Rebuilding the Lost City: SECOND UPDATE

From Dave Brigham:

Twenty years after the Haartz-Mason coated fabrics factory in Watertown, Mass., was shuttered, the site is in full redevelopment. Abandoned, covered with graffiti and a serious blight on the environment and neighborhood, the buildings were torn down in the summer of 2011 (see August 10, 2011, "Rebuilding the Lost City: UPDATE").

A massive apartment complex is rising on the ashes of the company that for 70 years made roofing and auto-top fabrics. This new development, along with another one about a half-mile east on the same street, is helping to remake the area of Watertown that my wife's brother-in-law dubbed The Lost City several years ago.

I wrote about the site in the summer of 2010, because I was fascinated about these ruins located less than a mile from my house, right along the Charles River and close to thriving Watertown Square (see July 5, 2010, "Rebuilding the Lost City").

Here's what the site looks like now:

Here's a shot from roughly the same area, taken nearly three years ago:

Here's the current view from the street:

Here's what the place looked like for too many years:

I'll post again once the place is complete. Stay tuned for a future post about another old factory/warehouse building around the corner from this one.