Cost Cutting Westwood Station
According to an article in the Boston Business Journal, Cabot, Cabot and Forbes is "value engineering the 1.1 million-square-foot first phase of Westwood Station - using less expensive materials to reduce the overall cost and to obtain a construction loan more easily." I would link to the full article, but it is only available to paid subscribers...
Comments
You get what you pay for
This project is only going to be built once and if CCF wants to use cheaper materials it will show a few years down the line. First we as residents were promised a very upscale project not a bunch of run of the mill box stores. I'm not against Westwood Station at all. I'm against the broken promises and size of the project and the need to get it done no matter what. I read in the paper about federal money ccf wants to go after. The federal government has bailed out enough companies. I see CCF grabing at straws and none of our Selectman are telling us whats really going on.
federal money a great opportunity
The article in the Daily News Transcript on Thursday talks about infrastructure improvements and of course more money makes everyone happy. I don't see that as a bailout, but as an opportunity to invest in the community and provide jobs. My bias, however, would be to say let the developer take care of the area within Westwood Station and provide funds for work on infrastructure improvements around other parts of town. I am hoping we will get the Pedestrian and Bike Safety Commission formed at one of the next BOS meetings and start prioritizing some of the many improvements that people in town would benefit from--rather than spending more money creating wide roads that will cause more traffic to cut through.
Infrastructure and size
One of the ongoing arguments from the BOS as to why the size of this project was soo large was to allow Westwood to receive infrastructure improvements. It is now interesting to see with the economy and other issues - what improvements we will be receiving. I keep wondering if this project was not soo ambitious in the beginning would it be half built by now and in a better position. I guess we will never know.
Dave why did you ignore the
Dave why did you ignore the rest of the post. Which is you get what you pay for. You know as well as I that if you start using cheaper materials it will show sooner than later. That's the issue not the Federal money which in no way shape or form is guaranteed to Westwood Station. You don't mention in response to the post anything about the residents not getting what they were promised.
CCF and the Selectman or should I say Nancy Hyde are grasping at straws and we are the ones that are going to end up at the short end of the stick.
CCF should scale down the project and build it with quality materials. Do it once do it right.
I'm not positive but didn't CCF have to secure funding by a certain date which has come and gone.
Dave maybe next time you answer a post you will pay attention to the tough questions and stop dancing around them.
Build it once, Build it right
I recently moved to Westwood and think this is a great idea. The best thing is the location near the train station. Some trains can be in downtown Boston in as little as 15 minutes. Some days I ride my bike 15 minutes to that train station to commute in to the city.
Of course the really great thing about it would be the tax revenue. Westwood already has great schools and is a great place to live; adding a cool mini-city here will greatly expand the tax base without impacting the generally rural nature of the town. I'm all for it.
by Dave A on May 12, 2006 2:30 pm
Dave from this blog back in 2006 it's clear how you feel about Westwood Station.
Seeming you like to pick and choose what you will debate over, let me ask a simple question. How do you feel about CCF wanting to use cheaper materials to build Westwood Station?
I agree with you on quality
David, the whole reason I posted the link to the Boston Business Journal article was to raise questions about the meaning of "value engineering." I am hoping someone who has more information from the developer will respond.
If you really want to read what I think about Westwood Station, go over to DaveWrites via this link to search for Westwood Station. That should shatter any illusions of my personal neutrality on the project overall. But I think most people are generally in favor of it and the question is how best to ensure real problems are addressed.