For the commercial real estate industry, Greater Boston’s wave of development presents a once-in-a-generation moment to certify the region as a global leader in tech, life science and finance.
But the rapid pace of commercial and residential proposals is starting to generate a backlash, with calls for moratoriums and new controls over development in Cambridge and Watertown.
“I’m for quality development. I think you can do a large building and still fit in,” said Cambridge City Councilor Dennis Carlone. “There are very few of those kinds of buildings, and that’s part of the problem. It’s a difficult scale, the new stuff.”
Overshadowed by the giddy atmosphere of groundbreakings and topping-off ceremonies are the permitting decisions that have allowed the building boom to move forward. Land-use staff and boards are overwhelmed by the overflowing pipeline of applications, critics say. Projects are reviewed without an eye toward neighborhood- or city-wide impacts, with consequences that will linger well beyond the current real estate cycle.
Carlone sponsoring a proposal to transfer the permitting powers for large projects in Cambridge – defined as those greater than 50,000 square feet – from the appointed planning board to the elected city council. A two-thirds majority would be required to approve such projects.
At first glance, Cambridge would hardly appear to be a doormat for developers. The city has numerous citizen groups that zealously review the impact of growth on neighborhoods. Boston-based Leggat McCall Properties has been locked in a contentious permitting process for two years as it attempts to convert the 22-story Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in East Cambridge into a mixed-use complex including 430,000 square feet of office space.
But Carlone, a Harvard-educated architect and land-use planner, cites the Alewife neighborhood as an example of development gone wrong. Nearly 1,300 apartments have been approved in four large complexes in the last few years. Most are surrounded by office and lab buildings and cut off from the rest of the city by the traffic-choked Alewife Brook Parkway.
“The Cambridgepark Drive area is a perfect example,” he said. “There’s going to be 4,000 people there, and there’s virtually no retail, virtually no public meeting space, no reason to be there unless you’re in your (apartment). That area will be the densest part of Cambridge when it’s built out.”
Carlone said he submitted the proposal giving special permitting powers to the council as an alternative to a building moratorium, which has been called for by some activists.
Watertown Takes A Second Look
In Watertown, rampant development along the Arsenal Street corridor has residents asking for a time-out.
Over the past year, Watertown has become a magnet for developers who see this former manufacturing center as a potential new cluster for tech startups and creative firms priced out of Boston and Cambridge. Major redevelopments include the purchase of the Arsenal Mall by a group of investors and Athenahealth’s plans to expand and reposition the 760,000-square-foot Arsenal on the Charles office complex that it bought last summer for $168.5 million.
But perhaps more controversial has been a surge of multifamily development, with more than 300 apartments and condos under construction and 600 more proposed.
More than 230 residents signed a petition submitted to the town council in June requesting a one-year moratorium on major projects along the Arsenal Street corridor.
Lisa Feltner, president of the Concerned Citizens Group that circulated the petition, said she doesn’t oppose development, but thinks town boards and the three-member planning department are stretched thin trying to review all of the proposals. The moratorium is intended to put development on hold while a master plan for East Watertown addresses questions including walkability and bike corridors, Feltner said.
“There’s so much going on and a lack of coordination is a concern,” she said. “The good news is the economy is better and people want to develop. The bad news is we’re underprepared and understaffed.”
Watertown officials hired consultants Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. to update the 1989 master plan, and a draft report was released in May. The town council is expected to review hiring consultants to do additional studies focusing on Arsenal Street this week.
In Cambridge, Carlone’s proposed new permitting structure is expected to go to the city council for a vote in September. If approved, Cambridge would join approximately 40 communities in Massachusetts in which city or town councils have special-permit granting authority.
“We should have input. The council is elected to represent everybody,” Carlone said.
Email: sadams@thewarrengroup.com
