News
Transforming an Air Station
February 28, 2011
| n the Boston area, you know building 500 residential units is a big deal. But what do you call SouthField, a $2B project going up at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, which starts with that and then includes a 1,400-acre site for stores, offices, film studios, a golf course, and sports complex? If nothing else, a lead story. |
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| LNR Property's Kevin Chase, lead on the job, says the company began permitting SouthField in ?02 and building infrastructure in ?08. (While such rapid results offend our Boston sensibilities, we'll chalk it up to youthful indiscretion.) LNR has invested $90M on the site and has secured $66M in local, state, and federal funding to build roads, a new commuter rail station at the MBTA stop, and a 3.5 mile, four-lane parkway through the property to Rte 3. He says LNR needed the public dollars to ?get a shovel in the ground.? LNR has approvals for 2,850 homes (ownership and rental) and 2M SF of CRE. It has pad-ready commercial parcels and is selling land for the housing. The company has closed land sales with Whitman Homes, Interactive Building Group, and Eventide. ByApril 15, Kevin says, he'll close with John M. Corcoran & Co for a $40M, 226-unit rental project. That's a total of 500 units, valued at $150M. |
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| Kevin, here with LNR?s Robin Daniels and Steve Wynne, says that on the commercial side he hopes to break ground this summer for SouthField Studios. The LA-based International Studio Group plans to build a multimedia studio with 12 sound stages on 30 acres. (So movies set in Boston won't have Vancouver landmarks in the background anymore?) Among the other commercial projects in development is an 18-hole golf course with a 30k SF clubhouse, the future home of the New England PGA. Construction is slated to begin late summer. LNR is partnering with ex-Red Sox GM Dan Duquette to build a $20M, 48-acre sports center with several playing fields, support offices, retail, and a restaurant. |
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| The first 60 single-family houses and townhomes are under construction at SouthField with occupancy set for June. Above, Whitman Homes? Bart O'Brien and Tim Porter review plans for the 26 they're building, priced from $340k for a townhouse and $499k for a single. IBG is building 34 homes that start at $369k. Eventide, in partnership with Rogerson Communities, is developing a $75M seniors community on 9.4 acres with 192assisted living units and a 46-bed nursing facility. (Retiring near a golf course and a movie studio? Add an arcade and you'll have all three major vices.) John M. Corcoran?s rental apartments will range from studios to three bedrooms. For Kevin, who has been shepherding the complex for five years, seeing buildings finally go up is the big ?payback.? |
