Annie Sandoli of the Newton Patch reports that Wells Park, a 378,000 sq foot set of three office buildings on Wells Ave has just been sold to Taurus Invesrtment Holdings for $92 million
Annie Sandoli of the Newton Patch reports that Wells Park, a 378,000 sq foot set of three office buildings on Wells Ave has just been sold to Taurus Invesrtment Holdings for $92 million
What a depressing, anachronistic land misutilization Wells Ave. is. Everything that’s wrong with suburbia in a nutshell including years and years of empty talk about improving public transit access. Fifty years later, and there still aren’t even sidewalks to the outside world!
Do people really think it’s worth sitting in their cars through 15 minutes of rush-hour light cycles on Nahanton and/or Kendrick just so they can spend their days in a bunch of low-slung, fugly buildings literally in the middle of nowhere? It seems to me that working/living in the county jail in the median strip of 128 would be a more attractive proposition (no last-mile traffic jams).
Here’s an MAPC study from 2015 about turning Wells Ave. into mixed use, which doesn’t seem to be part of Taurus’ plans. But hey, the environmental devastation of continuing all those single-occupancy car trips should be more than canceled out by the “decarbonizing” heat pumps and parking lot solar canopies. Not.
https://www.newtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/34842/637280582548470000
Micheal,
So when are you going to move into the city so you can ditch your car and walk to work and everywhere else?
It will be a great example to others.
Beguk,
Huh? Why would I have to move into the city to do that? I live in Needham and just about the only time I use the car is to go to the dump. To get to Boston and Cambridge I walk or bike the 11 miles down Needham/Centre/Beacon Streets in one direction and take either the Commuter Rail or the Green Line/59 bus in the other. One of my high school classmates who lives along the way keeps asking me if I lost my driver’s license for DUI.
Feel free to ask how I get the kids to school, do the grocery shopping, or get around at night or in the snow so I can put in another plug for my Basil milk bottle baskets, Burley Kazoo tagalong attachment, Lumos Matrix helmet, and Icebug studded boots. Oh how I love those products.
My biggest complaint about cars isn’t even the irreversible environmental destruction – it’s the 2 million permanent injuries and 40,000 deaths per year. So basically in this country over the course of an 80-year lifetime you have a better than 1 in 2 chance of being permanently injured or dying in a motor vehicle accident. Awful. Of course my odds aren’t any better trying to walk or bike across Exit 35 or the Route 9 ramps in Newton Highlands.
Anyway, does anyone really give a rat’s behind whether some self-satisfied, semi-anonymous V14 commenter such as myself uses a car or not? Boring – and it doesn’t change the fact that Wells Ave. sucks
@Bugek – Why do I get the sense that the only time you have any interest in reducing car usage or car exhaust is when it’s useful to you for trolling purposes.
It is funny that you suggested Michael should walk everywhere considering that he’s already the most walking’est guy I’ve ever encountered.
I’m here to call out the hypocrisy of far left liberals.
– living in a single family home surrounded by single families but telling others to live in a box
– 2 cars in the drive way while lecturing ppl to bike more
– pushing high density affordable housing in other wards other than your own.
Funny, last I heard it was called the “City of Newton”, not the “Town of Newton”.
More info
Looks like they going to remove the gas pipes. First phase to appease environmentalists before submitting expansion plans?
https://nerej.com/taurus-investment-holdings-acquires-wells-park-for-92-million
If Taurus Investment Holdings were truly interested in green development they would consolidate parking near the entrance & turn the park into a low speed e-mobility campus with e-bikes, scooters & golf carts. Also promote carpooling & bus. Much pavement could be avoided & space saved used for people instead of car storage.
It sounds like Taurus is laying the groundwork for an expansion of the office footprint by trying to soften the environmentalists in the city council. My best guess is more lab space, possibly for Karyopharm, which is growing very quickly. If any such negotiation happens with the city, I would be happy to see the completion of the Helen Heyn Riverway trail, which currently takes a detour through their parking lot.
According to the building sizes given by the Patch and the Newton data base, it looks like 2 of the buildings are adjacent (7-57 and 75-95 Wells Ave) and the third one way across on the other side of Wells Ave.
I would hope, like the previous poster, that the building footprints are not increased at all (unless it is to cover parking lots) and that all the green open space is preserved: we need trees and walking places.
At the moment, much of Wells Avenue consists of half-empty buildings and parking lots. Given its remoteness, the absence of amenities nearby, and the lack of public transportation to and from it, Wells Avenue should be, for the most part, a white-collar business district. Newton could do more to attract such enterprises. Sports Clubs like the former BSC Newton or the YMCA would also fit here, along with youth athletic activities.
To me, housing here makes no sense at this time. Until public transportation is available, why exacerbate the traffic jams on Nahanton that already clog the road for many hours each business day? Housing projects nearby in Needham remain only semi-occupied as it is.
It is undeniable at that getting to Wells Avenue is tough for bikers and pedestrians, the painted bike lanes notwithstanding. It surely could be a lot greener, and it could hook up with Oak Hill Park and green spaces along the Charles with some modest improvements to the infrastructure. I do bike to Wells Avenue at off-hours. It always has a semi-deserted feel to it. I used to bike to BSC Newton before it went under. At the moment, Wells Avenue is under-utilized.