Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The former Balamao and Bangkok Bistro building on Washington Street in Brighton is no more, reduced to dust by the scoop of a yellow excavator. But what’s taking its place is giving Brighton Center residents some pause.
A building permit issued by the city to tear down the one-story former restaurant noted that a new Chase Bank branch would be coming to its place. J.P. Morgan Chase confirmed to WBZ NewsRadio that a new branch of Chase Bank is headed for the space.
The addition of the Chase will make no less than seven banks in the immediate area, all within a four-minute walk of each other. Three of those are built practically right next to each other on Market Street — the intervening apartment complex being built there actually used to be a bank, too, and there’s another former bank a few feet away at the corner of Parsons Street and Washington.
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Many locals who spoke with WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel were less than pleased with the development.
"It's absolutely ridiculous, I don't understand why there needs to be so many banks," one man said.
Another resident said she would have loved to see a small business fill the space.
City records show the lot where the bank branch is being built, 433 Washington Street, has had a significant level of turnover since the mid-2000s. It was a gas station and convenience store as late as 2007, before a brief stint as a pizza shop and then two separate Thai restaurants.
"I don't really like the whole concentration of things like that," one woman said. "I think it's kind of a waste of space if we have like seven banks and no grocery store."
Chase said it's working to make sure its services are available where they are needed the most.
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