'Tis the achingly slow week when the clock ticks down to guilt-free binge-drinking, and that means our annual Curbed Awards for different superlatives in the Hub. Today the best/most intriguing/wackiest ideas regarding the two things we dig the most, real estate and neighborhoods.
10) The Green Line extension in Somerville: Something had to replace the Big Dig as the Hub's never-ending project. Though, some folks this year got the idea to lean hard on Governor Patrick.
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9) Tying the development of the long-dormant old Filene's site downtown to an East Boston casino (the owner of the site, Vornado Realty Trust, owns a stake in the would-be casino site, too): This is supposedly a nascent idea, something that the Menino administration has been mulling but would dare not speak publicly about.
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8) Versailles vs. Cambridge: If this could happen anywhere but the People's Republic, do let us know. It involves notions about gaudy mansions and curb cuts for in-laws. And probably class warfare, why not?
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7) Basement apartments along Mass. Ave.: This idea was hatched by local landlord Chestnut Hill, and is opposed by residents based on quality of life concerns like parking and garbage. And on "the stigma associated with being a basement kid."
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6) Kendall Square as the new epicenter of M.I.T.: The institute and private developers are building nearly 3 million square feet of new and renovated space for apartments and commercial buildings, including research facilities. Might the idea be to drag M.I.T.'s nexus eastward?
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5) Ferries connecting everything: Commuter ferry service to and from the city's waterfront neighborhoods is an integral part of Mayor Menino's grand redevelopment idea for East Boston.
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4) Neighborhood Conservation Districts: Brookline residents and their elected pols hatched this idea to limit development, though the new rule appears to target only developments with affordable-housing components. Imagine that.
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3) Live/work development in South Boston: The neighborhood's Innovation District is getting a slew of pods for the technically gifted, all part of the city's big idea for a 21st-century economy.
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2) Hundreds of Manhattan-style micro-apartments: See above.
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1) The Real Housewives of South Boston: Not since Cheers has the Hub been so accurately portrayed.