Charlie Breitrose
The first phase of Gables Arsenal Street has opened, and there will be three more phases, including a possible market.
Gables Arsenal Street, one of the new apartment complexes in Watertown, has opened its first phase, and will eventually add more buildings, including a commercial area which could have a small market.
The complex, located at 204 Arsenal Street, opened on Oct. 15, and several of the luxury apartments have already been occupied, said Makrina Ormond, Community Manager for Gables Arsenal Street.
Gables Arsenal Street will eventually have 296 units, but the first phase has 84 units, Ormond said. There is a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments and one townhouse. The complex is pet friendly – cats and some dogs – and offers amenities such as a pool, a patio with a barbecue and a fire pit, a movie theater style media room, a fitness center and a yoga and spin room, Ormond said.
Apartments have tall ceilings and use granite, wood and other high-end materials.
“We are looking to have elegant, quality finishes,” Ormond said. “We use the material you would when you redo your home.”
The finishes in each apartment are slightly different, Ormond said.
The leasing prices reflect the high end materials, with one bedrooms beginning at $2,381 a month for 725 sq. ft. and going up to $3,330 for 961 sq. ft. Two bedrooms range from $3,306 for 1,111 sq. ft. and go up to $4,469 for 1,470 sq. ft. The three bedrooms are $4,625 for 1,538 sq. ft.
Gables offers leases for shorter than a year, Ormond said, such as someone who wants to spend the summer up in the area.
Phase 2 is expected to be completed this month, and Phase 3 by the end of March. The fourth and final phase is planned to open by the end of April, Ormond said.
Included in the project is 6,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, that can he leased to up to four retailers, Ormond said.
Another building will be built and developed by WS Development, which includes space for a possible market. In total, the site has 34,000 of leasable space, according to the WS website. The firm’s properties in Massachusetts also include The Street in Chestnut Hill, Legacy Place in Dedham, MarketStreet in Lynnfield and the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham.
The project was approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals in July 2014, despite concerns from residents about the size of the project. Many, however welcomed new retail options on that part of Arsenal Street. Gables will share a driveway with next door Elan Union Market, an apartment complex with commercial space being built by Greystar.
Ormond said she has not heard about what retailers will be coming into those spaces.
Boooooo
Prices are ridiculous, how’s anyone supposed to be able to afford to live there?
The prices are ridiculous. There has not been enough discussion of how this will impact the town. Yes, there are affordable units, but at the same time these prices seem to be driving up rents universally. How can Watertown remain economically and ethnically diverse in the face of these economic pressures?
It’ll fill up with the beautiful people from Cambridge who routinely overpay rent, love taxes, adore consultants of all shapes and sizes, and eat out 3.2 times per week.
Look at how badly they screwed up traffic on arsenal street. It is too narrow for large vehicles, they have to go over the yellow lines when cars are parked. That two lane merge after the intersection of Irving St is a nightmare. Even the damn manholes are still sunk into the ground in some places. They just redid the road and could not get the manholes right? And now they want to screw up Mt Auburn St. How wonderful.
So ridiculous that they named the development “Gables” when there is not a gable anywhere on the building. Stupid marketing puffery.