Centers And Squares
Welcome to Centers and Squares
As a Cambridge real estate agent, the city squares of Cambridge, Somerville and Medford and the town centers of Arlington, Watertown and Belmont, Massachusetts are my home turf. And as a lifelong New Englander who’s lived within twenty miles of Boston most of my life, I can introduce you to other nearby towns as we search for your new home. If you’re planning to sell your home in Cambridge, MA or nearby you’ll find plenty of info about the home selling process here too. Questions? Send me an email or call me at 617-504-1737.
New Cambridge and Somerville Real Estate Listings
369 Franklin Street #202 in Cambridge MA
In my book, the star of our weekly tour of new Cambridge and Somerville real estate listings this week was 369 Franklin Street, a condo near Central Square new to the market at $459,000.
Now, granted, I’m biased since this is my new listing – but the condo is a standout. It’s in a luxury building built in 2003 and has two bedrooms and two full baths, including a master bath. The condo is bright and sunny with an open layout and a gorgeous kitchen. Building amenities include an elevator, garage parking, a big backyard with patio for grilling, and an exercise room with city skyline views.
Franklin Street is a tree-lined side street that parallels Mass Ave. The Red Line T station and Central Square are just blocks away. Harvard Square, MIT and Boston’s Back Bay are close by.
I’ll be hosting an open house at 369 Franklin Street on Sunday, June 5, 2011 from 1 – 2 pm.
Our Wednesday tour had something for buyers in all price ranges. We toured properties ranging from an East Cambridge one-bedroom listed for $249,900 to a single family near Brattle Street listed for $3,500,000.
The East Cambridge one-bedroom condo was at 180 Third Street, Cambridge. It was bright and cheery and is convenient to both the Red and Green Lines. 180 3rd Street is listed at $249,900.
On the other end of town, in Porter Square, we toured a townhouse at 12 Mount Vernon Street in Cambridge on Avon Hill in Porter Square. The townhouse has three bedrooms, two baths, garage parking, and two decks. It’s new to the market at $875,000.
Single family home buyers will want to check out 29 Belmont Street in Somerville. This house on Spring Hill, not far from Porter Square, is very charming. It was a long tour and we enjoyed a break sitting in the inviting living room before continuing on our tour. The house is sure to be popular at $499,000.
13 Kennedy Road in Cambridgeis tucked away off Brattle Street. The many large windows in this modern house, designed by architect James Freeman in 1963, take full advantage of the large private lot. Surrounded by so much greenery it’s hard to imagine you’re so close to Harvard Square. This very special house is listed for $3,500,000.
Click on any of the small photos below for additional photographs and more details. If you’d like to take a look at any of these new Cambridge and Somerville real estate listings or want more information, send me an email or give me a call at 617-504-1737.
10 Rogers Street Cambridge MA – River Court Condos
River Court at 10 Rogers St Cambridge
River Court at 10 Rogers Street Cambridge MA is a full service luxury condo building. Built in 1989, River Court is in East Cambridge overlooking the Charles River and Boston skyline. From 10 Rogers Street you can jog along the river, shop at the Cambridgeside Galleria, hop on the T at Lechmere or Kendall Square, or walk into Boston – you’re that close.
There are 166 residential condos on 14 floors at River Court. Choices include studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom condos. River Court condos range in size from approx. 500 sq.ft. to over 2000 sq. ft. Cats are allowed but dogs are not.
10 Rogers Street Cambridge – Condo Features
- Elevator building
- Rooftop terrace
- Indoor lap pool
- Health club
- Function rooms
- Guest suite in the building
- Garage parking
- Central air conditioning
- Many have in-unit washer/dryer
- Marble baths
- Concierge
- Some units have a fireplace
- Many have a terrace or balcony
- Heat is included in the condo fee
- Landscaped courtyard with fountain & reflecting pool
Recent Sales of River Court Condos
Recent sales of 10 River Street condos include:
- A one-bedroom, one-bath condo sold for $449,000
- Two-bedrooms, two-bath condos sold for $$635,075 – $725,000
- A three-bedroom, two-bath condo sold for $800,000
If there are condos available at 10 River St. Cambridge they will appear below. Click on the small photo for additional photographs and more information.
The River Court condos are located at 10 River Street, Cambridge MA 02142.
The Filter Bubble – Eli Pariser – Not To Be Missed
The copy of The Filter Bubble I bought for my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! If I could convince the family to have his birthday party at the Harvard Book Store tonight I would.
Tonight at the Harvard Book Store, Eli Pariser will speak about his new book The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You. It’s a not to be missed event – this is a book everyone should read.
In The Filter Bubble Pariser writes about the impact of personalized search online on sites such as Google, Facebook. etc. Personalized search has bothered me since it was first introduced and I’m delighted that someone has written about the problems it creates. In a time when we’re losing newspapers, people are reading selected news items online (and only those pieces), TV news is degenerating into fluff, and information is being collected about us at every turn, Pariser is sounding the alarm about what this means for us, our future, and our system of government. Do we want news providers to only show us what’s popular or what they believe we “like”? If information is power what does it mean when large corporations (some almost unknown to us) know more and more about us?
The Filter Bubbleis one of the best books I’ve read in ages. Pariser is one of the few (only?) writers I’ve encountered who, while immersed in technology much of his life, can write about the internet without resorting to jargon and without being blinded by the benefits of technological progress. He’s one of the smartest thinkers I’ve come across.
If you’re using Google or Facebook or spending any time online you really want to get this book. Tonight, you’ll get the chance to hear from the author, Eli Pariser, when he reads from The Filter Bubble at the Harvard Book Store at 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge in Harvard Square. The reading begins at 7 pm and is free and open to the public.
Trees and Real Estate Values
New Leaves on Trees in the City
This is one of my favorite times of year – the time of new leaves, as green comes back to the city. But after last year’s drought I’ve been watching the new leaves especially carefully. 2010 was a tough, tough year for city trees – in fact for all trees. A number of trees around the city appear to be dying. On a drive through Lexington yesterday we spotted many, many trees that were close to leafless – we speculated that, if not the drought, it might be the effects of gypsy moths. It’s so bad out there that watching for dead and dying trees is our new driving game – the 2011 equivalent of auto bingo.
City trees are particularly vulnerable and we should all be concerned. We don’t have enough trees in the city and the loss of any tree can leave a huge hole in the landscape. Urban trees have a tough time of it in any year – winter salt, encroaching asphalt, utility company limb cutting, too much dog urine and too little rain – it’s amazing that city trees flourish. Add tree-begrudging homeowners who don’t want to be bothered with tree limbs and droppings and it becomes all too easy to lose the leafy backdrop that enhances your house and street.
City trees add enormously to quality of life and to the beauty of city streets and yards. A city street devoid of trees is usually a stark and dreary sight. A tree-less street is also an uninviting prospect for potential home buyers. My own Cambridge street, described in the Historical Commission’s 1977 architectural survey as a “warm and inviting secluded core with bowered trees,” is now almost devoid of trees. A buyer, looking at a condo on my street recently, sniffed “but this street has no trees”. I don’t know of any study that shows that properties sell for higher prices on tree-lined streets, but experiences like this and its counterpart – buyers delighted by leafy streets – convince me that real estate values are boosted by nearby trees.
We all need to pay attention to the trees that line our streets and sidewalks. We have too little say over the trees that shade our houses but sit on our neighbors’ properties (I’m in favor of giving trees protection via a permitting process prior to removal -why should I have input as an abutter concerned over my neighbor’s renovation or building plans but no say over the tree that’s a vital part of the neighborhood landscape? Topic for another day!) but we can work to ensure that the city trees on our streets continue to flourish despite the odds.
What can you do to help? Cambridge has a new booklet “Working Together: A Healthy Urban Forest Needs Help From All of Us” that can be picked up at City Hall. The Urban Foresty page on the city’s website has lots of info about city initiatives and how you can get involved. Cambridge and Somerville have installed Treegator bags on newly planted street trees. Info on watering the Treegator bag near you and other volunteer efforts is also on the Cambridge website.
City trees enhance real estate values and make the city a much more pleasant and attractive place to live. So grab a bucket and water the trees near you. And if you’re walking your dog – please – curb the dog elsewhere.
Big Balloon Rats Get Reprieve
Big Rat Balloon Spotted on Mass Ave Cambridge
No question – the big rat balloons are eye catching. I’ve spotted them a few times around Cambridge.
Unions use the big rat balloons as street theater – as part of protests outside of buildings and projects that aren’t using union labor or paying union wages.
The Boston Globe reported recently that the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of the rat balloons (oddly enough in an article that in both print and (still!) online form misspells the plural of balloon as “ballons”) .
Have to say that I enjoy a big rat balloon sighting so I’m happy to learn that the rats got the official OK.
How Well Do You Know Cambridge – Wednesday What’s-It
Do you know where this is in Cambridge?
Here’s the inaugural What’s It in what will be a recurring feature here on Centers and Squares. We’ve found unusual, intriguing, sometimes mysterious items around Cambridge. The mission? Identify them and win a little prize.
How well do you know Cambridge?
Do you know what and where this is? The where is probably more important than the what – but any specifics you want to add about exactly what it is will be fun to share.
If you do – let us know. The first three correct answers will get a coffee (and a donut!) on us.
Answers can be submitted on this form. Good luck!
cforms contact form by delicious:days
Pink Snowflakes
Pink Snowflakes in Spring - Somerville MA
One of the prettiest sights this time of year is a sidewalk covered with what often, at a glance, looks like snow.
All the rain we’ve had this week has brought many of the flowering trees’ petals to the ground. In this case, it’s a pink dogwood’s petals coating the sidewalk and hosta below on Alewife Brook Parkway in Somerville MA. These petals look a bit less like snow and more like pink frosting.
Streets carpeted with petals – sweet!
New Somerville and Cambridge Real Estate Listings
We saw plenty of properties in Cambridge and tulips too on tour.
28 properties! That’s a lot of new Somerville and Cambridge real estate listings. Usually when I’m out looking at properties for sale with buyers we limit our tour to half a dozen or so. Too many more and you really begin to zone out.
Luckily there some real gems on our Wednesday tour of new Coldwell Banker listings so it was well worth it. In addition to my new listing at 281 Alewife Brook Pkwy in Somerville, here are some the other highlights of our Wednesday marathon:
87 Washington Ave, Cambridge is an absolute gem of a single family on Avon Hall listed for $987,000. As we walked down the lovely path to the house tucked away from the street I asked my coworker “Aren’t we lucky?” It was an excellent start to the day – the house is beautiful, the setting idyllic.
We saw another beautiful house around the corner at 265 Upland Road. I saw the “before” version a couple of years ago when the house was a fixer-upper multi-family. The renovation was top notch and now it’s a super single family listed for $2,250,000.
Then we were off to Cambridgeport to see a side-by-side two-family at 277-279 Allston Street listed for $529,000. With two townhouse-style units and a nice city backyard this house will make a great project for someone.
We had also seen the before version of 14 Kirkland Road in Harvard Square. What a transformation! It’s been exquisitely renovated by my favorite design company, American Dural, and is listed for $1,995,000.
It was a good week for Cambridge single family houses but we mixed it up too – heading over to 52 Regent Street to see a 3-level loft in a former factory building in Porter Square. Listed at $469,000 it has a private entrance, roof deck and parking.
I loved the feel of a first floor condo in a triple-decker at 32 Clay Street in North Cambridge. It has pretty stained woodwork, diamond pane windows, an interesting layout and a beautifully landscaped backyard and is listed for $459,000.
We finished the day at 14 Dana Street in Mid-Cambridge. It’s a three-story mansard with some exquisite original detail. In essentially untouched condition it’s a project priced at $1,114,000. I look forward to a return visit to see the transformation.
Click on the small photos below for additional photos and more info about new Somerville and Cambridge real estate listings.
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