201 Rutherford Ave. in Charlestown, currently the home of a 99 Restaurant. Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects
A 240-unit apartment building will replace the 99 Restaurant at Charlestown’s Bunker Hill Mall under an estimated $85 million project by the property’s longtime owner, Boston-based New England Development.
The Boston Planning & Development Agency on Thursday approved the 197,000 square-foot project at 201 Rutherford Ave. and the first 1 million square-foot phase of Skanska’s Longwood Place redevelopment of Simmons University’s former residential campus.
Although no public testimony was allowed for the Charlestown project, BPDA board members urged New England Development to work closely with neighbors following recent public opposition.
The Charlestown Preservation Society said the project falls short of its goals for “appropriate ground-floor programming” and pedestrian connectivity, and criticized lack of details on future potential redevelopment plans for the rest of the shopping center property.
New England Development Senior Project Manager Risa Meyers told BPDA board members that retail tenants operate under long-term leases.
“We have no intention of removing the grocery store,” Meyers said, referring to anchor Whole Foods Market.
New England Development originally proposed the project in 2021, but submitted updated plans in February reducing the building height from 85 to 70 feet.
At a virtual community meeting April 13 and in public comment letters, residents criticized the building design and lack of a master planning process for the entire site.
According to a BPDA board memo, the project complies with zoning and is exempt from Boston’s inclusionary development policy. However, developers voluntarily agreed to reserve 31 units for households earning 70 percent or lower of area median income (AMI), and another 17 units at a maximum 100 percent of AMI.
“It’s obviously a big change for the community. It’s a big project,” board member Matt O’Malley said. “I really appreciate 20 percent income restricted units. I’m going to support this.”
Longwood Place Bets on Lab Rebound
The first phase of Skanska USA Commercial Development’s Longwood Place project will include a 205,000 square-foot building including 227 housing units, and a pair of office-lab buildings totaling 503,000 and 335,000 square feet.
Skanska Executive Vice President Russell DeMartino said the company has had conversations with LMA-area hospitals as potential tenants.
“We anticipate [lab space] demand increasing as time goes on. We think it’s a short-term business issue that hurts the city of Boston and doesn’t feel good, but it is not a long-term problem,” DeMartino said.
According to a report issued this week by brokerage CBRE, the Greater Boston lab vacancy rate stood at 27.9 percent in the first quarter.
Tom Yardley, vice president at the nonprofit Longwood Collective, said the project adds needed housing and research space near the teaching hospital cluster.
“Surprisingly we still need research space. I know there’s a glut of it, but there’s very little within walking distance of all the hospitals, and that’s what makes this site so unique and valuable,” Yardley said.
The project is the first phase of a 1.7 million square-foot mixed-use project on a 6-acre site ground-leased from Simmons University.
Longwood Place. Image courtesy of Skanska
