Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club Kitchen tour is a month-long celebration

April 5, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley Kitchen Tour — This stunning and simple floral arrangement says that spring has sprung at this Wellesley Kitchen and Home Tour house.

SPONSORED POST: The May 5th Wellesley Kitchen and Home Tour is expanding its reach and producing a series of events under the umbrella of Design Wellesley, a month-long celebration of the town’s extensive design community including the local architects, design experts, artists and retailers that make Wellesley a premiere design destination.

The excitement will kick off with a VIP book signing and presentation by renowned architect, Patrick Ahearn, followed by a series of unique shopping and art events leading up to the tour. Here’s what you have to look forward to:

April 10: Patrick Ahearn, the renowned, award-winning architect, will sign copies of his new book, Timeless, at a private VIP reception

April 27 – 29: Wellesley Square Merchants Association will host a “Design Wellesley” shopping event, featuring participating retailers Clever Hand Gallery, Comina, Florijn Home, European Manor, Isabel Harvey, London Harness, Page Waterman Fine Framing and Wellesley Books.

April 28, 3pm – 5pm: Sip and Shop at the Curating Lifestyle event with Wellesley Artist, Carolyn Mackin, at Marcus in Linden Square

May 3 – 4: Fine art consultant Libby Silvia of Artstyle will host an open house

May 5: The grand finale — The Wellesley Kitchen and Home Tour, 11am – 3pm. The 2018 Wellesley Kitchen and Home Tour will showcase six gorgeous homes where guests will be invited to visit the entire first floor and outside spaces, while enjoying gourmet bites and shopping at pop-up boutiques featured at each home. Architects, interior designers, and/or contractors will also be on hand to answer questions specific to the home. Tickets will be available at local Design Wellesley events, at local retailers and at www.whjwc.org beginning on April 9.

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Don’t miss out on Wellesley HS Junior Auction, April 7

April 4, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

On April 7th, the Wellesley High School Junior Class will hold the annual Junior Class Auction at 7pm in the Wellesley High School cafeteria. All members of the community are invited to attend and enjoy great food and fun while supporting the Junior Class.

The auction theme is Boston Landmarks, and will feature many Boston-themed live and silent auction packages including Red Sox tickets, Celtics tickets, an Evening at The Boston Pops, a WGBH Studio Tour, and a Day in the Kitchen at Island Creek Oyster Bar with Chef Jeremy Sewall, who is a Class of 2019 parent.

Those seeking a unique experience can bid on the Zamboni ride at a Boston Bruins game, or the Lunch Tour at the home of Lynne
Smith, Wellesley resident and award-winning Fenway Fan, to get an inside look at her remarkable collection of Red Sox memorabilia and custom themed wardrobe.

Proceeds from the auction are used to fund cornerstone events for the Class of 2019, including the Junior Boat Cruise, the Senior Banquet and the Senior Prom. As always, a percentage of the funds raised will be earmarked for a charitable donation. This year’s class has chosen to support Oceana.org, an organization that was special to Sarah Calcio, beloved member of the Class of 2019, who passed away in November of 2017.

New this year to the Auction will be food offerings by Chef Sewall. Through the generosity of local merchants, families, staff, and students, the Junior Class Auction will offer something for everyone. For more details here.

Sustainable Wellesley seeks crafty types to save the planet

April 2, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Sustainable Wellesley Leadership Team member Lise Olney at work at her trusty Singer sewing machine.

Sustainable Wellesley — the folks who crafted the Wellesley plastic bag ban initiative, which passed at 2016 Town Meeting, and who strive to support alternate energy, recycling, and carbon footprint reduction — are once again preparing for the future, and they’re seeking crafty types to help them get there.

The group needs help “…creating beautiful, Japanese Furoshiki style cloths and reusable bags for a future, community gift wrapping event,” said Kelly Caiazzo, one of the organizers of the town-wide project. “Those who aren’t crafty can rummage through their closets and donate fabrics, bandanas, and scarves.”

By doing some journalistic digging, I was able to drag out of the green group that the cloths and bags will be used at a wrapping table at the Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club Wellesley Marketplace in November 2018.

Crafty Wellesley children and adults whose sewing skills range from novice to expert are needed to sew either at home on their own or at a Sustainable Wellesley sewing event. The group has an event planned at the Council on Aging on May 15, 2pm, with additional events to follow.

All are welcome to join in this relaxing, community event where simple acts make a difference. Every year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used and discarded worldwide. Un-recycled bags plague the environment, greatly damaging the ocean as well as many other complex ecosystems. Since plastics take an average of 1,000 years to decompose, our waste isn’t going anywhere fast, so it’s up to us to help minimize our negative impact on the planet. Plus, the activity is relaxing, easy, and fun!

Here’s info on: how to donate fabrics; how to sew furoshiki cloths; how to sew bags; and how to organize or attend a sewing event, or email [email protected].

So far, we have an event planned at the Council on Aging on May 15th at 2pm. More will be planned at the upcoming Sustainable Wellesley Action meeting (which all are welcome to on Sunday, April 8th from 3.30-5.30pm

Wellesley issues Request for Proposals for Tailby and Railroad parking lots

March 29, 2018 by Deborah Brown 2 Comments

Tailby parking lot wellesley — Tailby parking lot.

Back in February, Wellesley was close to issuing a request for proposals (RFP) that would invite developers to submit ideas for how to reimagine the Tailby Lot (Linden Street) and Railroad Lot (Grove Street near Post Office). The reasoning put forth was that the town seeks to redevelop the lots in an effort to address its affordable and diverse housing shortage, but also to possibly increase parking and better tie together separate parts of Wellesley Square.

Now the town has released an official RFP, which says that it invites “…proposals from qualified developers to enter into one or more long-term leases to develop the Town of Wellesley Tailby (103 Linden Street) and Railroad (7 Grove Street) Commuter Parking Lots for parking and affordable and market rate housing that will be owned and operated by the selected developer(s).”

The RFP includes a history on the various efforts to rethink the space since the 1970s. Here are some of the ideas that have been floated over the years: decking over the Tailby Lot to increase its parking capacity and to accommodate housing; relocating the Wellesley Square railroad station to the vicinity of Weston Road and building a parking facility on town-owned land at that location; using the Tailby lot as part of a link between the Linden Street shopping area and Wellesley Square; co-developing the Tailby Lot for housing and parking”

The 2007 – 2017 Comprehensive plan called for focusing “efforts to create more diverse housing types and affordable housing by attracting rental developments to identified sites in Wellesley ”

Now it looks like 2018 will be the year when the town finally moves forward definitively with choosing a developer for that site. In the RFP’s list of Wellesley’s 15 preferred objectives, there are echoes of the suggestions made over the past three decades. Among them: “To creatively preserve and protect the Town interests in consistent and orderly growth within the Linden Street corridor while maintaining the character of the abutting single-family neighborhoods”; to create a mixed-use environment that includes subsidized housing inventory, enhanced and increased access to parking that serves the Linden Street and Wellesley Square areas; and to improve traffic flow.

Given the town’s efforts to fend off 40B proposals that some feel would be too disruptive to neighborhoods, it’s not surprising that the RFP addresses this issue head-on, noting in the RFP that “…the Town seeks to take proactive efforts to guide the development of affordable housing to appropriate sites that complement the integrity of the Town’s character, while also working to meet one or more 40B certification thresholds to protect the Town from future “unfriendly” 40Bs. The development of the Tailby and Railroad lots would do just this, allowing for many beneficial objectives to meet, while reducing the likelihood of development of 40B projects that are less ideal in terms of design and location.”

One of the 40Bs the Town references is the proposed 55-unit housing project at 148 Weston Road that would include 11 rental units deemed affordable. That site eligibility was okayed by a quasi-public outfit called MassHousing that also finances such buildings. The town, however, has a long list of concerns about the Wellesley Park project, including its potential impact on traffic, the environment and character of the neighborhood, and MassHousing has instructed the developer to address such issues as it moves forward with trying to get a comprehensive permit from the town. On April 3 there will be a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting that will include that issue.

Another 40B project is proposed for Delanson Circle, off Linden St., and has raised similar concerns to those aired by the town. The fact that two such projects are in the works in relative proximity to each other has ratcheted up neighbors’ concerns. That project will also be discussed at the April 3 ZBA meeting.

The RFP is due June 1, 2018 at noon, and a site visit for this RFP will be held on April 9, 2018 at 10am at the entrance to the Railroad Commuter Parking Lot.

Once the RFPs are in the Board of Selectmen will review them and make recommendations.

La Mia Moda pops up in Linden Square in Wellesley

March 21, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

La Mia Moda, Wellesley — La Mia Moda owner Luis Nunez, looking natty among his wares.

La Mia Moda Boutique has popped up in Linden Square in the strip that also houses Kenzie and Blue Mercury while it waits for the finishing touches to be placed on its permanent location at Belclare in Wellesley Square.

The store announced last fall that it would become a tenant at the 580 Washington St. location, and Nunez’s plans are to move over there in the summer. Meanwhile, those windows are plastered with posters featuring leggy models wearing very high-end looking clothes and accessories. If you want to check out the real thing, you’ll have to head over to his temporary location in Linden Square for now. The upscale shop also has a store in Andover and says its general vibe has “a European touch with a New York edge.”

I stopped into La Mia Moda to meet owner Luis Nunez. He says he loves the bright space and is looking forward to getting his sign up within the next couple of days so that people will be better able to tell that he’s there. The stuff is definitely a cut above the ordinary, designed for the woman who absolutely does not want to be seen in TJ Maxx rags (how I love my TJ Maxx rags!). I asked Luis to show me some nice spring merchandise. He showed me a lovely dress by the label Apiece Apart priced at $595; a cute striped Khaite top for $480; and a couple of buttery-soft leather bags in the mid-$800 range.

Meanwhile, back at the Belclare storefronts, other businesses slowly but surely slated to move in are Agnes Vision and Laer Realty Partners, which has about two dozen offices located mostly in Massachusetts. Things might speed along in terms of businesses actually opening their doors in the Belclare retail spaces once Smith & Wollensky steakhouse, scheduled to open this spring in the former Blue Ginger space, opens its doors to hungry carnivores.

Adjacent to Belclare, Le Vernis Nail Studio will soon be moving into the former 2nd Time Around space at 574 Washington St. Nearby, the spaces that formerly held Susu Bakery and Terrazza remain empty for now.

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Wellesley businesses that came and went in 2017