530 Western Ave. in Allston
High-visibility parcels in Allston, Dorchester, South Bay and the Seaport District will be transformed with the construction of more than 1,700 apartments and condominiums.
Boston Redevelopment Authority directors yesterday approved the latest wave of multifamily development projects at their monthly meeting.
Parking lots on the 3.5-acre M1 and M2 parcels in Seaport Square will be replaced with three towers expected to break ground this fall. The $800 million project led by California developer Cottonwood Management will contain 733 apartments and condos, 125,000 square feet of retail space and a central courtyard open to the public.
Columbia, South Carolina-based Edens received approval for its $200 million South Bay Town Center project. The 700,000-square-foot project at 101 Allstate Road will contain 475 residential units in a partnership with Mill Creek Residential, a 12-screen AMC Theatre with IMAX, 113,000 square feet of retail and restaurants including a Wahlburger’s and a 130-room hotel.
Developer Atlas Investment Group of Boston will build 362 residences and 37,000 square feet of retail space in five buildings totaling 388,400 square feet in the Dot Block. The $150 million project is bounded by Dorchester Avenue and Greenmount, Pleasant and Hancock streets.
And Boston-based Mount Vernon Co. gained approval for a 132-unit rental complex at a heavily-trafficked gateway to Allston. The 6-story building at 530 Western Ave. and Leo Birmingham Parkway will include three ground-floor retail spaces, storage for 132 bicycles and 108 parking spaces.
“We like to identify emerging markets,” founder and chairman Bruce Percelay told Banker & Tradesman. “We felt that the Western Avenue corridor is one of the last frontiers. The fundamentals are quite compelling in terms of access to Boston, Cambridge and Watertown and yet very little development has occurred on it.”
Mount Vernon Co. acquired four parcels spanning 1.1 acres over an 18-month period. The original designs were scrapped after neighbors complained about the modern facade.
“The first version had a steel skin with blue panels and someone said it looked like IKEA,” Percelay said. “I do not want one of our buildings to be known as the IKEA building, and that was the last straw for me. I said, ‘Let’s go back to the drawing board.’”
Percelay estimated rents for studios at $2,000, with one-bedroom units in the $2,600 range.
Allston is seeing an influx of multifamily development including Samuels & Assoc.’s 325-unit Continuum complex at 219 Western Ave., which opened last year. NB Development and HYM Investment Group received approval in March for 295 apartments at 125 Guest St. in the Boston Landing mixed-use development.
BRA directors also approved a new equity partner for the long-delayed South Station tower project. Houston-based Hines is bringing on Chinese developer Gemdale Properties and Investment Corp. to provide funding for the project, Hines Senior Managing Director David Perry said. Hines plans to submit a notice of project change to the BRA adding 175 residences in the first phase of development. The project approved in 2006 calls for 1.5 million square feet of office space, up to 195,000 square feet of residential units, a 245,000-square-foot, 200-room hotel and 755-space parking garage on 8 acres including land owned by Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the BRA.
