The Views from East Boston
Much has been spoken about the construction industry and all of the projects slated for Boston within the coming months. In a past blog, we even detailed the top ten of roughly seventy-one development proposals that are due to begin within the next few years within The Greater Boston Area. Well, in East Boston things are certainly progressing, however not at the same drastic level as some of the others.
6-26 New Street is the location of a redevelopment plan that initially would have seen 224 housing units on a four acre lot. A family trust that has owned the property for years, aspirations for a new structure on the site have been planned for twelve years but only had them approved in 2010 by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Even though these plans have been given the go-ahead, now the biggest news about this project is regarding the scale.
Despite the previous drawings, developers have now reduced the proposal to include only 163 condominium units in a facility that will have 44% less square footage than the first thought up idea. Still costing $90 Million to build, the views across the harbor to Charlestown and Downtown Boston and being next to LoPresti Park must not be ignored and still make it a very valuable piece of land. Adding two floors to the already existing nine-story warehouse that is due for a complete renovation will make for quite the unique living situation. It must be noted that with the previously mentioned plans from the outset, the vision was to have seven additional floors above the warehouse but this did not prove cost effective.
Two buildings will comprise the aforementioned housing units within. In addition, there will still be a restaurant, water taxi landing as well as public access to the harbor as originally planned. With a completion goal set for the Summer of 2014, construction is hoped to begin in the coming fall of 2012. It simply goes to show that while financial issues may have constricted the size of the project, developers nonetheless are committed to the city and have a strong sense of faith in the future direction of the Real Estate industry and economy as a whole.
