The plan under owner Leggat McCall Properties was for a nine-story, 262,000-square-foot life sciences building to sprout there, in a prime spot on the border with Cambridge and up the road from the large mixed-use development Cambridge Crossing. Construction crews started digging. Concrete was poured.
But by 2024, after a frenzy of lab space construction in the Boston area left the market with a glut of it, the plans changed. “Construction of 15 McGrath has paused until market conditions improve,” the developer said in a statement in July of that year. “The project team fully intends to re-engage and complete the project at that time.”
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At a time of soaring housing costs, residents also said it was a bummer to see land that could be turned into new homes being used for nothing at all. “Putting some kind of apartment or condo building or something people can live in would be better than just a giant pit,” said Somerville resident Chris Devers, 49, as he stood on an elevated segment of the Somerville Community Path, where the view of the pit is pristine. “It’s a valuable piece of real estate to just be leaving as a skating rink that nobody can skate on.”
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So when work came to a halt, the T “recommended backfilling the site as the preferred solution to stabilize the water table,” the T spokesperson said in an email. “However, the developer instead opted to fill the excavated area with water to manage the pressure.”
Leggat is looking for a cost-effective source of fill, and will eventually replace the water with it, said Jonah, the firm spokesperson. For now, she said, it is circulating the water and treating it to keep away mosquitos and other pests. It is also weighing its options for building something new at the site.
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