Building mixed-income multifamily housing at Alewife station in Cambridge should be a top priority as the MBTA offers the property to private developers, a city councilor says. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Redevelopment of the MBTA’s Alewife station and garage could require the complete closure of the 2,733-space parking facility for 28 months, MBTA officials said in presenting options for a public-private partnership to developers this week.
MBTA real estate officials Thursday laid out a wide range of options for a privately-led mixed-use development that would help pay for the garage reconstruction, including potential air rights development above the adjacent Fitchburg line commuter rail tracks and a new commuter rail stop at Alewife.
The MBTA controls approximately 30 acres at and around the station located at the northern terminus of the Red Line in Cambridge. The transit agency will issue a request for proposals this fall and plans to select a joint development partner this winter, officials said.
“It is no longer financially sensible for us to continue to put band-aids on it,” MBTA Director of Transit-Oriented Development Scott Bosworth said.
The station was completed in 1985 but has been plagued by structural failures including ceiling collapses in recent years. The MBTA envisions a new “bright and lovely” station with additional retail options, upgraded technology and improved connections to bus service and last-mile shuttles, Bosworth said. The private partner would own and operate the new garage.
Consultants SGH presented two options for the garage replacement portion of the project: one in which the garage would close for 28 months at an estimated cost of $66.2 million. The other, a phased demolition beginning with the northern portion of the garage, is estimated at $72.4 million and a 43-month timeline.
The station serves approximately 5,000 weekday riders, and the MBTA is considering off-site replacement parking and shuttles to replace the lost garage capacity.
The demolition and replacement will be the test case for a new real estate model designed to minimize project delays caused by shifts in market demand during a lengthy disposition process, Bosworth said.
“Sometimes in procurement we get locked into a relationship that just can’t work, and we want to avoid that,” he said.
Under the new model, negotiations and signing of a development and lease agreement would take place closer to groundbreaking.
Private real estate developments on MBTA parcels, including Riverside station in Newton and Massachusetts Turnpike parcel 13 in Back Bay, have been delayed as demand for life science space plummeted since 2022.
The total amount of permanent replacement parking would be determined by developers based projected demand from transit riders as well as the new mixed-use development, Bosworth said.
