Mayor Thomas Menino announced yesterday plans to create a master plan for Hyde Park.
Hyde Park to get extreme makeover
Master plan to include rezoning, revitalizing two squares
Hyde Park Arts
HYDE PARK. Patrice Gattozzi, the Hyde Park Main Streets executive director, hopes the master plan for Hyde Park includes the neighborhood’s push for arts initiatives. Historic Boston Incorporated will be part of the master plan process, and one thing Gattozzi wants to preserve is the vacant Everett Hall Theater, an old vaudeville theater on Fairmount Street that was also a movie house years ago. Gattozzi said it would be a costly and lengthy restoration process, but renovating the theater “would bring a lot of people into the area” and add to the street, which already includes the Riverside Theatre Works. “We’re trying to create this avenue of the arts, and this would be right in line with it,” Gattozzi said.
BOSTON. The city is envisioning a makeover for Hyde Park, including rezoning the neighborhood and revitalizing Cleary and Logan squares with new businesses, more usable green space and a refurbished commuter rail station.
The master plan includes the Boston Redevelopment Authority leading an economic advancement and market study for the neighborhood’s commercial districts, as well as rezoning Hyde Park for the first time in 40 years.
The city will also establish a community task force for both the market study and the rezoning project. Mayor Thomas Menino, who lives in Hyde Park, announced the plan yesterday at a networking breakfast at the River Grille, calling it “long overdue.”
Planning is in the early stages, and the city will soon release a request for proposals. While the rezoning process could be lengthy, it doesn’t mean the ideas aren’t already flowing.
“I think the biggest thing we’re going to see is a new mix of businesses,” said Patrice Gattozzi, executive director of Hyde Park Main Streets. “We’re trying to bring in new restaurants, sit-down restaurants.”
Menino said he hopes the market study can help educate small businesses on making storefronts and signs more vibrant and attractive to visitors.
In addition, Mike Davis, an architect at Boston-based Bergmeyer Associates, Inc., was hired to work with the city to help develop a master plan. He said he’d love to see the Hyde Park commuter rail station become more a part of Cleary Square. Davis suggested refurbishing the station’s ramps and stairs, removing a worn-down billboard and pulling the train shed closer to the square.
“You could make a stronger pedestrian connection between this stop and this plaza,” Davis said.
“You could really synergize a lot of activity right here.”
