It could be the waterfront development project that gives other developers that have been dragging their feet for the better part of decade the confidence to put shovels in the ground along East Boston’s shoreline.
This month there will be two meetings regarding the proposed New Street Development located at 6-26 New St. near LoPresti Park. The developer is encouraging resident to attend both meetings.
The first meeting will be on Wednesday, April 14 from 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Maverick Landing Community Center, 31 Liverpool St. The purpose of the meeting is for the development team to update the neighborhood’s Impact Advisory Group on the project and to present the Planned Development Area Development Plan that was submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority back on March 31.
The second meeting on Wednesday, April 21 from 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Maverick Landing Community Center will be an Article 80 Review community meeting and five the developer an opportunity to update the entire community on the proposed project.
Back in 2007, the ambitious development project on the local waterfront got the green light from Secretary of Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian A. Bowles to begin Phase 1 of the project prior to preparing a mandatory Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the entire project.
Phase I of the New Street development will be subjected to a Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency review because the project requires a state permit and consists of new non- water dependent use or expansion of an existing non-water dependent structure provided the use or structure occupies one or more acres of waterways or tidelands.
Recently the developers of the New Street property, New Street Realty trust, filed an Expanded Environmental Notification Form (ENF). Phase 1 of the project consists of redevelopment and expansion of the existing nine-story building to create 148 residential units and construction of a two-level parking garage to the north of the building. The project’s first phase will also include the demolition of three existing buildings, construction of a Harbor Walk connection along the waterfront with a connection to LoPresti Park, construction of a water taxi landing in the Designated Port Area (DPA) and water taxi waiting area adjacent to the DPA, removal of existing pile fields, construction of a DPA vehicle access route from New Street, creation of surface parking in the southeastern area of the site and creation of lawn and open space on the remainder of the site.
Phase 2 of the project will include construction of a six-story building to provide 62 residential units or 106 hotel/extended stay units, an underground parking garage, construction of a single story building for a restaurant or other Facility of Public Accommodation (FPA), construction of a recreational marina to the south of the DPA and dredging of approximately 2,300 cubic yards to support the marina.
The 3.93-acre site is located in the southwestern comer of East Boston on the waterfront. It is bound by New Street and Maverick Landing to the east, LoPresti Park to the south, Boston Inner Harbor to the west and the Boston Towing and Transportation Companies property to the north. It is located in close proximity to Maverick Square and the MBTA’s Blue Line Maverick Station.
The site includes 50,434 sq. ft. of filled tidelands, 84,547 sq. ft. of flowed tidelands and 36,150 sq. ft. of uplands. These include private and Commonwealth tidelands.
The northern half of the water-sheet adjacent to the project is designated as a DPA. The site is located within the New Street Complex, which is listed in the Inventory of Historic and Archaeological Assets of the Commonwealth. It contains a nine-story warehouse, a five-story warehouse, a three-story building, accessory structures, and dilapidated wharves and piers.
The site is largely comprised of impervious surfaces and untreated storm-water flows into Boston Harbor.