121-unit apartment complex approved near Millennium Park in West Roxbury
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by a developer to replace the last vestiges of Pizzeria Uno in Boston - its former corporate headquarters on the road to Millennium Park - with a two-building, five-story complex with 191 apartments.
The 100 Charles Park Rd. proposal by Anwar Faisal, better known for his apartment holdings in Allston/Brighton, would sit behind the Home Depot and across from Cow Island Pond - a marshy inlet of the Charles River - in an area along VFW Parkway from roughly the train bridge to the Dedham line that has become something of a hot spot for apartment and condo construction - including a separate development now under construction next to Faisal's proposed site.
Apartments would range from one- to three-bedrooms, Faisal's attorney, Jeff Drago, told the board.
The buildings would have a total of 20 affordable apartments, with five renting to people making no more than 50% of the Boston-area median income, Drago said.
The buildings, located along a route sometimes taken by the 36 bus, would have 91 parking spaces in an underground garage.
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Comments
New Commuter Rail Stop?
This is a good reuse of this land and an area where there are now several large apartment complexes either in place or under construction. It would be good for the T to develop a commuter rail stop on the line that goes by the Home Depot given the increase in density in this area
Short term, yes. Long term...
How about we extend the orange line out to the 128 loop?
Establishing regular demand
Establishing regular demand on the line and creating another relatively close stop on the existing small line is good additional supporting evidence for converting the CR line to Orange :)
I am by no means against
I am by no means against development, but what is the city and/or developer going to do about the effects of all of the new residents on traffic in this area? The VFW is a hot mess in that area most of the time bc there is only 1 manner of egress from that area for all ppl visiting Millenium, Home Depot, the storage business, MSPP, the residential units, etc, that are all tucked into that area. Is there no way to build thru to connect in Dedham following the train tracks or going past the storage units?
Look up.
The correct solution to that question is in the comment directly above yours. :)
I mean, I absolutely support
I mean, I absolutely support building a commuter rail stop in that area, but realistically, I thiiiink there's still going to be relatively high car traffic when businesses of interest are things like "a place to store all your huge shit that doesn't fit in your house" and "a store selling tools/building materials"
Not to stir the pot
How about protected bike lanes?
no MSPP traffic anymore
MSPP changed its name to William James College and moved to Newton years ago so there won't be any traffic from MSPP to that area
Traffic
I don't really care about the traffic concerns of the people from Dedham, Norwood, and Westwood who commute on the parkway. 200 extra cars is not going to make a difference. I drive on the parkway everyday. With no traffic I get to Home Depot in minutes. The longest it has ever taken me is 10, and that was at 5 pm on a Tuesday.
MSPP won't be generating any traffic
The sign that lists businesses in that area is out of date. MSPP was located there but moved out years ago to Newton (and changed its name to William James College).
Great News!
Great News! More new housing and new residents for Boston. Maybe even some new murals and bike lanes. Good stuff.
Infrastructure
That road used to lead to the Gardner Street dump. All of Millennium Park is the dump capped with about 25 ft or more of cover soil.
Is there an adequate sewer and water supply for that number of units? Does the city have the capacity to add to its police department and could we expect an additional fire station to deal with the increased number of buildings and population. The nearest fire stations in West Roxbury is 2 miles away and the next nearest engine is further. Dedham's units are also a decent mile-plus away.
Lots of questions and the reputation for the developer doesn't all add up.
More housing good? Sure. But we also need to add to the infrastructure as well and that is not happening.
Worst-landlord-in-Boston
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2013/12/31/anwar-faisal-worst-landlo...
Well, beggars mustn’t be choosers.
Can we audit the Legislature yet?
[The] Home Depot
P.s., 17:53, 08272024, until I learnta this individual in a recent UH report the only infamous Somerville landlord I was aware of was Jared Putupawal Kushner.
Given Anwar Faisal's
Given Anwar Faisal's decades long reputation as a landlord, I have a name suggestion for his upcoming development: Sties by the Charles. Other suggestions welcome.
A community benefit they may include in the project's filling is that it will create an unusual number of jobs. For building inspectors and lawyers that is.
If you are wondering why, just google Anwar's full name.
Bad jokes aside, has this guy ever developed anything new?
His tentacles are everywhere
I don’t know if he has developed anything before, but he recently opened the Iris Hotel in Coolidge Corner in a 10ish story renovated building.
It's better than being
It's better than being homeless. Have you ever been homeless? I'll take someone's garage now just to sleep for 24 hours
Wouldn't it be great if the
Wouldn't it be great if the BPD actually patrolled VFW? The intersections at Baker and LaGrange are insanely dangerous and confusing. It's basically a game of chicken every time the light changes. I'm sure 121 new housing units will fix that though.