By Josh Resnek
Everett ranks fifth in the state in the number of new apartment units built here between the years 2013- 2017, according to a report in the July 28 Sunday Boston Globe.
With a total of 1,261 new apartment units built here between those years, Everett ranks right up there with Boston, Cambridge, Plymouth and Watertown, in that order.
Other cities with big numbers of new apartment units are Somerville, Burlington, Chelsea, Framingham, Arlington, and Canton.
In fact, with hundreds of new units coming in line shortly on the Everett-Chelsea border near the Stop and Shop off the Parkway, Everett could move up a notch or two on Watertown and Plymouth.
Also, it is unknown exactly how many new units are now being planned for development here in the short term.
Two projects already approved but yet to get underway will bring an additional 22 units to Broadway up by McKinnon’s Market and an additional 20 units in Glendale Square.
Some affordable housing is now being planned for the former church site by the Shute Library.
In the longer term, plans are already well underway for the redevelopment of Everett Square.
Those rather ambitious plans include hundreds of new units, both commercial and residential in order to revitalize the Square.
The city is planning for eminent domain takings for certain parcels and for the free-will market rate development of the entire Norwood Street, Everett Square nexus.
All over the city, the real estate marketplace is experiencing a boom, with multiple units being approved for smaller sites, intensifying both the density and the parking difficulties.
The administration is adamant about giving out building permits without parking needs being met.
“The more parking you give, the worse the parking and traffic situation becomes,” the mayor has said repeatedly.
Everett is seeking to attract apartment dwellers who rely on public transit or alternative transportation needs like Lyft and Uber.
So far, the city has been successful in doing so.
All the new apartment construction has not led to 2 new students being enrolled in the Everett Public School system.
According to the Globe report, fifteen Greater Boston cities and towns issued more than half the building permits in Massachusetts from 2013-2017.
These unprecedented growth milestones are responsible for changing the faces of the communities where the growth is occurring.
Here in Everett, all the new construction of market rate units have contributed very little to the creation of new affordable housing which the city admits it needs.