Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects

MIT’s redevelopment of the Volpe Center property still includes plans for the tallest building in Cambridge – but well short of the 500 feet allowed by zoning.

MIT real estate executives this week presented a proposed site plan for the 14-acre Kendall Square property – with the tallest residential tower topping out at 382 feet.

The decision is based upon recent uncertainty about apartment demand and the city’s design guidelines which require stepbacks on upper floors, MIT Investment Management Managing Director Michael Owu told Cambridge Planning Board members at a meeting Tuesday.

“The efficiency of the building gets really, really difficult when you get that high,” Owu said. “A second concern is just the Cambridge market has not seen a building that large and there’s real concern about ability to absorb that many units in a single building. 382 feet would be the tallest and largest residential building in Cambridge, so we are concerned about getting too aggressive with that.”

The zoning limits floor plates above 250 feet in buildings to 15,000 square feet.

The urban apartment market in Greater Boston has been one of the nation’s hardest-hit during the pandemic as a smaller pool of student renters has sapped a reliable source of demand.

Three other residential towers are proposed on the site, each with 250-foot heights. Combined, the four buildings would contain 1,400 apartments, including 280 income-restricted units.

Three commercial towers facing Broadway are proposed with heights of 250 feet, along with a 170-foot-tall commercial building at the corner of Binney Street and 5th Street. MIT has committed $25.5 million for design and construction of a community center on Potter Street.

Approximately 2.5 acres of open space are retained on the site, including a 1-acre park on Third Street.

The master plan lays out the proposed massing of the buildings but not specific designs, which will be submitted later in the review process, said David Manfredi, CEO of Elkus Manfredi Architects.

In 2017, the General Services Administration selected MIT from a group of major developers to buy and redevelop the site for a purchase price of $750 million. Cambridge city councilors approved zoning in 2017 for a maximum of 3.25 million square feet of development on the property, including a replacement 400,000-square-foot new federal building.

Vertical construction of the federal building began in fall 2019 and is scheduled for completion in 2023.