One Brigham Circle is a 200,000 sq ft mixed-use development at the intersection of Huntington Ave and Tremont St (click for map). It has office space and community retail. It also includes a 5.5 acre park, Puddingstone Park, which provides substantial open space to the neighboring community, as well as a Village Square public plaza that offers community gathering space for festivals, events, and civic functions. The project was constructed based upon a vision developed through a unique community planning process and has become the commercial heart of the neighborhood.
This is an interesting article about the process through which residents of Mission Hill worked with Harvard and the nearby hospitals to create this project. It doesn't sound like it was easy, but in the end it seems to have resulted in a better relationship between Harvard and the neighborhood and created something great for the area.
As we think about wanting to create jobs and good retail in Allston, and as we wonder about the future of Brighton Mills, this could be a good project to keep in mind.
The fundamental differences between Mission Hill and Allston-Brighton are of scale. Harvard refuses to share their plans, but we know they will encompass millions of square feet of development across dozens of acres. They intend to double and triple the population of this part of town over the next decade or so.
ReplyDeleteOur history is also longer and sadder. For decades Harvard has savaged our community, colluding with the City to forcibly remove residents and destroy our jobs while exercising monopoly power to crush the commercial real estate market.
The City's numbers say between 1998 and 2003 alone Allston lost one in every five jobs—and two-thirds of our higher-paying manufacturing jobs. That’s thousands of citizens displaced, with their families placed at hazard. Harvard is not the only culprit, but they will have to work extra hard to make up for their deceit and callousness so far.