Max Pak site article

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Saw this article today in boston.com re:MaxPak site. I know there was discussion about it a few weeks ago...

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2011/01/danielle_dreilinger_somerville.html?p1=HP_Well_YourTown_links

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Those rental prices seem completely unreasonable for the location. That's what I would expect to pay in, say, Back Bay.

[ron_newman]

More coverage:

Somerville Journal
Post Somerville

I haven't followed the labor dispute -- anyone know more about it?

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Uh, yeah. They are completely insane if they think they can get $1500 for a studio that far from the T, let alone $3,000 for a 3 bedroom.

[i-leonardo.livejournal.com]

sometime in 2014 or 2015 there's supposed to be a green line stop more or less right there at the lowell bridge.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, something tells me that this is going to become a saga with plenty of recrimination.

I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

I don't see why we ought to prefer construction staff living in Somerville over construction staff living in Boston, or Chelsea, or Everett, or Cambridge. Obviously they should pay reasonable living wages, but there's not really much reason to narrowly demand Somerville residents get special bonus consideration in hiring. I mean, I guess the city makes concessions and asks for concessions in return, and in-town tax rolls are in-town tax rolls. Still, it's a little picayune. The greater Boston area benefits from jobs overall.

And if those prices are too high, they'll come down. I agree I wouldn't pay it, but I guess we'll see. "Market rate" is market rate, you know?

Re: I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Agreed, if they can't get those prices, it's their problem and they will adjust, it's none of our business, we don't own the property, they do. The fact that some of the protesters want to control who can live in Somerville is a little disturbing. I thought we were past the days of the 80s where you were hated if you weren't a native.

I personally don't think 1500 is out of line. I charge that much for my upstairs tenants and I live in the area. And the apt I rent out isn't brand new, doesn't come with building amenities, etc. While I don't place any value on living in a brand new space, empirical evidence shows that other people do. Also studios can be all across the board in size, so it's hard to estimate rent without more information. If their studios are 400 sq ft they will probably have problems, but they could be 1000 sq ft, for which I don't think they will.

Re: I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[fefie.livejournal.com]

"The fact that some of the protesters want to control who can live in Somerville is a little disturbing. I thought we were past the days of the 80s where you were hated if you weren't a native."

The MaxPak development is right next to the future the Green Line Extension. The part of the article regarding rental rates and attracting families vs. transients is part of a larger discussion going on in the community about the effect of the Green Line Extension on the price of housing along its route, and how to ensure people will be able to continue afford to live here.

(See the recent thread here about residents committed to living in Somerville and concern about the prices of renting and owning in the Davis Sq. area for some background to what people in other neighborhoods in Somerville have also expressed concern about in public meetings regarding the Green Line Extension's potential effect on the rising cost of housing in Somerville.)

Re: I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

That larger discussion is just a disturbing continuation of a long time culture of a certain anti outsider hostility of a certain segment of people. A kind of micro level anti immigrant mentality. If immigrant means anyone other than you and your own friends and family you grew up with. Analogous with "England for the English" Somerville for the true Somervillians only, where one group thinks they can define who deserves to live here and is going to try to blame newcomers for their problems and life choices.

Re: I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. Demographics in any state, county or city are always fluid and changing. Claiming that a certain group of people deserves or should live in this town and are therefore better (families) for this town vs another group (students, young professionals) is extremely prejudiced. Capuano should be ashamed of himself!!!

Re: I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[ward2.livejournal.com]

He should be ashamed to try to protect the owners and renters who already live in that neighborhood? The project was given special permission by the Planning Board to be built at all - it is zoned for a few two family homes.

All cities have the right, with limitations, to dictate what sort of new projects should be built and how it will impact the neighborhood and the city. The demographics of apartments impact a neighborhood differently than condos. If the units already existed, it'd be a different story. That's why the city couldn't prohibit apartments from "going condo" a few years ago to keep out the "newcomers." It has nothing to do with discrimination or "keeping out newcomers."

Re: I hate to sound like the right-wing free-market fundamentalist here but...

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

cities have rights to invest whatever projects they want, but capuano should be ashamed of saying that one group of people is less desirable and somehow unworthy of living in this city.

[ward2.livejournal.com]

Regardless of what the rents are, the project was never presented to the neighborhood or the city as an apartment project. It was presented as condos, particularly those that would attract young couples and families - not an endless stream of renters in multi-bedroom apartments. I was at the meeting last week. That was the reason Capuano voted against it, and I, for one, agree.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Who didn't see something like this coming? The relentless "We're tearing X down and building luxury condos!" avalanche was clearly going to hit the wall of luxury-condo-market-saturation sometime; I guess every developer hoped that they would make it under the wire before the market collapsed.

[el-cubano-15.livejournal.com]

I can't wait for this complex to be completed. It beats the heck out of what was there for years and I also welcome the green space that they're going to establish. I think it's great for the neighborhood and the city.

The green line and bike path extension also can't come soon enough.