WinnCompanies Offers Site Tours, Strives for Support
Posted on Thursday, February 28 2008 by Heather Brandon
Following up on its presentation last week at an annual meeting of the Forest Park Civic Association in Springfield, Boston-based WinnCompanies is offering open house tours of three of its sites this week and next, hoping to sell its proposal for a redevelopment at the site of vacant Longhill Gardens Condominiums.
The first open house will take place late today, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. The second open house opportunity will be Saturday, March 8, from 10:00 am to noon.
The three sites available for touring are Northern Heights at Main and Central Streets in Springfield’s South End, offering 148 units; Museum Park apartments at 70 Chestnut Street downtown, offering 114 units; at Eastbrook Apartments at 259 Fernbank Road in Springfield, offering 160 units.
WinnCompanies notes that property managers will be available to show visitors around the common areas and to see a few of the units.
Brian Sears, president of the FPCA, provided the information about the tours, as well as an updated site plan capturing WinnCompanies’ proposal to redevelop Longhill Gardens in Forest Park. He said it does not include owner-occupied townhouses on the western side of Longhill Street, but rather an open green space there instead, which Winn would probably offer to the city for one dollar. The current proposal is 111 apartments on the eastern side of Longhill Street.
NoPolitician http://
February 28th, 2008 at 6:43 pmWhat about parking? I don’t see anything added. Since the buildings are significantly uphill from the existing lots, that would make this complex undesirable. How about some parking in the back? Does this proposal even meet zoning requirements for parking?
Heather Brandon http://urbancompass.net
February 28th, 2008 at 6:51 pmI can’t answer your question off the cuff about zoning requirements, but the initial plan as it was explained to me included demolishing the units to the far eastern edge of the site (depicted above in a dotted line) and placing a parking lot in that space instead.
I imagine this updated plan is similar but it does not show the lot or other changes that might be made to the central roundabout area, like a better-located playground. The current playground, if it can be called that, is on the edge of a hill looking down to the parking lot along Edgeland Street. Not all these things are captured in this site plan and certainly much is subject to change one way or the other.
Sheila McElwaine
February 28th, 2008 at 8:38 pmAt Sunday’s FPCA annual meeting, Gilbert Winn said that once the easternmost building is demolished, it will be replaced with parking for the 111 units they propose. Once the site has been cleared, they promise to squeeze in as many parking places as possible, coming as close as they can to 1 space per unit. (This plan comes pretty close.) He thinks that these new spaces plus the ones in the existing lot on Edgeland Street will be adequate based on experience elsewhere. I may be wrong, but I think the building to be demolished is located to the right of the cul-de-sac in the picture above.
To get better information, take the tour.
As for the playground and community room, the playground will be located within sight of the management office and will be locked at night. Several apartments will be converted to a community room and the management office.
Brian P. Sears http://www.forestparkca.com
February 29th, 2008 at 9:20 amThe proposed parking plan is to have approximately 100 parking spots for 111 units (much better than the current 50 parking spots for 211 units). As said above, they do plan on putting a parking lot on the spot where the Eastern most building is demolished. In addition, WinnCo is suggesting and supportive of only having parking on one side of Longhill St, which would be a great idea to help with traffic flow.
One idea for the green space on the Western side of Longhill St would be to have the City either lease or sell part of that land to the Condos that are uphill of Longhill Gardens to provide them with a spot for a parking lot. They currently have no off street parking.
Heather Brandon http://urbancompass.net
February 29th, 2008 at 11:22 amThanks, Sheila and Brian, for the added information.
What do people think of the WinnCompanies proposal? Is it a good one?
Mike Noonan of Springfield wrote a letter to the editor of the Republican, which was published in today’s paper, about the plan. It reads:
Do you tend to agree or disagree? What are your reasons?
Sheila McElwaine
February 29th, 2008 at 6:16 pmIn my opinion, the Winn proposal is a dream come true for Longhill Gardens: a quality developer and manager with a proven track record in turning around complexes like this who is willing to reduce density, and shore up foundations, renovate all units, increase offstreet parking, provide live security, do good tenant selection, install a play ground and community room. All this and the fact that it is Winn who is currently monitoring the site at their own expense to make sure vandals and squatters don’t gain access to the buildings. What’s not to like?
At the FPCA annual meeting, homeowners from Longhill Street spoke in favor of the Winn plan whereas opponents who spoke live far away on Forest Park Ave. and the other side of the X on upper Sumner Ave. and near Carroll Street out of sight and sound of Longhill Gardens.
Alternatives that were suggested were unrealistic. A school? Should a city that just adopted walk-to school districts even consider building a school on a sloping former dump on the western edge of town? “Just” tearing it down? OK, let’s say that it is torn down; then what? Vacant land doesn’t attract responsible activity; it attracts midnight dumpers and those whose idea of recreation is less than wholesome.
Belmont
February 29th, 2008 at 7:47 pmAll good points Sheila.
The projects mentioned as Winn projects seem to be some of the better, and particularly cleaner, complexes in the city. It would seem that they are on the total opposite end of the spectrum from the last ownership group.
Jeremy Cole
March 1st, 2008 at 4:12 pmI would like to suggest an alternative use for the buildings, one which retains the affordable housing but targets the space to artists. The building that they are going to tear down could provide outdoor space for an artist’s sculpture garden.
I call your attention to these two sites for more information:
http://www.artspaceusa.org/neighborhood/
http://www.fhlbboston.com/communitydevelopment/profiles/dreyfus_hotel/index.jsp
With a slightly different rehab of the building to take into account the need for living/working space, the building could have a completely different feel to it, one in keeping with the ULI Report.
Worth exploring.
Sheila McElwaine
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 pmAt this morning’s control board meeting, George Pappas and Nichola Manning, members of a newly formed group called “Springfield Forward,” spoke in opposition to the Winn proposal for Longhill Gardens, calling it a return to “more of the same: crime, prostitution, and drugs.”
While constructive activism on all sides of local issues is a good thing (and heaven knows Forest Park needs more and more diverse citizen involvement), let us hope that supporters of the Winn plan who actually live close to Longhill Gardens will also get organized and speak up in favor of Winn’s doable and constructive proposal.
Sheila McElwaine
March 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pmHave members of Springfield Forward visited the Winn properties? If so, might they tell us whether their concerns were allayed by what they saw or whether they are still worried.
Those who took the tour were impressed by the security camera system which the manager can access and control from remote locations, the high quality of maintenance and the thorough tenant screening procedure.
Anybody who took the tour(s) have observations to share?
Urban Compass | Blog Archive | Mayor Sarno Weighs Decision on Longhill Redevelopment Proposal http://urbancompass.net/?p=1224
March 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am[...] offered open house tours of three of its housing sites in Springfield earlier this month. On its Web site [...]