As residents from the area around South and Rosemary streets filed into the conference room at Curtis Hall tonight, they were a bit tense: They'd gotten vague notices summoning them to a meeting about a "proposed project" at 162 South St., and these days, along that stretch of South Street, that can only mean one thing: More condos.
You could almost feel the tension leave the room as they learned that, nobody was proposing to tear down the one-story commercial building there and replace it with condos. Instead, a Brighton family wants to turn the shuttered JP Variety Store at the corner of South and Rosemary into a "float therapy" spa, where patrons can float in a tank of 10 inches of warm water filled with 1,000 pounds of epsom salts for 90 minutes - or get some time in an infrared sauna or some "pulsed electro-magnetic field therapy."
The proposed Cloud9 Float Therapy, which will serve up to 5 or 6 clients at a time, will take roughly two months to build out and needs approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
"I'm in support as long as it's not condos," one resident said.
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Comments
Of course,
By Patricia Roberts
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:20pm
housing prices will go down as more housing is built.
Please show me one
By anon
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 10:40am
Please show me one neighborhood in Boston where this is the case.
Upper end rents are already leveling off
By Jason
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 7:14pm
The top tier rents are pretty much flat and I'm seeing softness in other areas. Many smaller landlords in Roxbury and Dorchester have dropped prices about 5% this winter from their initial asks. One neighbor of mine came down closer to 15%,and they have very well kept properties that are usually in high demand. Friend of mine just got a 13th month free and landlord paid the fee in the new Rivers Edge units near assembly. And with several thousand more units I'm construction right now, we should see this trend continuing. Supply and demand actually works.
Thank goodness!
By Ari O
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:24pm
God forbid we build housing on South Street a four minute walk from Forest Hills. It would be horrible—HORRIBLE—for more people to be able to live in the city near transit. Good thing instead of helping to alleviate the housing crunch in the city we'll instead have a bullshit spa thing that only the wealthy can afford.
These neighbors should be ashamed of themselves.
I have no dog in this fight
By adamg
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 9:16pm
But it's not like there aren't already several hundred units of housing being built or planned for a five-minute radius around the Forest Hills T stop - including the condos or apartments (I can't keep 'em straight anymore) that will replace James's Gate.
And about that transit: Let's hope there aren't any delays in those new Chinese trains getting to the Orange Line - it's not like Forest Hills is underused at this point, and it's not like the T can just add more capacity to the line (at least not until those new cars arrive).
I mean, I'm a big believer in
By anon
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 7:44am
I mean, I'm a big believer in build baby build, but there's no reason to shit all over a commercial business that's going to pay (higher than residential) taxes into the city coffers and supply a unique new service. I'm not wealthy, but like to go to get a spa / massage every few months, because I budget to have a little fun money because that's important to my mental wellbeing.
I mean, the ideal situation would be to have a new building with condos above and this thing in the ground floor, but acting like this is the business's fault because they're "some bullshit spa thing" is a dick move. Them not taking the storefront wouldn't magically turn it into condos.
I have a feeling Ari was
By eherot
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 1:58pm
I have a feeling Ari was shitting on the resident response, not the business owner.
Hmm?
By cybah
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:26pm
Replacing a "spa" with a spa?
Hah!
By adamg
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:27pm
Somebody's been boning up on his Boston English :-).
Ha! Ha!
By CopleyScott17
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:43pm
THAT brought back memories! But I never thought that was a Boston thing. I first heard it used by my grandparents in Fall River in reference to a little convenience store in their neighborhood. They were from Philadelphia (well, Latvia, technically, but reared in Philly). Either way, I haven't heard it in decades. Good on ya, Cybah!
To be a spa
By anon
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:59pm
When I was young here in Boston in the 60s it was the last dying days of small variety stores being called "spas", but it always seemed that to be called a spa they had to have (or once have had) a counter that served beverages. That seemed to be the key to being a "spa".
You're right
By cybah
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 12:06am
A spa technically was .. what others would call.. a "Soda Fountain" (a shop, not the actual dispenser).
A "spa" , as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary:
I could see a "spa" (as defined by a New Englander) be a place of relaxation. Come in and enjoy some tonic at the counter. (and yes I said "tonic" vs "soda" since we don't call soda, soda here). So in essence, the term "Soda Fountain" wouldn't really make sense in our use of the word .. or lack there of.. soda)
(confused yet?)
Edit: for bad spelling errors.. GRRR
Drive through Watertown sometime...
By Marco
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 8:31am
plenty of Spas left there.
Actually
By cybah
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 10:30pm
I knew this because...
There was a discussion about the Boston accent and dialect on here years ago where we discussed different terms/words for things. Spa was one.
I know I read it elsewhere also.
And I know when I moved here about 20 years ago, every so often you'd see a store (usually an older one) called a "spa". I just thought it was funny.
And yes I thought it was funny to say "replace a spa for a spa"
There is still one in
By Muerl
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 1:07am
There is still one in Brighton!
Winship Spa next to the Police Station and the Green Briar. Had a simple but tasty Turkey Sub there after my Daughter was born. They real key was "Sliced to order"
https://goo.gl/maps/BsM7jdsCYbv
Fernandez Spa, Best Spa
By Ebolasaurus
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 8:45am
There's still a spa on South St! Fernandez Spa and Liquors is still my favorite convenience store in the city even though I moved out of JP years ago. They have a cat that hangs around the beer section and other sections too, I guess.
10/10 would pet spa cat again.
Elite Spa
By anon
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 8:59am
The Plough & Stars in Central Square was the site of the former Elite Spa and it still says "Elite Spa" on the entranceway floor. The Elite was immortalized in the local classic "Mass Ave" by Willie Loco Alexander.
In Brookline
By Chris In Boston
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 1:19am
There is the Brookline Spa at 75 Harvard Street. It's a cool looking variety store/sandwich shop kind of place, I always wondered about the name and now I know!
And the one at the corner of Longwood
By Sally
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 7:11am
and Huntington was called "Sparr's" (I think it was technically Sparr's Drug) but everyone of course called it "Spaaaa's."
Palace Spa
By anon
Sat, 02/25/2017 - 7:59am
Palace Spa in Brighton
In Chelsea there was a place
By anon
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 9:49am
In Chelsea there was a place called Sparta Spa in Carey Square where the Chelsea City Cafe used to be.
This was an unsuccessful trend a long while ago, I think
By Brighton-ite
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 8:27pm
I remember reading an article about "womb rooms" for grownups, ages ago. Maybe they're finally taking off. Not for me, but good luck to 'em.
You might even remember the first one in the area.
By adamg
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 9:20pm
With a user name like that. It was on N. Market Street.
There's one in Somerville...
By violetkris
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 9:49pm
...called Float. At least, I'm assuming it's the same concept. They are always fully-booked, so there's definitely some demand. I tried it a couple of times. It was incredibly relaxing.
I haven't seen one in years either, but...
By KarlaV
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 2:50pm
Someone gave me an hour in a flotation tank back in the 80s, somewhere in Brighton. The strangest experience. But in the end, I could only describe it as 'drug-like.'
They Look Like Giant Toilet Bowls
By Elmer
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 9:45pm
[img]http://www.renovawellnessclub.com/uploads/club/lad...
Which begs the question: are those 1000 pounds of Epsom salts flushed away after each person uses the tank? Or is the same solution reused to "detoxify" many different people?
According to the presentation tonight
By adamg
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 11:25pm
They have some sort of filtration system, to reduce the amount of water they have to draw (and then put into the sewer).
isn't this..
By cybah
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 12:01am
Isn't this essentially a sensory deprivation tank?
Which was developed by John C Lilly in 1954 (which he later took LSD while in one)
Which was popularized in the 1980 movie "Altered States" (which was based on Lilly's experiments)
And if you're too young to remember "Altered States", it was the tank they made for Eleven to amplify her powers in Episode 7 in last year's Stranger Things.
According to Wiki.. average price for an hour for 70 bucks. Not terribly expensive. Gee now I wanna try one.
There's a place in Somerville
By anon
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 7:46am
There's a place in Somerville that has them!
I went to the one in Somerville
By Michael
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 8:26am
I came out of it feeling really good and refreshed. I don't know if buy into the magical healing power and boost of creativity I heard might happen (course, there might not be any creativity in me to boost) but I have certainly spent 70 bucks on worse things.
First comes the legal pot
By Daan
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 10:02pm
then comes the immersion tanks and altered states. Before you know it there will be yoga studios, flower children, incense burning along the street, people chanting love and peace, singing it's the dawn of the age of Aquarius and doing all sorts of happy bappy earthy crunchy things. JP and it's peace, love and community.
Don't they know we're here to make American great! Anger, rage, strife. Those are the American way!
Pardon me while I hum Ommmmmmmmm.
Not so fast on that legal pot
By anon
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 7:47am
Not so fast on that legal pot, after all
Instead of letting a good
By Kinopio
Fri, 02/24/2017 - 9:13am
Instead of letting a good thing happen like Obama did, Trump is going to totally screw this weed thing up and deny the will of the American people. The guy is a disaster. This will cost the country hundreds of millions in revenue, thousands of jobs and give more power to the drug cartels.
Gilchrist's
By Old Boston
Sat, 02/25/2017 - 9:57am
Gilchrist's, a legendary Washington Street (now Downtown crossing) department store in the glory days of downtown Boston shopping had the Marble Spa. They were known for their macaroons in the way Jordan Marsh was known for it's blueberry muffins. It was located where that awful Corner Mall food court is now.
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