Haorbor Point - Anyone ever live here? (Boston, Cambridge: apartment complex, rental)

[msaRick]

Hello,

I am moving to Boston in December. There is what appears to be a large apartment complex called Harpoint, next to Harbor Point park. Can anyone tell me about this area/complex. Shops? Crime? Nightlife? Would it be ideal for a single male in his late 20's?

[CityGirl52]

I drove thru there quite a bit a few years ago due to my job. HarborPoint isn't what it used to be. It's MUCH nicer than it was, so you'll be fine there. It was the Columbia Point Housing Project years ago & always had a bad reputation back then, BUT it completely changed. It certainly looks much nicer than it used to be, that's for sure! The owner of it is a businessman from what the Boston Globe said about it recently and he gutted & renovated all of the apartments there and they're looking quite nice in my book, I remember when they were all being done over when he first took this project over.

UMASS in Boston is within walking distance to it. You can cut thru UMASS to get to HarborPoint quite easily. It's certainly ideal with the JFK/UMASS bus & MBTA train station right within walking distance to it so you can get in to downtown Boston in seconds. You can also walk along Columbia Road in South Boston within a few minutes from HarborPoint and be on Carson Beach in no time.



Also, this apartment complex is quite convenient if you plan on taking classes at all. There's quite a lot of students living there that just have to walk over to the UMASS/Boston campus across the street from HarborPoint. How convenient can you get, it's ideal in my mind any way.



Like I said, it's NOT what it used to be! It's quite nice now, I believe that you will really enjoy living there. If you need to be near downtown Boston? You can't beat it with a stick! Good luck!

[goyguy]

I also remember when this area was the Columbia Point projects, a collection of low- and high-rise yellow brick buildings riddled with crime and largely deserted. The "Harbor Point" complex of today bears no resemblance. But don't buy into the hype around its convenience and scenic location. When the makeover was done the intention was for there to be a new "mixed-income" community created to succeed the poverty pocket of the past. Some of the project dwellers were allowed to stay and were given subsidized apartments, while other people on government assistance also have access to a few units via a lottery system. As has occurred elsewhere in Boston and in other US cities, these efforts at social engineering - combining welfare families with student and yuppie households - have brought mixed results at best. A gang dating back to the Columbia Point days still operates out of there. The complex is patrolled by a private security firm, whose employees are offered free housing there as a perk of the job. None of them have taken advantage. What does that tell you?

There are literally thousands of apartments in more desirable sections of the city to choose from. Boston's main drawback is that many of the neighborhoods with a "young" feel to them are also the student slums. Unless you have "Peter Pan Syndrome" and long to be in on keg parties and hook up with coeds, or can put up with the associated noise at all hours of the night, rule out Allston-Brighton and the Fenway. The South End might be a possibility if your income allows for it and you're OK with its large "guppie" population along with an increasing number of collegians. It's also home to one of Beantown's largest collections of restaurants and bars to be seen in, but by the same token has some local "institutions" such as Wally's (awesome jazz hangout) and the Franklin Cafe (amazing breakfasts) to offset the trendiness. Jamaica Plain is also worth looking into; it's another gentrifying community, with a growing number of student residents, which has two of the jewels of the "Emerald Necklace" of parks - Arnold Arboretum and Jamaica Pond - gracing its western boundary. The Dorchester neighborhoods flanking the Red Line subway, south of Harbor Point, are growing in popularity for their convenience to downtown and the South Shore. Savin Hill in particular is drawing scores of post-college young adults who enjoy having local businesses such as the Avenue Bakery and Patty's Pantry close at hand along with hangouts like the "Banshee" Irish pub. Farther out from downtown, West Roxbury is chock full of apartment buildings and townhouses on and near Washington St. Though this is still largely a "family" neighborhood, some night life is starting to take hold on Centre St.

The independent municipalities of Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville - all of which border Boston - also have active restaurant/bar and social scenes with scads of young singles taking advantage. Central and Porter Squares in Cambridge, and Davis Square in Somerville, contain some of Greater Boston's best venues for live music. Brookline now hosts a quantity of sushi bars unrivaled in many other places outside Japan, lol. None of the housing in any of these three locales is especially cheap any more, but Union Square (Somerville) and East Cambridge contain the largest selection of economically-priced apartments. Realize, though, that around here "affordable" means $1500 or less for a studio.

If the big-apartment-complex culture I associate with Sun Belt cities is what you're accustomed to and enjoy, suburbs such as Framingham, Quincy, Waltham, Norwood, and Weymouth would be where to look. That's where you'll find rental "communities" with tenants sometimes numbering in the thousands, resident-only clubhouses, swimming pools, etc.