Image courtesy of Stantec

Boston-based Abbey Group is expected to redesign its 1.6-million-square-foot Exchange South End life science development amid talks with transportation officials about a disputed connector to Frontage Road.

The four-building complex would be built at the former Boston Flower Exchange property on Albany Street.

State and federal highway officials oppose the construction of a new exit road from the property to Frontage Road, leaving Albany Street as the primary exit from the development which would generate an estimated 4,527 daily private vehicle trips and create an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 jobs.

Officials say the new road would be “redundant” because there is already an existing nearby ramp from Albany Street to Frontage Road, Abbey Group Founding Partner David Epstein told members of a BPDA advisory group this week.

“It doesn’t preclude it in the future if it can be proved the second connection is important,” Epstein said.

Approved by the Boston Planning and Development Agency in 2018, Exchange South End originally called for both entry and exit roads connecting to Frontage Road, which parallels and connects to Interstate 93.

Transportation officials still support the creation of an entry road from Frontage Road into the site, Epstein said.

The Abbey Group plans to submit updated plans reducing the height and square footage of the two final buildings if it has to contribute a portion of the site for the road projects, to remain consistent with the maximum 6.5-floor area ratio, Epstein said.

“We don’t know what the exact amount will be: the final configurations could be 15,000 feet, or it could be 25,000 square feet,” he said.

If the road connections are not complete when the first building opens, The Abbey Group agreed to pay for shuttle and/or MBTA bus service from the property to the Red and Orange lines and the commuter rail, according to BPDA documents. The developer has the approval to build the first two buildings without either Frontage Road connection, but has not announced any tenant leases.

The Abbey Group also has agreed to pay for the reconstruction of Albany Street between East Brookline Street and Union Park Street, including new traffic signals and an extension of the South Bay Harbor Trail, and a 25-percent redesign of Albany Street between Frontage Road and Melnea Cass Boulevard.

IAG member and Newmarket Business Association Executive Director Sue Sullivan said neighborhood groups feel shut out of the discussions.

“We would like to be part of the process with the state and the feds. To have just the developers discussing it with them does not lend the level of importance it is to the community,” Sullivan said.

Epstein responded that the project’s benefits in economic development and neighborhood improvements shouldn’t be sacrificed.

“As we see more biotech and life science projects in other parts of the city and region, this will sit fallow and nothing will happen,” he said.

MassDOT is reviewing developers’ traffic analysis, and if the state backs the current plans, they would be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration, Associate Principal Brian Beisel of transportation consultants Howard Stein Hudson said.