It’s time to think realistically about Wells Avenue. The city needs to quit chasing a dream that died over 50 years ago.
Unless a developer thinks she can get 18 votes from the newly elected council, looks like we can put a fork in the 300+ units apartment project proposed for 135 Wells Ave., the back corner of the industrial park.* The Supreme Judicial Court, the Commonwealth’s highest court, has ruled that the state anti-snob voting law, known as 40B, does not apply to the deed restriction that prevents the lot from being developed as housing. Game, set, match. Too bad.
Meanwhile, the forever hyped, never realized prospect of Wells Ave. as a significant source of additional commercial tax revenue continues to dim. Wells Ave. as a Route 128-proximate suburban office campus has never been a great idea. It’s too far from 128 (though it’s closer with the new Kendrick St. ramps). And the single entrance/exit, makes it a nightmare for commercial/corporate uses with employees who come and go at the same time. Con. Ges. Tion. It’s likely why Sylvania never acted on its grand plans to build a big light-manufacturing/office complex. But, Newton keeps the candle burning.
Now, we’ve got the revved up Needham Office Park to contend with. If you were running a company, why would you go to Wells Ave., when you be closer to 128 and Needham St./Highland Ave. and not be subject to the Wells Ave. backup? In fact, at least one prominent Wells Ave. tenant, SharkNinja, recently decamped to Needham Office Park. Across Kendrick St. from the Needham Office Park, another big complex is now available, with the departure of PTC to Boston. The N2 innovation zone is a neat bit of co-branding, but it masks that Newton and Needham are competing for office tenants.
Which brings us to the newest, biggest challenge: demand for space in suburban office parks is declining. Joining PTC moving to Boston is GE (from Fairfield Ct.), Bose (from Framingham), and other companies. As was reported by WBUR’s Bostonomix, tech talent — especially Millennials — wants to be around the transportation and food choices found in urban locations (and not on Wells Ave!). Urban is where it’s happening.
So, let’s agree to give up on the notion that we’re going to revive the glory days of suburban office parks in a location that was bypassed even at their height. It’s never going to be a bigger source of commercial tax revenue. Accept it. Feels better, right?
Let’s zone the area for — and encourage — uses that Newton needs and that are not quite as hobbled by the constrained entry/exit, uses that don’t have steep peak traffic volumes, but rather have traffic spread out more evenly during the day.
Recreational facilities. Let’s build a town ice rink and an indoor 50-meter swimming pool to go along with the Boston Sports Club. Let’s add some more soccer fields.
Schools. The location’s not bad for the Solomon Schechter Day School. And, there are some enrichment type schools already there. Encourage Schechter to expand. Build a magnet public middle school for arts or for STEM.
Public Works. Move the Eliot St. works to Wells Ave. and develop that site as housing or as an elementary school.
And, housing. Yes, 300+ units of housing in Newton Centre above and behind the Langley Rd. retail would be much better than on Wells Ave.. But, there’s no reason we can’t have both. The proposed housing is not much more removed from transportation and retail than is the new apartment complex being built just across 128 on Greendale Ave. in Needham.
Obviously, the city has no power to kick out existing tenants for these better uses. But, it can discourage them. A huge motivator for the city blocking the Wells Ave. housing project was the belief that it would preclude a prime commercial tenant in the revitalized Wells Ave. that has always been right around the corner.
Spoiler alert: it’s not coming.
Time to move on.
* Cabot Cabot & Forbes, the developer who proposed the 135 Wells Ave. project put the site up for sale in July, but that did not necessarily preclude their restarting the project with a favorable ruling or selling to someone else who would.
The fact that there is only one way in and one way out is just a killer for this area. In looking at the map it looks like Mt Ida is really close. I am guessing though that maybe there is conservation land or something other reason that makes it unfeasible or cost prohibitive to connect the park with the college. It is a very self contained isolated area because of the access or lack of access. I’m not sure it would have made a very desirable location for housing with this isolation and lack of public transportation (I’m not sure maybe a bus route goes there but i think it is mostly work shuttles). To live there you would have to have people able to provide their own transportation i.e. more cars unless you could create bike centric housing . 🙂 Right now it can be difficult to go a small distance in that area at times.
Love the idea of a City ice rink as that is much needed. Currently youth and high school hockey teams shuttle between Fessenden, Daly, Cleveland Circle and Ryan in Watertown and sometimes having Simoni in East Cambridge as home. The youth league is at the mercy of the rinks regarding scheduling and costs which makes the youth program very expensive. That and more soccer fields however would just create activity in the evenings (starting around rush hour) and on weekends so without another access point it might be a short drive I would dread.
It would be technically (but not politically) easy to get another entry/exit point into Nahanton Street through the college, which would be useful for people heading into Newton. As for people heading out to I-95, the left turn into Nahanton Street is only one lane currently, but could easily be expanded to two lanes. Kendrick Street is already two lanes, it’s just that small piece of Nahanton Street that might need modification. The roads in the area have more capacity than is currently utilized. Of course, having proper sidewalks and bike lanes on Nahanton Street would help a lot.
Judging by the scope of commercial development in Waltham, the suburban office market is as hot as ever. Wells Ave can be attractive to the many entrepreneurs living in Newton, if the traffic issues can be worked out.
There are ongoing talks about creating another access point for the park. These involve the building owners, Mt. Ida and the city.
There are also talks around improving transportation in general (last-mile shuttles to the T, bike sharing, etc.) as well as bringing in more amenities. ZAP just voted up a change in the food truck ordinance that will allow for food trucks in this area.
I believe suburban office parks are far from dead and that Wells Ave will benefit from the new off-ramps.
I agree that the city should make at ways it can expand the commercial base there by making more attractive for tenants. Restaurants, housing and amenities would liven it up.
A second egress would help with traffic. It would be great to connect directly to the end of Winchester Street.
It is hard to understand why there should be housing in a business park. It makes no sense.
@Testcase6: This Boston Globe column about Wells Ave from three years ago remains relevant today and addresses your point.
I wonder if the Solomon Schechter Day School has weighed in at all on this, Greg?I’m sure that when they purchased their land they never envisioned that the school would be in the middle of a lot of hustle and bustle, given the deed restrictions. My child thankfully graduated from there years ago but even then pick and drop off were nightmares. But at least it felt safe and quiet on our cul de sac and in our playing fields. Not making any judgements: just curious if they have made any statements for or against.
NativeNewtonian,
The developer engaged SSDS on development plans and the school publicly supported the development when it first went before Land Use.
Thanks, Sean. I appreciate your answering my question
The Newton-Needham Chamber and Wells Ave. property owners have regular monthly meetings with the Planning Department, Transportation Director and Ward 8 Councilors to discuss ways to enhance Wells Park.
This includes discussions about multi-modal transportation, signage, amenities (including food trucks which has broad support) and a second egress.
Three large commercial property owners have recently made significant improvements and investments in their properties there and there are many employers at Wells Park who are quite happy being there. Yes there’s some competition from Boston and Needham but these are smart folks and they wouldn’t be creating first class office space (and their investors wouldn’t be writing big checks) if they didn’t believe there was a market.
Yes, Wells Park could benefit from new amenities. Yes it’s a shame that the city refused to negotiate with Cabot, Cabot and Forbes.
Meanwhile, an RFP for a second access study is ready and awaits the mayor’s and city council’s approval. The funds for the study are in hand. I hope they approve it next month.
The city is also committed to investing $2 million dollars to redesign the Wells entrance (from Winchester to the Charles) which should include bike lanes and sidewalks.
The 128 Business Council is conducting a traffic study of the area that will be released before the end of the year and will be recommending a multi-modal approach.
Bike share is coming to Newton next year too, adding access to this and other parts of the city.
First class office space won’t do on it’s own, but it is part of Wells Park’s future.
Talk about burying the lede! Two million to fix the Wells Ave. entrance?! Where’s the return on that investment?