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Apartment developer buys block of stores near the JP monument
By adamg on Thu, 08/18/2016 - 10:03am
Jamaica Plain News reports on the purchase, which includes the recently shuttered Tedeschi.
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Comments
Let the
NIMBY games begin.
And may the zoning be ever in
And may the zoning be ever in your favor
Can't Wait for the Fight On This
Who will be the first person to argue for retaining the historical nature of a 1920's store block that most likely replaced an 1890's built two to three story building and the sacred nature of a site that lies in an area of 2, 3, and 4 story mixed use buildings?
Give Hajjar's credit. They do small developments very well.
Would you rather have a certain developer who likes to keep gas stations along Centre Street operating at his whim buying the place?
Oh that's so easy
some variation of:
"You can't possibly build anything there over the current height. It is far too close to America's oldest community theater and also a historic craft school at the Eliot."
Don't forget
the Eliot Church next door/across Eliot St.
And the $2 million
condos over on the pond who might have their view obscured.
Anyway, I sort-of-live in this part of town now. If y'all have any ideas for obnoxious signs I could bring to the inevitable 27 separate hearings on nitpicky zoning variances, I'm all ears.
An alternative is to just not
An alternative is to just not let it bother you so much. It's strange that it would bother anyone so much that other neighbors want to give input or give recommendations based on what they want for where they've lived for a long time.
If preservation bothers you
If preservation bothers you feel free to move to a state that doesn't trying to place reasonable restriction on what people can build, have old buildings or charming neighborhoods, and is therefore less desirable.
Wow, Centre St? This is about
Wow, Centre St? This is about to get interesting.
It looks like
it's zoned the same way the building at the corner of Burroughs and Centre (where Ghazal is) is zoned: Neighborhood Shopping with an historic overlay. Which means they ought to be able to build up to 4 (possibly 5) stories with commercial space on the first floor, without requiring a variance. I'd like to see that! That part of JP could use the extra shopping space, and it's not like there's a cohesive "neighborhood look" to the area; it's a mismatch of buildings from the past two centuries, with a fire station and hair salons mixed in for good measure.
1920 view
of the monument and corner. http://www.jphs.org/display/ShowPicture?moduleId=96230&galleryId=11888&p...
The residence seems similar to others on Eliot St. today.
A mismatch of old buildings
A mismatch of old buildings doesn't matter. It's more about making things not look generic, overbuilt, or preserving what is desirable. You can disagree about the particulars of that, but historic preservation is not only about keeping everything looking the same.
vacant
At the recent sale price of nearly 2 million dollars, I trust that there will be ample commercial space that will remain vacant for years, just like most of the other vacant storefronts in the neighborhood because rent is too high for anything but a front or big corporation (see Milky Way, see block at South and Rosemary). I completely envision the same thing happening on McBride. They'll remain vacant as the owners can declare loss, which doesn't add any incentive to lower the asking commercial rents. So that leaves ample room for luxury housing, which we desperately need more of here, hooray!
...what?
"Nearly $2 million" doesn't go as far as it used to. For example, it would buy you the singe family house located adjacent to this lot, with 2500 square feet an 1/8 of an acre. Conversely, this lot can probably be redeveloped into a 3-5 story mixed-use development, with commercial space on the first floor (look at the Jackson Square or Bartlett Square developments for inspiration) and housing above it. Whatever they end up building will probably meet or exceed the city's requirements for affordable housing, and might even follow the pattern we saw last week of affordable commercial space. It's also replacing a Tedeschi's, which is... not your average mom & pop store.
Meanwhile, what part of JP are you living in that has vacant storefronts, or all chains? The old Milky Way space is its own special brand of awful (see the comments upthread about a certain other landlord who shall not be named), South & Rosemary isn't zoned properly for redevelopment (and has been in transit hell for the last two years because of the Forest Hills construction) but this part of JP is buzzing, and the only chains within a half mile are two banks, the CVS, and the Tedeschi's/Dunkin Donuts up near Burroughs. I'm wildly biased because I live here, but if you made me pick my favorite stretch of commercial space in the city, I'd go with Centre Street.
Whatever gets built on the top floor here is going to be expensive, but I can't see any way this is bad for the neighborhood.
Lol did the Jackson Square
Lol did the Jackson Square development finally actually get a commercial leaser into that first floor? That only took what, a year and a half? More? Talk about success.
The block at South at
The block at South at Rosemary has been primarily vacant for years- and this was going on far before the Casey project. Rootz Halal, whatever incarnation the pizza place was prior to Primo Bros., Primo Bros., USA Cleaners, a couple incarnations of barber shops, Yari hair salon, and however many ownership changes under JP Variety before it finally shuttered, too. The trend here is that a business stays for a few months and closes because the rent is too high and since the closure of the Gate, there's not much foot traffic save for folks that visit the Deep Thoughts or the Jeanie Johnston. I live within sight of the block. It's happening on Centre, too. Look at the On Centre shop, then the short-lived salon which has again moved. When I say chain, I think, not necessarily of the chains we have (WFM, 7-11, Tedeschi, CVS, Dunks, JP Licks, big banks, Nero) but what will be coming because smaller independents can't compete with rents without investors- and we know that that's not fail-proof (e.g. The Alchemist). It's a shame, I'd love to see new businesses open and thrive. It's going to take a long time to fill those spaces once they're built and any prospective business owners jump through all of 1010 Mass Ave.'s hoops.