Life sciences project teeter-totters on neighbors’ whim

The Wellesley Farms, Wellesley Hills, Wellesley Square and West Natick commuter rail stations are getting a face lift as part a $28 million dollar design contract, approved last week by MBTA.

 

All four stations will become fully accessible, environmentally-friendly, more energy efficient and safer.

 

The project also includes the addition of a third track along an 11-mile stretch of the rail line between Wellesley and Framingham, reports Bruce Mohl at Commonwealth.

 

This news comes a week after we learned that the T has also committed to designing handicap accessible, double-sided platforms at the Newtonville, Newton, and Auburndale stations.

 

“The new Newton platforms will fix a problem dating to the 1960s, allowing the pickup and drop-off of passengers at the three Newton stations at all times of the day, while the third track between Wellesley and Framingham will allow the T to add more express service bypassing some stations stops,” Mohl writes.

 

Construction funds have not yet been secured for either project.

 

 

Every week, it seems, another suburban life sciences project gains approval.

 

Except in Newton.

 

Malden’s City Council jumped onto real estate’s hottest trend last week, with hopes of launching a life-sciences sector in their city center.

 

Days before that Revere hopped in, before that: Waltham.

 

Meanwhile in Newton, a proposal to replace a hotel and office space with two life sciences buildings at Riverside Station has been slow-dancing through the city council since at least February.

 

And in the booming life sciences real estate market where the need for speed is everything, guess what was the hot topic at the Land Use committee's Riverside meeting last week?

 

Adding a playground to the project.

 

I kid you not.

 

The council unanimously approved the 10-building project in 2020. That came only after agonizing negotiations in 2019 where objections from abutters led Mark Development to shrink building heights and reduce the transit oriented development by one-third.

 

Neighbors now appear determined to hold the change of use approval hostage, unless Mark Development adds some swing sets.

 

For real. Watch this.

 

Worse, some city councilors who should know better, seemed to give that request momentum last week, suggesting it was a good idea.

 

Credit, at least, to City Councilor Deb Crossley for urging her colleagues to not revisit “things that were already decided.”

 

And so the seemingly endless public hearings drag on, with a vote not expected until September.

 

It's not clear if adding a playground will ultimately become a condition for approval, or what other demands will surface.

 

But this delay is already jeopardizing Newton’s very best shot to become a player, instead of a spectator, in the region's hottest sector.

 

 

In case there’s any confusion about what Newton is getting here, Riverside would include 1.2 acres of public open space; financing for a new exit ramp off I-95 northbound; plus $7.2 million to the city in mitigation funds, including $3 million to upgrade the Riverside Charles River trail network.

 

Swapping the hotel and some office space with life sciences buildings is projected to bring upwards of $850,000 annually in added property tax revenue to Newton, as well as an estimated 36% reduction in traffic, both compared to the previous plan.

 

Mark Development has also agreed to increase in the number of affordable housing units at the site from 102 to 111 units.

 

 

 

Remember the debate about whether or not those $300 boosts in unemployment insurance were keeping some workers from reentering the job market?

 

Turns out they may have.

 

The number of unemployment-benefit recipients is falling at a faster rate in the 22 states that cancelled extended payments this month, according to the Wall Street Journal.

 

The $300 boost in Massachusetts ends Sept. 4.

 

 

 

Paying rent in June was problematic for more than one-third of small businesses and more than half of minority-owned small businesses, reports Andy Medici for the BBJ.

 

Overall, the rent troubles stem in part from a lack of customers and rising supply costs, which 55% of small-business owners say have hit their bottom line.

 

Meanwhile, about 48% of small-business owners say they have half or fewer customers than they had before the pandemic, and 57% report having half or less the monthly revenue they had before the pandemic, according to surveys from Alignable.

 
 

 

 

 

Newton-Wellesley Hospital is offering grants to community-based organizations to implement interventions addressing housing insecurity issues facing residents Natick, Needham, Newton, Waltham, Wellesley, and Weston. Details.

 

 

UMass Amherst’s Massachusetts Small Business Development Center provides free, confidential, one-on-one business assistance and free and low-cost training to prospective and existing small businesses. Schedule a virtual meeting.

 

 

 

Lawmakers have agreed to extend the sale of to-go cocktails in Massachusetts from restaurants until next May.

 

Now comes the debate over making the rules permanent.

 

At a hearing this week Robert Mellion of the Mass. Package Stores Association expressed relatable concerns about competition and lost sales for his members.

 

According to Katie Lannan at State House News, Mellion also cited concerns about the health and substance-abuse effects of too much alcohol, quoting a study showing an increase in consumption during the pandemic.

 

But Sen. Diana DiZoglio -- who supports making the take-out rules permeant -- pushed back, calling it "disgraceful" for Mellion to "shift the blame for substance use disorder" onto restaurants.

 

"I think if the gentleman before me has some challenges with alcohol being used in the commonwealth at all, and he's serious about that, he probably wouldn't be representing the package store industry and trying to monopolize the sale of alcohol in the commonwealth," DiZoglio said.

 

Kind of true, you know.

 

That’s today’s Need To Knows, unless you need to know another reason why this weekend stunk for the Yankees.

 

Stay cool, okay?

 

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P.S. Thanks to the Needham Channel for reporting on our recent member survey. Watch the view here...