Tall & Urban News

The Abbey Group began demolition of the former site of the Boston Flower Exchange in the South End neighborhood of Boston on 12 December 2019.

The move is in anticipation of transforming the 5.6-acre (2.3-hectare) parcel at Albany and East Canton streets into a 1.6 million-square-foot (149,000-square-meter), four-building technology and life sciences campus. The Boston Planning and Development Agency approved the project in August 2019. The flower exchange moved to the city of Chelsea in 2016.

The new project is also due to include 22,000 square feet (2,000 square meters) of retail space, 30,000 square feet (2,800 square meters) of community space, and a privately-owned, publicly-accessible, 1-acre (0.4-hectare) expanse called Albany Green.

In announcing the demolition, the Abbey Group drew a link between the site’s former purpose as “a physical exchange of goods for much of the 20th century” and its future as “an exchange of ideas, technology, and culture for the 21st.”

What the developer has dubbed Exchange South End joins a wave of similar projects throughout the region, hinging on life sciences components, though this specific project is one of the largest in terms of geographic area. It’s also located very close to the intersection of Interstates 90 and 93.

Exchange South End is scheduled to open during the first quarter of 2022.

Just a few miles west in the Allston neighborhood, the Boston Planning and Development Agency has signed off on the four-building Allston Yards project. The project is to rise on the site of the Stop & Shop supermarket and surrounding parking lots off Everett Street near the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The 10.6-acre (4.3-hectare) project is due to include up to 868 condos and apartments, with 148 of those income-restricted. The development will also bring 1 acre (0.4 hectares) of privately-owned public parkland, as well as 117,000 square feet (11,000 square meters) of retail and restaurant space (including a new Stop & Shop), 350,000 square feet (33,000 square meters) of office space, and 10,000 square feet (930 square meters) of community art space.

It could take up to 10 years for the development team behind Allston Yards, which includes New England Development and Stop & Shop parent Ahold Delhaize, to roll out the more than 1.2 million-square-foot (111,000-square-meter) development, one of the largest in the neighborhood’s history.

When it does roll out, Allston Yards will join other transformative projects in the neighborhood, such as Harvard University’s expanding footprint and the multi-building Allston Square. It will also be another Boston-area project to go up, at least partially, on surface parking lots.

Allston Yards is not without controversy, however, as some residents opposed it because of its scope. Plans originally included more than 1,000 housing units, which many claimed would add too much traffic to the neighborhood. The developer scaled back its proposal in response, including reducing the heights of the four buildings, of which the tallest now will be 232 feet (71 meters), and reducing the amount of housing.

There is also concern about the parameters of the Allston Brighton Homeowner Fund, which was created in response to criticism of the project. The developers are putting US$4 million into the fund, which is supposed to help with down payments and home-repair loans. The developers have also committed to US$2.5 million in subsidies for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) for improvements to surrounding bus and commuter-rail service.

For more on these stories, go to Curbed Boston.