Image courtesy of HRP
Developers plan to build the 636-unit housing portion first at the 1.7 million-square-foot 776 Summer St. project in South Boston, reflecting lack of current demand for 860,000 square feet of approved office and lab space.
A three-year-long demolition project of the former Boston Edison plant is nearing completion, but the 15-acre site is likely to remain dormant until groundbreaking of the first residential buildings in 2026, developers said.
“Commercial space is struggling in Boston and around the country right now, and the market doesn’t allow us to start construction on a speculative basis,” said Melissa Schrock, executive vice president for developers HRP, at an advisory group meeting for the project Wednesday.
After lengthy negotiations with Massachusetts Port Authority, developers paid $12 million in early October in exchange for Massport lifting a deed restriction it held prohibiting housing on portions of the former power plant property.
The agreement enables proposed changes to the development plan submitted to the Boston Planning Department in October, which move apartment and condominium buildings closer to surrounding residential neighborhoods.
The residential building designs will be submitted in early 2025 for review by the Boston Planning Department, Shrock said. That would enable groundbreaking on “one or more” of the residential buildings in 2026, she said.
The new apartment building on Block A, located on East First Street closest to Massport’s Conley Container Terminal, would have an 84-foot building height, 12 feet higher than the master plan approved in 2021. Massport required rentals rather than for-sale condominiums to be included on Block A, to minimize potential lawsuits from homeowners over noise from the port operations, Schrock said.
An office-lab building previously approved for the block would be relocated to the corner of Summer Street and East First Street.
Developers submitted plans in 2022 by architects Payette for a 265,000-square-foot office and lab building, which would have been the first new construction at the site.
Developers of some sites eyed for life science buildings during the rapid industry expansion are pivoting to multifamily housing. Lab availabilities outnumber tenant requirements by an 8 to 1 ratio in Greater Boston, according to JLL research.
Boylston Properties is preparing to submit plans for a 236-unit apartment complex at 745 Concord Ave. in Cambridge, a site originally planned for a lab building.
