Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff / File

City-owned properties near Medford City Hall will be offered to private developers for multifamily housing as officials seek to activate asphalt-covered parcels in the downtown area.

The city this week issued a request for proposals for the 3.5-acre site located on Riverside Avenue and Clippership Drive, located just west of Interstate 93 between city hall and the Mystic River.

There’s broad support among city leadership for adding multifamily housing in Medford Square, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said.

“We have a mayor and council and planning department that is ready and willing to bring new business to Medford,” Lungo-Koehn said.

The properties will be offered under a ground lease up to 99 years. Proposals are due Dec 20.

The parcels are valued at nearly $7.8 million, according to assessors’ data, and are occupied by 305 parking spaces. Additional city-owned property next to the site could be made available for “highly advantageous” proposals, according to the RFP.

Developers will be required to build a parking garage on one parcel to replace lost surface parking currently used by a neighboring senior housing complex and Chevalier Theater patrons. Projects including ground-floor retail space also are requested.

Proposals are required to include an income-restricted component and presents two options: 20 percent of units reserved for households earning 80 percent of less of area median income, or 15 percent of units reserved for households earning a maximum 80 percent of AMI, and 5 percent at 50-60 percent of AMI.

The RFP states the city’s goal is to receive “funds comparable to similar developments” in price/rent offers.

In the past two decades, land-use studies by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Metropolitan Area Planning Council identified the city-owned parking lots as potential development sites.

In 2021, the city selected Cambridge-based Agency Landscape + Planning to lead a comprehensive plan process which includes recommendations for the first citywide rezoning since the 1960s. The plan is under review by the city council.

Medford Square Parcels Offered to Housing Developers

by Steve Adams time to read: 1 min
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