Friday, May 18, 2012
A look at what's open on the housing market this weekend.
Searching for a new place to call home? Here is a sampling of open houses this weekend in Jamaica Plain. Flip through our photo gallery to take a peek at the open properties. Details about the property and open house are included in the photo caption. Are you selling your home or are you an agent? Add a photo of your house and leave the address, price, number of bedrooms and baths and open house day and time in the caption.
Neighborhood newcomer Whole Foods ran away with this week's "Best of Patch Readers' Choice" contest.
When my wife Jane and I are walking around the neighborhood and we catch the scent of a backyard (or porch) barbecue, we sing a little song to the tune of Kumbaya. Someone's grillin' Lord Kumbaya... And with Memorial Day fast approaching, residents will be headed to JP stores and markets where they can get the best meats and vegetables to put on those grills. That was the subject of this week's "Best of Patch Readers' Choice" contest. This week the new Whole Foods in Hyde Square won handily. No one added new ratings, which count for half the votes, but Whole Foods won the poll easily. Coming in second was Stop & Shop while Harvest Co-op took third place. Congratulations to Whole Foods and thanks to everyone who voted. Next week's contest …
42.321125
-71.110406
Whole Foods Market
413 Centre St, Jamaica Plain, MA
/articles/and-the-best-place-in-jamaica-plain-to-buy-meat-and-veggies-for-the-grill-is
2030471
/locations/7051676
Thursday, May 17, 2012
A sampling of homes purchased in Jamaica Plain this week.
Click on the photo to look at a gallery of properties that sold in Jamaica Plain between May 10 to 16. 81 Child St. #3 List Price: $329,900 Sold Price: $325,000 Sold Date: May 16, 2012 Living Area: 932 sq. ft. Rooms: 5 Bedrooms: 2 Baths: 1 10 Greenley Place #3 List Price: $325,000 Sold Price: $330,000 Sold Date: May 15, 2012 Living Area: 1,436 sq. ft. Rooms: 6 Bedrooms: 3 Baths: 1 43-45 Forbes St. #1 List Price: $330,000 Sold Price: $339,000 Sold Date: May 14, 2012 Living Area: 938 sq. ft. Rooms: 4 Bedrooms: 2 Baths: 1 99 Call St. Unit F List Price: $499,000 Sold Price: $508,000 Sold Date: May 11, 2012 Living Area: 1,800 sq. ft. Rooms: 6 Bedrooms: 4 Baths: 2 full, 1 half 13 Marmion St. List Price: $429,000 Sold Price…
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Despite a bounty of vegan and vegetarian take-out dishes at Whole Foods' Hyde Square store, I won't return anytime soon.
I don’t shop at Whole Foods. For one thing, I live on the other side of JP in the area that Realtors and almost no one else calls “Parkside.” But there’s more to it than that. During the height of the controversy, as a freelance writer I was sometimes assigned to cover the emotional topic here on JP Patch, and I felt obliged to retain an objective viewpoint. At the risk of stirring the pot now that the heated debate has simmered down, I hope you won't object if I offer a little food for thought. From my perspective, both sides had validity. With some exceptions it was in many ways a classic class war, a case of the haves vs. the have-nots. Homeowners and those with disposable incomes largely came in on the side of the pretty pricey …
42.321125
-71.110406
Whole Foods Market
413 Centre St, Jamaica Plain, MA
/articles/vegetarian-whole-foods-picnic-jamaica-plain
2030471
/locations/7036965
Monday, May 14, 2012
A striking eatery offers American cuisine with global flair in the space formally occupied by an infamous dive bar.
There’s a decided dearth of flashy eateries in Forest Hills, as it seems Jamaica Plain’s destination dining is largely reserved for the Centre Street restaurant all-stars. But spanking new Tonic on Washington Street may likely lure diners to the relatively drab stretch of restaurants and bars across from the Forest Hills T stop. The pretty, 85-seat Tonic—replacing the purportedly perilous Griffin’s dive bar—opened its doors in mid-April. And, well, the place has some serious charisma. Banquette-lined walls, attractive lighting fixtures and a soothing color scheme are all on point and certainly de rigueur, but the menu is what shines the brightest here. Executive Chef Ryan Kelly, in collaboration with owner Croan McCormick, has fashioned a…
42.30075
-71.11302
3698 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA
Tonic
/articles/jp-eats-long-awaited-tonic-dazzles-in-forest-hills
/locations/7011597
Friday, May 11, 2012
A look at what's open on the housing market this weekend.
Searching for a new place to call home? Here is a sampling of open houses this weekend in Jamaica Plain. Flip through our photo gallery to take a peek at the open properties. Details about the property and open house are included in the photo caption. Are you selling your home or are you an agent? Add a photo of your house and leave the address, price, number of bedrooms and baths and open house day and time in the caption.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
It's the talk of the neighborhood today: WBUR aired a piece about the real estate market heating up in JP (and maybe pointing the way for the rest of the state).
If you haven't been near a radio or Internet feed, you might have missed WBUR's story about the real estate market in JP heating up. Crowded open houses. Multiple offers. Selling above the asking price. It may sound like 2004, but we’re talking 2012. Home sales in Jamaica Plain are coming back to life, and it could be a bellwether for the housing market in the rest of the state. That's from WBUR reporter business and technology reporter Curt Nickisch, who just happens to live in JP. Nickisch's report backs up what some JP real estate agents have been saying in blog posts here on JP Patch. In this week's list of homes that sold in the neighborhood: Two out of five of the ones we listed went for asking or more. Speaking for myself and my …
A sampling of homes purchased in Jamaica Plain this week.
Click on the photo to look at a gallery of properties that sold in Jamaica Plain between May 3 to 9. 111 Green St. #102 List Price: $315,000 Sold Price: $301,000 Sold Date: May 9, 2012 Living Area: 710 sq. ft. Rooms: 3 Bedrooms: 1 Baths: 1 124 Williams St. #1 List Price: $299,900 Sold Price: $299,900 Sold Date: May 8, 2012 Living Area: 970 sq. ft. Rooms: 5 Bedrooms: 2 Baths: 1 81-85 Amory St. List Price: $599,000 Sold Price: $650,000 Sold Date: May 7, 2012 Living Area: 4,132 sq. ft. Rooms: 23 Bedrooms: 14 Baths: 6 76 Elm St. #208 List Price: $259,900 Sold Price: $258,000 Sold Date: May 7, 2012 Living Area: 770 sq. ft. Rooms: 3 Bedrooms: 1 Baths: 1 76 Elm St. #T3 List Price: $229,900 Sold Price: $215,000 Sold Date: May 7, 2012 …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
City Councilor Mike Ross said Charles Street on Beacon Hill is an example of a business district where retail is being strangled by too many street-level banks.
Clusters of banks can strangle the retail vitality of certain Boston streets, warned City Councilor Mike Ross. Ross said Charles Street on Beacon Hill is an example where too many "big box banks" are buying up storefronts at inflated prices mom and pop shops can't afford. The resulting row of banks deadens what could be lively retail zones. "It’s not right for every street to make this 'No Bank First Floor' zoning change, but I believe it’s right for Charles Street on Beacon Hill," said Ross, who represents District 8. Ross said that banks close at 5 p.m. and aren't open on weekends, all of which has a deadening effect for the neighborhood businesses. He made his remarks at Wednesday's City Council meeting. The matter will be taken up by …
42.36029
-71.057309
Boston City Council
1 City Hall Sq Ste 550, Boston, MA
/articles/ross-some-boston-streets-shouldn-t-have-first-floor-banks
1601222
/locations/6975531
A developer's plans to raze a 1914 building at the center of the Home for Little Wanderers' campus will be delayed by at least three months.
The city's Landmarks Commission voted Tuesday to impose a 90-day delay in the planned demolition of the 1914 building at the center of the Home for Little Wanderers campus. The building, all all others on the 161 S. Huntington St. parcel, are slated for being torn down to make way for an apartment building with 196 units. JP resident Gretchen Grozier, who attended the meeting, said she spoke in favor of the delay, as did several other neighborhood residents. The project would create an E-shaped building of five and four stories with parking beneath the edifice. Most units would be one-bedrooms of various sizes, aimed at appealing to the medical professionals who work in the Longwood area. The demolition delay is a zoning provision that …
42.327807
-71.110826
The Home for Little Wanderers
161 S Huntington Ave, Jamaica Plain, MA
/articles/landmarks-commission-imposes-90-day-delay-on-home-for-little-wanderers-demolition
767038
/locations/6974960
Karla Vallance
11:05 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
I agree that at first it seemed a little odd that Jim Morgan compared Whole Foods offerings with restaurant fare in the review; still, grocery store prepared foods *are* a viable alternative to restaurant dining, so the review seems useful to me. And while I may not personally agree with James's dislike of Whole Foods — I happen to be glad it's in town — a review is the perfect place for such … more ›