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Image courtesy of HYM Investment Group/MyCAP
An advisory group backed plans for a major commercial development that would tap into Boston’s life science boom and create an estimated 2,700 jobs in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
HYM Investment Group and anti-violence community group My City at Peace propose 700,000 square feet of life science space as part of a mixed-use development on parcel P3 at Tremont and Whittier streets.
The Roxbury Strategic Masterplan Oversight Committee’s vote on Monday sends the review to the Boston Planning & Development Agency for final selection of a developer.
Ruggles Progressive Partners, a group that includes Boston real estate developer Richard Taylor and New York-based Tishman Speyer, had also sought the designation and proposed 498 housing units and 180,000 square feet of office-lab space. The team recently withdrew its proposal.
“While we are proud of the development proposal we submitted in March, we believe that plan is unworkable at this time given the subsequent downturn in global economic conditions,” Tishman Speyer spokesman Bud Perrone said in a statement.
The 7.7-acre vacant lot was offered to developers last year following a series of failed attempts to bring commercial development and job creation to the neighborhood, tapping into the availability of city-owned parcels.
The previous developers, Boston-based Feldco and Elma Lewis Partners, had their designation ended by the BPDA in 2019 after failing to obtain financing for a mixed-use project with a large retail component.
The HYM-MyCAP project includes 45,000 square feet of retail space with preference for local and minority-owned businesses, 144 income-restricted condominiums and 164 affordable apartments.
Developers said the inclusion of 144 home ownership units is a step toward addressing the redlining policies that discouraged the issuance of mortgages in minority neighborhoods.
Developers have emphasized the project’s potential to bring the first major life science project to Roxbury, including elements that would encourage growth of startups and job opportunities for neighborhood residents. The proposal includes a 10,000-square-foot training center by LabCentral Ignite, a subsidiary of the Cambridge-based life science incubator.
