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.