Dennison Tour
September 20th, 2007I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but, once a month there is a meeting of the Framingham Downtown Renaissance committee. I guess anyone can go since I started attending months before I became a town meeting member. They are great meetings to go to.  Whenever I feel questionable about downtown and the fact that I live here, I feel so much better after attending these meetings. It’s great to see there are people working on actual projects to improve downtown and plans are in the works to solve a variety of issues. Also, it’s a great way to just know what is going on in the area.
We usually meet in the memorial building but today the Dennison Condos invited the group to meet there and give us a tour. There were the usual FDR people (although minus Rev. Bob who introduced me to these meetings) as well as realtors and Susan Brickman from the Metrowest Daily News. I thought it was funny that before the meeting started she made a point to go around with her notebook and ask every single person who they were and what their affiliation was except for me, probably because I was the youngest in the room and wearing my windbreaker and bike pants (because I had to go to work right from there) she didn’t seem to have an interest in what someone looking like I did was doing there.
The hosting realtors were a husband and wife team that were very nice and answered all my questions. Apparently the condos will take over the building right next to them which currently houses SMOC. Where SMOC is going I don’t know but I thought it was interesting that they’ll be out of that space in a year or so.
Here’s a little of what we saw:
 
I really wish this place the best. It’s a crummy market right now and I know people have their problems with this place, some which I agree with, but these units look nice and it would be great for downtown if these took off. Kudos to the people who invested the money into building these and I hope it will be a part of a downtown revitalization.
I wish the developer of this project the best of luck because he is sure going to need it! These condos are listed from about $330K for a 950+ square foot unit to about $610K for an apx. 1500 sq. ft. unit.
I just don’t think those prices will fly in that neighborhood. The larger units are especially over priced. For comparison, I just sold a townhouse in Natick Center for $640K and it was nearly twice as big, had much higher quality finishes, a two car garage, and was in a much more scenic spot.
The biggest problem though is that prices are in decline in Framingham. It’s nearly impossible to bring an area “upscale” in this situation because homes in established neighborhoods can be had for the same price. There’s just no motivation for buyers to be a “first mover” into the area.
This might have been a great idea five years ago, but I don’t think it can be successful given the current real estate climate.
Comment by Michael — September 21, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
The only thing I see as a negative, is the small size of the apartments. First look with high ceilings make one think they’re large, but when you analyze the cost vs what you get, it’s not a good value.
Comment by dave — September 22, 2007 @ 3:16 am
I’d love to know what the heating/cooling costs of one of these units are.
Comment by BrendaS — March 3, 2008 @ 3:21 am