Lowe's wants to open a store on Rte. 30 in Framingham, tearing down the former Verizon building for a 156,000 superstore, the MetroWest Daily News reported from a Planning Board meeting last night.
Alarmingly, the developer wants to build a big-box store set back from the street, offering a sea of asphalt as a streetscape -- EXACTLY the sort of hideous, pedestrian-hostile design that gives rise to suburban sprawl.
Vice Chairwoman Ann Welles said she'd rather see the building at the front of the property -- and we can only hope she sticks to her guns on this.
Lowe's will be one of the first major NEW retail construction projects on Rte. 30 of the 21st century. There are two choices: Start here trying to reshape Rte. 30 so it might eventually become an appealing, park-once-walk-to-multiple-stores destination; or continue the pattern of Target and Stop & Shop that makes it a car-only experience, to the point where shoppers feel the need to drive their car a quarter-mile from one to the other.
There are a lot of office workers as well as residents within walking distance of this shopping area. How about making it an esthetically pleasing place to walk and bike to instead of more suburban blight?
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