The Best Places to Live 2005
Fort Hill, Roxbury
The white standpipe on the site of the old Roxbury Fort soars above Highland Park like the spire of a medieval castle. What will really have you traveling back in time, though, are the prices of the homes here: You can get a smaller two-bedroom condo for $269,000, says Elisa Daley of Gibson DomainDomain. For $399,000 you can pick up a 2,000-square-foot townhouse with three floors of living space, two and a half baths, a brand-new kitchen, and garage parking. With a pleasing mix of gingerbread Victorians and South End-style townhouses (along with a smattering of new construction), this historic neighborhood has gone through many changes over the years. In the 1970s it was known as a center for hippie communes before attracting a solid black middle class in the ’80s. Fort Hill continues to diversify with an influx of suburban empty nesters and city dwellers priced out of the nearby South End.
Fort Point Channel
For years, recession and legal battles have stalled development along the South Boston waterfront across from Fort Point Channel. Now, finally, with little fanfare, dreams for the neighborhood are being realized. The convention center and Silver Line T stop are open (if underused), and the new home of the Institute of Contemporary Art is under construction. Meanwhile, mixed-use loft projects are reinventing the old industrial buildings, incorporating the arts community that has lived here for decades. “People love buying in an artists’ neighborhood,” says real estate agent Tracy Campion of R.M. Bradley, which is the exclusive agent for the new Channel Center Street Development, a 120-unit luxury condominium development alongside 89 live-work artists’ studios and a theater. “One of the things I love about this is that the artists are still staying here.”
Hyde Square, Jamaica Plain
The heart of Boston’s Hispanic community, Hyde Square has gone from an area plagued by gang violence to the model of a diverse and peaceful neighborhood. Most of that was due to the hard work of the people who live here, now warily eyeing a tide of new three-family condo conversions along with talk of a luxury development at the site of Blessed Sacrament Church and nearby Jackson Square. They hope affordability can be preserved even as new residents (full disclosure: including the author) move in to take advantage of condo prices averaging in the low $300,000s. Among the draws, says Imperato, is an energetic mixture of Latin culture and hip new storefronts. “You have the Milky Way Lounge there as an anchor, and boutique shops and restaurants are starting to pop in, making it a very diversified neighborhood to live in,” he says. “Eventually when the MBTA makes up its mind [whether to re-establish the E Line train car to Forest Hills], you may be connected to the whole system.”
Lechmere, East Cambridge
On a map, the streets around the Lechmere T stop look like a waffle iron. From the ground, the area is a mix of factories and warehouses surrounding the CambridgeSide Galleria. Look a little closer, and you’ll see densely packed single-family houses on side streets with a surprisingly residential character. As more of the commercial buildings are converted into high-priced lofts, the whole tenor of the neighborhood is gradually tipping. That already has been the case with a building known as the Glass Factory (with units selling between $300,000 and $559,000) and a new conversion at One First Street across from the T stop (which will start at $395,000). In addition to the mall and the Green Line, Cambridge Street offers Portuguese bakeries, a fish market, and a new karaoke bar.