A Maryland-based developer teamed with a Hingham company has been selected to redevelop the MBTA’s parking lot next to its North Quincy Station, offering $230 million over the course of a 99-year lease and retaining the 850 parking spaces.
Hoping to boost its own non-fare revenues, the T over the past year or so has turned its attention to its surface-level parking lots with the hope of providing land for developers who can also build garages so riders do not lose parking spaces.
“We get a facility that’s maintained by a private developer that our customers can use for parking,” MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola told reporters about the project after a meeting on Monday. He noted “the shortage of housing and other facilities in the Greater Boston area where we’re sitting on many acres of single-level parking lots.”
The MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board unanimously approved the recommendation to select Bozzuto/Atlantic for the redevelopment, which will be subject to local zoning regulations and aims to break ground in 2017, according to DePaola.
Before the control board took action Monday, Stephen Kaiser, a frequent commenter at board meetings, urged delay, anticipating that the development would add “further congestion” to the Red Line.
A chart of three proposals received by the MBTA shows the winning developer planning to build 579 residential units and a total of 1,307 parking spaces for the 1-million-gross-square-foot mixed-use development.
Avalon Bay initially submitted a higher-dollar bid of roughly $247 million before dropping out of the bidding. The third bidder was Gate Residential.
Quincy Mayor Tom Koch “supports our recommendation” for the developer team, according to MBTA Assistant General Manager for Real Estate Development Mark Boyle.
“We’re just starting the process,” said Chris Walker, a spokesman for the mayor of Quincy who said Koch had some preliminary discussions on the project.
The city would receive a roughly $5.8 million contribution to its affordable housing fund and is expected to generate $1.6 million in city tax revenue with a total $205 million capital investment, according to the chart.
The developer will cover the cost of building the garage, and its construction would be “one of the initial things” on the project timeline, DePaola said.
With offices in Maryland, Bozzuto Development Co. has a foothold in Massachusetts, having undertaken developments in the South Boston Seaport and Quincy’s Marina Bay. Atlantic Development is based in Hingham.
A press release indicated the developers hoped to make space for retail and restaurants on the 7-acre lot.
