Toll Bros Update of Cushing Village Development Thursday, April 27

April 26, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Under construction.

The developer of the Cushing Village project now under construction in Cushing Square will hold a public meeting this week to provide residents an update on where the development is at and where it is going.

Toll Brothers Apartment Living, the apartment development division of Toll Brothers, Inc., the nation’s premier builder of luxury home, is hosting the meeting on Thursday, April 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Belmont Art Gallary on the third floor of the at the Homer Municipal Building

Toll Brother officials will discuss the status of the project and construction schedule. The Cushing Square project calls for construction of three mixed-use buildings, which will include retail space on the ground floor and 115 apartments above.

Cushing Village Update: Dig, Dig, Dig; Starbuck Around ’til July 4th?

March 30, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Diggin’ it in Cushing Square.

Dig this … which is exactly what construction crews are doing on the proposed site of Cushing Village, according to developer Toll Brothers.

In his monthly update, Otto Weiss, the project manager for Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living division which is building the 168,000 square foot development in the heart of Cushing Square, said the project was on the ground as the site was being prepared for the building of the foundations for the three-building complex.

Current site activities include:

Moving dewatering equipment onto the location along Trapelo Road where they will begin the dewatering the soil on the week of April 3
The pavement in the former municipal parking lot and the foundations of the old buildings along Common Street has been removed.
Public comments and responses to the company’s Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan have been uploaded to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Next up for the project include:

Excavation and soil removal in the former parking lot will begin in a week or two.
Detailing the architectural plans continues during the coming months.
Foundation construction for the Winslow Building – located on the municipal lot – will begin in the Spring.

As for the last tenant on site, Starbucks will remain open until late Spring/early Summer this year, according to Weiss.

Cushing Village: Demolition of Structures Completed, Dewatering To Begin

February 28, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: The site of the future Cushing Village.

The future location of Cushing Village has been cleared of the former buildings, and in-ground work will begin in the next few days, according to an update from a spokesperson for Toll Brothers, the developer of the 164,000 square foot multi-use project.

Otto Weiss, the project manager for Toll Brothers Apartment Living which is building Cushing Village, reported the first major phase of the project had been completed with the demolition of all but one of the structures at the construction site at the corner of Common Street and Trapelo Road.

The only remaining building is the one housing the Starbucks Cafe. But that will be tumbling down in about three months.

“We expect Starbucks will remain open until late spring [or] early summer this year,” said Weiss. “The date of the closing has not yet been established.”

Next up will be the placement of dewatering equipment which is already placed along Trapelo Road. It will be used to remove the ground water to allow for the construction of the garages and foundations of the three buildings to be constructed at the site.

And the first building to be excavation and the foundation construction will be for the Winslow Building which will be built on the former municipal parking lot. That will take place in the late spring.

In other news, the firm anticipates to be responding to public comments to the Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan in early March and uploading the plan to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection once these comments have been addressed, said Weiss.

Once the RAM Plan is uploaded to DEP, “we anticipate further excavation will begin. We anticipate this work will start by mid-March.”

Sold in Belmont: $3.5M For Slice of Former Pizza Mogul’s Homestead

February 21, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker 2 Comments

Photo: A highlight of smart, architectural sensitive renovation in a split level in the Winn Brook.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 27 Willow St., Old-style (1903). Sold: $1,075,000. Listed at $1,075,000. Living area: 2,557 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 81 days.

• 7 Sherman St., Prewar Cape Cod (1940) Sold: $736,000. Listed at $769,000. Living area: 1,391 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 79 days.

• 7 Sumner Ln., Something huge. Sold: $3,400,000. Listed at $3,350,000. Living area: 5,800 sq.-ft. (est). 12 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths. On the market: 685 days.

• 141 Claflin St., Brick and cedar shingle old-style (1933). Sold: $1,075,000. Listed at $925,000. Living area: 2,184 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 42 days.

• 80 Douglas Rd., Colonial (1940). Sold: $925,000. Listed at $849,000. Living area: 2,121 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 60 days.

An expensive slice in Belmont

Do you think that your children should strive for a career in STEM? How about health care? Finance? Forget all those loser jobs mentioned above. I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Pizza! As the actor, Kevin James said, “There’s no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap.”

If there is an occupation with more than its fair share of ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs, it’s those who can build a better pie. Mike Ilitch, the owner of Little Caesars Pizza, was worth $6.1 billion and owned two major sports teams when he died last month, Domino’s Pizza’s Tom Monaghan sold his business to Bain Capital for $1 billion, John Schnatter of Papa John’s Pizza is worth $750 million and the list goes on and on.

And Belmont has its pizza mogul. Joey Crugnale decided to start his pizza shop in Davis Square, Somerville in a storefront he bought in 1981 to prevent a competitor from opening a shop two doors from Crugnale’s first big hit, Steve’s Ice Cream. Out of that almost accidental piece of good fortune began Bertucci’s Brick Oven Pizzerias with its first-of-its-kind open-hearth brick ovens, specialty topping pies and cool, youthful vibe (the Somerville location had a bocce court in the basement). By the time he was outbid by the NE Restaurant Co. for his company in 1998, Crugnale had built an empire of 84 Bertucci’s worth millions.

In 1992, Crugnale used some of his pizza and ice cream money – he had sold Steve’s in 1982 – to purchase for $1.6 million one the largest (8,800 square feet!) residential houses in Belmont located at Concord Avenue and Sumner Lane – the “lane” runs from Concord to Somerset and borders the Weeks family property – from another food-based fellow, David Mugar of the Star Market fortune. (Mugar didn’t move far, just over to Marsh Street.) Not only is the house large – 17 rooms with five full and three half bathrooms! – it sits in the middle of a meadow, to provide maximum privacy.

After living in his century-old brick manse for two decades, Crugnale decided to do with his property what he did with his pizza; cut it into slices and make a greater profit.

In 2010, he got together with a development company called Concord Estates LLC run by Belmont’s favorite developer, Joe DeStefano, who paid Crugnale $1.8 million for five “slices” in 2010 at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 Sumner Lane.

Concord Estates had taken its time to sell not just the parcels but the custom-made houses with the first homes sold in 2015 with 1 Sumner selling for $3.2 million (6 beds, 5.5 baths, 6,440 sq.-ft.) while DeStefano took 3 Sumner for himself while 10 Sumner was sold in 2016 at $3.4 million.

And last week, 7 Sumner was sold for $3.4 million. So what do you get? From the sales pitch, you’ll live on a “brand new picturesque private road [which] offers in(-)town living in the most coveted exclusive Belmont Hill location” while its “rolling lawns and graceful old trees will give you the feeling of the [O]ld [S]outh.” The “Old South”? Really? On Sumner Lane, as in Fort Sumner? Is this manse being sold in Belmont, North Carolina?

“This classic turn-of-the-century inspired new home will offer incredible country views, peeks of the Boston skyline and acres of conservation land. All of these homes are one of a kind built with incredible craftsmanship and refined details.”

Sounds like you’d want to join the club? There’s one slice left on the plate at 5 Sumner according to the Belmont assessors.

Cushing Square’s New (Temporary) Skyline As S.S. Pierce Building Tumbles

February 20, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Open space in Cushing Square.

For 102 years, the prominent three-story brick and frame building stood at the corner of Common Street and Trapelo Road, home for much of that time of the Belmont branch of the S.S. Pierce grocers.

On Monday, Feb. 20, the century-old Cushing Square landmark came tumbling down as the Cushing Village development prepares to move forward with the first major construction event, the excavation of the foundation and parking garage at the 164,000 square-foot project.

The demolition of the two-story building designed by architect H. Thaxter Underwood – who also designed the Police Station and the demolished Underwood Pool Bathhouse and the first Chenery Middle School – was set for the Presidents’ Day holiday to limit traffic and parking disruptions as the large excavators pulled down the building away from the intersection.

The only business remaining at the site is Starbucks in the former Friendly’s restaurant. It is scheduled to close in the next few months to allow for the construction of the building on the former municipal parking lot. That structure – which will house a new Starbucks – will be completed by the early summer of 2018.

Cushing Village Demolition Begins Next Week; Residents Concern on Process

January 25, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker 2 Comments

Photo: Bill Lovett, senior development manager at Toll’s Apartment Living, speaking to residents.

The demolition of structures on the proposed Cushing Village site will begin next week, according to a Toll Brothers representative speaking at a public meeting held at the Beech Street Center on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

“The big equipment will be mobilizing this Friday and early next week is when the demolition will begin,” said Bill Lovett, a senior development manager at Toll’s Apartment Living before 45 residents who braved the stormy wet weather to discuss a broad range of concerns from what will be done with contaminated soil and groundwater, parking to beautifying the area during the 24 months of construction.

At 164,000 square feet, Cushing Village consists of three separate buildings with approximately 38,000 square feet of commercial space, 115 dwellings units – 60 two-bedroom and 55 one-bedroom units – and 225 parking spaces including 50 public spaces. The development will also include 12 affordable apartments.

Lovett said the former S.S. Pierce & Co. building at the corner of Common and Trapelo and the First National/CVS at Common and Belmont would be brought down away from the streets with the debris placed on the property’s asphalt parking lots before being hauled away.

After the balance of the demolition is complete around March 1, the developer will begin deepwater treatment of the site.

By early April, work will commence on the foundation of the Winslow Building, which is located on the municipal parking lot at Williston and Trapelo roads. Lovett said while the development will take approximately two years to be completed, he expects the Winslow building to be open for ground floor retail occupancy by next summer.

Lovett also addressed a question that many residents had: what would happen to Starbucks during the construction. He said the national coffee cafe has two options; it can attempt to remain opened while work goes on around the shop, or close at some point for the duration of construction. He noted that if Starbucks does shut down, the period of construction will be shortened.

SAGE’s team: Rick Mandile (left), Molly Cote, and Jacob Butterworth.

Lovett introduced representatives of SAGE Environmental which will lead the monitoring and cleanup of the soil and groundwater within Toll Brothers’ development plan. The site was once home to dry cleaners as well as a gas station, the municipal parking lot, retail space and a supermarket.

Rick Mandile, a principal at SAGE, told the audience that Toll’s plan is to dig up about 90 percent of the site, upward of 30,000 tons of soil – which less than 10 percent or about 2,700 tons is likely contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene – which will be treated before being moved to a landfill.

Working from a 700-page draft Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan, SAGE’s Molly Cote, a project manager told the residents that groundwater on the site would be treated at the location before being sent into the municipal storm drains, which is allowed by the state.

Lovett said work on the site would occur between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. with workers using a shuttle bus to arrive at the site. He said a plan for parking and bringing in dump trucks to the site are still being formulated.

Several residents raised concerns about the monitoring program of contaminates and the removal of the soil, asking for special care when it is trucked from the location to keep dust under control. The Belmont Board of Selectmen has recently hired a licensed site professional to do a peer review of SAGE’s draft RAM.

Beginning Tuesday, residents have a 20 day comment period to write to SAGE’s senior project manager, Jacob Butterworth (jbutterworth@sage-enviro.com) of their concerns and any questions they wish to be answered in the RAM before it is sent to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection for its approval.

John Mattleman of Poplar Street told Lovett that “the little things are big and the big things are big” on a project that requires this level of monitoring and remediation.

“Communications will go a long way as we are now partners in this,” he said.

Town To Peer Review Toll Bros. Plan To Clean Cushing Village Land

January 24, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Revised on Tuesday, Jan. 24 to update status of RAM material.

Photo: A public meeting Tuesday will discuss how the land of the future Cushing Village be cleaned to allow construction to begin.

The Belmont Board of Selectmen voted Monday, Jan. 24, to hire an environmental firm to peer review the state-approved plan developer Toll Brothers will use to clean the contaminated property where the 167,000 sq.-ft. Cushing Village project will be built.

The remediation plan along with an initial schedule for the project will be presented at a public meeting scheduled for tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the Beech Street Center. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m.

Selectmen Chair Mark Paolillo said he and some residents felt it would be prudent for the town to have an independent licensed site professional (LSP) conduct “a town-sponsored review” of the developer’s Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan. The plan details the environmental contaminates in the property located in the heart of Cushing Square and how the firm’s contractors will remediate the land, so it is safe to build the three building development.

An LSP oversees the assessment and cleanup of contamination property. More information on what an LSP does can be found at the LSP Association website.

The plan details the environmental contaminates in the property located in the heart of Cushing Square and how the firm’s contractors will remediate the land, so it is safe to build the three building development.

Besides retail stores, a supermarket and a municipal parking lot, the property also was one home to dry cleaners.

The draft Cushing Village RAM will be sent to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection by Toll Brothers’ LSP after the 20-day comment period. It would then take a week for the state to approve the RAM.

“I’d like [Belmont’s LSP] to look at the RAM” that will occur during a state-mandated 20-day comment period that starts when the plan is presented to residents and business owners Tuesday night, said Paolillo.

While the state prohibits additional language or requirements from being added to the abatement plan, Toll Brothers “have expressed to [the town] it wants to be collaborative” and would seriously consider concerns from the town’s professional, said David Kale. Belmont town administrator.

“The RAM is what the RAM is,” said Paolillo, “we just want to provide our comments.”

Cushing Village Update: Municipal Lot Closed To Public Wednesday

January 18, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: From parking lot to construction site.

In the first tangible indication construction on the long delayed Cushing Village development is about to commence, signs notified the public the municipal parking lot adjacent Starbucks was official closed to vehicles.

“THIS PARKING LOT Located on the corner of TRAPELO ROAD and WILLISTON ROAD WILL BE CLOSED EFFECTIVE JANUARY 18th, 2017” read several signs in the near empty lot.

At the Williston Road entry, another sign said “Construction Entrance Only” and “Lot Closed 1/18/17,” placed by Nauset Construction, the Needham-base constructon management firm hired by the project’s national developer, Toll Brothers.

Toll Brothers officially took possession of the town-owned lot on Oct. 19, 2016 after purchasing the parcel for $1.335 million, according to town records.

Despite assurances the lot would be closed within days of the sale, it would take three additional months for the Pennylvania-based Apartment Living subsidiary to secure the first of several permits from the town and state’s environmental protection agency to allow construction to precede and to finalize a long-term lease with Starbucks to secure a space in the project.

Cushing Villiage is a 165,000 square foot, three building development with approximately 38,000 square feet of commercial space, 115 apartments – 60 two-bedroom units and 55 one-bedroom units – and 225 parking spaces including 50 municipal spaces.

Bill Lovett, a senior development manager at Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living, said in August the earliest date for construction to begin on Cushing Village is late spring of 2017 with a completion date of the summer of 2019.

Sold in Belmont: A Pair of Million Dollar Splits That Took Different Tacks

January 17, 2017 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: A highlight of smart, architectural sensitive renovation in a split level in the Winn Brook.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 58 Crestview Rd., Split-level ranch (1959/2016 renovation). Sold: $1,500,000. Listed at $1,775,000. Living area: 4,200 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. On the market: 79 days.

• 544 Trapelo Rd., Two-family (1890). Sold: $680,000. Listed at $699,999. Living area: 1,747 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 157 days.

• 61 Hoitt Rd., Split-level ranch (1957). Sold: $1,100,000. Listed at $1,100,000. Living area: 1,962 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 95 days.

• 66-68 Chester Rd., Two-family (1917). Sold: $1,100,000. Listed at $1,025,000. Living area: 1,747 sq.-ft. 14 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 67 days.

After WWII, the rapidly growing middle class was seeking to leave the urban neighborhood and move to the expanding suburbs to find new homes with a modern design that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Into that void came the Ranch, the sprawling single family with its long, close-to-the-ground outline, and wide open layout inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie homes. You can see many great examples of this architectural design on Belmont Hill, notably on Spring Valley Road. The design doesn’t particularly work well in New England: it’s best located in a flat landscape with few trees allowing sunlight to filter in which is hampered by the hills and wooded areas of the Northeast.

But by the 1970s, the design grew out of favor – the lack of natural light and the “wide-open spaces” of the run-on rooms – as hybrid postmodern homes with cathedral ceilings, skylights, island cooktops, and other ugly features dominated the demands of homebuyers.

In the past week, a pair of ranches, split-levels with upper “private” (bedrooms and baths) and lower “public” (living room/kitchen/dining rooms) levels, were sold taking different tacks to get to a seven-figure sales price.

On Crestview Road, the 57-year-old split was given an extensive makeover by the developer who bought the house for $1,025,000 million in August 2015 to flip it. He dropped $178,807 into the structure, adding nearly 1,300 sq.-ft. (the size of a two-bed condominium) with an expanded and renovated kitchen (with quartz counter tops!) with a pair of dishwashers (Two dishwashers?). But likely done anticipating what buyers would want, the developer added a vaulted ceiling in the living area which destroys the architectural integrity of the ranch design.

With an assessed value of $1.36 million, the developer rolled the dice and marketed the place for an ambitious $1,775,000. But soon someone named “The slowing local real estate market” – Boston has dropped out of the top 20 strongest residential locations in the US at the end of ’16 – told the developer he was still selling a ranch. Soon the listing price fell three times by October to $1,575,000. And he still took a haircut on the final price of $1.5 million. Profit, but more of a razor-thin margin.

The ranch on Hoitt Road in the Winn Brook neighborhood – a block from the school – also saw a $34,000 kitchen renovation in 2013/14 that included a center island, custom cabinets, new appliances and … quartz counter tops! A trend worth praising.

But rather than blow up the rooms, the updates in the “public” areas were faithful to the split-level history, keeping the architectural details – ornamental iron railing, flat brick fireplace, high windows – during the makeover. The highlight is expanding the patio into a three-season living space (what a great way to use the patio’s support beams as an aesthetic focus) opening up into the living room.

Purchased for $700,000 in ’11, listed and sold at $1.1 million.

Smaller Real Estate Tax Bill Jump in ’17 as Property Values Cool

December 20, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont’s Assessors’ (from left) Charles R. Laverty, III, Robert P. Reardon, Martin B. Millane, Jr.

Real estate taxes on the average-valued home in Belmont will increase by the least amount in the past four years after the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved at its Monday, Dec. 19 meeting the recommendation of the town’s Board of Assessors’ to up the town’s property tax rate 14 cents in 2017.

The annual tax bill for the average assessed valued property – currently $941,700 – would increase by $311 to $11,960, less than half of last year’s hike of $717 under the new tax rate of $12.70 per $1,000 of assessed value. The current rate is $12.56 per $1,000.

Under the new rate, the annual tax for a property assessed at $750,000 will be $9,525, or $2,381.25 per quarterly tax bill.

The increase in the tax rate “is a result of a slight increase in real property values with an increase in the tax levy capacity,” wrote Assessors’ Chair Robert P. Reardon in the board’s yearly report to the Selectmen.

Reardon told the Belmontonian the town data showed a significant cooling in real estate values in Belmont this year. After increases of $55,300 ($782,600 to $847,900) from 2014 to 2015 and $79,500 between 2016-15 ($847,900 to $927,400), assessed values increased just $14,300 in 2017 compared to 2016.

After years of five percent increases in average assessed values, “[y]ou expect it to pull back, and it did this year,” said Reardon, who predicts home values will continue to level off in 2017 with two interest rate hikes anticipated by the Federal Reserve.

Under the new rate, Belmont will collect $85.6 million from residential, commercial, open land and personal properties. Last fiscal year, the town raised $82.9 million in real estate taxes.

Reardon noted a healthy increase in new property growth totaling $788,000 from the construction of the Belmont Uplands and the sale of prime properties on Woodland Road provided a “nice” bump into the town’s coffers.

As with past years, the assessors’ recommended, and the selectmen agreed to a single tax classification for all properties and no real estate exemptions.

Reardon said Belmont does not have anywhere near the amount of commercial and industrial space – at a minimum 20 percent – to creating separate tax rates for residential and commercial properties. Belmont’s commercial base is 4.24 percent of the total real estate.

“People always assumes there’s money if you go with the split rate and that’s not true,” Reardon told the Belmontonian.

The Belmontonian

Belmont's Independent Media Outlet Covering the 'Town of Homes'