After a construction moratorium that lasted more than a year, a neighborhood in Cambridge is ready to welcome development again.
Boston-based Boylston Properties is eyeing a 12-story, 227-unit multifamily project at 745 Concord Avenue in the city’s Alewife neighborhood, the Boston Business Journal reported. The developer is beginning to host community meetings as it looks to redevelop the site of a one-story office building.
Roughly a year ago, this type of development wouldn’t have been possible. It wouldn’t have been likely before that, either, as the zoning of the area lent itself to life science lab development. That’s what Boylston figured it would build when it first eyed the site in 2021.
But after lab developer Healthpeak Properties acquired a handful of properties in quick succession, the Cambridge City Council halted most construction in Alewife. Since then, the area has been rezoned to better balance residential and commercial development.
Boylston’s project could be the first significant one in the neighborhood since the rezoning and the end of the moratorium.
“Thank God the moratorium came along,” Boylston principal Andrew Copelotti told the Business Journal. “We’d have a built or half-built life science building in a tough market. Sometimes the projects you don’t do are the best ones.”
The prospective development is near the border of Belmont and one mile from the local MBTA station. The developer is considering 15 on-site parking spots for the project.
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Boylston plans to file a formal application application with the city planning board in the fall. It doesn’t actually own the site — an affiliate of Spinelli Commercial Properties does — and a sale of the parcel is contingent on approval for the project. It’s unclear how much Boylston would be spending to acquire the site.
Copelotti expressed hope that the expected interest rate cuts could make construction pricing more reasonable.