Community Profile

Framingham grabs makeover opportunity

By Thomas Grillo, Globe Correspondent, 12/09/2000

FRAMINGHAM - For a decade, activists and officials have fought to give Route 9 a facelift by insisting that retailers plant more trees, erect smaller signs and design buildings that complement the landscape.

The slow changes finally are having an effect on a section of town that once resembled Route 1 in Saugus. [an error occurred while processing this directive]

"Route 9 will never look gorgeous. It's a commercial strip, but people are starting to notice the changes," said Helen Lemoine, chairwoman of the Framingham Planning Board.

Framingham, the state's biggest town, became the first New England community to embrace the mall concept when Shoppers World opened in 1951, featuring a unique circular Jordan Marsh Co. building. The mall had unintended consequences, though, as many stores vacated downtown in favor of busy Route 9, creating a garish presence, some say.

But by the mid 1990s, a $100 million expansion of the mall gave planners a chance to insist on smart development. More recently, construction of Walgreen Drug Store and Staples Plaza avoided a sea of asphalt, in favor of islands and trees that break up the lot with buildings that are designed to fit the environment. Nearby, Long Pontiac-Buick GMAC and Bernardi Toyota, which recently moved their dealerships to Route 9, are striking glass and steel structures, Lemoine added.

And more changes are coming. The former Caldor store will be replaced with a Wal-Mart, the failed Lechmere on Route 30 is making way for a Target store, HomeGoods replaced Filene's Basement and the former Ground Round on Speen Street was razed to build the Naked Fish restaurant. Construction gives officials more opportunities to improve the landscape and traffic.

Town Meeting recently approved zoning that will allow the underused upper stories of older buildings in downtown to be used for housing. The zoning change is the latest effort to revitalize the central district, which has suffered many frustrating starts and stops.

The addition of residents to an already congested area could exacerbate problems downtown. But Town Meeting members insist the revitalization of the area was worth the trade-off.

The commuter rail also creates traffic congestion in downtown that is unlikely to be fixed anytime soon. Thousands of taxpayer dollars have been spent to study what everyone knows: the only way to get the train out of downtown is to place it underground. But the expense, an estimated $40 million, makes it a budget buster.

Realtors say Framingham is a sought-after community, in part, because of its proximity to Boston. The Massachusetts Turnpike offers access to Boston. Commuter rail service offers service to South Station and Worcester, but the lack of parking at the Framingham station has been a persistent problem.

For the first 10 months of 2000, the median price for a single-family home in Framingham was $240,000, according to The Warren Group, a Boston-based company that tracks real estate sales.

As in many Massachusetts communities, homes for first-time buyers are scarce, say realtors. Of the 55 homes for sale this week, only a dozen were listed under $250,000 including the lowest-price home, a small, three-bedroom, one-bath dwelling for $184,900. Eight homes were available from $250,000 to $300,000 and 10 were priced from $315,000 to 399,900. The remainder cost between $459,900 to $1.6 million.

Alan Turetsky, owner of Re/Max Realty Associates, said the shortage of inventory and the high prices continues to plague buyers.

"But for $300,000 you can get a decent house, a nice split-level with three or four bedrooms," he said. "In the $200,000-$240,000 range you can find a slab ranch with three or four bedrooms, a family room and a one-car garage or a starter Cape. For $300,000 there are split-levels with three or four bedrooms in good shape with a two-car garage."

The controversial Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test had some disappointing results last year. The majority of 10th-grade students scored in the needs improvement or failed categories in English, math and science.

"The schools are good, but Framingham is a diverse community, a melting pot of immigrants, and those kids are at a disadvantage when taking exams because they haven't mastered the English language and it brings good scores down," Turetsky said.