Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/business/development/page/16/)
Developers presented a plan for a new condominium building with space for retail businesses on the bottom that would go on what has been a weed-filled vacant lot near the Watertown Square intersection. The presentation was made Tuesday night at a Community Meeting for the project at 33 Mt. Auburn St., at the corner with Taylor Street. It would have 15 condos and about 1,960 sq. ft.
A community meeting will be held to discuss plans for a development at 33 Mt. Auburn Street. The property is currently a vacant lot, between the intersection with Taylor Street and the 7-Eleven. Developers 33 Mount Auburn LLC propose to build a mixed-use project with 15 residential units and 1,924 square feet of commercial space at 33 Mount Auburn Street, Watertown. Meeting Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Town Hall, 149 Main Street, Second Floor, Council Chamber
For more information, contact: Janovsky/Hurley Architects, Inc. – Steve Hurley and Suela Muco at 781-489-6540.
The third phase of the Arsenal Yards project got the go ahead from members of the Planning Board on Thursday night.
The latest portion of the former Arsenal Mall to be approved is Building F (see plans here), a seven story structure with ground floor retail, multiple levels of parking and topped by three stories of apartments. This is the building where a grocery store may be built, according to the design team, and will be located in the space where the bridge goes over the underpass in the Arsenal Mall parking lot. The size of the building was increased from what was proposed in the Master Plan, which required the Planning Board to approve an amendment to the Master Plan along with approving the site plan. The Board approved both unanimously. Originally the building was planned to have six stories, and be 83-feet, 6-inches tall, but the new height is 89 feet, 4 inches.
Last week, a group of 40 or so carpenter union members gathered outside a construction site on Arsenal Street to make their message loud and clear – pay a living wage with benefits and follow state labor laws. Despite the building boom in Watertown over the past several years, many members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters who live in Watertown have not gotten any work from these developments. They would like that to change, and point to cities like Cambridge and Somerville that have ordinance or resolutions pushing contractors to follow labor laws, and pay “prevailing wages” and health benefits for their workers. Not everyone believes that such an ordinance would benefit the town, however, and could dampen the hot development market. Former Watertown Town Councilor Stephen Corbett, who also develops small residential projects, said he worries that such a requirement would hurt the development market in Watertown.
The third phase of the Arsenal Yards project will include the first of four residential buildings planned for the renovation of the Arsenal Mall. In July, Boylston Properties – the developers of the property – introduced plans for Building F (see plans here) during a Community Meeting. On the bottom floor will be restaurant and retail space, with a level of underground parking below and three levels of parking above. On top of the garage will be three floors of apartments. The design changed from the original proposal in the Master Plan Special Permit approved by the Planning Board.
A Community Meeting has been scheduled by Boylston Properties and Wilder Companies for Wednesday, July 26, 2017 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Innovation Space at the Arsenal Yards/Mall. The purpose of the meeting is to review the Phase III/Building F plans of the Arsenal Yards Master Plan. Building F is proposed to be a seven story residential building with 58 housing unites and 45,000 square feet of retail and/or restaurant space. The proposal has one more story and 23 more housing units than proposed in Master Plan passed by the Planning Board. The building would be located where the current bridge between to the two sections of the malls are located, and would be near the northeast corner of Arsenal Park.
A second community meeting about the proposed residential and commercial project on the long, thin property along Pleasant Street near Rosedale Road will be held on July 27. Developers Amstel Heritage LLC will host the meeting about the mixed-use development which includes 58 residential units and 11,567 sq. ft. of commercial space planned to be built at 385 Pleasant St., Watertown. The meeting will be on Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. at the Watertown Police Station, 552 Main Street, Watertown.
After hearing complaints about the design of the proposed Hampton Inn & Suites hotel at Arsenal Yards, designers simplified the look and reduced the number of colors to be used. The Planning Board approved of the changes and voted to approve Phase 2 of the renovation of the former Arsenal Mall on Wednesday night. Phase 2 includes Building B which has retail space on the ground floor and above it a hotel on Arsenal Street with a garage as you go back from the street. When the drawings were first presented at a community meeting in May, people complained materials used were not the red brick of the historic Watertown Arsenal, and that too many colors and materials were used on the outside. Planning Board member Janet Buck said that she did not like the first rendering of the hotel.