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Six-story residential building proposed off Harrison Avenue in Nubian Square
By adamg on Thu, 07/22/2021 - 12:54pm
Rendering by Hresko Associates.
A developer has filed plans with the BPDA to replace a coin-op laundry on Taber St. at Harrison Avenue in Nubian Square with a six-story, 30-unit residential building.
Klaus Kimel's $11.3-million proposal also calls for ground-floor retail space and a garage with space for five cars in the proposed building, located about a block from the Nubian Square bus station.
Kimel bought the laundromat, on a 8,900-square-foot lot, for $1.8 million in December. His proposal is somewhat unusual for Nubian Square in that it involves a privately owned lot; most other recent proposals in Nubian Square have involved city-owned lots given to developers in exchange for higher levels of affordable housing than normally required.
The units would be split between one and two bedrooms. Six would be marketed as affordable - in this case to people making up to 80% of the Boston area median income.
The proposal calls for an underground garage with room for five cars.
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Comments
Great Project!
With 80% AMI affordability it will make a meaningful contribution to finishing the job of gentrification in Roxbury. That six story wood over steel design is destined to be a classic. They are being stuffed into every open lot in Boston. Future architectural students will likely spend their careers modifying these homogenous warehouses for the masses.
How do you feel about triple
How do you feel about triple deckers?
But
Where will the nearby residents wash their clothes???
https://www.universalhub.com/2021/board-rejects-conversion-allston-laund...
EXACTLY! If I were the Mr.
EXACTLY! If I were the Mr. Nassif, I would file an appeal at superior court toot sweet!
An underground garage for
An underground garage for just 5 cars seems a little strange. How much will that cost? It will take out some street spaces for its curb cuts, so it's almost no net addition of parking spaces.
Minimum parking requirements
Minimum parking requirements really need to be abolished in Boston.
Not that the parking argument deserves merit
Not that the parking argument deserves merit, but there is an existing curb cut on Harrison and no parking on that side of Taber, either. It is likely only 5 cars because the building's systems need to be in the basement, too.
That said, it's a block from one of the largest public transit hubs in the city, so I'd be just as happy with 0 parking spots.
MEP
The garage parking is at grade, not below. Electrical is in the garage area, mechanical is on the roof. I know roof space is ideal from an apartment community space standpoint, but from a resiliency view, putting all MEP on an upper level is better. Yes, this site is at a higher elevation, but it can't hurt to be ready.
In addition to the 5 pkg spots at the 1st level, there is a bicycle room, exercise, shower, and lounge rooms (connected), the two retail spaces, lobby, elevator, trash, and mail rooms. One of those spots is HC Accessible right next to the elevator.
I think it's not awful to have that amount of parking within the building perimeter.
Ugly. Unaffordable.
The neighborhood loses a laundromat at the very least temporarily and possibly permanently, if the retail space is not used for one.
What is anyone not profiting from this supposed to like about it?
8
8 more affordable units than what exists there now, plus 22 more housing units.
Affordable for who?
Not likely for those in the neighborhood who use a laundromat.
If laundromats are a public necessity...
then they should be built and provided by the city. The idea that we should restrict housing in order to support private businesses like that is ludicrous.
That housing is also …
… private business.
There’s also another
There’s also another laundromat just a few blocks up after Harrison becomes Warren. People will be just fine.
Sweden
When I went to Sweden 2 years ago, I was there for 3 weeks, and I only took a weeks worth of clothes. When I traveled to other offices in other cities, I just find some laundromat and wash clothes as needed. (usually sundays if I am there over a weekend)
Welp..Sweden, laundromats really aren't a thing & so I paid over $130 for some of the best washed, best folded, and neatly wrapped in paper laundry I have ever had.
I went back here to Boston pretty much assuming I would have to eat the 130 dollars. But I asked my boss, and she approved it. And I asked about laundromats in Sweden and why I could not find one.
She replied and said most apartment buildings its required to have onsite laundry and there's a requirement for how many washers/dryers per number of units. In fact, in Swedish Apt building you need to 'make an appointment' to do laundry, and its the most common rift in apartment buildings (people not showing and/or using others time slots).
So if they can do it there, I can't see why we can't do it here. If we couple this with dumping some of these stupid parking requirements, there would be space for a big nice modern laundry room.
Totally
The city could also gradually require in-unit laundry just like they require stoves and fridges. The main objections I hear from most people are that "they'll flood the place" (then maintain your shit and require renter's insurance in addition to being well-insured yourself) and "they'll be doing everyone's laundry then" (well, no, not if everyone else also has laundry).
Bad precedent
No. Just say no to this.
Unaffordable, not enough affordable units, ugly.
10 taber was bad enough as a 645k 2bd filled condo development.
do not INVITE gentrification. Anything new built here needs to be at least 30% affordable with at least 13% under 60% AMI. Mayors office should not support this. This seems counter to the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan.
Is that so?
Would you be willing to compensate the developer for their losses on all those giveaway units you're demanding, or are you only generous with other people's money?
We really don’t subside
We really don’t subside developer/speculators enough in Boston. The tax breaks, variances etc just aren’t enough. They suffer terribly. It breaks my heart! We should be ashamed.
This project just barely
This project just barely makes up for when the Goodwill industries training center took over space that was occupied by the Grey Lines maintenance depot, 3 3 story brownstones (one of which was my Grandmother's), a single family wooden house and a large warehouse dedicated to magazine distribution around the country also run by Grey Lines IIRC.
Better some housing than none and the City needs to give up this median income nonsense and just state the most you can make to live in so called affordable units. It's very confusing.
The last part
I agree with most of this, but what's confusing? The housing programs make charts based on either area median income or federal poverty level, and you look up your family size and see if you qualify: https://www.mass.gov/doc/erma-area-median-income-information/download
Median income makes more sense to use, because we're in a high income area. 50% AMI for Boston metro is about 350% of the federal poverty level and 80% AMI is about 500% FPL. If they made low-income/moderate-income programs and advertised them as "for families making up to 500% of the federal poverty level," people who aren't familiar with such things would flip the fuck out that we're giving apartments to filthy rich people, because 5 times anything sets off alarm bells.