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South Boston conveyor-belt company could be replaced by, of course, a residential building
By adamg on Fri, 04/28/2017 - 12:29pm
A company that has sold conveyor belts and motors at 20 West 5 St. since 1970 has reached a deal to move out so a developer can build 54 residential units.
In a "letter of intent" filed with the BPDA yesterday, developer Timothy Russell says he would provide 41 parking spaces in a ground-level garage, in an area served by the 47, 9 and 11 buses and the nearby Broadway Red Line station.
The site is about three blocks from where another developer wants to replace a gas station with a residential building.
Russell says he would tear down the existing Colmar Belting Co. building and that the company, which has been around for 80 years, would move to a new location.
20 W. 5 St. letter of intent (7.6M PDF).
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Comments
RIP old neighborhood
I lived across the street from Colmar, and I wondered if the tidal wave of gentrification would breech that old establishment, or be held off leaving one small square block of Southie untouched.
Guess this answers that question.
If you were to do a quick
If you were to do a quick survey of all of the law-margin non-retail small business owners in your area (e.g. plumbing supply places, light manufacturing, auto service centers, gas stations), I bet you would find that nearly 100 percent of them are basically squatting on the land until they can retire on the proceeds from its sale. And this makes a certain amount of sense. You can always truck in plumbing supplies and conveyor belts from be burbs, but people who want to be able to walk to work and the grocery store generally have to live in the city.
In short, expect the construction of new condo buildings to continue for many years and try to look at the positives: Less sprawl, less driving, more foot traffic (which ultimately means more retail businesses for everyone and more jobs in the city).
It adds traffic, plenty of
It adds traffic, plenty of cars come with the new condos. More development doesn't just happen in less dense areas because you don't allow it in more dense areas. Plenty of places can limit what can be developed, because just adding more is not always a good thing. It's not a requirement that all growth be created in certain locations just because there's a demand for it where it's creating congestion.
It's not a requirement that
There is if you don't want to see rents go up. Otherwise what you've done is create a shortage of housing where people want to be, and that inevitably drives up prices.
And I refuse to entertain the traffic argument at all. Preventing construction of new housing in walkable areas forces people to live in less walkable areas which means they have to drive more which means more traffic for everyone.
There are always going to be
There are always going to be higher prices in places that are more desirable. That doesn't mean you can just keep adding more development.
It is not good or realistic to keep prices steady by just creating undesirable and overcrowded conditions just because you don't like the idea that prices keep going up. There are other reasons they keep going up to, like investors.
Refusing to entertain the idea that more housing doesn't bring in more cars in any location is not realistic. There has been plenty of new development in walk able areas and only more parking issues. People aren't just going to move to other areas because it's not a requirement that everything be constantly overbuilt.
The bottom line is that just
The bottom line is that just building a bunch of housing and hoping it keeps prices steady is not a good idea if it's creating unreasonable congestion for people that already residing there, and making things less sustainable. It's not a requirement that all desirable locations overdevelop to keep prices steady, especially when there's many things causing prices to go up.
It is if you want a work
It is if you want a work force. You can only push workers making under $50k/yr out so far before they cannot afford to commute to the city. The other option is to pay for decent public transportation; unfortunately, the state's voters seem to have other priorities.
More development means you
More development means you need to spend even more to offset increased congestion, so that's not really an easy option.
"Tidal Wave of Gentrification"
Um, that's a two way street.
Reminds me of some dimwit on a bus in Somerville in the late '80s spewing hate speech against "yuppies" until her friend asked "How's your Ma doin in Florida"?
In other words, part of her problem wasn't the people coming in but her Mother cashing out on a home that she had likely inherited from her parents.
Ah, but so much easier to blame "gentrification" or "yuppies" and such, right?
There would be no gentrification if it weren't for people selling property - and many of those selling property are not mega landlords but people who view the value of their property as a liquid asset come retirement.
A shame...
Where am I going to get my conveyor belts now?
You could really go round-and
You could really go round-and-round trying to answer that question...
China, like everything else.
China, like everything else.
Amazon
.
Demolish That Triangle
Draw a traingle with Dot Ave, West Broadway and South Boston Bypass Road...every old building in that triangle should be demolished and built into housing, office and retail.
that whole area is an eyesore...
Move
if you don't like it. Stop telling people how to live. Oh wait, you did move. Good riddance.
Oh wait, you did move. Good
huh? I am still here. just not the SoBo Yuppie but a member of the community that cares about quality of life issues. specifically for our elderly residents. Which is why I was cheering for the Senators to beat the Bruins. Now my elderly neighbors don't need to deal with all the Bruins fans that come in to South Boston to watch the games at all the bars and lower the quality of life for everyone.
On behalf of all South Boston Residents...thank you Ottawa Senators.
- An Actual South Boston Resident
What they don't need are
What they don't need are newer residents who come in, call themselves members of the community for a few year's, making it become a boring interchangeable place without a sense of community, then leave. Living there for a while is not the same as being a member of the community. A lot of people move this region, and realize how much nicer it is than where they left, and become resentful and criticize locals, when it's they who moved.
New construction is ....
... usually a worse eyesore. Old buildings have character.
Nothing says character
Like a single story cinder block building with no windows.
*some* old buildings have
*some* old buildings have character
That's because we tend to
That's because we tend to keep the good ones and get rid of the bad.