photo credits L-R: Erwin Chuk, New England Real Estate Journal, Scott Oran)
..let’s say 28 Austin Street rents (or sale prices) were at whatever levels you think they should be*.
What do you like, or wish were different, with the building, the floorplans, the amenities, the sustainability, and the parking**? How can conversions of other municipal parking lots into mixed use developments benefit from the lessons of Austin Street? For example, how best would a development work at the Newton Centre triangle lot?
(t’s been a year and a half since 28 Austin opened, and the first updates six months later (here & here) elicited several comments that it was “too early to tell” how it’s turned out. As of today, 66 of 68 units are occupied.)
*What rents are: Two-thirds of the 68 units are market rate ($4.5k/month for 2-bedroom and $2.5k/month for 1-bedroom units) and one-third are “affordable”, i.e., for tenants making 80% of Area Median Income ($1.7k/month for 2-bedrroom and $1.5k/month for 1-bedroom units).
** underground garage parking is under-subscribed (22 of 90 vacant). Public parking at 124 spaces (35 less than the pre-existing parking spaces).”
28 Austin Street would look much better if it was one floor taller. Just sayin.
Given what COVID has done to businesses, it’s still a little hard to tell, but some thoughts …
– I am glad that it’s NOT one floor taller
– Disappointed that there are no electric vehicle charging options
– Would like to know what is going to happen with Philip Bram Way, which is now blocked. The painted road barriers (not shown in the photograph) are doing the job of protecting pedestrians not paying attention that they are walking into a street, but distracts from the esthetics.
– Like the public pedestrian area between 28 Austin and the ‘Starbucks’ building.
– Look forward to seeing it this summer with the Newtonville construction complete
Overall, it enhances the business area.
The perennial answer to this question: I would like to see the Mass Pike covered.
Also, the Star Market parking lot across the street would be an excellent target for a similar development (the entire lot is owned by Star Market).
Agree with Greg, the building could have easily been a floor higher.
What I like:
– Pedestrianized Philip Bram Way, and that the underutilized parking lot will become flex-space (once again) for outdoor dining starting April 1.
– the Solar Array, which when fully functioning will provide about half the electricity for the building.
– The units are space efficient – 1 bed/bath = 650 sq ft; 2 bed/bath = 1100 sq ft.
– Efficient central air conditioning using a rooftop heat pump.
– EV charging in garage, unbundled parking, covered bike parking.
What I don’t like:
– Gas heating.
– Way too much parking, both under the building and outside it.
Fortunately, there is a ready pathway for the building to go fossil free (the cooling only rooftop heat pump can be swapped for a cooling and heating heat pump when it’s time for replacement, and the cooking is already all-electric), and there are excellent opportunities to re-think the use of the excess parking space as flex space.
– Including a public pavilion and public art requirements could be a model for future developments, they have added so much to Newtonville’s downtown.
– I wish we had included some units that were more deeply affordable than 80%.
– I can’t speak to the economics of doing so at the time it was permitted, but going forward we should require buildings like this to be built to a Net Zero carbon emissions standard.
– We need to analyze this and other recent projects to better understand the parking needs. If Nathan’s observation that parking is undersubscribed is true elsewhere as well, that is a missed opportunity. Every parking space we require to be built unnecessarily adds a cost to the project that could’ve been better spent on additional enhancements to the village or more affordable units.
Some suggestions:
1) The city needs to find a way to keep Bram Way between the buildings closed. Please. Decorate the jersey barriers, put out a ton of seating, and let folks enjoy the outside. It is clear now we don’t need the connection on Bram Way.
2) We need better signage for the public parking. I’ve lost count of the number of folks who tell me the parking lot is missing, or that the parking is building parking only. Public parking without meters needs VERY clear markings. Paint the street blue with an arrow. Put up street signs.
3) If I could do it over again, I push harder for less parking due to WIDER spaces. The building was trying to get to a random high number of spots to please the naysayers. So now we have a 2/3 empty parking lot, but narrow spaces. I hope at one point it can be restriped. Sometimes the public battle to get things built makes for stupid compromises that help no one. Remember the sky is falling folks regarding parking? Me too. They were wrong, not that they will ever admit it.
4) As some will remember, the winning design of the building was one of my least favorite. I personally think the “greenstax” system didn’t add much, and it created a pretty ugly building in my opinion. Look at Trio for an example of a much nice building (on a much bigger lot). So yes, I’d prefer a better design. It is boring and rather ugly.
5) The mini-park at the back is useless and rarely used. I wish we could have made a larger public park instead.
6) I love the commercial tenants. Once we get through Covid, two great additions to the Village.
7) Love the public art.
8) Love the money spent on the Newtonville Village facelift. Remember $1,000,000 was plowed back into the village improvements.
9) Wish the set-back was a few feet back. See above about silly demands for parking.
10) Very glad they buried the electrical. Changed the entire look of the block. Should be required on ALL new developments.
I think you should all wait on the parking.
Spaces too narrow? What are you driving? They’re fine and under the building they’re pretty long as well. the spaces in Newton Center lot are narrower, probably because they were lined before the most popular car I see in Newton now is an SUV (!). The SUV has become the replacement for the station wagon for families. Then again, the roads are so poorly maintained now I can’t blame people for wanting AWD and bigger suspension.
The retail shops aren’t fully open and we’re in a pandemic still. The parking will be needed if a restaurant opens there and something to replace CVS and other vacant spaces.
I might add that plenty of people are using the far end of the Star Market lot for non grocery parking, still.
How can you draw any conclusions about parking from the past year?
Tricia, Rick, You are correct that the full story about the parking isn’t going to be known for a while. But even now, with most stores open, the parking lots are 20% filled. The move of CVS to the other side of the Washington Street takes away a heavy user. And we are down some stores for sure. But even on heavy use days when the supermarket lot is close to full, the back lots and Austin Street lot are pretty much empty.
Rick, restaurant parking is actually ideal for a village center. We have a good mix of daytime and nighttime business if that happens.
I’m happy to revisit parking in a few months when things are more back to normal, and we can discuss again then. But Newtonville has an insane amount of parking for its uses. Multiple back lots behind buildings, the 120 space Austin Lot, the street parking along Washington Street and Walnut, and now the new lot behind Trio (which is free fyi). Parking in my view was always a red herring argument for those who wanted to prevent development of the parking lot. Now that Austin Street is built I’d be happy to evaluate with real time facts the use of parking over the next few years. Can’t learn for future projects if we don’t do that…
I feel like the old lot was often half full or less so it wouldn’t surprize me if that continues.
I recall the arguments about parking, the armegedan that was as expected, the naysayers that said they would of never rent the units. We can partially blame NAC and their scare tactics for what is a non issue.
1st Gen. Italian-American here on both sides. Ancestry.com says I’m 100% Sicilian from Palermo far back into the 1300’s
Personally, I don’t care what the americani want to call Columbus Day. He was flying the flag of Spain when he landed here. He discovered nothing.
We have a rich and proud culture. Hold the line on the green and red stripes Nonantum.
The person that trys taking that away may find themselves with a green and white driveway and car.
Go vote. Vote Tarik!
Typo: I meant green and RED
At my office in Newton center, Pelham street the lot that is almost always full is now every day at most 3/4 full. And its free ( for now) So, I would say the pandemic is still having a very large impact on parking. Normally it can be hard to find a spot in Newton center. Now it’s a breeze any time of day.
A few points:
* The lot’s 2015 problem was its ~100% utilization on Saturdays, even with the Star Market overflow. That promised to worsen with building residents using it for convenience, additional demand from new businesses, and if Star Market suddenly enforced its parking (which it did briefly in 2015). If Saturday was the primary time you needed to visit the village, it was a full lot for you, regardless of what it looked like on average.
* With The Rox and CVS gone, Brewers and Down Under operating at reduced capacity, and the private supermarket lot still being used by the public, the current pandemic situation is not representative.
* While the private underground parking may have spots left, there are always 15-25 luxury cars parked overnight underneath the building in public spaces (15 this morning). Some may be there for convenience; others may be avoiding the monthly fees while they can.
* The problem with narrow space width is the fixed-width required for the stack pillars. A few feet more in one space means eliminating the adjacent space. I’d agree it would better to have one less space without the door dings or fender benders in some cases.
* Why no working solar array? Is this a special permit requirement?
The building has 65% more affordable units than initially proposed and 25% more public parking. The difficulty in passing the project made it a better project. Having a diverse set of views on the city council made it a better project. Let’s ensure we have diverse views and representation on the city council to continue that for future projects.
@Jack Prior – Excellent points. I have parked across the street to run into Gordons a few times and the stacked pillars make it tight for even my Prius to fit next to most cars but especially minivans and SUVs.
And in addition to the establishments you mentioned, there are 3-4 other empty storefronts which, if ever occupied, will add to a more realistic depiction of the situation.
Pete