New Quincy Center Plans Announced Following Redevelopment Project’s March Collapse
There are new plans for development in Quincy Center, after a $1.6 billion, 55-acre downtown redevelopment proposal fell apart earlier this year.
Ground broke last year on a block of Quincy Center called Merchants Row—a planned $120 million housing and commercial development. But within months, the project was put on hold by New York-based master developer Street-Works, and by March of 2014, the entire redevelopment plan had fallen apart. That left the Merchants Row space as an abandoned construction area.
A new $100 million plan for that area was unveiled Tuesday by project investor and insurance company Quincy Mutual, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch, and other officials, at an event announcing that a development team had filed for construction permits for the block. It is no longer going by the name Merchants Row.
A six-story building with 169 housing units called West of Chestnut (in reference to Chestnut Street) would be built there, and would also include 12,000 square feet of retail space. Construction on that building is expected to start next year and end in the summer of 2016. Quincy Mutual has bought the land West of Chestnut will occupy.
A second phase for the project, a building called East of Chestnut, would have 220 additional housing units, but there is not a timeline for that building. The $100 million figure refers to the costs of both phases, according to The Patriot Ledger’s Patrick Ronan.
Quincy Mutual is working with Boston-based developer Gate Residential on the project. Gate Residential is owned by Redgate Holdings, which is partnered with the city in strategizing about a broader Quincy Center plan. The development team for West of Chestnut also includes Sheskey Architects, Duffy Design Group, and retail investment company Graffito SP.
The project represents just a small portion, both in terms of size and money, of the once-ambitious, now-failed Street-Works plan. But Koch seems hopeful that it will serve as an opening move in reigniting Quincy’s delayed redevelopment.
“This plan confirms what we’ve known for some time—that Quincy Center’s potential is ready to be captured,’’ Koch said.
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