Whole foods in Brighton MA (Boston, Cambridge: apartment, rent, condo)

[NickL28]

thought Brighton was still affordable but now rapidly gentrifying by the children of the 1% who live off campus and recently graduated. Is Brighton really about to get as snooty as Brookline or Newton where you know what you are getting. I know that for the most parts the kids living in that part of boston are rich or from the top 1% or 2% middle class incomes cannot afford whole paycheck when you wind up paying $200 for groceries for a single person

[wolfgang239]

I hate to say this but your armchair assessment isn't very correct. Rents are up everywhere, not just Brighton, and most of the people there are not "the 1%" or derivatives thereof.

[yaeger07]

Huh?

[goyguy]

Title notwithstanding, it looks like this thread was started to sound off about perceived gentrification more than anything else.
Not much is different about the rambling old apartment buildings of Allston-Brighton which have gone condo except for some cosmetic changes like fancy lighting in the lobbies. Unlike the brownstone row houses of the South End, they're not conducive to large gains in "desirability" after remodeling. They were constructed as working-class housing and there's no hiding that. As for the buyers of units, for every well-off parent who's purchased a place for their pampered child to live in during college there's a speculator from outside North America (who may be also bankrolling shelter for a degree-seeking daughter or son.) Much of the money that's "talking" today in Boston was not earned - or inherited - domestically. For a dramatic illustration of this all you have to do is take a leisurely stroll along Comm. Ave. anywhere between Kenmore Square and Harvard Ave on a given afternoon. Your "typical" BU student used to be typically either a jock or a "princess," with a visible preppy minority and a fringe group of vulgar-rich Eurotrash. Nowadays the first three groups are vastly outnumbered by the fourth - fashion victims clad in superfluous scarves (both sexes) and boots as high as the knees (women), fused to smartphones and iPods as they promenade. What's significantly different is that the throngs have gone from super-majority White to as much as 40% Asian. And a Babel of languages can be heard in passing along with the typical vacuous English of millennial adolescents ("I know, right? I was, like, literally, laughing my a-- off, and she was, like...") Everybody needs someplace to live. Odds are the vast majority of the collegians who aren't calling a dorm or overcrowded derelict house home are resting between classes, parties, shopping, and more parties in a condo-converted building. They're helping to keep the property values inflated but do nothing to enhance the stability or attractiveness of the area, let alone make it quieter or safer.
Go out beyond Harvard Ave and little is different except for the ethnic makeup of the "entitled" students. BC is - as always - comprised mainly of native-born Caucasians leaning more preppy but no less noisy.

Away from the madding crowds of the Comm. Ave. corridor there's very little change in the appearance of Allston-Brighton housing or its inhabitants, aside from the occasional newly-built single-family home or condo cluster. Some national chains have taken over where local merchants used to be (CVS in place of Flanagan's Market, and "Kabloom" in place of Roark's Pharmacy, in Brighton Center, for example.) But much as in West Roxbury, the community remains largely "townie" in feel. The newer sports bars and Irish pubs are more of an attraction for settled residents than for 20-somethings playing grown-up. The Whole Foods which prompted the title of this thread draws principally from Brookline to the south and perhaps somewhat from Chestnut Hill to the west. I don't perceive and can't conceive any noticeable quantity of affluent empty nesters moving in to the overpriced apartment/condo units along or near Comm. Ave, let alone clamoring to get in.

[NickL28]

Well said above but much is the inherited money and the children Of the top 1%. Just surprised to see a whole foods in what used to be a student neighborhood. How does someone on a student budget afford 5.00 mocha crap lattes and organic food at whole foods ?
Btw I live in Concord MA I rent a 1500 square foot townhouse apartment without roommates or taxpayer subsidized student loan money.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by NickL28

Well said above but much is the inherited money and the children Of the top 1%. Just surprised to see a whole foods in what used to be a student neighborhood. How does someone on a student budget afford 5.00 mocha crap lattes and organic food at whole foods ?
Btw I live in Concord MA I rent a 1500 square foot townhouse apartment without roommates or taxpayer subsidized student loan money.

It sounds like you are only here to make generalizations. Being from Concord, how can you afford to shop at Verrill Farms and drive around that fancy Audi?

[yaeger07]

Are you talking about the WF on Washington Street? Because if so, that WF serves many people in Brookline, which is clearly an affluent town.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by NickL28

Well said above but much is the inherited money and the children Of the top 1%. Just surprised to see a whole foods in what used to be a student neighborhood. How does someone on a student budget afford 5.00 mocha crap lattes and organic food at whole foods ?
Btw I live in Concord MA I rent a 1500 square foot townhouse apartment without roommates or taxpayer subsidized student loan money.

That Whole Foods on Washington Street has been around since 1995 buddy ! I was around then and I can tell you part of the story. The Whole Foods used to be a Stop and Shop, that is a regular non-super Stop and Shop. It was not the fanciest supermarket but it did provide the basic needs for the surrounding community. Sure there were complaints when it closed but it was Stop and Shop's decision to vacate because at the time their corporate model was to open enormous supersized stores in the suburbs and close smaller urban stores that weren't perceived as profitable. This was one of four Stop and Shops that closed in the mid-1990's, the other three being Westland Avenue (became a Bread & Circus/Whole Foods), Fresh Pond Parkway (became a Bread & Circus/Whole Foods), and Memorial Drive (now Micro Center).

Besides this point, Brighton had been gentrifying even before other parts of Boston like Jamaica Plain and South Boston. Sure there were the projects (which are still there I believe), and a lot of working class people in the past but by the 1990's, those primarily kept to the north of Washington and Cambridge Streets while the Commonwealth Avenue Corridor already saw $1100 3bdr rents, which at that time was above average in Boston. Brighton as far as I can remember was no Dorchester so I don't know why you are surprised that it is expensive.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by NickL28

I thought Brighton was still affordable but it is now rapidly gentrifying by the children of the 1% who live off campus or have recently graduated. Is Brighton really about to get as snooty as Brookline or Newton? I know that for the most part the kids living in that part of boston are rich or from the top 1% or 2%. Middle class incomes cannot afford whole paycheck where you wind up paying $200 for groceries for a single person.

Ok. I think I understand what you were trying to say.

Can middle class incomes afford Whole Foods? Almost certainly. Not everything there is unreasonably priced and if you stick to already inexpensive foods like vegetables, legumes, and grains you can still pay reasonable prices. Can you overspend at Whole Foods? Yes, and without much effort. There is a lot of expensive stuff there and the only reason I shop there is for specialty ingredients and for wine (which they sell quite cheaply).

If you want to live in a neighborhood in severe decline where rents are going down and crime is going up there are certainly places I can point you toward. If you want to live in a popular neighborhood, well, guess what--so do lots of other people. And, like in many things, the people who have more money generally get more when there's a limited amount of stuff.

Also, I don't think that Brighton fits the stereotype of gentrification that some liberals get worked up about while other liberals spearhead (conservatives stay comfortably removed in the suburbs and backwoods). It's just somewhere getting more expensive.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

It sounds like you are only here to make generalizations. Being from Concord, how can you afford to shop at Verrill Farms and drive around that fancy Audi?

Hey don't pick on Verrill Farms. I buy a lot of my bakery and produce there and I am far from affluent. Way better quality and I pay half the price I would at WF or Panera. They also provide many festivities and events throughout the year that anyone can come to. Go CSAs.

I do find some other areas of Concord rather insufferable.