The third annual Curbed Boston Cup, our award for the Hub neighborhood of the year, has kicked off, with 16 enclaves vying for the prestigious fake trophy. We'll have two match-ups per day through Thursday, and all the results and the full tourney bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends after 24 hours. Let the eliminations continue!
Now batting, Jamaica Plain vs. Dorchester.
Jamaica Plain has had quite the 2013 development- and sales-wise. One nugget, courtesy of our David Bates in September: The neighborhood had only one sale in the $700K to $799K range in the first eight and a half months of 2012; through the same period in 2013, it had 13. Now, developments! There was the ribbon-cutting just recently for 225 Centre Street, the first piece in the 14-property Jackson Square puzzle. There was also the ruthlessly transit-friendly Commons at Forest Hills (rendered), which will add hundreds of apartments to an area already seeing a fair amount of residential development. And there was, of course, all the rigamarole on South Huntington Avenue, some of which carried over from 2012. Remember that year?
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Dorchester was no slouch itself in the development department this year. Way back in warmer March, the city's Zoning Board signed off on plans for 278 apartments at 25 Morrissey Boulevard (rendered), adjacent to the UMass/JFK T Station (transit-oriented, people, transit-oriented!) and a site in need of better days. Other developments are slated for the area called Columbia Point, likely to help turn it into one of the more thriving pockets of Boston beyond downtown. Finally, our pals at Trulia dubbed Dorchester one of the 10 most diverse neighborhoods in the whole dang U.S. of A this year. Go, Dot, go.
· 2013 a Busy Year for Hub's High Price Points [Curbed Boston]
· Jackson Square Mega-Redo About So Much More Than Housing [Curbed Boston]
· Take the Orange Line to the Commons at Forest Hills [Curbed Boston]
· South Huntington Ave. Readies for Another Round [Curbed Boston]
· Game-Changing Dot Spot Aims to Fill In 'Wasteland' [Curbed Boston]
· Big Columbia Point Complex Sets a Timetable [Curbed Boston]
· One Word: Transit-Oriented—JP's Jackson Square Is the Future [Curbed Boston]