Equity Office Properties hopes to expand Russia Wharf in Boston by 1 million square feet while rehabbing and preserving three existing Congress Street and Atlantic Avenue buildings at the site.
Although actual construction is still far off on the horizon, Equity Office Properties has launched plans for a major overhaul of Russia Wharf in Boston’s Fort Point Channel district. The Chicago-based real estate investment trust is expected to seek zoning relief that would allow it to graft a tower nearly 400 feet high onto the complex, which currently encompasses a trio of seven-story office buildings.
Along with a 24-story office tower, the firm would renovate the existing buildings into a 300-room luxury hotel. It is unclear what the total cost would be for the mixed-use project.
They are trying to define what they want on the site, said one source familiar with the plan. The source added that CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares has been hired as architects for the ambitious undertaking. The Boston-based firm’s most notable project is 111 Huntington Ave., a striking 36-story office tower that opened last year in the Hub’s Back Bay.
Equity, which took over the property when it acquired the assets of Beacon Office Properties in 1998, reportedly has been spurred into action by city efforts to craft a municipal harbor plan for that section of the waterfront. Massachusetts environmental officials gave Boston the go-ahead late last year to establish the special MHP. Under an MHP, a community is allowed to customize zoning regulations for waterfront construction that are otherwise covered by a broader – and typically more stringent – state law known as Chapter 91.
There’s no way they could get that [tower development] done under Chapter 91, the source said of Equity’s still-evolving concept, largely due to height limits, currently estimated at 75 feet by Boston Redevelopment Authority spokeswoman Susan Elsbree. An initial plan supposedly involved tearing down two of the three buildings, at 270 and 286 Congress St., and retaining the most historically significant building of the trio at 530 Atlantic Ave., a 104-year-old structure designed by the renowned architectural firm Peabody & Sterns. Equity now plans to keep all of the existing buildings, supposedly recognizing that preservationists would fight a demolition. Wind and shadow impacts pertaining to the new construction will also need to be addressed, said the source.
In a letter sent to the BRA as an initial step in calling for large project review under the city’s Article 80 zoning ordinance, Equity Senior Vice President Maryann Gilligan Suydam said the REIT hopes to develop 1.01 million square feet of space at the site, which covers just over two acres. The 24-story, 660,000-square-foot office tower would rise 397 feet, she said, and there would also be below-grade parking for 500 vehicles. The Congress Street side … will also be activated with new sidewalk treatments, landscaping, lighting and active public uses within the building … Suydam writes in the outline.
Calls to CBT were not returned by Banker & Tradesman’s press deadline, while Equity spokeswoman Carolyn Low declined to say whether the architect has been retained. Through Low, Equity did issue a brief statement acknowledging the company is currently analyzing the feasibility of different options for a redevelopment of Russia Wharf and confirming it has hired environmental permitting specialist Robert Kaye to serve as project manager.
We are focusing on the opportunities this asset presents to the waterfront, to the city and to our customers, Equity added.
Point of Interest
Part of the early plan envisions a walkway that would run behind Russia Wharf from Atlantic Avenue to the Fort Point Channel. Equity would line the corridor with retail shops along one side, helping to combat the emptiness of a sheer wall across the walkway that is part of a ventilation shaft for the adjacent Central Artery.
The ventilation shaft is currently under construction at 500 Atlantic Ave., a lot upon which a new hotel is also being planned. Interestingly, another well-known architectural firm, Elkus Manfredi, is housed in Russia Wharf and is architect for the 500 Atlantic Ave. project. It will be important for [the architectural firms] to work together on the two sites, said one source, noting the close proximity. The source added that former CBT architect Steven G. Cecil is also involved in the Russia Wharf project.
The 500 Atlantic Ave. project has already received its permits from the city, but would still need to obtain a Chapter 91 license. It will be included in the MHP, said Elsbree. The limited MHP will stretch from the James Hook Lobster Co. and run south several blocks to the U.S. Post Office’s mail-sorting facility, a site that has also been seen as a future development opportunity.
Elsbree acknowledged that Equity has been in to meet with the agency, but called the situation too preliminary to discuss at this juncture. Due to the historic nature of the properties, Elsbree said she believes the city’s Landmarks Commission would also have a say in any redevelopment. The MHP for the district is being split into two phases, she said, with 500 Atlantic Ave. included in the first phase. Russia Wharf will be covered in the second, with that phase expected to begin sometime next month.
Fort Point Channel and the larger Seaport District have seen substantial construction in the past few years, including a pair of office towers at the World Trade Center and a 70,000-square-foot building located diagonally across Fort Point Channel from Russia Wharf. That building, at 303 Congress St., replaced a similar building that collapsed into the channel in 1995. In addition to those projects, Boston Wharf Co. recently opened a garage with 50,000 square feet of office space atop it farther down Congress Street and has also rehabbed numerous Fort Point warehouses into office space.
Although it is still considered one of the ripest areas for future development in Boston, the Seaport District has suffered along with the rest of the office market during the past year, as witnessed by its current availability rate for new office space of 14.1 percent. Despite that, it was the best-performing submarket in Boston last year, with 101,000 square feet of net absorption. All other submarkets except for Charlestown had negative absorption in 2001.
The soft office market is apparently of little concern for Equity, particularly considering the long lead time it would take to get any Russia Wharf project off the ground. Equity is Boston’s biggest landlord, owning such prestigious addresses as Rowes Wharf, 125 Summer St. and 75-101 Federal St. In all, the company has 55 buildings in Greater Boston, with 9.1 million square feet in the city. Considered a Class B property, Russia Wharf totals 325,000 square feet.
