An April 23, 2013 hearing at the Zoning Board of Appeal is scheduled to remove the supermarket proviso as part of the One Canal project along N. Washington Street bordering the West End and North End neighborhoods. One Canal, a $175 million, 12-story, 320-unit rental housing development expected to open in mid-2015.
Last summer, city officials conditioned their approval to developer Trinity Financial on the inclusion of a supermarket, but included a relief loophole should another supermarket open in the immediate area. State and city regulators said Trinity must have a supermarket signed up by March 1, 2013 in order to receive a land lease for the development to move forward. The only exception would be if another supermarket is “open and operating” in the nearby area.
Since then, TD Garden owner Delaware North and Boston Properties have announced they are looking to move forward with a double-tower mixed use development, including a Stop & Shop and a multi-level Target in front of TD Garden.
For more than a decade, the North End / West End / Beacon Hill Supermarket Committee has been advocating for an affordable full-service, walkable supermarket alternative to Whole Foods.
The hearing notice is shown below.
Update: The Boston Zoning Board of Appeal voted to remove the supermarket requirement from the development. Read more at Boston.com.
I want a trader joes!
This is nonsense. What’s to stop any other developer from promising the moon during the permitting process and then backing off, citing vague information about other companies “looking to move forward”?
At some point, someone from the city — and it’s clearly not going to be the BRA, at least before next January — has to put their foot down and say, “Profit is great, and we’re going to do everything WITHIN REASON to help you maximize your profit. But we are public servants, and at some point we must actually serve the public and recognize that this neighborhood is more vibrant, more livable, and yes, MORE VALUABLE TO DEVELOPERS if it is diverse. Culturally diverse and socioeconomically diverse.”
Trader Joe’s would be great. Stop & Shop would be great. Bring on the permitting process, bait-and-switch developers! Maybe YOUR sleazy, win-at-any-cost move will be the one that finally gets some attention. And then WATCH OUT.
Any one remember the Stop & Shop that was there in place before the Whole Foods? It was filthy and grimy plus the checkout help was slow and consistently short changed. Not only that but their merchandise was always mispriced and they often didn’t honor their sales prices unless you asked. Meat could go bad before you got it home. Before they closed the only thing I would buy there was cat litter and I need to check to make sure that the bag hadn’t broken open. Put me down for a Trader Joe’s, otherwise I hope they keep the bus.
As much as I love Trader Joe’s, we need a ‘regular’ supermarket within walking distance. How about Wegman’s or Shaw’s?
How I miss Johnnie’s! Whole Foods is nice but you cannot do all your food shopping there without breaking the bank.
I guess I hate the thought of Stop & Shop again. I would almost rather see anything else. I just like clean, fairly recent food.