For decades, East Boston’s Jeffries Point was overlooked as a development opportunity despite its vacant waterfront parcels with skyline vistas and a nearby transit stop.
Hopes swelled for large-scale multifamily projects in the previous housing boom but stalled during the recession. Now the waterfront is a hive of construction, cementing its status as one of the city’s fastest-transforming neighborhoods.
Boston-based Trinity Financial recently broke ground on Boston East, a $71 million apartment complex at 102-148 Border St. Scheduled for completion in fall 2017, the complex will contain 174 market-rate and 26 affordable units, including six live-work lofts with preference given to artists.
Once used for shipbuilding, coal storage and a carriage factory, the property had sat vacant for 30 years. Only deteriorating bulkheads, rail sidings and a piling field gave a hint of its former vitality.
Trinity partnered with East Boston Community Development Corp. on the project beginning in 2006. The original plans called for condos but were changed to rental units during the recession, said Abby Goldenfarb, a vice president for Trinity Financial. Developers had to navigate a lengthy Chapter 91 permitting process centering on the proposed use of ground-floor space for artists’ lofts. The state Department of Environmental Protection signed off on that aspect in 2014.
Developers received a $3-million MassWorks infrastructure grant to remove pilings, extend the Boston HarborWalk, construct a seawall and install riprap. The rest of the project is privately financed. J.P. Morgan granted a $45.7 million construction loan.
Market-rate units will start at approximately $1,900 a month, Goldenfarb said, positioning the complex as a substantial discount to new multifamily construction in downtown Boston. To cut costs, Trinity revised plans to use wood-framed construction above the second floor and eliminated 30 parking spaces to reflect the close proximity of the MBTA’s Maverick station.
Designed by Icon Architecture of Boston, the complex will contain multiple decks and a rooftop lounge. A paddle board and kayak launch area will be made available to residents, and the lobby will contain an art gallery. Interiors will include designs by Robert and Cortney Novogratz, a Los Angeles-based husband-and-wife team who host an HGTV decorating show.
The East Boston Community Development Corp. is seeking ideas for a portion of the site that will be developed next year for a marine-related use, such as a sailing center or boat repair facility.
Trinity acquired the property last December from the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development. The agency has identified 258 city-owned parcels that could be sold to developers for housing, to support Mayor Martin Walsh’s goal of encouraging up to 53,000 new residential units in Boston by 2030.
The project adds momentum to an East Boston building boom started with Roseland Property’s Portside at East Pier, which opened its first 176-unit phase in November 2014 on a 26-acre site leased from Massport.
Portland, Oregon developer Gerding Edlen is constructing a 258-unit apartment tower at 6-26 New St.
And Lendlease is set to begin site work this month at Clippership Wharf, a 478-unit condo and apartment complex that will be built at 25 and 65 Lewis St.
