The Next Big Developmental Vampire
And the Allston souls that it’ll claim if we let it.
As most Allston residents are profoundly aware, the rampant development happening around the neighborhood is unlike anything we’ve seen in its history. In fact, we currently have $1.3 billion in development currently under construction, which is only a small fraction of what is slated for Allston over the next 5 years. In accordance with the current regulations of the City of Boston, 13% of the residential units in large projects are required to be considered “Affordable Housing”. That’s right, ONLY 13%. Everything else is allowed to be market price. Now many of you are probably reading this and asking yourselves “Wait what’s the point of building so much housing that isn’t affordable?” To that, all I can say is… EXACTLY. Allston suffers one of the most dramatic gaps between the income level of the majority of current residents and the expected income level for new residential units. As you can imagine, this is leading to a massive shift in what sort of people can populate these new units, as well as an expected vacancy wave given the current state of the world.
A couple articles ago, while sounding the rallying cry to attend last week’s ACA meeting we also gave some tip-offs to some more specific meetings regarding individual developments. One of which was the 119 Braintree St. project(alongside the even more freshly filed 90 Braintree St.), which had their Impact Advisory Group meeting on the 21st of this month. That address may ring a bell for many of you, as that building was previously home to some power players in The Bowery Boston offices and Run For Cover Records, as well as quite a few professional work studios for independent artists from all over the city.
Clearly, this is quite a blow to our creative community. A massive concentration of integral cogs to our local/national music industry and sorely needed artist workspace, all displaced without a word, let alone a simple commitment, from 119 Braintree St. Realty. Nothing about setting aside space within their own project, nor assisting in a temporary relocation during construction, or even financial assistance with their looming hunt for a new home. Now this sort of massive oversight would generally be expected from the average out-of-touch developer just looking to cash in on hot-spot real estate booms with little-to-no additional information on the neighborhood. HOWEVER, the real slap in the face is right in their project summary:
— “Supporting Allston’s Creative Community: 119 Braintree Street and the Blank Family have been long-time supporters of Allston’s artist and creative community. This commitment continues with the planned redevelopment as the new buildings are anticipated to include dedicated maker and studio spaces.” —
SO COOL of them to have that little tidbit there about including studio spaces… while in the same motion removing an entire building worth of artist resources that are already essential to our community.
Now as I mentioned earlier, the affordability requirements for Allston set the bar at 13%, which is obviously far too low. This project has committed to 20% of their residential units being affordable, with a wide variety of affordability as well, which is still too low but we’ll take it if we must. 20% has recently become the unspoken bar that has been set by the community and is referenced frequently with new large scale developments. As far as we’re concerned, it’s the bare minimum required to even begin turning the tides of the affordability crisis we’re facing. So while I can appreciate this developer stepping up to the plate a little bit, there’s still a LOT of work to be done for the concept to be remotely artist friendly. Presently, their contributions and community benefit plans are a vague gesture at best, and currently hold no stake in mending the damage they are doing. Therefore, on behalf of Boston Artist Impact, the Boston creative workforce, and the residents of Allston-Brighton, I have some extremely critical issues with this project that I request the developer publicly address at, or prior to, their next public meeting:
- The businesses that are being displaced by this project will not recover (especially not in Allston) should they be expected to fend for themselves after being removed from their previous spaces. This displacement is compounding the ever-present hemorrhaging of talent that Boston is notoriously guilty of. We request a commitment from 119 Braintree St. Realty to maintain an equal amount of space for these displaced artists and businesses, offered at the rate equal to their previous agreements along with right of first refusal to the new spaces.
- The construction of this massive project will take precious time that these businesses and artists will inevitably be displaced for, should the previous commitment be established. We request a concrete plan to assist in relocating the previous tenants where necessary throughout the duration of construction.
- As a project that touts its’ support for the arts, we request a conscionable effort to consider artist needs throughout the entire development, not just restricted to the (currently undetermined number of) artist studios. Until there are negotiated resources for the creative workforce, and open discussions with local artists to contribute input and criticism, this project will be widely considered exploitative instead of supportive.
Needless to say, the requests we are making are being presented to offset a slew of much larger issues that Allston (and Boston) faces. The risk of absolute displacement for the tenants of 119 is a product of a complete lack of protections for artist safe spaces and independent businesses, which if you haven’t gathered yet, frequently go hand-in-hand. All it takes is one building sale or one redevelopment plan or one astronomical rent raise for an entire microcosm of artists to no longer have any footing in the neighborhood they’ve spent their lives and/or careers bettering. The value that the tenants and function of this building offered our community is incalculable, and disrespecting their collective impact is a travesty to the residents of this city. Unless 119 Braintree Realty wishes to exacerbate the already crushing problems that all artists in Boston are confronted with, we need to see a serious reevaluation of what supporting artists means to them.
Another big problem that unfortunately falls on all of our shoulders is that the general public ends up being the last line of defense for so many of these large projects. Throughout the Article 80 process, the only thing tripping up these bigwigs is volunteer IAG participants and public comment letters, and it really just shouldn’t be that way. Residents shouldn’t feel so obligated to bear the weight of their neighborhood or lose their backyard. Personally, we’re tired of feeling like every artist is going to get snuffed out of Boston if we don’t show up to monthly meetings ourselves. UNFORTUNATELY that’s not the world we live in yet, so we’re stuck with waving our hands frantically at people to volunteer their time or write comment letters themselves… which brings me to our final call to action this week.
Look over the 119 Braintree St. project and please please please write a comment letter requesting the changes you want to see reflected in it. While unique letters always go the distance, Artist Impact will also be writing a collective letter of our own, and if you would like for us to send you our letter format so you can send it for yourself, you can reach us at allstonartists@gmail.com. Make sure to send your letter before the comment period deadline of February 19th, and make sure to address that letter to these people:
- Michael Sinatra — Michael.A.Sinatra@boston.gov
- Jonathan Greeley — Jonathan.greeley@boston.gov
Remember folks, artists made this neighborhood desirable with our own blood and sand, and if we continue to let vampires suck everything we love out of it, all that’ll be left is a culturally barren desert. Stand your ground as the last line of defense, and let your voice be heard!
Written by Nick Grieco
