March 12, 2008
Brookline’s “Little Manhattan”?
Yet another luxury condo building in Coolidge Corner?
It seems so. Tonight, the Coolidge Corner Southside Neighborhood Association hosts a meeting to discuss a new development at 109-115 Sewall Avenue. The developer is proposing 16 units with 34 underground parking spaces on a site that once housed a seven-unit brick building and a two-family Victorian. Apparently, the developer bought 115 Sewall for $6,275,000 last October.
If this project goes ahead (and no reason to think it won’t — all the boarded up windows and orange spray paint suggest it has already gotten started) it will mean even more condos for SOBE (South of Beacon), adding speed to what seems to be a bonified condo boom in this neighborhood. A new development of 40 luxury condos called St. Paul Arms is nearly complete at 150 St. Paul Street and 76-78 Sewall Avenue. The Bodwell Pines Corporation actually moved the old Victorian that dominated the lot to build a new multi-unit building. Next door, they took an existing apartment building and combined it with the new construction for a hybrid development that will also include an 81-car, two-level garage. Prices will range between $462,000 and $1,190,200.
Nearby, there are several new brick-construction luxury condo developments that have come online in recent years on both Sewall and Longwood Avenues. And of course, there are already the large 70’s-era condo blocks at 50-60 Longwood and 45 Longwood. With the new retail space that includes a Staples Copy Center and a new fitness center at the corner of Charles and Beacon Streets, you could almost call this neighborhood Brookline’s answer to Manhattan. (Okay, okay, so that’s a bit of a stretch!)
(On another point, I do hope the developers at 115 Sewall manage to ”save” the old Victorian, the way the developers at St. Paul Arms did. Yes, it’s true that squeezing a Victorian onto a tiny parcel (like at St. Paul Arms) may take something away from its character, but it’s still preferable to bulldozing the whole thing!)
Also on the market in “SOBE” are:
1265 Beacon Street, No. 405, $579K, a two-bed, two-bath unit of 1221 square feet featuring a pool, concierge and garage parking.
60 Longwood Avenue, No. 409, $340K, a one-bed, one-bath unit of 799 square feet, featuring a pool, concierge and garage parking.
50 Longwood Avenue, No. 314, $359,9K, a one-bed, one-and-a-half bath condo of 946 square feet, featuring a sauna steam room in the building, a 24-hour concierge and guest parking.
45 Longwood Avenue, No. 308, $258K, a studio of 361 square feet in a building with a pool, doorman and residential super.
