This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
The Boston Planning & Development Agency approved four developments Thursday that are planned to add new multifamily units, hotel rooms and community spaces across the city.
Among the projects approved were City Realty and RISE Together's 72-room, 40K SF hotel at 330 C St. in South Boston. The hotel would sit between the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and a residential neighborhood, the Boston Business Journal reported.
The BPDA also approved a 47-unit multifamily building in Dorchester that would include 29 income-restricted homes, a four-story community center and administrative offices in the South End, and a two-story athletic complex for Boston College High School in Dorchester.
The agency also authorized multiple requests for proposals, including one that envisions up to six buildings that would replace two parking lots next to Bunker Hill Community College in Charlestown.
Lastly, the board passed proposed zoning changes in Fenway, including allowing higher buildings along Brookline Avenue and an established corridor connecting Kenmore Square to the Longwood Medical and Academic area. This proposal needs to go before the Boston Zoning Commission before going into effect.
SALES
The MBTA purchased the 24-acre Widett Circle property for $255M and plans to develop a layover facility for storing and maintaining Commuter Rail cars. The transit agency said the site is the perfect location for the facility, which is currently 9 miles away at Readville’s rail yard.
The site wasn’t always envisioned as an MBTA layover facility. Plans for an Olympic stadium were once proposed, and developers like Samuels & Associates had been interested in turning the site into a mixed-use development.
LEASES
Self-storage startup Stuf Storage has expanded its network into Boston. The startup, in partnership with Jamestown, opened its downtown location at 18 Tremont St., converting underused space at the 12-story office building into 40 padlocked storage units, Multihousing News reported. The startup has six other locations in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
FINANCING
Alexandria Real Estate Equities sold a partial stake in its 15 Necco St. development to a U.S. affiliate of the Japanese developer Mori Trust Co., Alexandria announced Wednesday. The transaction will be used to fund the 346K SF project that is expected to deliver later this year. The development is fully leased to Eli Lilly and Co. to house the Lilly Institute for Genetic Medicine. Newmark's Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, Samantha Hallowell and Alex Foshay represented Alexandria in the deal.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Owners of the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Back Bay filed a proposal with the BPDA to convert one of its towers into a dorm that could potentially house 854 Northeastern University students, the Boston Globe reported. The owner, private equity firm Hawkins Way Capital, wrote that the other 29-story, 792-room tower will remain a hotel.
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The Boston Housing Authority and Preservation of Affordable Housing celebrated the completion of Phase 2 of the Flat 9 at Whittier development near the Ruggles MBTA stop. Mayor Michelle Wu, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman were in attendance.
The second phase includes 52 units that contain between one and four bedrooms. The group also celebrated the start of the project’s final phase, which will be a 13-story development that includes 172 affordable and market-rate units and 10K SF of commercial space.
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Wellesley-based Mark Development filed preliminary plans to host a homeless shelter for two years as part of its Riverside development in West Newton, Banker & Tradesman reported. In a partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, the developer plans to vacate Hotel Indigo for a two-year period to act as a 200-room shelter.
The Riverside redevelopment was supposed to begin in 2022, but Mark Development requested an extension on the project last year. The proposed project is a 1M SF life sciences redevelopment of the hotel and adjacent MBTA-owned property.
