82 Pearson Ave

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I've often wondered what was up with 82 Pearson Ave. It has sat, derelict and uninhabitable, since I moved to the area a few years ago (at least). It looks like someone got halfway through renovating it and stopped. I've always been curious what happened -- did they run out of money? get divorced? die, and their children are squabbling over what to do?

At one point the front porch was taken down, so I thought they were working on it again, but now I think that it was the city that removed it because it was unsafe. There was a period of months where the third-floor windows were open and pigeons were nesting up there. I can only imagine what a mess it is in there.

Well, it seems like whatever the story is, it's coming to an end now: a notice on the door says that the city is planning on taking it over, fixing it up, and selling it: http://yfrog.com/kgpskkj . Might be a good deal for someone who's willing to wait for them to finish (and then do whatever work is remaining, as I imagine they'll only be doing the bare minimum).

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Wow, Zillow says it sold for $1.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was probably an intra-family deal or something -- when someone gives someone else a property, it's often officially "sold" for $1, as far as I know.

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

Huh. I lived in the first floor apartment from June '02 through May '03. My roommates lived there for another year after I left. I recall that the landlord lived in Florida and his son was local-ish (Danvers, maybe?). They were always really good when we had maintenance issues.

I remember a fire several years ago that did some serious damage a few houses down, but worst we ever had was a frozen pipe during one of the blizzards that resulted in the entire house's waste ending up in our bathtub.

Weird.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

It's just crazy to see that it sold for $775K and then a buck.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I'm curious -- were either of them named Jonathan Witney or Michael Legere? Those are the two owners named in the city's notice.

And re frozen pipe: eech, yuck! That must have sucked!

[emblebug.livejournal.com]

Nope, our owner was Joe Kelly (I'm one of wellstar's former roommates). I think it was actually his grandson who came to do stuff around the house, and, yeah, he was cool.

I have friends who live on Pritchard who I visited last year and they asked where I had lived on Pearson and when I took them past, I was shocked at its condition!

[smacaski.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it looks like it was sold a few years after you left, so there's still the mystery of what happened with the new owners. Zillow has it listed as condos now, but I assume you rented it as an apartment? Maybe the new owners were renovating the units with the intent to sell and ran out of money/the market crashed and they abandoned the project.

[emblebug.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was an apartment. It definitely needed some work, and I know many of the houses in that neighborhood were converted into condos, so I would not be surprised if that was the plan and then things came screeching to a halt when the economy tanked....

[ceo]

Ah, I'd seen there was a notice on the door but hadn't had a chance to go look at it. That's excellent that the city is being proactive about it. Judging from the third-floor picture window, someone had grand plans for it at some point.

[mamabunny72.livejournal.com]

I remember reading about this property on the Somerville Patch website.
[ ..looking it up... ]

Here is the article, it's mentioned about half way down:
http://somerville.patch.com/articles/two-somerville-houses-gone-through-the-cracks
> Bankruptcy.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

I'm always wondering what the story is behind the abandoned and condemned house on the corner near me (McLean Place and Cedar St. in Cambridge), and it's four trucks that have never moved in at least 2 years, certainly longer.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Mystery solved! Thanks! "Grave for more than 50 pigeons" -- wow, it's even worse than I thought!

[davelew.livejournal.com]

The "fire several years ago that did some serious damage a few houses down" was probably the fire at 60 Pearson Ave on June 25th, 2005:

http://www.somervillelocal76.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=70219

It sounds pretty major based on the fire department response:
"Box 437 was struck at 1225 with an initial response of Engines 7, 6 and 1; Ladder 3, Tower 1 and C-3."
"Providing mutual aid station coverage during the fire was Boston Engine 32, Cambridge Ladder 1 and Everett Engine 1."

[emblebug.livejournal.com]

Nope, I don't think that's the one wellstar is referring to, as I had already moved to NYC at that point, and I was definitely still living in Somerville for the fire she mentioned (so, it had to be before May 2004). Also, it was on the other side of the street and further up from our house, which would make it an odd number, and likely higher than 82. If I recall, they ended up knocking down the remains and building something brand new from scratch.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Like mzrowan said, not necessarily weird. We bought our current place together with a friend as a 2-family for a perfectly normal sum of money, then turned it into condos and "sold" it to ourselves for $1 -- had to do the sale because of the change of status, but it was just a paperwork convention.