GentriWatch: Luxurious, Oceanfront Property on…Revere Beach?
Welcome to GentriWatch, where we look for signs of gentrification happening around the city.
Photo by Bill Ilott on Flickr/Creative Commons
What do you think of when you picture Revere Beach? Kelly’s Roast Beef? Long-gone roller coasters? Hope Davis’ 1998 flick Next Stop Wonderland? How about luxury apartments?
A Massachusetts developer wants to put a five-story, 234-unit luxury residential building on Revere Beach Boulevard, reports Boston.com’s Megan Turchi. Weston’s Baystone Development, which purchased the property in September, hopes to break ground this spring.
The building at 526-546 Revere Beach Boulevard, the previously proposed site of a 12-story condo tower, will include a swimming pool, rooftop deck, gym, movie theater, and an “interactive sports room where you can play golf, tennis, and football on a simulator,” Turchi reports.
• • •
Rendering via Boston Redevelopment Authority
City development officials will once again review Tremont Crossing, a 2 million square-foot, mixed-use project in Roxbury, following a long delay and subsequent, significant redesign.
The project, anchored by a BJ’s Wholesale Club and located near the Ruggles MBTA stop on the Orange Line, will include 26-story and 31-story residential towers, a 12-story office tower, a hotel, and a museum for the National Center of Afro-American Artists, reports the Boston Business Journal‘s Catherine Carlock.
Tremont Crossing, located at the corner of Whittier and Tremont Streets, will also include an above-ground, 1,587-space parking structure, as well as 116,500 square feet of “neighborhood retail.”
• • •
Boston City Council held a hearing on the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s proposed 10-year extension on its urban renewal powers in 14 designated areas across the city. Mayor Marty Walsh’s economic development chief John Barros, speaking in favor of the extension, said the city is pursuing “growth without displacement.”
“These tools, as you say, can create additional opportunities and increase economic development, but they also supersede community feedback in a lot of cases, as they have in the past, and they provide the ability to expedite processes, often at the expense of fuller conversation with the community,” Council President Michelle Wu told Barros. While she opposes a 10-year extension, Wu said she’d be open to a shorter term with more oversight and regular reports.
Notice something changing in your neighborhood? Let me know: kclauss@bostonmagazine.com, @KyleClauss.
