Remember how some Southie residents were peeved that the apartment building planned for 2 H Street wasn't family-friendly in the sizes of its units? And how some were also peeved that the one planned for 320 D Street wasn't, either ("We’ve all been 21 and 22," said one resident, "but the noise is a concern")? Well, the sentiment is shared by some Jamaica Plain residents.
In February, developer Boston Residential Group bought the 3.5-acre site of the Home for Little Wanderers (pictured) at 161 South Huntington Avenue to build a full-service apartment building of around 200 units, plus, of course, underground parking. The problem, as residents see it, according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, is not only a dearth of affordable-housing units but that the units are to be mostly studios and one-bedrooms (i.e., for singletons and empty-nesters, not families). This issue keeps coming up in Boston as the city, as everyone knows, faces both a housing shortage and, more specifically, a shortage of housing geared toward families. All the focus, in fact, seems to be on how to accommodate young, mostly single, professionals.
Now, we ain't socialists here at Curbed Boston—we know that the market (for now) is only responding to demand in downtown neighborhoods like the North End, Back Bay and Beacon Hill—but JP? The neighborhood has traditionally had some of the city's larger-by-size housing stock. Which explains a large part of the opposition to 161 South Huntington. And which explains why the BRA has sent the developer back to the drawing board on it.
· Apartment Project Sent Back to Drawing Board [Gazette]
· In Southie, Another Apartment Building Residents Don't Want [Curbed Boston]
· Southie Has Had It with All the New Small Apartments [Curbed Boston]
· Another One! Jamaica Plain's Big New Apartment Building [Curbed Boston]
· Group Wanting to Make Boston Hip Loves Boston the Way It Is [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Is for Lovers (Just Not Their Kids): a New Apt. Dynamic [Curbed Boston]