Articles

Newton. November 29, 2011.

The three Ward 4 aldermen told the TAB that their decision to docket an item requesting the board establish a business zone at Riverside for a mixed-use development was motivated by the developer’s interest in bringing a 500 to 600-unit Chapter 40B affordable housing project to the site.

Aldermen Lenny Gentile, Amy Sangiolo and Jay Harney told the TAB that they think a mixed-use development would be a better fit for the site and would generate more revenue for the city.

On Thursday, November 17, the Ward 4 Alderman docketed a request to establish a new zoning district for development at the Riverside MBTA station on Grove Street.

This new docket item describes a zone that would allow, by special permit, a development with a single commercial office building not to exceed 225,000 square feet with a maximum height of 9 stories, two residential buildings not to exceed 290 housings units in total, retail space not to exceed 20,000 square feet, along with a multi-use community center.

Newton. November 21, 2011

The Ward 4 aldermen have struck a deal with the developer of a controversial large mixed-used development at the Riverside MBTA station, but they aren’t talking about it.

According to City Clerk David Olsen the three aldermen from Ward 4 – Lenny Gentile, Amy Sangiolo and Jay Harney – filed a docket item Thursday with his office requesting a change in zoning for the site of the proposed development. The docket item requests the board adopt a “Business 5/Riverside Zone: a mixed-use transit-oriented district” at the site of the T station.

The docket further requests that the zone allow by special permit – a single commercial office building that doesn’t exceed 225,000 square feet with a maximum of nine stories in height, two residential buildings with 290 units or less, and retail space that is 20,000 square feet or less and a multi-use community center.

Newton. November 21, 2011.

A potential mixed-use project at the Riverside MBTA station took another step last week as aldermen from Ward 4 docketed an item to establish a new zoning district for the proposed project.

According to the email and the group's website, the Ward 4 Aldermen met with the developer earlier this month to discuss the project.

In an email sent Sunday, the Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition Steering Committee explains that adding the item to the Board of Aldermen docket is "an important milestone" in a process that started four years ago.

Newton. November 10, 2011.

The property considered for development at the Riverside station has long been an underutilized open industrial site situated at an important regional and economic crossroads. The available access - by car, by local and intercity buses, and by the MBTA’s Green Line – offers an opportunity that has no regional parallel. The site could bring many benefits to Newton residents: career opportunities, new neighborhood shopping and dining, and housing – all of which would enliven what is now a parking lot, MBTA maintenance sheds, and a rail scrap yard.

Given the site’s location between the Lower Falls and Auburndale neighborhoods, the development also has the potential to reconnect these two areas which have for too long been divided by both Route 128 and by the expansive Riverside T parking lot itself.

We understand neighborhood concerns with increased traffic. Road traffic at the Riverside parking lot is already high at peak times, and some form of remediation is required. Nonetheless these concerns should be weighed against the economic and community amenities which a large-scale, mixed use development at the site will bring.

Newton. November 2, 2011

In a complaint filed with Suffolk Superior Court on Oct. 14, Normandy 399 Grove Acquisition LLC and Normandy AIV Riverside Acquisition, LLC allege Blue Hawk (BH) Riverside has experienced a “material adverse change” and thus has ceased to have any rights to sell under the Riverside Agreement.

A section of the agreement grants either member the right to directly or indirectly sell the 22.6 acre Riverside MBTA station adjacent to Grove Street.

That section of the agreement, however, is contingent upon BH’s ability to pay for capital needs.

Newton. October 09, 2011.

Newton residents told the developer of a large mixed-used project at the Riverside MBTA station that they still are concerned about the traffic impacts, despite a scaled back proposal.

“This project, again, doesn’t address the traffic that’s here. This project doesn’t make any mention of what’s going to happen with our neighborhood. If it’s something you can’t do, then I urge our aldermen not to let this go through,” said Bill Guerrera, a Lower Falls resident.

Guerrera was one of about 200 residents and community members who turned out at Auburndale’s Williams School Thursday night to hear BH Normandy present another revised plan for a retail, residential and office development at the site of the Riverside MBTA site bordering Auburndale and Lower Falls.

Newton. October 7, 2011.

During a community meeting Thursday night, residents expressed concerns about the potential development at Riverside Station and its impact on traffic back-up and school overcrowding.

The auditorium at Williams Elementary School was packed once again last night as residents and elected officials voiced their concerns about a proposed mixed-use development at the Riverside MBTA Station.

Despite changes to scale-back the project, those in the audience remained skeptical that the modifications would do anything to alleviate traffic back-up coming on and off Route 128/Interstate 95 as well as the surrounding neighborhood roads.

A crowd of about 200 concerned residents packed the auditorium at the Williams Elementary school in Newton on Thursday night, to listen and question the latest plan from a Boston developer to transform the MBTA’s Riverside Station property into a large mixed-use development site.

Newton —The developers behind the proposal for a large mixed-use project at the Riverside MBTA station have scaled back its design, but neighbors argue it’s still too large.