A proposed $1 billion life science development at the state-owned Hurley building in Boston’s West End is on hold as the Healey administration seeks a large housing development. Image courtesy of NBBJ
The Healey administration abandoned plans for life science towers at a state-owned architectural landmark in Boston’s West End and pivoted to a new development plan prioritizing housing production.
The Baker administration picked Leggat McCall Properties to redevelop the Charles F. Hurley property in 2021, but the Boston-based developer has not submitted a development plan. The winning proposal by Leggat McCall included only 200 housing units along with a pair of lab towers behind the Hurley building.
“Given the dramatic shift in lab demand since 2022, we agree that this new approach more appropriately addresses today’s critical housing and flexible office needs of the Commonwealth. We look forward to reviewing the new RFP when issued,” Leggat McCall Properties Co-President Eric Sheffels said in a statement.
The redevelopment had originally been scheduled to break ground in 2023 and be completed in 2025.
The change of strategy at the Hurley property comes amid a growing backlog of stalled developments on state-owned properties in Greater Boston, prompting an MBTA real estate official to announce a new development model for future dispositions.
Lab developments at Massport’s 701 Congress St. in the Seaport District, the MBTA’s Riverside station in Newton and Massachusetts Department of Transportation parcel 25 on Boston’s Kneeland Street have been delayed by the life science industry’s declining demand for real estate.
In a change from the original Hurley building offering, the latest proposal also will include the Lindemann Mental Health Center on the eastern section of the 5-acre property. Developers will be required to include upgraded space for the residential mental health facilities in the Lindemann building, according to the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance.
In 2020, preservationists successfully fought to prevent the demolition of the existing Brutalist-style buildings, including the Paul Rudolph-designed Lindemann building. The latest redevelopment plan “will prioritize historic preservation,” DCAMM said in an announcement.
“This pivot makes sense with the current need for housing, especially in the downtown core,” Boston Preservation Alliance Executive Director Alison Frazee said in an email. “And the Alliance is pleased that the entire site will be included in the new project, including the Lindemann Center, which will make for a more cohesive campus. We’ve been assured by DCAMM that the historic preservation considerations that were carefully crafted in the previous process will be applied moving forward.”
The new offering does not require the developer to include space for state offices, unlike the original proposal. DCAMM is reconfiguring state agencies’ footprints as approximately 800,000 square feet of office leases come up for expiration by mid-2025, and recently leased 106,000 square feet at One Federal St. for six agencies.
Gov. Maura Healey has prioritized housing creation in state surplus properties dispositions and ordered an inventory of underutilized properties expected to be completed later this year, according to a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
