CVS, Boston Sports Club coming to Davis

[ron_newman]

A month or two ago, the city approved conversion of One Davis Square (the yellow building between Dover and Day streets) into a three-story building. The first floor will be a CVS, the second a Boston Sports Club gym, and I think offices on the new third floor.
Construction will begin some time next year.

The owner decided to redevelop his building after the state welfare department (aka DTA, Department of Transitional Assistance) decided not to renew its lease. I am a little concerned about where they will move; many of the DTA's customers do not have cars, so Davis Square was an ideal place for their office. The building also houses some non-profits such as the Somerville Community Corp. and Somerville Haitian Coalition, which will also probably have to move out before construction starts.

Comments

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

While I'm not a fan of BSC, I think this is great news. Davis needs a good pharmacy, the Brooks is pretty shabby.

[laklare.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of CVS, but BSC is a great addition. Certainly would make my life easier if I'm still living here then.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Anyway my point was that a gym and a good pharmacy are two things that would be useful additions, so good! I'm sure the DTA can find another location that's public transport accessible.

[cutieperson]

public transport accessible != T accessible, which makes a difference for some DTA clients.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I don't understand what's unaccessible about buses. I see what's inconvenient but not unaccessible. I'm personally opposed to government agencies being located in expensive/high-rent areas; I find it a waste of money. I applauded when the new head of the RMV demanded that they move out of their overpriced Copley Square location. Less money on rent would hopefully mean more money in the budget for staff, assistance funding, program funding. I'd rather see the DTA offices somewhere still accessible but cheaper so they have more money in their budget to help more people.

[cutieperson]

have you ever tried using a bus while on crutches or in a wheelchair? it's not exactly easy, even with assistance, which many disabled folks do not have.

personally, i'd rather see owners of buildings provide social services with a break on rent instead of pushing them out of the area.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I commuted for six months on crutches and found buses easier than trains. There are about three or four steps to get onto a bus. Subway stations have loads more stairs and often have broken escalators. Like I said, no one I know *likes* the bus. They come less often and you have to wait outside and they're often off-schedule but you know what ... I did it for four years to get to work, sometimes able-bodied. Sometimes not.

And people on the subway are no better about giving up a seat to the disabled. In fact, in my experience I'd say buses are better for getting a seat since it's easier to see a disabled person standing up since they don't blend into a crowd.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I take the T. By which I mean, the subway trains.
I don't take buses.

I have a subway pass. It doesn't work on buses.

If something is "T Accessible" I take it to mean that the trains go there. "T and Bus Accessible" means both trains and buses go there.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I'm not an idiot. I've lived here my whole life. If you have a T pass, you can pay 90 cents to take a bus. That doesn't make the bus inaccessible. No one I know *enjoys* taking the bus but they are perfectly valid way for people without a car to travel.

[jadelennox]

the older buses are much less elderly/disabled accessible than the trains (except the green line). The bus kneeling and wheelchair lifts are often broken; the bus drivers sometimes refuse to operate them; and the disabled person has to deal with the humiliation of having all the other passengers glare as they are shuffled around and made 10 minutes late. Also, while midday trains are usually uncrowded and therefore provide seating, midday buses are usually run at a frequency that makes them standing room only (on many lines). Not all disabled or elderly people are obviously in need of assistance, and so even well-meaning passengers don't know to give up their seats.

[siderea]

I don't understand what's unaccessible about buses.

My impression from my blind friends is that unless one has a guide dog, they're somewhere between nightmarish to unusable.

[ron_newman]

it's hard for me to see a real need for a CVS in Davis, given that we already have Brooks in Davis, and CVS a ten-minute walk away in Porter. I would rather have seen the developer attract a type of business that we don't have now.

At one of the Davis Square Task Force meetings, I suggested Trader Joe's, but the developer said that TJ's apparently doesn't want to build stores without parking -- even though they already have such a store on Boylston Street in Back Bay.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

oooh a Trader Joe's would have ROCKED. That's something else that's missing. A walkable grocery.

[laklare.livejournal.com]

Yes, walkable grocery would be great, but we'd never get one big enough without a place to park. Can we annex part of Cambridge and turn it into a parking lot? Just kidding.

Parking

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Actually, isn't there a sizable parking lot behind One Davis? Perhaps it belongs to somebody else.

It would be great to have a grocery with lots of prepared foods for commuters to pick up on the way home. I really hope that CVS opens up the archways on the front of the building and puts in windows, though if the Porter and Magoun stores are indicative, at best they'll put in "window displays" in fake windows. The more I think about it, the more I wish CVS would go away.

Re: One Davis Square

[ron_newman]

Unfortunately, the owner of the One Davis Square building does not own the parking lot behind it. That's why he had to get variance from the city to redevelop without any parking at all. His building covers 100% of his property.

Yes, the redeveloped building will get rid of the archways and will have lots of glass out front, making it much more attractive. I believe some of the display windows will be reserved for arts or community groups, much like the CVS in Porter Square or the Cambridge Trust Company window in Harvard Square.

But I do wonder why companies like CVS and Walgreen's don't use display windows more creatively. A store window should be an attractive advertisement for the merchandise inside. Goodwill knows how to do this right.

Re: One Davis Square

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Wait, I meant that they should keep the archways but knock out the brick that currently walls them off. I sure hope they don't remove the arches. Ron, do you know if there are any renderings online? Elsewhere?

Those window displays in Porter are dead space.

Re: One Davis Square

[ron_newman]

I thought the archways were going away in favor of solid glass, but now I'm not sure.

By the way, this building was originally a department store.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

>>it's hard for me to see a real need for a CVS in Davis, given that we already have Brooks in Davis, and CVS a ten-minute walk away in Porter.<<

i was wondering that too. even from a cvs standpoint - it seems kind of silly and a waste of money to build a new cvs that's ten minutes from an already-established (and big!) cvs.

altho at least they're not planning on putting another coffee place in there....

cvs redundancy

[ron_newman]

that's nothing compared to Coolidge Corner, Harvard Square, or Washington Street in downtown Boston -- each of which has two CVS locations. In some places, CVS is as ubiquitous as Dunkin Donuts.

Re: cvs redundancy

[siderea]

Nice subject. :)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Anyone out there know what a BSC membership costs? Unlikely to be much more than the gougers at Healthworks, I suppose.

[cutieperson]

Bally's is $15 a month right now.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

*grin* So you mentioned this weekend, but sadly, they don't have Teanna teaching there, which is the only reason I joined Healthworks but at this point is not enough to keep me there when I have a nice gym I can use for free at work.

Walking to Porter is also kind of a pain in winter. Yeah, I'm lazy.

[cutieperson]

i know it's not what you need, but my point was that there's already a fairly local place that isn't gouging people like Healthworks.

[laklare.livejournal.com]

The activation fee is variable (ranging from $30 - $200 depending on the time of the month and what promotion is happening). The monthly rates are variable too, but only if you get lucky and find a sales rep who needs to meet his/her quota for the month.

Standard rates are $69/mo. for use of one club during peak hours (any club during off-peak). $89/mo. for use of any club during any hours. I pay $69/mo., but I can use any club any time. I only go like 6 times a month though, so even that isn't worth it. I just figure it's better than the nothing I would probably do otherwise.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

That's actually cheaper than HW, whose current standard one-club rate just went up to (I think) $83 and doesn't include any use of others.

I miss the drumsticks. Those were good drumsticks.

[cos]

Is anyone going to keep track of where the current tenants all move to, to make it easier for people to find them? Is there any more space becoming available elsewhere in Davis Square?

[ron_newman]

I don't know the answer to this. It would be a good subject for the Somerville News or Somerville Journal to cover.

Walking by the building again today, it appears that the Somerville Haitian Coalition has already moved elsewhere. However, it still contains the Somerville Community Corporation, the Somerville Homeless Coalition, National Student Partnerships, the DTA (state welfare department), and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. The last one serves people with disabilities so it's especially important that it have an easily accessible location.

[ron_newman]

Shortly after posting the above, I e-mailed both the Somerville News and the Somerville Journal, suggesting they write about what will happen to the agencies and non-profits and their customers. The Journal responded first, with this story today: Advocates fight to keep Welfare in Davis Square

[turil.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Here's my thought...

The CVS will get more business than the Brooks (nearer to the subway entrance, right in the middle of everything, etc.), the Brooks will go out of business, and a Trader Joes will happily move into the Brooks location (with accompanying parking!).

It's all good. Except that Brooks is a more socially responsible company than CVS (from what I understand).

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

And so begins the long, slow decline into becoming another Harvard Square . . .