A development site in Boston’s Leather District hailed by Gov. Charlie Baker as a centerpiece of his initiative to encourage middle-class housing could substantially grow in scope.
Baker announced in February that two parcels totaling 5.5 acres on Kneeland Street would be offered to private developers, part of a strategy of selling underutilized state properties for housing and economic development. The site, home to a Massachusetts Department of Transportation district office and steam plant owned by Veolia North America, can support up to 2 million square feet of development, officials estimate.
MassDOT now plans to give developers an option to bid on a neighboring 3.3-acre parcel as well. Known as parcel 27A, the vacant lot has recently attracted attention as a possible location for a helipad to serve General Electric executives as the company prepares to relocate its headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut to Fort Point in 2018.
The announcement took place at a community meeting last week as MassDOT prepares to issue an invitation to bid this month.
Developers would have four months to respond.
In a presentation, MassDOT officials said they would encourage a “Gateway Design” with buildings up to 300 feet tall on the southern portion of the site. Developers would be required to cover I-93 where southbound traffic emerges from the O’Neill Tunnel at Kneeland and Lincoln streets on parcel 25.
The existing steam plant on parcel 26 would be demolished and replaced on-site, and developers would be given an option to demolish the MassDOT office building.
Parcel 27A was created during the Big Dig and is completely surrounded by highway ramps, attracting skepticism about its suitability as a building site. It will be offered as an option to developers bidding on the other parcels, according to MassDOT presentation materials. MassDOT and Veolia North America would jointly review the bids. The new owner would grant Veolia an easement or 99-year lease for the plant, which would be rebuilt on the site with much of the equipment placed underground.
Last week’s meeting was the fifth and final opportunity for the public to comment on the state’s plans prior to the bid invitation.
More than 50 members of the audience walked out of the meeting to protest the potential effects on the neighboring Chinatown neighborhood and the state’s proposed formula for affordable housing units on the site.
Angie Liou, acting executive director of the Boston-based Asian Community Development Corp., said housing advocates originally requested 30 percent of the residential units be income-restricted. During the community meeting process, they agreed to a reduction to 20 percent.
Under MassDOT’s draft proposal, the affordable units would be set aside for households earning 50 to 120 percent of the area median income. That will shut out many existing residents of Chinatown, where the average household income is roughly $20,000, Liou said.
“Once the whole site is developed, Chinatown is going to be impacted,” she said. “We’re already experiencing so much of an increase in property values and especially renters getting pushed out.”
In October, Baker announced the administration had identified 42 properties for possible sale in the first phase of its Real Estate Asset Leveraging program, designed to encourage affordable and market-rate housing, economic development and open space.
The initiative parallels the city of Boston’s inventory of municipal parcels that identified 258 properties that could support an estimated 750 units of residential development.
