It's time to make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to the good, the bad and the ugly in the Hub real estate universe. Yep, it's the Third Annual Curbed Boston Awards!
Word first seeped out in September: Developer Related Beal wanted to build its Lovejoy Wharf condos without any on-site parking for eventual owners.
The very idea that people living in a dense urban core, with wide access to (fairly) reliable public transit as well as private cabs would or could live without a car at the beckoning touched the nerves of some and caused rejoicing in others. They're crazy, some cried, what luxury condo owner wants to be beholden to the T? Others: The developer's only eliminating the parking garage from its plans to save money. Still others: Bravo, it's about freakin' time. And yet more: If Boston really wants to be a world-class city, it has to start living like one, at least downtown.
The debate over the parking-less proposal carried into December, when the Boston Redevelopment Authority unanimously O.K.'d the 175-unit condo element of Lovejoy Wharf sans parking spaces. It was a first for Boston; it won't be the last.
· Developers to Boston Condo Buyers: Be More New York-y! [Curbed Boston]
· No Parking: Boston Green-Lights Car-Less Condo [Curbed Boston]