Architect's rendering, featuring ever circling birds.
City Realty, a Brookline landlord and property-management firm, wants to tear down a large house at 32 Cummins Highway and replace it with a 14-unit, four-story building.
All of the units would have two bedrooms and would range in size from 820 to 1,000 square feet, , according to a copy of plans posted to Keep Roslindale Quirky group on Facebook.
The proposal would need approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals because it exceeds several maximums allowed under the lot's zoning: It's too dense, too close to its lot lines and two stories too tall. Also, the zoning calls for 21 parking spaces; City Realty is proposing 14.
The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services has scheduled a meeting on Sept. 20 in the Roslindale Community Center on Cummins Highway to discuss the proposal. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.
City Realty bought the property, under the name Kronick Fatigue LLC, for $600,000 in September of 2015.
The proposal is the latest example of a development mini-boom in Roslindale Square, which had gone decades without major new construction, save for the Village Market and the Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center.
A developer is currently building a 19-unit condo project on Taft Hill Park, behind the municipal parking lot, while landlord Vinnie Marino is finishing up construction of eight apartments in two new floors above Redd's in Rozzie and the space recently vacated by Tony's Market.
People are now living in the 43-unit Parkside on Adams building, which wraps around the old trolley substation now being renovated for use as a restaurant and craft-beer shop - and in a 14-unit condo building on Roberts Street, just past the train tracks off South Street.
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Comments
Better idea
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 09/12/2016 - 6:31am
The terminus will see increased bus connections. If the terminus is at Roslindale Village, most of the buses that currently originate at Forest Hills and drive down Washington and past the commuter rail station would then originate at the new terminus, which would create the need for multiple bus parking / shelters. That corner is already enough of a mess, traffic-wise. There's more space out by Home Depot for a bus cluster, and it would increase access to the WREC.
Just because they add more
By anon
Sat, 09/10/2016 - 2:01pm
Just because they add more demand for service doesn't mean they will expand it. They don't exactly add much, if you haven't noticed.
Also, those residents are still going to use their own vehicles, because it's still very suburban in that area.
I object to this, for an odd reason
By Waquiot
Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:37pm
A few weeks ago I was standing around, looking at this very property. My thought was "wouldn't it be great if this lot was combined with the office building next door to make a decent housing (and perhaps commercial) property like one sees across the street?" More land would mean the opportunity to make even more housing.
Other than that, I'm all for it.
4 floors! 14 units! It'll cast long shadows!
By anon
Fri, 09/09/2016 - 11:17pm
And think of how it'll affect the children!
My Gawd! This is Roslindale NOT Allston!
HARUMPH !!!!!
It does cast long shadows,
By anon
Sat, 09/10/2016 - 6:35am
It does cast long shadows, compared to most of the other neighborhoods.
Feel free to move somewhere that doesn't care about these things.
Why don't you feel free to
By anon
Sat, 09/10/2016 - 10:04am
Why don't you feel free to move to the suburbs where no other humans will encroach on your god-given territory.
If you don't like it ...
By adamg
Sat, 09/10/2016 - 10:38am
Contact your city councilor (you live in Roslindale, so I'm sure you know his name, right?) and begin the process to undo the zoning residents worked so hard to put in place 10 years ago.
The city has decided on
By anon
Sat, 09/10/2016 - 8:26pm
The city has decided on zoning even if you want to whine about it.
If the rents aren't affordable enough for you, or you would rather not live in a city that actually cares about what gets built, then there's many other locations.
Feel free to leave because most cities have zoning.
Yes, but
By SwirlyGrrl
Sat, 09/10/2016 - 10:34pm
In other cities having zoning means that nobody gets to whine about a developer coming in and building as of right.
We reserve
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 09/12/2016 - 6:25am
Our right to whine.
But remember who started the whining: the developer who wants out of zoning on multiple counts to build this non-compliant building.
Having zoning that residents
By anon
Mon, 09/12/2016 - 8:04am
Having zoning that residents are happy with means they will do less complaining, it's the developers that want to exceed what they are allowed by right.
Zoning Concerns Do Apply
By In Th eKNow
Sun, 09/11/2016 - 8:57pm
Those who have not lived in Roslindale all that long will not be aware that within the last 10 years there was a full-fledged process that completely re-zoned all of Roslindale to specifically protect its appeal and density.
We may all have seen the references to Roslindale being "quirky" in some places (FB?) but adding all of these apartment buildings at the cost of demolishing older homes is pretty much akin to what was done to the old West End to create Government Center.
Let's understand that this process of demolishing older homes on large lots is happening all over Roslindale. There are buildings underway adjacent to the train station, on Augustus Ave, and on Neponset Ave (East Roslindale to you newbies). Some of the homes were not all that old and some even had the Victorian look that some of the homes here are known for.
The rezoning of Roslindale brought together a rather large group of City officials, the BRA, and a host of area residents, old and new, that set the pace for new construction and for business as well. That is why Roslindale is doing well, and also being protected from being gobbled up by cookie cutter apartment buildings.
These are not affordable either. As this stuff is added the gentrification of Roslindale will displace more and more.
And have any of you ever tried to park in this area? Forget it.
The new (sic) zoning holds things to 35 ft and also required at least 2 parking spaces per dwelling. A dwelling is an apartment, etc. The exception is if the abutters and City OK it.
The question we have to ask our collective selves is whether we want to allow developers to continue demolishing Roslindale to make profit. Read again above... just because this is close to the business district does not place it there, and as noted this process of tearing down good and occupy-able homes to put up more density is not acceptable.
Time to step back and re-think this - all of this.
Thinking
By BlackKat
Mon, 09/12/2016 - 4:21am
Ok I have thought.
*Everywhere* in the city needs 2 times the current number of dwellings. So no, you don't get to have the same amount of density.
"*Everywhere* in the city
By anon
Mon, 09/12/2016 - 8:16am
"*Everywhere* in the city needs 2 times the current number of dwellings. So no, you don't get to have the same amount of density.
up"
Nope, nothing says that all demand needs to be accommodated and other locations shouldn't expand.
That re-zoning effort was the
By Fitz
Mon, 09/12/2016 - 10:46am
That re-zoning effort was the height of snob zoning and did not serve Roslindale well. All it's done it make it very hard to build anything new or even renovate existing structures because almost everything is non-conforming - even homes built in the early 20th century. Many of the people who spent time on that effort do not want anything built anywhere, they're still around and vocal NIMBYs.
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