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Putting the home in Down Home: Owners of Southern restaurant in Four Corners propose seven-story apartment building
By adamg on Wed, 10/30/2024 - 9:37am
Rendering by Stack and Co.
The family that owns Down Home Delivery & Catering at 2 Bowdoin St. in Dorchester's Four Corners has filed plans to replace their building with a seven-story apartment building - with 2,400 square feet of ground-floor space for their restaurant to move back into.
The Webster family's proposed 22-unit building would be one story taller than typical modern Boston apartment buildings because rather than the typical construction of a steel-and-concrete "podium" topped by five floors made of wood beams, the entire structure will be built out of cross-laminated timber, a strong wood product that means fewer carbon emissions than from creating steel and concrete, according to the family's filing with the Boston Planning Department.
The building would have five one-bedroom apartments, ten one-bedroom apartments with dens and seven two-bedroom units. Four of the apartments would be rented as affordable.
The building would also have a roof deck for residents.
The building, which is near the 23 bus route on Washington Street and less than a half mile from other routes and the Four Corners/Geneva Fairmount Line stop, would have no parking.
The filing includes letters of support from the United Neighborhood Association, the Mt. Bowdoin Betterment Association, Four Corners Main Streets, state representatives Chris Worrell and Russell Holmes and state Sen. Nick Collins.
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Comments
This picture makes no sense to me
Bowdoin ave goes up hill. I tried to recreate the perspective in google street view
perspective
The illustration has the viewer on Washington Street, looking north towards the commuter rail. This is at the very top of Bowdoin St, @ Bowdoin Ave & @ Washington, before it turns into Harvard.
Non CDC Development
That is good for the neighborhood.
It shows that demand is there for private, not just non-profit developers, to come into the area for developments beyond infill three-deckers, which is also happening in this area, especially up the hill.
The development on newer buildings just steps from here on Washington Street have been the work of CDCs like the great Viet-Aid.
Now if that corner lot which has been vacant since I was a kid on the SE corner of Washington and Bowdoin could get filled, what a great piece of streetscape there would be for the area.
I think this picture was
I think this picture was painted by someone in the middle of that lot.
Throwing down the gauntlet
22 units without a parking garage is a pretty bold challenge to NIMBYs. I hope they succeed in building it.
honestly, any of these
honestly, any of these buildings that have a guaranteed retail for these first floor spaces should get auto-approval. Really sick of walking past empty first floor retail spaces. Makes the buildings feel really dead.
Looks great, lets build it!
Looks great, lets build it!
That’s four stories too many.
That’s four stories too many.
Triple deckers should be the limit for most areas. Sunlight is a gift.
Not at high visibility locations
Triple deckers are great, they are an efficient way to bring housing density without noticeably changing the overall neighborhood profile. They have long been an important part of how Boston houses residents. But they are not the only option, and certainly not the best option for all locations. This is a highly trafficked five point intersection, and this parcel is the most prominent corner. It's better to have a marquis building there, with greater height and flourish to contribute to the overall place-making. There is plenty of room for tripple deckers as you move away from that location.
Thanks. That’s heartening and
Thanks. That’s heartening and as I read this I can picture how that fits and I hope height doesn’t creep down the block by its precedence. It seems like a number of Dunkin’ Donuts buildings were built in my area that exceeded the necessary height. I also remember a petition on the counter of the Fresh Pond Parkway by the Sunoco to muster signatures to exceed the height limit and voilà, a bunch of higher buildings appeared.
Balderdash
I work on the 10th floor of a building amid much higher towers in the Financial District. My windows face east. I get so much sunlight most days that I have to keep shutting the shades in the morning and reopening them later. Sunlight gets in places you wouldn't even believe.
Feel free to move to Kansas.
Feel free to move to Kansas. No mountains or tall buildings to block your sunlight. The rest of us who chose to live in the city aren't afraid of a 7 story building.
I do feel free to, but I also
I do feel free to-in theory, but I also feel free to petition for the preservation of the character of New England.
There is a grade here
The difference in heights allows for a taller building there that doesn't block sunlight from other properties.
Allowing structures
over 40’ in height has not helped the perceived shortage of housing in the Boston area. Just because you cannot afford to live in Boston doesn’t mean there’s a shortage. Look at all the nee neighborhoods created in the City.
There is a shortage…
I could write several pages about how wrong this comment is, but suffice to say it’s pretty widely accepted that there is a housing shortage in Boston.
It’s something both left, right, and non-partisan groups agree on:
Pioneer Institute (right-leaning): https://pioneerinstitute.org/economic_opportunity/study-finds-supply-sho...
Progressive Mass (left-leaning):
https://www.progressivemass.com/tag/housing/
The Boston Foundation (basically middle):
https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/reports/2023/november/2023-greater...
Translation
IGMFY