Roxbury nerve center Dudley Square has long been one of the areas to watch in Boston in terms of change. The opening early last year of the Bolling municipal building, a redevelopment of the old Ferdinand site, and the proposal for a 25-story residential tower across from the MBTA station seem to presage either an exciting new beginning for the area or a lamentable end to yet another affordable enclave within the city limits.
A recent visit to the Bolling building's resident cafe would seem to suggest the latter. Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham discovered a vibrant scene at the eatery, not to mention local owners who employ people from the neighborhood, including high school students. There was one ginormous caveat, though: "But Dudley Cafe is also the kind of place one might see in the South End. And so, while many in the neighborhood celebrate it, they also view it with trepidation."
Thoughts? Are we looking at some kind of South End 2.0 emerging (as the South End itself becomes something altogether different than it was 10 years back)? Or is a nice cafe sometimes just a nice cafe?
· In Dudley Square, Anxious Residents Await the Boom [Globe]
· New Look at What Would Be Roxbury's Tallest Building [Curbed Boston]
· The 10 Hub Real Estate Developments to Watch in 2015 [Curbed Boston]
· Scoping Boston's 'Relentlessly B-Minus Architecture' [Curbed Boston]
· The 11 Projects Transforming Boston's South End Forever [Curbed Boston]
[Photo of the Bolling building in Dudley Square via Mecanoo]
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