July 20, 2008

Hitting the Links

• Simon Property Group shows what they want in (and on) Copley Place. [John A Keith]
• Allston-Brighton looking to get a little greener. [Allston Brighton Community Blog]
• ABC casting call for “Opportunity Knocks.” [The Beantown Bloggery]
• The City seems to be doing a little housekeeping in the Theatre District. Are they preparing for the W? [Universal Hub]
• 3D wants the MBTA to look at restoring an existing tunnel rather that building a new tunnel that nobody really wants. [Third Decade]
• Wow! Apparently the head of the MBTA’s Diversity Office doesn’t think much of Hispanic culture. How many shades of irony can fit into one story. [Boston Globe]
• A Haitian restaurant opened in Fields Corner. [Lower Dot]
• Massachusetts might decriminalize marijuana. [MetaBoston]
• And the average price per square foot in the North End is… [Boston Condos]

Dine and Dash: Staying Close to Home
Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 18, 2008

Dine and Dash: Staying Close to Home

Because the weather won’t cooperate this weekend, “Dine and Dash” looks more like “Dash.” Meteorologists predict the temperature will either be in the mid- 90’s or it will drop to the low 80’s with thunderstorms. Either way, I’m not dashing far.

I picked these open houses only because they are close to home:

56 Clarendon Street, #4
South End, 02116
Beds: 3/Baths: 2.5
SQ.FT.: 2264
$1,649,000
Open House: Sunday July 20, 1:45pm - 3:15pm

115 Chandler Street, #1
South End, 02116
Beds: /2Baths: 1.5
SQ.FT.: 1265
$774,000
Open House: Sunday, July 20, 2:15pm -6:30pm

85 Appleton Street, #2
South End, 02116
Beds: 1/Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 530
$390,000
Open House: Sunday, July 20, 2:00 - 3:00

I suppose could have lunch delivered, but running through the rain or wandering through the heat full-bellied sounds miserable.

Rose Kennedy Greenway: Quit Complaining About It

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 16, 2008

Hitting the Links

• How long before some drunk pulls up this sunflower and leaves it on the roof of a nearby car? [Allston Brighton Community Blog]
• Several scenes for Four Single Fathers was shot down the street from me. All I saw was a bunch of trucks hogging up all the parking spaces. [The Beantown Bloggery]
• Bruce Willis is in town shooting a different movie on South Street. [Loaded Gun]
• More Boston movie news: Mel Gibson’s drunken, antisemitic tirade offended someone he needed. [Universal Hub]
• And the average price per square foot for Back Bay housing is… [Boston Condos]
• Somerville finally passed their poorly-planned bill forcing retailers to recycle plastic bags. [Boston Daily]
• Is stainless, from granite-maple-and-stainless, on its way out? [Zillow Blog]
• MBTA driver of The Ride car 1709 thinks it’s appropriate to shout slurs out the window of his work vehicle. [Wicked Local]
• I’d love to take my dog into restaurants with me if it weren’t so tacky. [John A Keith]
• No swimming in Jamaica Pond: spontaneous fun might break out. [Boston Globe]
• Help celebrate the first Annual Cocktail Week. [Passionate Foodie]

Rose Kennedy Greenway: Quit Complaining About It

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 14, 2008

Rose Kennedy Greenway: Quit Complaining About It

Yesterday’s Globe whined about the Rose Kennedy Greenway lacking shade and greenery.

On sunny days, it’s pleasant for a while, but begins to feel hot quickly. That’s partly because the Greenway isn’t all that green.

Surprise!

Unlike Post Office Square, the Greenway lacks shade. Thousands of shrubs, saplings, and flowers have been planted, but most of the trees are years from reaching mature height.

You’ll probably never see that shade in your lifetime. Remember, the Greenway looks just like the Commonwealth Avenue Mall of 130-years ago.

Dine and Dash: Celebrating Bastille Day in Cambridge

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 13, 2008

Hitting the Links

• I can’t believe people use pics like these to sell homes. Here’s a suggestion: flush first! [Zillow Blog]
• MBTA boss Dan Grabauskas drives an SUV to work. Apparently the T doesn’t suit his needs. [Bostonist]
• Please help 3D change people’s often-misguided perception of Roxbury. [The Third Decade]
• Why do buyers assume maple, granite, and stainless are good? [Boston Real Estate Now]
• A design tip that encourages conversation. [Home Staging Blog]
• Pics from the roofdeck at 285 Columbus Lofts are making me insanely jealous. [Boston Condos]
• Somerville scored a couple Smart Cars for official city use. [BostonDaily]
• If City Hall moves to the Waterfront, maybe they could rebuild the West End [Universal Hub]

Dine and Dash: Celebrating Bastille Day in Cambridge

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 11, 2008

Dine and Dash: Celebrating Bastille Day in Cambridge

Bastille Day: a great American holiday and a great excuse to celebrate something. Anything.

We’ll head over to Cambridge for the Holyoke Street Bastille Day celebration Sunday. The festivities start at 3:00, so we have plenty of time for open house viewing beforehand.

I don’t really know much about Cambridge neighborhoods, so I picked the two most expensive homes showing this weekend, and, despite the different addresses and zip codes, they appear to be in the same building. The third open house just happens to be around the corner from the first two.

After viewing these homes, we’ll honor the people of France with a street fair and a fixed-price meal at Sandrine’s.

4 Vincent Street
Cambridge, 02138
Beds: 4/Baths: 3.5
SQ.FT.: 2726
$1,795,000
Open House: Sunday, July 13, 12pm-1:30 pm

159 Upland Rd
Cambridge, 02140
Beds: 4/Baths: 3.5
SQ.FT.: 25.8
$1,595,000
Open House: Sunday, July 13, 12pm-1:30 pm

137 Raymond Street
Cambridge, 02140
Beds: 3/Baths: 2.5
SQ.FT.: 1600
$844,900
Open House: Sunday, July 13, 2pm-3pm

Then And Now: Chester Square

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 10, 2008

Then and Now: Chester Square

When engineers for the City of Boston laid out plans for the newly-created Back Bay and South End, they drew inspiration from Europe: long Parisian boulevards and narrow parks dominate Back Bay, while narrow streets and London-style neighborhood parks dominate South End. In 1852, Ezra Lincoln designed Chester Square, a park to lure the wealthy from Beacon Hill to the South End.

According to the Chester Square Area Neighborhood Association:

[T]he park was landscaped lavishly by the city while developers and property owners began building the seventy townhouses that surround the park. The handsome houses are a combination of flat fronted central buildings and stepped forward, bow fronted buildings at the curved ends and “are more grant and opulent in style and influence” than any other South End houses.

The plan worked for a while, but by 1950, the South End had fallen into sad shape:

Within a few decades, the handsome houses of the South End became successively homes for small artisans, rooming houses and the residential entry point for waves of immigrants. Many fell into disrepair and were boarded up and abandoned. In the 1950’s, in the worst excesses of urban renewal, whole square blocks of the South End and Lower Roxbury were torn down as slums. Although none of the buildings that constitute the architectural framework of Chester Square were razed, in 1952 when the Southeast Expressway was completed, funneling thousands of cars into Boston from the South every day, the city took the center of Chester Park for four lanes of traffic. On its 100th birthday, the center of the historic residential square became a flowing river of traffic.

Have you ever seen the narrow fenced-in lawn on both sides of Mass Ave between Tremont Street and Shawmut Avenue? That’s all that remains of Chester Square: two narrow strips of sod.

Want to see homes near the square? I listed the following apartments in Boston instead of their respective neighborhoods because nobody can tell me whether they’re in Roxbury or the South End. I’m reasonably confident it’s the South End, but I’m afraid to make that my final answer.

570 Mass Ave, #1
Boston,02118
Beds: 2/Baths: 2
SQ.FT.: 1182
$479,900

582 Mass Ave, #2
Boston, 02118
Beds: 2/Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 1010
$585,000

520 Mass Ave, #3
Boston, 02118
Beds: 2/Baths: 2
SQ.FT.: 1106
$579,000

And this one is directly on Chester Square:

534 Mass Ave, #2
Boston, 02118
Beds: 1/ Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 740
$430,000

Boston Sweet Digs Home

Top Five: The Most Expensive Homes in the South End

July 9, 2008

Hitting the Links

• New England Coffee isn’t very green, is it? [Universal Hub]
• Some apartment dwellers in New York complain about their neighbors children. I don’t blame them.[The New York Times]
• Forbes listed the best places to raise children. Not on the list: apartments with wood floor and neighbors underneath? [Forbes]
• Another meaningless “Best of” poll. [The Beantown Bloggery]
• Will East Boston ever be a hip, hot neighborhood? [CondoDomain]
• Try to avoid dumping your sewerage in Boston Harbor. [Bostonist]
• Big surprise: Downtown Crossing is getting some luxury apartments. [Boston Daily]
• A whole bunch of valuable property near Beacon Hill remains almost completely unused. [Boston Globe]
• BC needs to start some taxes. [Brighton Centered]
• John Keith doesn’t think Columbus center is happening.  While I agree with him, I hope we’re wrong. [John Keith]
• Home staging companies offer several level of service, so you have no excuse for showing an ugly house. [Home Staging Blog]
• Trump Tower Tampa needs help: developers filed for bankruptcy. [The Real Estate Bloggers]

Hitting the Links

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 2, 2008

Hitting the Links

• A current picture from the Lincoln Street Green Strip. [Allston Brighton Community Blog]
• More pcitures… This time, they’re of the W Hotel in the Theatre District [Boston Condos]
• Quick note to real estate agents: be careful who you work with—they might come back to shoot you someday. [The Real Estate Bloggers]
• The Pine Street Inn gets a little help with their small Upton Street project, or, as NIMBY residents call the three houses, a megaplex. [John A. Keith]
• Mayor Menino expressed his displeasure with BC’s expansion. I would be concerned for the future of any project Menino doesn’t support. [Brighton Centered]
• We can only hope the city council denies Flex-Petz the ability to expand to Boston. Instead of helping these people turn pets into accessories, volunteer at an animal shelter. You’ll save a ton of money while helping a cat or dog in need of a permanent family. [MetaBoston]
• The Seaport isn’t the overwhelming success everyone expected. Not yet, anyway. [TheBeantown Bloggery]
• Julia Child’s former home in Cambridge is on the market. The kitchen she made famous over the years isn’t included in the sale. It was removed and reassembled at the Smithsonian several years ago. [Boston Real Estate Now]

Top Five: The Most Expensive Homes in the South End

Boston Sweet Digs Home

July 1, 2008

Top Five: The Most Expensive Homes in the South End

A few weeks ago, I posted Boston’s five most expensive homes for sale, and, not surprisingly, they were all in Back Bay and Beacon Hill. Newton and Brookline had a couple of estates that came close, but not quite enough to break into the top five. Cohasset topped them all with a $16 million estate, but that’s too far away to be part of the city.

The South End didn’t show up in the top five. It didn’t even come close. It probably doesn’t even show up in anywhere in the top twenty. Not long ago, the South End was a dismal neighborhood with nothing going for it except drugs, prostitution and violent crime. Now it has seven-figure home sales, trendy restaurants, and the Mommy Brigade: all signs it’s making a pretty good comeback.

40 Hanson Street
South End,02118
Beds: 2/Baths: 3
SQ.FT.:3036
$2,395,000

225 W. Springfield Street
South End,02118
Beds: 4/Baths: 4.5
SQ.FT.:3795
$2,395,000

118 W. Newton Street
South End, 02118
Beds: 4/Baths: 3.5
SQ.FT.:3500
$2,495,000

143 W. Newton Street
South End, 02118
Beds: 5/Baths: 4
SQ.FT.: 4775
$2,850,000

151 W. Canton Street
South End, 02116
Beds: 4/Baths: 4.5
SQ.FT.: 3357
$2,995,000

Dine and Dash: A Tour of the Shore

Boston Sweet Digs Home

Image: Andy Warhol, Dollar Sign, 1981