Ugly Moose closed its doors just before the calendar flipped, ending a 15 year run at 443 Shurs Ln. in Roxborough. This closing did not come as a surprise, with buzz about it since the fall and the bar actively counting down the days until the end. Still, for those that patronized the place for a number of years, now is a sad time. And for people who never set foot inside, today is just another day.
In September, representatives from HOW Properties attended a meeting with the Central Roxborough Civic Association and presented a plan to demolish everything on the site and construct a four-story commercial building with a 57-car parking lot. Possible tenants included a daycare center, a gym, and a restaurant. Somewhere along the line though, the deal apparently fell through.
Fast forward to December, we see that permits were pulled for an entirely different type of project, perhaps still from HOW Properties but maybe from a different developer. Rather than a 100% commercial project, the new plan calls for 100% residential use. The Zoning Archive shows that the project calls for 21 homes, with 10 homes fronting Kingsley Street and the other 11 homes facing an interior courtyard. Each home will have one or two car parking, and the project appears to be totally by-right.
How do people in this neighborhood feel about this project? Are you sad to see a business disappear from this location? Or does the area have enough bars and restaurants? Would you have preferred the commercial building instead of a bunch of new homes? Does anyone know what happened with the original plan for this property?