Charlestown next target for condo development
Sullivan Square may take a leaf from Fort Point’s playbook.
A developer who helped transform Fort Point Channel into one of Boston’s hottest new neighborhoods is back with a new proposal for what could be Boston’s next urban frontier.
Berkeley Investments filed initial plans on Friday with City Hall for a 177-unit apartment and retail development in Charlestown’s Sullivan Square, currently the focus of a major redevelopment push by Mayor Marty Walsh’s administration.
There are plans for two separate apartment buildings linked by a three-story connection. The project would take shape near the Sullivan Square T station.
The developer’s proposal calls for renovating the three-story Graphic Arts Building at 32 Cambridge St., putting in 52 apartments as well as 2,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, possibly for a bakery. The plan calls for a neighboring, one-story building on Rutherford Ave. to be torn down and replaced with a four-story building with 119 apartments.
The development would also include a courtyard, dog run, and landscaped green space, among other amenities. There would also be 113 parking spaces, mostly in a below-ground garage.
It’s not hard to spot some parallels with Berkeley’s well-regarded FP3 project in Fort Point, which played a key role in the redevelopment of the old industrial and warehouse area near the Seaport and South Station.
In 2007, Berkeley converted a pair of late 19th century granite warehouses in Fort Point into 92 condos, topping them with chic glass penthouses, while adding a third thoroughly modern building to the mix. Led by local developer Young Park, Berkeley brought in celebrity chef Barbara Lynch to run a trio of hip new restaurants on the ground floor.
The BRA is in the midst of a major planning effort aimed at revamping the traffic-clogged Sullivan Square area with a mix of roadway and other infrastructure improvements.
Berkeley’s proposal is part of an a growing array of work, totaling more than $1 billion, slated for the Sullivan Square area, city development officials have said.
“Berkeley is thrilled to propose this project, which we expect will bring much-needed, transit orientated housing to Charlestown,’’ writes Peter Kochansky, a lawyer for the developers, in a project notification letter to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
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