Pretend that your fourth cousin-twice removed (whom you have never met) has just died, leaving you, his only heir, a billion dollars, after taxes. 🙂 Pretend you love Newton and care about its future as much as you care about anything.
You have just noticed a listing on Zillow that intrigues you. For a mere $18.5 million you may be the proud owner of the 6.02 acres at 15 Walnut Park in Newtonville. The listing has been on Zillow for 65 days. The property is adjacent to Washington Street between Jackson Homestead and the Turnpike Exit at Newton Corner. Let’s brainstorm here.
Abutters and residents of the near area, what would you like to see there?
Residents of Newton further from this property, what would you like to see there?
Developers and planners – please let the residents speak out about what they value and would like to have preserved/demolished/constructed on this prime real estate target. Consider it free market research!
Residents…please identify the village in which you reside so we can be sensitive to the distance of your focus from the proposals. My request to our Village 14 Editor: if anyone uses the term NIMBY, please expunge their response! Let’s figure this one out from the ground up for a change! Politely. Dream big or small and share your thoughts and wishes.
School!!
Sorry, Sallee. The city just spent its pin money on another school. 😉
According to the offering memorandum, the site has been up for sale or lease for over 4 years. http://www.wsarealty.com/index.cfm/page/15-Walnut-Park,-Newton,-MA/cdid/10508/pid/10266
Ted: It would Zervas well to recognize that one cannot have too many excellent schools! 😉
*headdesk*
Senior housing along with a community center / senior center!
A multi-plex with a different Jerry Reilly-conceived entertainment concept in each room.
@Doug: The brochure says “non-profit or educational institutions”…but, if it’s been on the market for 4 years, let’s pretend it could have alternate uses, too. Tabula rasa on this one.
@Andreae: Another school is the obvious use, especially at the $18.5mil vs. $36million price tag for a new one on a much smaller piece of land!
@Native: Senior center/community center is a great thought. I would add Performing Arts Center to the senior center/community center shared use!
For years I have been begging the administration to grab it for a school. It could house two schools – or under the newer, larger school model – could be the 16th elementary school or a middle school, and can also house the ever expanding pre-school.
Given our current and projected needs, it’s mind boggling that the city has not acquired this property for educational purposes. If it continues to sit on the market long enough, the price will be reduced and developers will be lining up to build a 40B, which ironically will increase the need for more classrooms.
What Amy Said.
And What Mike Said too!
Are you listening, School Committee?
I didn’t know the property was up for sale. On the surface it looks like a very attractive addition. Has the School Committee even considered it?
Sallee, all kidding aside, that $18.5 million is not in the city’s capital improvement plan or the budget. Do you think Newton voters would support a debt exclusion to buy Aquinas?
Could fixing Zervas (without expanding it nor buying neighborhood home) plus buying Aquinas have been accomplished for close to what’s being spent for the expanded Zervas that no one seems happy with?
In an ideal world, I would like to see the City acquire the property and use it to expand the Springboard program (housed at the Ed Center) and Central High (Newton’s 3rd high school) and “the Shed”, aka former auto shop at Newton South where kids are housed for 45 day extended evaluations. There is a huge need for high quality, alternative education programs for kids struggling with mental health issues and short term placements. Springboard serves kids with emotional struggles, but not kids on IEP’s. Central High inappropriately mixes kids with severe psychiatric issues with kids whose primary issues are behavioral. And then, the Shed is a short term catchall for everyone from kids stepping down from an in-patient hospitalization to kids needing extended evaluations. I’d love to see the city bring these kids out of the shadows.
Great comment from Lisap. I agree 100%. The city needs better space for alternative education programs. Not just for those who are struggling with psychiatric or behavioral issues, but for those who would be better served in an alternative learning environment.
I was most fortunate to have spent my high school years at Murray Road, Newton’s highly regarded [but long ago shuttered] alternative high school. Murray Road was the best educational experience of my academic life. If not for that experience, I would be a different person today. It pains me that my own children were not given the opportunity to choose that type of education.
Programs like Murray Road helped build Newton’s reputation for creative and innovative programming. It’s thinking outside the box that leads to great school systems. Unfortunately our School Committee is made up of people who prefer a cookie cutter approach to education.
I’ve advocated for buying Aquinas for many years. However, people need to be realistic about what such a purchase would mean: the $18m is for the property as is. The facility doesn’t have a gymnasium, isn’t ADA compliant, and needs a comprehensive renovation to be a 21st century school (or, in fact, to serve any other purpose). That means we’d have a major building project that’s about a quarter of a mile from Lincoln-Eliot.
The purchase of this property may be a debt exclusion override the city would vote for – I certainly think it would be a smart decision. Given what’s certain to happen to the property if it were to be bought on the open market, residents may very well vote to keep it out of the hands of developers.
Newtonville resident
Just received an e-mail stating that Newton has acquired the property to build a school.
Yup, Bruce…this thread is VERY old, when we were just wishing…Looks like the purchase may, in fact, happen!