Bartlett Yard, an MBTA-owned parcel in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, could be redeveloped into a $123 million mixed-use property by Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp.
Despite intense interest in a former MBTA bus maintenance facility, there was just one bidder for the 9-acre parcel in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.
Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp. has submitted a $123 million proposal for a project dubbed Bartlett Place, a dramatic redevelopment of a vacant eyesore on Washington Street within steps of Dudley Square. If approved by the T, a neighborhood panel and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Roxbury-based nonprofit will replace the abandoned bus yard with 313 housing units and 34,188 square feet of commercial space.
“We’re very excited and we think our proposal will be a big advance for Dudley Square,” said Evelyn Friedman, Nuestra’s executive director, who has joined with Bank of America Community Development Corp. and Boston-based Crosswinds Enterprises in a joint venture. “It will make the whole area livelier.”
More than five dozen potential bidders including architects, developers and traffic experts were issued bid packets. Still, Mark Boyle, the T’s real estate director, said the criteria of the Request for Proposals was so daunting that it may have discouraged other developers.
“It’s not unusual that so many people signed up for the package,” said Boyle. “They looked at the offering to see whether they were interested. But we were disappointed that only one bidder submitted materials.”
Among the potential bidders included Trinity Financial Inc., a Boston-based developer that has a record of beautifying hardscrabble sites and is one of three applicants for another Roxbury parcel. New Boston Fund Inc., a real estate investment management firm based in Boston, was another firm that attended an RFP briefing but did not submit a proposal.
Patrick Lee, a Trinity principal, said that company chose not to apply because he is working with Madison Park Development Corp. on the proposed Tremont Center, a $200 million development that would include 230 housing units and 293,290 square feet of office space for Parcel P-3, an 8.7-acre parcel located across from the Boston Police Department’s headquarters in Roxbury.
A New Boston spokeswoman said her company was interested but could not find the partners to make a bid possible.
Boyle speculated that developers might have been discouraged by the submission requirements that included expensive engineering studies and architectural renderings. In addition, he said, Boston’s sluggish real estate conditions may have contributed to the lack of interest.
“This is a very difficult market,” he said. “Condo prices are down in Roxbury and foreclosures everywhere are up, making this a difficult real estate market for such a large project. To build that many units now is probably a daunting prospect to developers.”
‘One Good Proposal’
Still, even as Roxbury has faced challenges as one of the highest crime areas in the city, real estate values have soared. Since 2001, the median price for a condominium in Roxbury increased by 18.6 percent to $354,500 last year, up from $299,000 six years ago, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman. While prices fell slightly in 2005 and 2006, data for the first two months of this year shows the median reached $380,000, up from $372,500 for the same period a year ago.
Kairos Shen, planning director at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, noted that the project required 66 percent of the units be affordable. That may have been the major reason why developers shied away, he said. “My guess is that the criteria set up in the RFP was so high in terms of affordability and density that it takes a not-for-profit housing developer to make it work financially,” he said.
One developer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that for-profit developers have done projects that are 100 percent affordable. The builder rejected the BRA’s claim that only nonprofit builders can earn a profit on such projects.
Still, Shen did not seem concerned that only one developer submitted a bid. “All we need is one good proposal,” he said. “My understanding is that Nuestra submitted a strong financial packet. But if it turns out that Nuestra does not go well, we may have to go back and revise the RFP and figure out how to make it more attractive.”
Developers had until March 28 to bid on Bartlett Yard, a fenced-off parcel located at 2565 Washington St. in Roxbury. Since 1888, the property had been used as a repair and transportation center. But the yard was closed in 2005 and the T declared the site as surplus, making it available for sale and redevelopment.
Bartlett Yard is one of seven abandoned Roxbury parcels that the city is seeking to develop. The Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city’s planning agency, is coordinating the effort along with the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee, a 15-member panel appointed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The other lots range in size from 1.2 acres to 2 acres. Decisions on those parcels will not come until next year, according to a BRA spokeswoman.
Redevelopment of the former bus facility comes on the heels of a recent Request for Proposals for an 8.3-acre site across from the Boston Police Department headquarters. The BRA received three mixed-use proposals for the long-neglected area. At the T’s Dudley Square station, the BRA also is planning for the renovation of the vacant Ferdinand Building, which will offer more than 200,000 square feet of office space. A decision has not been made on which plan will go forward.
Last year, the BRA and Roxbury residents completed work on a master plan that envisions a transit-oriented, mixed-use development that will “build wealth” for the neighborhood. The Bartlett Yard RFP called for a mixed-income urban village that would include housing, small or moderate-sized retail and possibly a cultural facility or social service organization.
Darnell Williams, chairman of the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee, could not be reached for comment.
