GentriWatch: Farewell to The Littlest Bar, Condos Proposed in Rozzie
Welcome to GentriWatch, where we look for signs of gentrification happening around the city.
Rendering via Boston Redevelopment Authority
A GAS STATION in Roslindale left vacant for nearly a decade could soon be replaced with condominiums.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority is reviewing a project at 100 Weld Street, located on the Roslindale-West Roxbury line, that would feature 17 condo units and 29 parking spaces, as well as storage and retail space. Because the proposed redevelopment conforms with the area’s current zoning, owner Horizon Development of Braintree would not be required to make any of the units affordable.
Prior to the BRA’s public hearing on the 100 Weld project, spokesperson Nick Martin told Boston magazine that two preliminary meetings with community members went reasonably well. The comment period will remain open until September 10, and could be extended if need be, Martin says.
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DAVID PRICE, community development leader at Roxbury‘s Nuestra Comunidad, spotted this flier in Dudley Square proclaiming “GENTRIFICATION IS THE NEW COLONIALISM.”
https://twitter.com/nuestradavid/status/636144211163791360?refsrc=email&s=11
“Stop acting like you haven’t notice [sic] the change in the faces in Boston’s urban neighborhoods. It is happening because of Boston’s downtown development of busines skyscrapers promising new good-paying jobs and the new housing development that is taking place in our neighborhoods,” the flier reads. “People outside of our communities receive the news of these developments many years before we are aware of it and they take advantage. These people not only contimplated [sic] buying houses and condos now and in the future, but already have moved in projects and low-income housing in our area.”
Earlier this summer, plans were announced for Roxbury’s first residential tower on Washington Street in Dudley Square. At 25 stories, the steel and glass tower would be the tallest such structure ever built in Roxbury, reports the Bay State Banner, featuring 392,355 square feet of commercial, office and residential space. The catch? The project’s city-mandated affordable housing units would not be included in the tower, but somewhere else.
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Rendering via Boston Redevelopment Authority
YOU HAVE UNTIL September 15 to enjoy a pint or two at The Littlest Bar and The Times Irish Pub and Restaurant on Broad Street at the edge of the Greenway before they’re forced out by luxury apartments. Approved by the BRA in April and proposed by New Boston Ventures—the same folks behind the Residences at 945 East Broadway, bringing “yuppies and puppies” to South Boston—110 Broad Street will include 40 units, bike storage, an underground parking garage, and ground-floor retail, reports Curbed.
The Littlest Bar announced the closing date on its Facebook page (adding a presumably sarcastic “Yippee”). The Times, meanwhile, will move into the space at 99 Broad Street, reports Eater.
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TIME MAGAZINE compiled a list of the 25 richest stores in America by comparing nearly 3,000 nationwide chains with locations in 20 or more states, and ranking them by the median household income of the counties in which their stores are located. Of these 25, the top 24 chains all have locations in the Greater Boston area, thanks in large part to the I-495 Corridor’s smattering of malls in Natick, Burlington, Braintree, and Peabody, as well as Back Bay’s Copley Place and Newbury Street.
Notice something changing in your neighborhood? Let me know: kclauss@bostonmagazine.com, @KyleClauss.
