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105 more condos approved for South Boston
By adamg on Thu, 07/16/2015 - 7:09pm
The BRA today approved a 105-condo building at 45 W. 3 Street, proposed by Spaulding and Slye.
The project will have 109 underground parking spaces. The company originally proposed apartments, but opposition from neighbors convinced them to change them to condos.
Project details (4.5M PDF).
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Comments
more condos
I tell ya, they'd better find a new location for this ward of Southie to vote in if there are any more popular elections coming up..
Nice link.
Is the structure on the
Is the structure on the corner existing? If so, +1 for a new spite building - invented here after all :)
Existing
KO Pies is there and refused to sell.
wow!
Hacin has really lost their edge...pretty dull stuff
I thought "the car is no longer king"
50% of Boston doesn't own a car. Why does this development have +100% parking spaces?
Because Southie has been
Because Southie has been colonized by ex suburbanites still addicted to cars and the old time residents also have a "walking is for chumps" attitude hence the childish space saving nonsense.
It's the one part of the city which wants to make it known "WE ARE IN BOSTON!!!!" while still clinging to very suburbanite got mine attitudes.
Cars for kids
Try taking your kids to a hockey game down the rink in the middle of the winter on a bike. Try taking your kids down Castle Island for a hot dog and ice cream in an Uber car. Oh, that's right you Yuppies don't have kids.
I don't suspect
the comment above was made by a Yuppie
The two yuppie families
The two yuppie families in my condo have kids and I see tons of yuppie soccer moms pushing strollers around.
Oh that's right, you don't know the new SoBo!
Try taking your kids down
Try the bus. Or walking. And, for the record, one could certainly ride to Castle Island (and back) in an Uber.
Well a lot of people in
Well a lot of people in Boston that don't have your wealth have no cars and take their kids to parks like castle island or little league practice by public transit, which south Boston has many options (3 red line stops and multiple bus routes including some that go to castle island.
You sound like a realtor
Bus rotes that go out to Castle Island? Which one? The nearest bus stop is more than a half mile away. Like the realtors who suck you fools into buying a condo "steps from Castle Island". The nearest condo is about 5000 steps from the Island.
Blah blah blah I have kids so I'm special
I take my three kids to Castle Island and everywhere else by bike.
And I live in the South End.
lol
Just lol
Are you fkn kidding me?
Are you fkn kidding me?
50%
Of the housing units in Southie own two or more cars. That's why.
Believe me, the locals want
Believe me, the locals want those parking spaces because if you get politically correct and reduce the number because of "climate change", the new residents' cars will just spill into neighborhoods and into space saver wars.
Exactly
the BRA should have required 3 more floors on top of this design, add 300 more units with an additional 200 parking spots and that way it would keep the Yuppies down the Lower End and out of the neighborhoods.
I hope they're going to be
I hope they're going to be 'luxury' condos.
Does anyone know why the
Does anyone know why the proposal for apartments was opposed? (I'm having trouble with the .pdf, probably because my computer is in a death spiral; apologies if it's addressed in there.)
I'd guess
Local residents thought apartment dwellers are more transient, and wouldn't care about the neighborhood as much as condo dwellers?
Likely. And it's nonsense, of
Likely. And it's nonsense, of course. And not just because you can rent out your condo.
I wouldn't that its nonsense,
I wouldn't that its nonsense, at least by the argument that one can rent out the condo. I mean a person who can buy rather than rent would mean a person of more means. Usually that implies more wealth to the neighborhood.
Even though many may just rent it out, unless every unit get rented out, some owners will live in the condo. Also a building rented out via a large number of owners is probably better than a single company renting it out in terms of wealth distribution.
A better question would be if there is a real difference if it is own by condo owners or just rented out. In my head, I think it is less obvious than it looks.
And were the neighborhood
NIMBYs required to submit actual evidence to prove their point? Of course not. Because we live in a world where developers are presumed to be guilty until proven innocent, and where those that are least expert in such matters are presumed to be correct.
4 years ago Southie condos
4 years ago Southie condos sat on the market for a couple months. 4 years ago I would chase guys with needles in their arms out of my back yard almost monthly in the Andrew square area. This is not an analogy this is fact. 2 years ago condos sold before the drywall was up. Currently, they sell before they break ground. Instead of junkies, I see gay couples and yuppies in BMWs. To say the demand is higher than the supply is an understatement. And these are people with jobs that allow them to actually afford their mortgage. They're about to knock down the Crown linen factory and all the surrounding factories, and put up two 20 story residential towers. There is no point further arguing against development in Southie - it's past the tipping point. The energy should be redirected towards finding solutions for parking. Everything the city proposes, the older families oppose. The best solution I can see is one way the streets and put in angle parking. They tried to one way the streets- the older families were literally SCREAMING at city representatives during town hall meetings. The newer residents almost all supported it. The suggestion of the older families is to build city parking lots / garages. Yes, that would be amazing - but it's just never going to happen. There is no point arguing an idea if it's literally a pipe dream. Be willing to compromise. Angled parking is not a horrible idea. In fact it's not even a bad idea. I think it's a good idea but I can see why some have reservations. But as a community we can come together and over come them. It's like when the Bush administration gave no money for electric car development but poured it into hydrogen cars. Here we are 12 years later with no affordable hydrogen cars and a very very promising electric car market.
But individuals in the bordering areas of Dorchester should definitely be taking note. Savin Hall has already begun the gentrification process. People are renting there that would NEVER imagine so much as driving through that area 5 years ago.
parking = more traffic
let's follow the path to conclusion:
long-time resident's want new projects to have an abundance of parking to protect their own on-street spaces
projects approved with two cars/unit
thousands of new residents with cars move in
thousands of car trips added per week
gridlock
expanded underground public transit?
A lot of people are moving
A lot of people are moving into these units, keeping a car onsite, but not using it for daily work commutes. They're using them for errands at night, trips on weekends, etc. I agree with the tenor of your post, they should be encouraging people who don't really need a car to not own one if possible. But, I also don't think it's correct to think these people are all using their cars that frequently either. Just adding a little context.
agreed
We live in the "Broadway Village" (ugh) area of Southie in a condo with a garage space, and we have one car that gets driven once or twice on the weekends. My husband walks to work in the Back Bay and I run all my errands on foot on on the T/bus. I think a lot of our neighbors are in the same boat.
I think the real question is
I think the real question is would you have considered living there at all if the garage space had not been available?
Exactly, you only have to
Exactly, you only have to look to the Seaport/Innovation District/Waterfront whatever its called to see what tons of parking spaces and little public transit offers. Every office building they put up there has 100s of spaces, the condo buildings have hundreds each more, and the mall they are putting up has close to a 1000 planned. The convention center and all the hotels have 1000s more. And the city seems surprised that a huge new area with zero subway stops and only a bus that does crazy eights on its way from south station to the airport between 5-10 mph and already beyond capacity isnt enough?
No apartments please - keep
No apartments please - keep the working class scum out of our beautiful South Boston. Which we bought from working class scum.