Image courtesy of MassDOT
The developer of a mixed-use project above the Massachusetts Turnpike in Back Bay is dropping plans for a hotel in favor of office-lab space and swapping out luxury condos for 125 affordable apartments.
Peebles Corp. is the designated developer of the Massachusetts Turnpike air rights parcel 13 at Boylston Street and Massachusetts Avenue.
New York-based Peebles previously submitted plans to the Boston Planning and Development Agency for a 432,000-square-foot hotel and luxury condominium building. The revised development submitted today, which is the same square-footage, eliminates the condos in favor of 125 income-restricted apartments. The hotel would be replaced with 300,000 square feet of office-lab space.
The project is the first all-affordable housing built in Back Bay, developer Don Peebles said today. Peebles Corp. is counting on public subsidies and the high rent paid by lab tenants to offset the lower income from the residential portion.
“As a result of COVID, we reevaluated the hotel side, and we got resistance on height from some parts of the community,” Peebles said. “We went back to the drawing board, and we felt life science and affordable housing would address that and do something transformative.”
The new plans include a pair of 10- and 12-story buildings connected by a podium. The project costs include $61 million for construction of a deck above the Turnpike, Peebles said.
In announcing the changes, Peebles Corp. said the new housing program supports Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s goal of building more income-restricted housing in all neighborhoods.
The Black-owned development firm has committed to 51 percent minority- and women-owned companies’ participation in the project team, including construction firm McKissack and architects Moody Nolan.
The project also includes construction of a new MBTA Hynes station entrance on Boylston Street. Peebles said groundbreaking could take place within 18 months, following the BPDA review and securing various agreements with MassDOT.
The new plans for the commercial space are the second lab project in the neighborhood, following Samuels & Co.’s plans to add life science space to its nearby parcel 12 project under construction at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street.
Editor’s note: This report has been updated with comments from Peebles Corp. CEO Don Peebles and with updated information from Peebles Corp. about the square-footage and height of the proposed project.
