A Stoughton-based real estate developer has proposed building two 11-story buildings to house a boutique hotel and apartments on a site in Boston’s burgeoning Seaport District.
Conroy Development has filed a letter of intent with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to construct a 250-room hotel on the western portion of the 2.4-acre Parcel K, bounded by Northern Avenue, Congress Street, Haul road and Silver Line Way. To the east, about 304 apartments would rise in a 300,000-square-foot building.
The buildings would together house about 25,000 square feet of retail space and 16,000 square feet of flexible "innovation" space, according to the BRA filing. The two buildings would enclose an inner courtyard with some landscaping. Along with the hotel and residential uses, a 640-space parking garage would be built underground. The parcel is now, like so much of the Seaport area, covered with surface parking lots.
Conroy "intends to transform this underutilized waterfront land into a vibrant, mixed-use, and transit-oriented development project that will be a key component of the developing Innovation District," according to the filing.
Yet owner Terence Conroy has not always been in favor of such development in the area – at least not when it impedes views from his own proposed projects. In August, The Boston Globe reported that Conroy was suing rival Cresset Development, challenging the BRA’s approval for two buildings to be six stories tall with 197 apartments units at nearby 411 D St., which the Globe said highlighted increased tension between apartment developers in the Seaport District.
At the time, Conroy said the BRA, along with the Boston Zoning Commission, was out of line for allowing Cresset to exceed building restrictions on the land.
Aaccording to the Globe, Conroy, in his complaint with the Massachusetts Land Court, argued that Cresset’s buildings would "significantly reduce the view" from Conroy’s own parcel, as well as increase traffic in the neighborhood and reduce natural light in the area.
