Menino Pulls Support for Brighton Lowe's

Lowes Home Center -- Over and Out?

This certainly qualifies as a big surprise after the clear public support that this project had from City Hall when it was first proposed. In 2004, a Boston Globe story noted that "City officials are anxious to bring a Lowe's into the city" so it could have been with some regret that they decided that 40 Guest St wasn't the right place for 200,000 sq ft of home-improvement retail.

From Banker & Tradesman: "The big-box store's fate may have been sealed at a public hearing on Monday night when the company's traffic survey revealed that the two-level store would add 3,306 vehicle trips on weekdays and 5,068 on Saturdays, as well as 55 semi-trailers to the neighborhood.

"When we saw the traffic study, it became clear to everyone that this project would create an undue hardship for the neighborhood, especially on weekends," said John F. Palmieri, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). "We want to continue to work with Lowe's to find an appropriate location in the city, but the Brighton site is not viable for that use.""

A previous story about this project is posted at ArchBoston.org where many of the readers agreed that this would have been a bad location for a Lowe's.