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A bit late: City orders halt to demolition of West Roxbury house after it's already been demolished
By adamg on Sat, 08/13/2022 - 3:07pm
Friday, one day after a contractor demolished the old Keith House on Centre Street, ISD issued a stop-work order rescinding the permission it had granted Tuesday for the work.
Developer Gary Martell tore down the house, built in 1839, to make way for a 21-unit condo building he wants to build. He also plans to tear down the former People's Federal Savings Bank building next door, although he has yet to receive permission from the BPDA to actually put up the condos.
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Comments
A day late and a dollar short
What reason, if any, did they give for rescinding the permission?
Because they didn't mean to give him permission?
I get that Martel is not the most sympathetic person in the area, but man, giving him permission to demolish the building just to put a stop work order for the demolition after it happened is not a good look for the Inspectional Services Department.
Does ISD ever have a good look?
n/t
Good question
I don't know, but will try to find out on Monday (I only heard about this today).
It is a Stop Work order
It could apply to more than just the tearing down the building. Not that I know what that would be, but I am not a building inspector.
The SWO sign is also on the bank building
So they can' t do any more work on any part of the property.
Looks better already….
Martell may not be a neighborhood favorite, but the decrepit house left by the Gilmore realtors was an eyesore. Take the bank next, which has been abandoned for years. While he’s at take out family dollar and the smoke shop and planet fitness. West Main Streets needs a major overhaul. As do many of the buildings in that few block stretch.
Well, technically, the work has stopped
So they're in compliance.
Username
checks out.
Looks like even the debris
Looks like even the debris was gone by the time they issued that stop work order. Developers wasn't messing around. He wants that sweet, sweet, condo money.
Personally I think condos are a scam. So, you by the unit but you pay continue to pay condo fees that are usually the equivalent of area rents. As Jerry Seinfeld would say: "What's up with that?".
A scam?
The condo fees cover amenities and common services. It’s not going into someone’s pocket. And they’re never equivalent to area rents. No idea where you got that one from unless you’re comparing a 3000sqft penthouse condo fee to a 1 bed 1900 apartment in the basement.
most condo fees are very
most condo fees are very reasonable, hold any large tower type building where they can get into the 1,000 dollar territory. what this builder is building my guess is the condo fee will be in the range of 300-400 a month per unit depending on the size of the unit. if you're finding rents in the 3-400 dollar range, you should be posting that info rather than spewing fake news.
My condo fee
Is less than the rent I paid 25 years ago, and it includes heat/AC as well as a staffed front desk. And I'm in a better neighborhood, too.
In a situation where NIMBYs will try to use all manner of pretexts to try to block a project, if you can get permission to eliminate one of those pretexts, however fleeting, you move on it before some other bureaucrat yanks away that permission. The guy had a valid permit in-hand so he used it.
Umm, what?
New construction two bedroom would cost you a cool $4,000 to rent, where in the world did you see condos with $4,000 monthly condo fee?
Good for him. Nothing worse
Good for him. Nothing worse than a demo job and then all the trash lays around for weeks while they screw around to get a dumpster in there. One and done and cleared out.
Condo fees are good training wheels for young homebuyers. We bought a condo and a year later the roof needed replacing after the winter of 14-15. Condo fees had gone into reserves and so our out of pocket expenses was only a couple thousand instead of tens of thousands. Very helpful.
Being reasonable
We could dispense with all the conflict if this guy would just be reasonable and build the historic banks, drive-through ATMs, and parking spots that West Roxbury desperately needs.
Make him reconstruct it like
Make him reconstruct it like they did with those chase windows.
For those just tuning in ...
I believe the caller is referring to the controversy on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, where Chase put a branch where an Indian restaurant used to be and in the process tore out the interesting windows and put in plodding,dull, bank-type windows and then, in the face of protests and stuff, restored the old windows.
As opposed to the windows on the Chase ATM storefront on Centre Street in West Roxbury, which nobody cares about.
Should reconstruct the street car lines
Since this community seems so concerned about preserving and restoring things from the past.
Get the lawyers. Tie it up
Get the lawyers. Tie it up in legal tape. Be careful what you wish for. And that goes for both sides.