Written by Betsy Walsh Frissora
As West Broadway continues to transform into a hot area- filled with new restaurants, luxury residential buildings, and even hotels, the new development is often bitter-sweet. While the development brings in new business and new opportunities, it sometimes comes at the cost of saying goodbye to some quality South Boston establishments and landmarks.
One of the more recent projects coming up for review on the BRA calendar (Monday June 9th at the James Condon Elementary School at 6:30 pm) would mean saying goodbye to both a quality establishment and South Boston landmark, Liberty Bell Roast Beef. Everyone who lives in Southie (and even those who do not live in Southie) know the family owned sandwich shop, which has been serving the neighborhood since 1979. The freestanding building that is home to Liberty Bell Roast Beef is located on a giant plot of (underutilized) land, in the prime development location on 170 West Broadway, between B and C Streets.
So what is the future plan for the current Liberty Bell Roast Beef? The new project proposed for 170 West Broadway would re-develop the current building and parking lot into a mixed-use residential and retail building. The developer in charge of this 4.5 million dollar project is going under the name of 170 West Broadway LLC, and the architect is O’Sullivan Architects, Inc. The new 46,194 sq.ft. five-story building will contain 33 residential condominiums, 4 of which will be designated “affordable”. The condos will all range between 681 sq.ft. and 1790 sq.ft. There will be 4,278 sq.ft. of ground floor retail/restaurant space, and the additional 7,290 sq.ft. space on the ground floor will be for parking. The building will provide parking for 39 vehicles. To help reduce traffic on Athens Street (directly behind it) the project proposes that the garage entrance be off of Broadway. The four levels above the retail/ restaurant space on the ground floor will measure out to approximately 40,571 sq.ft. of residential one and two bedroom condos. There will be a penthouse level on the fifth floor that consists of duplex units with roof terraces.
The project promises improvements in the open spaces around the area, landscaping, architecture, as well as pedestrian and vehicular access to the building. While the new project will bring a lot of improvements and opportunity to our neighborhood, do you think it is going to have a positive impact for the future of our neighborhood? The comments period for the project ends on Friday June 27, so make sure to participate in the BRA meeting on June 9th and be ready to voice your opinion!
12 Comments
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Where’s West Broadway Street?
Please, NO MORE CONDOS OR LUXURY RENTAL BUILDINGS!!!!! There are too many building developments in South Boston already. There will be more traffic, noise, pollution and in an already dense crowded overdeveloped area.. How about a beautiful park on that property. There are no green spaces on Broadway. I am so sick of every single space being developed with ugly buildings! If you must build there, how about a multi-level pay for parking area for visitors and give back all the street parking to residents. This would shoppers & customers a place to park that do not have a resident sticker & they would have easy acess to the bus & trains within one block to get to other areas of South Boston. We need parking not more buildings. These buildings provide on site parking for their residents for an extra fee that is not included in their rent & many cannot afford it so they need to park on the streets. People are often fooled into thinking that if parking is built with these buildings that the problem is solved. Nothing could be further from the truth. They charge high rents and then want $250.00 or more on top of that each month from their renters or condo owners to use the parking. We need to add parking or green spaces. I am totally against this.
Enough of the condo’s already.
Huh?
Onward and upward. I for one welcome the development. The tract of land is grossly underutilized and bringing in space for new residents as well as commercial space will brighten up the desolate section of Broadway.
Southie is changing and I know that bothers many but I believe its for the best. Calling this place a “landmark” is overvaluing a typically desolate business and tract of land.
To the person who suggested making that area a pay parking lot…..would you want to live next to that? People in and out of their cars at all hours of the day/night? I doubt it!
Keep turning southie into a better place! Love it
Protect your investment Southie will be like the West End commercialized no families. Pundent wake up! The west end properties High rises are all section 8 again. Big money just exploits and leaves and values depress. A short burst of prosperity and then depression . Grow uP-…..
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