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Plans to convert former East Boston church into condos approved
By adamg on Tue, 04/30/2019 - 1:15pm
Architect's rendering of new development, with former church building on the right.
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved a developer's plan to turn the former Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church at Frankfort and Gove streets in East Boston into 14 condos - and to build 94 more on former church land across the street.
The board's approval comes after nearly two years of negotiations between developers Timothy White and Lou Cabral and neighbors and former parishioners - many still upset by the Archdiocese of Boston's 2004 decision to close the church.
The developers agreed to keep the exterior of the church as part of the negotiations - and will build a "reflection garden" open to the public.
Under the plans approved by the zoning board today, and by the BPDA last month, the developers will tear down two existing buildings across Gove Street from the church and replace them with an entirely new six-story building. In total, the project will have 79 one-bedroom condos and 29 two-bedroom condos - with 14 units sold as affordable, half to people making up to 100% of the Boston-area median income and the other half to people making no more than 80% of it.
The project will have 84 parking spaces - 71 in a garage, the rest at street level.
Frankfort/Gove presentation (8.2M PDF).
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Comments
It looks like an office
It looks like an office building
It looks extremely cheap, It
It looks extremely cheap, It looks like a MEDICAL LAB as if it belongs somewhere along Western ave in Allston/Brighton.
It doesnt fit in with all the traditional looking buildings that surround the area.
So another net loss of parking space for East Boston . . .
108 units - which I think under zoning requirements should have at least 108 spaces, and optimally 135, but only has 84 - that's 24 more cars competing for spaces on the street. Recently I had to sit through a presentation in which a developer actually proposed replacing a parking lot with a condo development that included NO parking. It's just gotten absurd. I'm not really sure how East Boston residents can stop the City from destroying our neighborhood, but we have to think of a way . . .
Good
This development is a 7 minute walk from Maverick, and developments located close to T stations are encouraged to lower the amount of parking they offer, and I applaud that.
This is my neighborhood too, and it's about time we get rid of the notion that every single person should own a car in the first place. I do not own a car, and I haven't for 12+ years. I survive just fine. Sure, there are cases where people really need one, but the vast majority of people simply do not.
Let's not forget that this city is in a housing crisis, and it will also lower the cost of development if developers are not required to build 1.25 space for every unit. I would much rather have an extra 10 units built than an extra 10 cars not parking on the street in the neighborhood.
And if you really want to talk about what is ruining neighborhoods, look no further than the car itself. They kill people and pollute the atmosphere. I'm not going to argue we should abolish car ownership because that would be stupid, but I guarantee you a neighborhood without cars would have a higher quality of life than a neighborhood where everyone owns a car with their own parking space.
Let me ask you one final question - do you own an offstreet parking space for your car? Because if you don't, you have no right to sit there and argue that, because you got there first, everyone else now needs to have their offstreet parking so you aren't inconvenienced in your search for a free place to park your personal property on public property.
Good
let me know when you put a deposit down on one of these. I think a lot of mouths who post here saying dense development with no parking is "good" have no intentions of leaving their mother's basement.
yeaaa
I post here saying denser urban development with LESS parking is good because pretty much all research in urban planning tends to agree.
Imagine being more upset
Imagine being more upset about condos than about your priests molesting hundreds of kids in the Boston area.
Seeing churches turned into something useful is a beautiful sight.
Imagine being filled with such hate
That you make up crap about a parish you know nothing about.
Bulldoze Every Cathedral in Europe?
What a stupid bigoted comment to make . .