The landmark Boston Garden, now reduced to a vacant lot, closed in 1995 and was demolished in 1998.

In a deal that could help solidify development activity in Boston’s North Station district, Boston Properties and Delaware North are reportedly about to unveil plans for a massive mixed-use complex on the site of the former Boston Garden, Banker & Tradesman has learned.

“It’s close,” a source familiar with the deal said last week, adding that an announcement on the proposal could occur “any day now.” Another real estate source concurred with that assessment, and called Boston Properties “a great partner to get that [project] done.”

“It would be a natural for them,” agreed another Hub development veteran. “They’ve obviously got the muscle to see it through, and they know the city as well as anyone.”

Despite such sentiment, officials from both Boston Properties and Delaware North do not seem especially eager to share their plans. Calls to both companies were not returned by Banker & Tradesman’s press deadline, while Meredith & Grew President Thomas J. Hynes Jr. also did not respond to inquiries. His firm is marketing the parcel.

Specifics on the proposal remain sketchy, but one source said it would involve a mix of all the basic real estate food groups: hotel, retail and office space, as well as some residential units and a parking garage for several hundred vehicles. The source said a portion of the complex will be united with the new FleetCenter that is located adjacent to the parcel, allowing an expansion of shops and restaurants that would complement both developments.

Anchoring the complex will be a pair of towers on either end of the parcel that could rise as high as 400 feet. None of the sources could provide a cost estimate, but it would certainly run into several hundred million dollars.

If the reports bear out, the district will welcome the project with open arms, according to Downtown North Association Executive Director Robert O’Brien, who noted that the site has been a big question mark since the Garden was shuttered and demolished several years earlier.

“Speaking for the community, we can’t wait,” O’Brien said last Friday. “Much of the development in the surrounding area depends largely on the development of the Garden site.”

O’Brien said he has not heard of the supposed agreement, although Boston Properties was mentioned in news reports last year as a candidate to join forces with Delaware North. At the time, other potential partners included the Raymond Property Group and the New Boston Fund, but sources said it appears both of those companies are no longer in the running.

“It’s all Boston Properties, from what I’m hearing,” said one source. Although Delaware North at one time had planned to sell the Garden parcel outright, the Buffalo-based operation is committed to being a partner in the deal, according to industry observers.

Tremendous Recovery
Despite the intricacies of such a large project, O’Brien also said he believes approvals for the undertaking could move more rapidly than normal, given that much of the permitting and zoning is already in place. While the plan would likely be subject to the city’s Article 80 process, O’Brien said he believes the environmental impact report required by the state is already completed. And although financing can always be tricky, Boston Properties has demonstrated a consistent ability to secure funding for its numerous development ventures, of which there are currently many in the pipeline.

Besides construction of the 36-story 111 Huntington Ave. in Boston’s Back Bay, Boston Properties recently acquired the development rights for a 200,000-square-foot office building in Waltham and is constructing an office tower in downtown New York City. The real estate investment trust is one of a handful of such vehicles which develops properties to build its portfolio. Founded in 1970 by Edward Linde and Mortimer Zuckerman, the company’s biggest project locally was the Cambridge Center complex in Cambridge’s Kendall Square prior to its conversion into a REIT in 1997. With holdings in San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C., Boston Properties had 144 properties totaling 37.6 million square feet as of Dec. 31, 2000.

Although O’Brien characterized a Garden development as “critical” to North Station’s future, the area is hardly in limbo at present. Along with a slew of national real estate companies that have acquired buildings in the district since the mid-1990s, the opening of a new Suffolk County Courthouse in 1999 has breathed new life into the area, as has the opening of several restaurants and stores.

Indeed, even as Boston Properties and Delaware North put the finishing touches on their proposal, the Intercontinental Cos. of Brighton is well on its way to redeveloping the former Stop & Shop warehouse a few doors down from the Garden parcel. Intercontinental is also creating a blend of uses, focusing on office and residential space. Steel for a six-story addition is expected to be going up by June, with a completion date anticipated for the autumn of 2002.

“The area as a whole is undergoing a tremendous recovery,” said O’Brien. Several infrastructure projects are also nearing the home stretch, including the completion of the new cable-stayed bridge over the Charles River and the depression of the Green Line. The subway will actually go under the Garden parcel.