A new citywide map identifying 43 vacant storefronts across Newton — many in the city’s village centers — is giving officials and prospective business owners a clearer look at where new businesses could take root. When Economic Development Director Lauren Berman and Deputy Director Cheryl Lappin joined the department earlier…
Posts published in “Villages”
Boston-based real estate firm Beacon Communities LLC has solidified its plans for the commercial block 793-821 Washington Street in Newtonville. Beacon Communities purchased the property in April 2025 and applied for a demolition permit on February 4. The project? New construction of an all-electric housing development with all units designated…
Newton’s Zoning and Planning Committee met on March 9 with Brookline town officials to discuss Brookline’s proposal to rezone a stretch of Route 9 in Chestnut Hill. Committee members wanted to learn more about the proposal and its potential impacts on traffic, planning, and development along the Route 9 corridor. …
Helen Garity, a Newtonville resident with years of experience in the corporate world, has taken on the role of Executive Director at the nonprofit Hyde Community Center in Newton Highlands. Garity says she hopes to build on the Hyde’s strong foundation rather than to reinvent it. She succeeds John Rice,…
Rose Advanced Skin Care (d/b/a Advanced Beauty Lab) in Newtonville is one of 48 small businesses in Massachusetts to win a MassDevelopment Biz-M-Power Grant in the 2025 cycle. This award was for $50,000 toward the cost of a laser hair-removal system, which was delivered in January. MassDevelopment had intended to…
Tuesday afternoons at the Centre Street Food Pantry are humming with activity. The police direct traffic as a line of cars queue up at the back entrance of the Trinity Parish of Newton Centre for Senior Hour. Drivers wait patiently in line, order slips tucked neatly inside their car windshields.…
“Healthcare Not Warfare.” “Hate Won’t Make Us Great.” “Santa Hates ICE. These are just some of the many messages that members of the Highlanders Visibility Brigade spell out from a bridge over the segment of the Mass Pike (I-90) that passes through Newton. Since June 2025, the group, sponsored by…
Dozens of residents braved a New England snowstorm February 7 to enjoy a Chestnut Hill dessert crawl benefitting the Newton Food Pantry. They walked a route spanning The Street shopping center, sheltering from the snow in sweetly-scented stores along the way. Standing inside the crawl’s last stop, The Half Cookie,…
On Monday, February 2, Ward 2 City Councilor Susan Albright raised a charter objection to the Public Safety and Transportation Committee’s recommendation to shorten the Newton Centre Plaza pilot to May 31. This effectively delayed consideration of that recommendation until the next City Council meeting. (The City’s Charter allows any…
Concerned about how a proposed 234-unit multi-family development in Nonantum would impact traffic, parking, and affordability in the city, dozens of people showed up to speak at the January 28 Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting. Adam Lunin, a Newton resident who lives near the proposed project, said he is…