| |
|
| Planning for Quincy's redevelopment | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | UPDATES | |
 |
|||||||||
|
UPDATES
DAY 1 STORIES
|
|
SIGNS
|
 |
GREG DERR/The Patriot Ledger |
| The Church of the Presidents has long been one of the landmarks of Quincy Center. |
The Patriot Ledger
QUINCY
It’s just after noon on a Thursday in downtown Quincy, and a nagging drizzle has more or less chased away the lunchtime crowd.
There is no jockeying for parking by passing drivers on Hancock Street. Roughly a fifth of the on-street spaces are empty. Scattered “vacancy” and “for lease” signs adorn windows of storefronts and second-floor offices.
The scene that weekday afternoon is a far cry from Hancock Street’s heyday in the 1950s, when shoppers streamed into stores like Gilchrist’s, Milton’s and Sheridan’s, making Quincy Center a South Shore shopping mecca.
But a confluence of events - including an increasing number of people fleeing cookie-cutter suburbs for cities, an up tick in residential construction and a push by the state to reinvest in urban centers - means Quincy is well-positioned to launch redevelopment and revitalization efforts that could infuse new life into downtown.
With that in mind, Mayor William Phelan has hired a consultant and assembled a team of developers, business executives and other experts to help draft a vision for downtown’s future. Like a long line of mayors before him, all of whom had limited success, he is pledging to put a plan in motion.
“This is not something that is going to be attempted but not successful,” Phelan said. “This is going to be a success. I feel it in my bones. The time is now.”
It’s impossible to say exactly what Quincy Center might look or feel like if its full potential is realized - something that could take decades to accomplish if histories of downtown revitalization efforts elsewhere are accurate guides.
Redevelopment and revitalization can mean anything from leveling neighborhoods and starting from scratch (think Boston’s West End) to simply rehabbing existing storefronts. Reality, and success, usually lie somewhere in between, with new construction sprinkled amid spruced-up buildings.
Seemingly subtle steps, such as tweaking traffic patterns, altering the location of parking and green space, and easing restrictions on how tall or dense buildings can be, can go a long way toward luring residents back downtown and attracting businesses, experts said.
The result could mean much more to Quincy residents than a downtown worth visiting. A vibrant Quincy Center would bring in more taxes, which are key to maintaining city services.
 |
GREG DERR/The Patriot Ledger
|
| The Hancock Parking Lot, across the street from Quincy District Court in downtown Quincy, is seen as a piece of real estate that’s ripe for redevelopment. |
Consider: Back when the Bargain Center drew droves of penny-pinching shoppers to Quincy Center, the city took in $87,217 in taxes for the property in 1987. The site was redeveloped into the Presidents Place complex, and the land nets the city more than $955,000 today. And that’s only one example.
“It takes money to run the city,” Assessor Marion A. Fantucchio said. “Right now people are basically getting the same services. The rubbish is collected, snow is plowed, we’re not shutting street lights or schools. ... We need new growth to keep it up.”
Planners, politicians and countless others for years have tried and failed to restore Quincy Center to its earlier prominence and popularity. What’s different now?
For starters, Gov. Mitt Romney’s administration is pushing the merits of “smart growth,” a catch phrase that means channeling new development near existing roads and infrastructure, and avoiding the sprawl that comes with paving over woods to make way for homes, offices and stores.
In other words, the state would be more inclined to spend its limited resources on transportation improvements in cities like Quincy than on building new roads to rural sections of the state, said Douglas Foy, chief of commonwealth development.
If such pledges hold true, Quincy might be able to snag much-coveted cash to complete projects like the Quincy Center Concourse, a road that would connect Burgin Parkway to Southern Artery and which is seen as a catalyst to downtown redevelopment.
But the prospect of state money is only one reason a Quincy Center transformation might be closer to reality than before.
Alex Krieger, chairman of the department of urban planning and design in Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, offers another: People have rediscovered the advantages and conveniences of urban life.
“Small downtown commercial areas like Quincy are becoming exotic again among some Americans because that’s so different from what we experience with malls, sprawl,” he said.
Changing social norms are a big reason. Young people tend to get married later and seniors are living longer. In fact, only about 7 percent of U.S. households mirror what Krieger calls the “Leave it to Beaver” model: a mother, father and a few kids living at home.
In many cases, the appeal of the suburban house with a white picket fence is lost on singles, empty-nesters and non-traditional families. They’d just as soon live in cities, where restaurants, theaters and other amenities provide constant activity.
Quincy is already benefiting from that phenomenon. A 111-unit apartment building is scheduled to open next year in front of the Quincy Center MBTA station, and another 200 apartments have been approved across the street, as part of the Presidents Place complex.
While Quincy’s social offerings might pale in comparison to Boston’s, business follows people. The theory is simple: The more residents who move to Quincy Center, the more shops, eateries and other amenities catering to their whims will begin appearing. And businesses will have a built-in clientele to sustain them after workers from Stop & Shop’s corporate headquarters and other downtown offices head home at 5 p.m.
Even now, with its tired buildings, empty storefronts and other shortfalls, Quincy Center is far from a ghost town. It is rich in history, home to a college and now features a handful of new, even trendy restaurants.
“It certainly has a lot of potential,” said Frederick Merrill, principal of Sasaki Associates in Watertown, an urban planning firm that has worked in Quincy in the past. “It’s located on the commuter rail, Red Line. It’s still pretty affordable compared to other places, and it has a pretty rich diversity of people, ethnically and age-wise. That’s a really nice thing.”
©
The Patriot Ledger ~ All rights reserved. | SPECIAL
REPORTS |
|
|
 |
