Non-profit wants to buy approved but unbuilt development off Baker Street in West Roxbury and make all the units 'affordable'

By adamg on Wed, 08/28/2019 - 8:55pm

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Comments

No balconies is a bummer

By Parkwayne on Wed, 08/28/2019 - 9:23pm.

I get it's a cost savings but there's something good for the human spirit to have a space piece of private space which is outside, even if it's just a balcony.

Also good for the human spirit

By geep9 on Wed, 08/28/2019 - 11:08pm.

To have a home

Good for B'nai B'rith!

By mg on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 12:09am.

That would be fantastic! And giving up balconies is a small price to pay for the increase to 100% affordable!

How is a family of four

By anon on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 7:33am.

How is a family of four supposed to live in a one bedroom apartment? Also, why shouldn’t each unit have a parking space? The area is underserved by mass transit.

Probably they aren't

By adamg on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 8:12am.

But a two-bedroom unit might work for a family with two young kids, and most of the apartments would still be two-bedrooms.

Also, each unit would have a parking space.

This is strange to me.

By anon on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 8:56am.

TL;DR: I'm sympathetic to the outcome B'nai B'rith is pursuing, but distrust the approach.

I'm not questioning the motives of B'nai B'rith or anyone else, but this seems strange. There's a pretty long list of changes to the project.

Eliminate one building, make the other bigger. Replace garage parking with surface lot. Eliminate balconies. Reduce the number of 2-bedroom units and increase the number of 1-bedroom units.

I'm not saying that these changes aren't reasonable. It just seems strange to me for B'nai to try and purchase an already approved project and change it, rather than to simply figure out what *they* want to build, and go through the process.

I don't think the process should encourage this kind of strategizing to get affordable housing built. This action, to me, suggests that the process has some real problems.

I'm not saying that these

By Bruce I on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 2:01pm.

I'm not saying that these changes aren't reasonable. It just seems strange to me for B'nai to try and purchase an already approved project and change it, rather than to simply figure out what *they* want to build, and go through the process.

It's not that hard to understand. This approach is less expensive which matters when trying to build affordable housing and keep costs down. This approach is also less likely to face the intense backlash that basically any multi-unit building proposed in West Roxbury faces since it's already permitted, which in the end also keeps costs down.

I'm not arguing that B'nai shouldn't go this route...

By anon on Fri, 08/30/2019 - 10:46am.

On the contrary, I'm pointing out a broken system if this route is the most direct route to building the housing.

It'll be fun to watch all the

By Bruce I on Thu, 08/29/2019 - 9:22am.

It'll be fun to watch all the West Roxbury NIMBYs who rant endlessly in their Facebook group about "overdevelopment" and "how unaffordable" everything new is suddenly come up with new reasons to oppose a completely affordable and now smaller development than the one already permitted. Those people will never be satisfied and should be ignored. This sounds like a great project that the city needs a lot more of.