Davis Sq. Task Force meets to discuss new condominiums

by Matthew Kaplan

Developers outlined their plans to build a condominium building at the old CARLI fence site at Newberne Street and Morrison Avenue at the Davis Square Task Force meeting Feb. 11in front of about 45 community members.

As of now, the developers, who purchased the site last May, plan on including 12 units, with six one-bedroom units and six two-bedroom units. The building will have three floors and a mezzanine level, with 20 parking spaces on the first floor.

Some residents raised concerns about the building’s parking spaces, as the current plan has the spaces next to a bike path.

The building’s initial plans included underground parking, along with 16 units, including lofts, and a different exterior design. When Ward Six Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz first saw the initial designs, she said she voiced concerns over the building’s density and its exterior, which she said looked too industrial.

After the meeting about five weeks ago, the architect and developers redesigned the building to have fewer units and to make the building’s façade have a more contemporary feel.

“That’s the representative of the Ward; we’ll go back and make the [recommended] changes,” Nick Ianuzzi, the project’s attorney, said.

With four less units, the underground parking had to be scrapped as it was now not economically feasible.

“This is still a work in progress in terms of parking,” Ianuzzi said.

Some residents such as Ron Newman raised concerns that the above-street parking would take away from potential green space and provide an eyesore on the bicycle path, asking the developers to scale back the number of parking spaces.

“There’s an unfortunate byproduct to that [redesign] and that is parking by the bike path,” Gewirtz said. She said she had not seen the redesign before the Task Force meeting.

The developers can legally reduce the number of available spaces if the building is within 1000 feet of the Davis Square T station. However, other area residents such as James Campano said he wanted the building to include parking spaces to reduce the number of cars parked on surrounding streets.

Residents also raised concerns about the building’s environmental impact. The building’s architect said it is too early in the planning process to discuss ways to make the building more environmentally friendly, but construction could include pervious pavement that would allow water to seep into the soil, along with a potential drainage system on the roof that would slowly release rainwater into the soil.

In addition, developers plan on conducting shadow studies to determine the sun’s effect on the building in the near future.

Representatives with the site said they are still 12 to 24 months away from groundbreaking at the site.

After the developers spoke, Krista Kranyak, the owner of Ten Tables Restaurant in Jamaica Plain outlined her plan to purchase Antonia’s on Holland Street. She said the sale is mostly complete, but that she needs a wine and beer license to be profitable at the site.

While Antonia’s Restaurant had a wine and beer license, the license did not transfer in the sale. Instead, the license transferred back to the city.

“This deal is basically dead if I don’t get the license,” Kranyak said.

Ten Tables is one of seven restaurants vying for two licenses. The three-member license commission will decide how to distribute the licenses next week.

Afterwards, area resident Trish Blain, who purchased Sacco’s Bowl Haven, announced at the meeting that she will hold a community meeting Feb. 20 at the Dilboy VFW post to discuss her plans for the site.

Comments

[Ron Newman]

I posted some notes from the meeting here:

http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1148533.html

Carli Fence is also being discussed at these two sites:

http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1146911.html
http://davissquaredevelopment.blogspot.com/2008/02/future-development-carli-fence-site.html

(Why does this blog not allow me to post HTML links?)

[Trish Blain]

Correction: The meeting for The Connections Center at Sacco's is Feb. 25th at The VFW Dilboy. 7-9 with snacks and coffee at 6:30. Use the backdoor.