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Little restaurant row across from Cathedral of the Holy Cross could be replaced by 35 condos
By adamg on Sun, 09/26/2021 - 3:05pm
Rendering by Embarc Studio.
A developer has filed plans to replace three restaurants at 1395-1405 Washington St. in the South End with a $23-million, seven-story condo building.
Two of the restaurants - the Gallows and Black Jack Pasta Kitchen - are already closed for good.
Developer Peter Georgantas says the new building, which will also include ground-floor retail space, "will fill in the huge gap that currently exists within the Washington Street corridor along this block by replacing what is currently a non-descript, anomalous, single story retail buildings flanked by existing (6) and (7) story residential buildings to the east and west."
Five of the units would be sold as affordable. The building would have no on-site parking.
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Comments
I miss little indie
I miss little indie restaurants. A few years back, on Mass. Ave in btwn Comm. Ave. and Newbury, a Thai and an Indian restaurant that we had been going to for years got wiped out by Room & Board. I posted abt being dismayed by it on this site and got skewered. That was weird and disappointing.
First floor retail
Indie restaurants ARE great. They should go on the first floor of a 7 story building, not as stand alone one story buildings.
We live in a city.
A city full of generic 7 story buildings …
… is boring. Livable vibrant cities include buildings of varying heights dating from varying eras. One story buildings are necessary to allow sunlight and air to reach street levels.
The phrase “We live in a city” is generally used by people who dismiss human needs in favor of overdevelopment and profit and who usually don’t even live in a city.
I'm curious
What are your examples of "lively vibrant cities"? I've spent a good amount of time in places like downtown Manhattan or Chicago and I was definitely able to see sunlight and breathe air, despite all the buildings around me being much, much higher than 7 stories.
Also, you realize that we only get buildings "dating from varying eras"...when we allow people to build in different eras including our own?
Kind of ironic to say this when you're arguing against the human need to be able to live somewhere, specifically in the city. And as we can see, that's a human need that can only be addressed - by building more and taller buildings.
You do understand
The building next door, Arlington Court, is just over a century old. Dating from varying eras, check. Next to that is the single-story building housing Foodie's so there's your varying heights.
Of course, for some odd reason, the uniformity of building ages and heights in neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, Back Bay, the Seaport, and most of the South End hasn't seemed to diminish the appeal of those places for residents. Not sure what's up with that!
There is zero architectural appeal to the single-story building on the site. It looks like it belongs in Athol, not Boston. And the fact is that we do need to build denser in Boston, particularly on corridors with transit (like Washington Street) to make room for people who live here or want to live here. If anything, greater density on Washington Street and nearby would hopefully lead to a return of rail transit on Washington between downtown and Nubian.
Washington Street in particular is very wide so the streetscape here does get a lot of "sunlight and air."
It makes sense to put a
It makes sense to put a taller building there, but I hope they can have ground-floor retail space for Union Park Pizza. It’s the best pizza in the South End imo and it would be a shame to see it go.
Yes! This! Love Union Park
Yes! This! Love Union Park Pizza and it would be so sad if that got kicked out.
Developer says ...
It will be offering space in the new building to existing businesses there, which has to mean Union Park since the other two restaurants went out of business awhile ago.
I hope the rents will be affordable.
Someone I know agreed to temporarily close his fish place while the old building was torn down. He lost a year of revenues waiting for the new building to open and then his rent had gone up. The new interior was not as nice as the old one. He regretted the agreement he made with the developer.
I haven't been down that way in a dog's age
Is the little fish place still in that area? Me and my sweetie would go there especially for their fish sandwiches. She absolutely loved them. I think one of the restaurants that are closing or closed are in that space now.
Fish place gone, sadly.
Replaced by something forgettable.
Morse Fish was a neighborhood gem, a rare
South End survivor from the early 20th century. I mainly used it as a fish market, but would occasionally enjoy a sit-down meal there. It amused me that it cost $1 more to get your fish pan-sauteed instead of deep-fried.
(I never patronized its replacement, Black Jack Pasta. I rarely get noodles to go from anywhere.)
I was walking by that block the other day,
as I do three or four times a week, and thinking, "That chunk of the block won't stay like that for long: somebody's going to build up soon."
I'm glad the ground floor will stay retail / restaurant. Pure residential street fronts are lifeless.
RIP, The Gallows, Sage, Caffe Umbra, and especially Morse Fish Co.