Tuesday, January 15, 2013

New Plans for 54 Loomis Street

Based on feedback and concerns from the local neighborhood and the planning board, some changes have been made to 54 Loomis Street. The project is now 2 buildings. The first building is 2 floors with 2860 square feet of retail space on the first floor. The second building is 3 floors and is made up of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments. The proposed project now has a total of 23 apartments (11 One Bedroom and 10 12 Two Bedrooms), down from 30 apartments while the amount of retail space has tripled.


Depiction of the 54 Loomis Street project based on Google Earth. This perspective is looking North East on Loomis Street from Depot Park. The glass on the first floor of the building closest to Loomis Street is where the retail would be located. Other building are depicted in gray to show scale.

Comment
I expect redevelopment in the Depot Park area to continue. The combination of the Minuteman Bikeway along with the improvements to Depot Park has made this an attractive area for retail and housing. There is still a large amount of vacant office space on DeAngelo Drive. With the bikepath and the bus route from Alewife, this area might be a place to market to technology companies that need to attract younger workers that live in greater Boston. One easy change to help make this happen would be to rename DeAngelo Drive to something like Technology Drive or Innovation Way.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Both the project seems great wish you all the best, project 2 with 3 floors does it have the same sq.ft that you mention for the first building.
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Anonymous said...

Now that there is two buildings in the same amount of space? will there be less space for parking? more apartments and retail parking?means more people, more stress on Loomis Street entrance? Good Luck it does look alot nicer just may be more congested.Drainage???issues. If renaming DeAngelo to Innovation Way why not keep the building the same and invite new biotech to our region. Do we need to stress out our schools more. Yes kids will live with parents in 2 bedrooms and maybe even 1 bedrooms.

Adam Schwartz said...

The total amount of space is about the same but 7 less apartments. There are now 2 entrances so that should make things easier.

According to the developer, the drainage it will be a big improvement over what there is now. The water will be filtered and cleaned. Right now it just goes right to the brook.

The buildings will need to be updated or replaced to attract biotech.

Anonymous said...

Do you know when they think they will be done and ready to rent?

Anonymous said...

It has not even been approved. You know how things go. Is Blake Block done yet??? when did they begin, Adam do you know last summer or the summer before? taylor pond and thomas farm apartments are renting.

Adam Schwartz said...

54 Loomis Street should be coming before the planning board soon. If things go well, then I would expect approval with a few months. According to the developer, construction should be about 9 months.

Adam Schwartz said...

Black Block is all done. They started construction in August 2011.

Adam Schwartz said...

Building 1 is 5808 Square Feet with 2860 for retail and 7 apartments.

Building 2 is 6494 Square Feet with 16 apartments.

There are about 45 parking spaces.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Adam!

Anonymous said...

I would suggest that you check everyone involved in this project especially the developer, Tambone Investment group, by looking at recent projects this developer has done and their current status.