Cambridge Should End Exclusionary Zoning in 2024
Beneath a facade of inclusivity and progressivism lies an ugly truth: Cambridge is not open to everyone. But the City Council should not settle for a surface-level fix.
Liberal Cambridge Takes a Pass on Rent Control
Is it time to put aside the old schtick about the “People’s Republic” of Cambridge? The city has been an outlier among its inner-core peers in not pursuing rent control last year. The reasons for that are rooted in history.
Pro-Housing Candidates Dealt Mixed Results in Local Elections
Backers of a multifamily rezoning effort were thoroughly routed in Newton last night’s local elections, while a slate of councilors who backed one of the biggest housing-focused upzonings in recent Cambridge history cruised to victory.
New Owner Sought for Matignon Campus in Cambridge
Educational institutions and private developers are expected to be among the bidders on the Matignon High School property in Cambridge.
Cambridge Savings Gives $100K to Support Black-Owned Businesses
On top of the grant, the bank will also provide mentorship to minority entrepreneurs, as well as small businesses underwriting training for the Cambridge Equity Fund task force.
Chase Opens Cambridge Branch, 400th in Multi-State Expansion
Chase Bank’s massive, five-year branch expansion campaign reached a crescendo yesterday in Harvard Square when it opened its 400th branch since the project was announced in 2018.
Comrade, Don’t Forget Who Pays You
It would be hard to say that Cambridge isn’t doing its level best to back up its beliefs in social justice with cold, hard cash.
Cambridge Seeks to Take Overlay to Higher Level
A group of Cambridge city councilors wants to build on the success of the city’s affordable housing zoning overlay by giving affordable developments big density bonuses in Cambridge’s busiest squares and corridors.
Developers Lean into High-Efficiency Designs
As more Greater Boston communities adopt the state’s new opt-in energy code with its higher sustainability standards, developers are testing the limits of how far commercial buildings can effectively run without fossil fuel sources.
Bravo for Cambridge Councilors
Cambridge is a poster child for rich, anti-housing cities region-wide. But a quartet of city councilors there are trying to challenge that orthodoxy in a dramatic way.
Hot Property: The Abbot
Boston Realty Advisors has negotiated leases with a group of new tenants totaling 30,000 square feet of retail space at the Abbott in Harvard Square.
This Month in History: Rent Control Abolished
A statewide ballot initiative spearheaded by Cambridge landlords did what years of local efforts couldn’t on Election Day in 1994: End decades of rent control in Boston, Cambridge and Brookline.
Cambridge Nixes Parking Minimums
Under modifications approved Monday night, barring other zoning laws, no development will have to provide off-street parking for its users in the hope this will help lower development costs.
Let’s Make Parking Mandates History
Cambridge and California took big steps last week to shed mandated parking minimums in transit-connected areas to help build more reasonably-priced housing and cut carbon emissions.
These Massachusetts Communities Worked Remotely the Most Last Year
Nearly 1 in 4 Massachusetts residents worked from home in 2021, new Census data shows, making the state the fourth-biggest adopter of the new mode of work.
Don’t Let Towns Ban Gas Hook-Ups
A proposal is moving through the State House to let Cambridge and several of the wealthiest Boston suburbs ban natural gas use in new buildings. It’s the wrong idea at the wrong time and could hurt housing production where it’s needed most.
Hot Property: The Foundry
A 131-year-old East Cambridge property that has a history as a factory, taxi barn and office space is reopening this fall as a new community hub.
Affordable Housing Overlay Gets Results in Cambridge
Cambridge’s new Affordable Housing Overlay has had a tremendous and immediate effect on parcels already in nonprofit hands, adding over 400 new units of affordable housing to the pipeline in a year and a half.
Zoning Reform Clears Path for Cambridge Affordable Development
While it’s still new, it’s already clear Cambridge’s Affordable Housing Overlay will be an effective tool in the housing toolbox – and Just A Start’s 52 New St. project is leading the way.
Hot Property: St. James Place
Redevelopment of the St. James Episcopal Church property in Cambridge’s Porter Square created 46 condos and a new parish hall for the 157-year-old congregation.
