Newton ".
Instead: "considering that a good share of the likely occupants would be working in the Longwood medical area less than one mile away...a quick bike ride or easy, direct destination via the E-train on the Green line. And some of the other likely occupants would be working directly across the street at the VA Medical Center (NOT the one out in West Roxbury) requiring no commute whatsoever."
Longwood attracts thousands every year to do post-docs after grad school or residencies after med school; as well as grad students, med students and many many other technical employees as well. Many will be in the area for several years; not ready to buy a property and work very long hours so really want to live within a mile or two of work to avoid a commute.
Longwood has very minimal and very expensive parking available to workers but does have lots of bike racks; bike cages; employee showers available; and it well served by the Green Line and #39 bus from JP.
No car needed to live at the Goddard House Apts and commute daily to LMA!
That would be an awesome
That would be an awesome location for somebody working at West Rox VA, considering JP is literally across the street and the VA runs shuttles for patients and employees between the two every half hour :)
That said, the vast majority of the people who can afford these units (based on what the new building next door is going for) that work at WR all live in the suburbs. These are likely designed for Longwood area people.
And who's to say
that Markk isn't *my* mini-me? Though he can be a bit too much of an overt r-word for my taste, at least he gets it that people in cities need to get from point a to b, and that needs to be accomodated safely for everyone, not just the elite few who get to live within biking or walking distance of work.
Troll tenure.
Mark has been the in-house grumpy old man here for a long time. Any cane-shaking about "these darn kids" is secondary to his.
That's right!
Other contenders for the crown will need to join me in opposing zero building setbacks. besides leaving no place to plow/shovel snow, there's no lawn to tell kids to get off of.
UHub In-house troll
What ever happened to "Burzum"? He held down the fort as far as the "in-house troll" job goes for a while, but I don't think he (or she) has posted for a few months if not longer.
I remember reading a few
I remember reading a few "anon" posts that were burzum-y, after he got the boot, nothing recently though.
If getting around the city
If getting around the city "safely" is a priority then discouraging people from having a car is the smart thing to do.
Oh goodness
Yes, because no one ever got hurt riding the bus, no one ever got mugged taking the subway late at night, and certainly no one on a bike or on foot has ever been run over by a delivery truck, garbage truck, city bus, or taxi, ever.
Nothing's free. Yeah, the perfectly safe solution is everyone stays put, and no one venturing a city block from where they were born is also safe. It isn't practical, and it isn't realistic to believe in or plan on having everything close enough together and closely scheduled enough that public transportation and your own two feet will be sufficient for all.
It also occured to me I opened myself up because I used the word "city" rather carelessly. Metro area is what I meant, but my mouth got ahead of my brain. Metro area means long distances. Long distances mean one of two things: busways or subways everywhere or personal vehicles.
30,000 people a year
Can't be wrong ... because they are dead.
Hard to find other ways of dying that compete with the death toll attributed to motor vehicle accidents.
1.27% of US deaths were on the roads last year
Suicide and drug overdoses each kill more people than road accidents. With 2.6 million people in the US dying last year, road deaths accounted for just 1.27% for the 1,300,000,000,000 or so miles driven. By over an order of magnitude, heart disease and cancer are bigger killers.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm
heart disease
You know what fights heart disease and other obesity related ailments? An active lifestyle, such as walking or biking to work and such.
define 'elite few' please
minimarkkkk: Does 'not just the elite few who get to live within biking or walking distance of work' refer to the households making $10,000 or less? Because they have the highest rate of of biking to work.
Here are just a few of the many current references to back that up:
1. http://usa.streetsblog.org/2014/05/08/low-income-americans-walk-and-bike...
2. http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/assumption-busters-surprising-f...
3. https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/acs-25.pdf
Elite few...?
by virtue of biking to work? or taking the T...wow, first time I have been associated with that esteemed crowd. But i'll take it! At the same time, please acknowledge your bias and half-cocked attitude about those who happen to ride a bike. I don't why it irrationally bugs some people so much...sort of like universal health care, or a decent minimum wage, but I digress.
Look, I bike 9 miles to downtown (no applause please) and feel fortunate to do so...there are a good number of folks who prefer to drive and live close to work, or have to go crosstown. I get it....that's their right. However, I think there is a good % of drivers who are perfectly capable of alternative modes of transport...so when I hear about traffic woes and complaints from those who have alternatives (including me when I drive), I will rub my forefinger over my thumb and play "my heart cries for you" on the smallest violin in the world. Not every one is a traffic jam victim.
As for the comments about the doctor who was clipped by the truck in Cambridge: if you don't bike in Boston or environs, your opinion is hollowed by lack of experience and is severely wanting. I accept the risky behavior of bike-commuting, I am not stupid and have been riding in many cities for 40 years. Biking alleviates traffic, folks. Even if you find yourself momentarily behind someone doing their best to stay alive on a single lane street, please keep their well-being in mind. Believe it or not, I'm/we're not out to perplex/confuse/shame/ridicule/piss-off drivers...usually we're just trying to get to work alive, just like you.
9 miles?!
Sorry but I am freaking applauding you. That's quite a commute. Happier and healthier I'm sure than sitting in traffic but still...wow.
Meh to the the design of the
Meh to the design of the additions. Either make them look good or try to match the style of the original building. The one on the left looks like an academic building from 1970.
Yes
Lol. I was going to write, "I think I went to school there."
Dentist office
Could be one of those dental/law/tax/medical office buildings, too.
Great news for keeping handsome buildings
That the original building will stay is fantastic. The additions hopefully will enhance the quality of the original. As for parking the car empire sacred ritual of killing land so that tons of steel, glass and plastic have a place to spend the majority of time sitting doing nothing is taking a back seat to better ideas for transportation.
While I doubt if cars anytime soon will completely loose their place as being sacred objects more important than God, Jesus and he choirs of angels I believe that the social engineering that cars represent is finally loosing its grip on at least urban society. Cars are no longer worshipped and praised as the end all be all of one's personal power. They are tools. Any expression of prestige or wealth is a fantasy at the expense of everyone else. Cars serve useful purposes but the symbolic function has to cease. There never truly was and certainly is not today a need for one much less 2 cars in every garage (or even for garages today).
Ah, too bad...
I always thought I might live in the Home when I was aged.
Yes , a stretch of the leg to
Yes , a stretch of the leg to Triple D's and the Blessed Sacrament , too bad the trolley didn't go all the way to Arborway, get your groceries at Capitol Market , you are in like flint!
Triple D's and Blessed Sac...
...just ghosts of a former time and neighborhood.
There's always the Home for Aged Couples
near Egleston--I actually assume that this building has been repurposed but that's what it still says over the door facing onto Columbus Ave. I always thought that sounded so sweet.
Great location....
If you're working around Longwood. I could see a lot of hospital residents and post-docs living there.
THANK GOD
Thank god they're keeping the old building. Maybe somebody learned a lesson from that hideous orange thing that went up next door.