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MBTA approves 135-unit residential building next to Mattapan T station
By adamg on Mon, 07/25/2016 - 6:19pm
Architect's rendering of the view from near Mattapan Square.
The MBTA board today officially designated a pair of non-profit groups to build 135 residential units - 69 marketed as affordable - on what is now an underused parking lot for the trolley station in Mattapan Square.
Preservation of Affordable Housing and Nuestra Comunidad will also include 173 parking spaces - 50 set aside for commuters - and 12,000 square feet of retail space.
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Comments
Here comes ...
Gentrification.
People gotta live somewhere
If you can't win a bidding war in Boston Proper, Allston, JP, Southie, Cambridge, or Somerville, well, you don't have many options left.
You will pry my Boston resident status from my cold, dead hands. I will outbid you for shelter, and you will adapt, or you will live elsewhere.
I mean, seriously, can you imagine if we did this with food and clothes? The BRA is going to limit the import of bananas into Boston, and the rich will buy all of them so that you can't have any.
My solution to the above is to keep building.
i am ok with building to a
i am ok with building to a degree. i just feel like, with this project being an exception, most of the new building happening in this town is high end stuff that won't make the city more affordable, but less affordable. the city is more interested in luring in high earning people to fill up $900k one bedroom condos than looking out for the people who are already here.
Not everyone who wants to
Not everyone who wants to live in certain regions has to live in those regions if they aren't already owning property there. They can stay in the more affordable regions, or chose another region.
Building more just makes the area more crowded but doesn't lower prices. Your solution is not sustainable.
Also, people do have options.
Also, people do have options. They can move outside the city proper to other towns.
Or the transplants can stay in their own regions.
Gentrification no affordable
Gentrification no affordable housing will bring down property values UGH!!!!
That's your problem
I have no sympathy for people who fail to profit from shelter. Besides, the value is $0 if it's not for sale. Are you going to live in a refrigerator box after you sell it?
Do these units stay
Do these units stay affordable, or only for a certain duration?
makes sense
bravo for building affordable housing at a T stop. makes perfect sense ☺
Artistic license
Usually these artists' renditions show the surrounding neighborhood in a very positive light. Here they included a vacant place for lease (on the right), a closed store with it's riot grate down (on the left) and some folks kind of hanging around nearly in the street. Interesting.
Ooh! Hanging around!!
Sounds scary. Next thing you know, they'll be minding their own business.
Welcome back, Scratchie
Where the (expletive) have you been?
Hither
Also yon.
You've got something wrong
Those folks on the left- it's a couple of locals giving directions to some guys who took the Neponset River Trail to Mattapan and are looking to find out how to get to Truman Parkway.
But as far as the stores go, I get that they use a pre-existing streetscape, but they could have at least changed the sign on the "for lease" property.
Too much parking!
If anyone has a vested interest in locking in long term customers for mass transit, it's the MBTA itself. They're building 123 parking spaces for use by 135 units -- nearly one space per. They could have easily done ~100 spaces, thereby cutting the cost of the development, generating more local business, and generating more MBTA monthly customers.
I wouldn't wish T ridership on my worst enemy
Same goes for bicycle commuting in a cold-weather city. If you want to do those things, fine, but when elected officials (Menino's "the car is no longer king" comes to mind) bleat about bikes and trains, it's the pinnacle of disingenuity.
Move back to Vermont
This is not a place where cars fit.
This is not a place where cars are a solution to anything. All they do is cause problems.
Go away - preferably to Florida, where people think like you do and will soon suffer the consequences of their driving stupidity.
I'm guessing
You don't have a car then?
I'd tell you to go away too
But I don't know who you are, because you're a worthless anon.
There are lots of places to live in Boston
Some are right near the T, some aren't. If you want to have a car, live farther from the T. Save those homes for those who don't have/want a car. Works out better for everyone.
But once you build the parking, you've got to pay for it, which means that the rents (or sales prices) for the units will be higher. That means that the residents end up getting stuck paying for parking, whether they want it or not.
I mean, it looks like a pretty good project. I just think it would be better if it had less parking.
P.S. I'm in my late 30s, don't own a car, do have a spouse and 2 kids. I bike, I T, I taxi, I Uber, I Avis/Enterprise, I walk.
Bingo
That's why I'm in Brighton and would be even if I had money to live somewhere tough to park like Back Bay.
50 spots are for commuters
It is currently a commuter lot, albeit not a popular one, so part of the RFP was to have 50 spots for commuters.
I've used that lot a few times, so it does get used.
They need to CLEAN MATTAPAN
They need to CLEAN MATTAPAN UP the trash is disgusting! Mattapan square could be soooo nice. These units should be sold as condos. Many renters do NOT care about keeping communities clean. We want property values to go UP! We pay extremely HIGH mortgages and should not have to deal with riff raff! Look around the city and see all of the affordable housing many of those sites are horrible eye sores with lots of trash people hanging out making so much noise and craziness! I am all for affordable housing but why is it that Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury affordable housing sites look like a slums! Look at affordable housing in other communities its NICE, and they don't put up with the FOOLISHNESS!!!! Enough of these developers getting MASSIVE TAX breaks and incentives for "affordable housing" More retail for WHAT Mattapan Square has the retail space. Look at the square is that what we really need in that space more trash and drugs! We dont need more fast food and liquor stores in our community.Sorry but ENOUGH!!!!!