Items Tagged ‘Jamaica Plain’
Co. Seeks To Turn Ex-Nursing Home Into Hub Hotel
Synopsis:
A former nursing home in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston may soon be converted into a budget hotel. The current adaptive reuse plan calls for adding two additional floors on top of the old Pond View Nursing Home. Watertown-based SMC Management hopes to repurpose the nursing home into a 40-room hotel which is conveniently located by the city’s Emerald Necklace, MBTA Green Line and the Longwood Medical area. These plans, as well as the purchase of the site, are dependent on whether SMC Management will be granted a zoning variance to add the additional floors.
Interestingly, the article also notes that the former Cleveland Circle Cinema in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston may soon become a hotel as well. Although Goodison stated the hotel is planned for the theatre building, she clarifies that its really only the site that will be used as plans call for the demolition of the old building. There are no details provided as to why the developer for this other project, Boston Development Group, found it more advantageous to build new rather than reuse.
The Brewery Small Business Center
Synopsis:
History
The complex was first built in 1871 as the Haffenreffer Brewery. The business saw its height topping out at 250 employees before competition in the 1950s caused production to slow. In 1965, the brewery is shut down. It became home for a moving company for a short time as well as squatters. The brewery complex gained recognition in 1982 when it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
(Re)Developer
The non-profit Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) was founded in 1977 and soon afterwards sought to purchase the brewery as a cornerstone to their community development efforts of revitalizing the neighborhood and supporting small businesses. After five years of fundraising, JPNDC succeeds in purchasing the brewery.
Outcome
About 10 years later, two-thirds of the building was revitalized and opened to house new local businesses. In 2008, JPNDC began the final phase to renovate the remaining portion of the five-acre, 16-building, 150,000-square foot complex. The non-profit’s goal was to “bring back the jobs that were lost when the Haffenreffer Brewery ceased operations in the 1960s and to create a supportive environment for local businesses.” A resounding success, the complex is now home to 50 small businesses with over 250 people employed.[1]
In the spirit of sustainability, JPNDC has been able to reuse a significant structure within their neighborhood, saving land and resources. At the same time, the “blight” and social problems of a vacant building have been cleared away, ushering in renewed activity and a successful local economy.
