🔹 What's Happening With Project X?

I am interested in the history of how Malden center ended up with the mega-block hellscape. It feels like the West End got copy and pasted over a street car suburb.

I do recall one of the blocks having a minor league baseball stadium proposal, but that’s probably dead along with the majority of MiLB.
 
RandomWalk said:
I am interested in the history of how Malden center ended up with the mega-block hellscape. It feels like the West End got copy and pasted over a street car suburb.

I do recall one of the blocks having a minor league baseball stadium proposal, but that’s probably dead along with the majority of MiLB.
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There was a whole series of Urban Renewal projects in Malden run by the MRA in the late 1950's and 60's -- so somewhat like the West End or NY Streets areas.

"Dilapidated" neighborhoods were wholesale bulldozed.

Here is the history of just one:
neighborhoodview.org

Suffolk Square Remembered: The epicenter of Malden’s Jewish community lost to urban renewal - Neighborhood View

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neighborhoodview.org neighborhoodview.org

Also Chapter 4 of this MIT Thesis from 1984 is about Malden Center's "redevelopment":
 
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Has any work started on Northeastern's huge 840 Columbus dorm yet? It has final city approval.
 
Malden had an apartment moratorium at one point in the last decade, driven by implicit racial panic.
 
Blackbird said:
Kind of a vaguer inquiry than most, but: what's going on with Malden? I feel like they put up a lot of great TOD downtown around Pleasant and Exchange and then just....stopped? There are still plenty of underutilized lots and such in and around downtown (like this corner of Charles and Middlesex) but it doesn't seem like there's a single thing being built in the city in 2024. Very different than its neighbors like Somerville, Everett, and Chelsea. Was there a concerted effort made by City Hall to slow down growth?
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I think yes unfortunately, the City Administration is not supportive of residential growth, certainly not to the extent that Everett, Cambridge, etc. are. I have heard that the Mayor is not supportive of additional multi-family or multi-family-dominant development in the Downtown area, instead feeling that more commercial is needed to support/balance the tax base. To some extent, it doesn't matter what the zoning says - if you go meet with the mayor/Planning Director with a concept, and they say "no multi-family - you're unlikely to advance the project.

Back during the labs-craze, there were at least a couple proposals for Downtown Malden - https://www.lee-associates.com/boston/11-dartmouth-malden/ - which I think were damaging to the politics because it fed the narrative that Malden would be the next Seaport and residential wasn't necessary.

It's frustrating on many levels. I think the nicest areas of Downtown Malden are those where multi-family was redeveloped in the past 15 years and these developments generally house upper income young professionals, so they are net financially positive for the City.

I think this anecdote from Amy Dain's Upzoning Update reflects the city's current approach to residential redevelopment --

"At first glance, Malden’s new zoning district for ten-story residential towers looked trailblazing. Unheard of, really. But… the high-rise zoning district covers four parcels only, each currently containing a building taller than ten stories. The district was adopted to meet the state’s requirements under MBTA Communities, but not to allow new ten-story buildings."
mbtacommunities.bostonindicators.org

Raising the Roof: The promise and politics of higher building heights

Upzone Update offers analysis of MBTA-C compliance efforts, produced by zoning expert Amy Dain and the staff of Boston Indicators. This week's article is by Amy Dain. This week: a cover article on building heights and lots of news articles and town-by-town updates as a busy fall gets underway...
mbtacommunities.bostonindicators.org mbtacommunities.bostonindicators.org
 
stefal said:
An update on this: some time after this post, I walked by the site, and they had all the utilities and comms painted out. At least for a week now, the site has been fenced off, so I believe an early release package for site/utilities work has been initiated. I still don't see much new info online about this.
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Would love to get a thread started on this once there are details. You'd figure with a new building project starting in 3 months there'd be some detail, apart from a start date.

I walked by the site this weekend and looks like the contractor's pretty much done with early utility work. There's a small fenced in ad-hoc construction yard on-site with some equipment and a trailer left.

Harvard to Break Ground on Pritzker-Funded Economics Building in June 2025​

Current enabling work outside the Littauer Center is scheduled to continue through the end of February 2025, and a detailed construction schedule for the building has not yet been released.
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This "weak" source puts the value at $67M: https://www.construction.com/projects/dr-202100781209-harvard-university-pritzker-economics-building
 
beck4537 said:
www.universalhub.com

Developers unwrap plans for new residential towers on Morrissey Boulevard where Channel 56 used to be

Two developers last week filed detailed plans for two 18-story residential towers with a total of 754 apartments where WLVI used to have its studios on Morrissey Boulevard - the first phase of a re-do of a roughly 9-acre parcel that also includes the neighboring Star Market. Read more.
www.universalhub.com www.universalhub.com
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Let us know when it’s knocked down to nine stories
 
Sorry if there is a thread on this somewhere, but are there any rendering of what the Pit in Harvard Sq will look like when the renovation is completed? Obviously it won't be a pit anymore due to ADA, etc.
 
statler said:
Sorry if there is a thread on this somewhere, but are there any rendering of what the Pit in Harvard Sq will look like when the renovation is completed? Obviously it won't be a pit anymore due to ADA, etc.
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As far as I know, the ~2019 renders are still accurate, but it is notable just how slow this has moved.
Screenshot_20250311_215332_Adobe Acrobat.jpg

Screenshot_20250311_215155_Adobe Acrobat.jpg
Screenshot_20250311_215248_Adobe Acrobat.jpg
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youtube.com/watch?v=_4ri2P4o324
 
Seaport Square & Fan Pier

Someone on reddit (argh!) asked about this:

The last updates for the four parcels are in the way back (2 years ..+). Are they still full of cars?

Block D: I thought they closed this to parking and were actively digging a hole for an 18-storey office building?
Block F: expanded park and Fallen Heroes section; was approved for a building but they aren't going to do that now
Block G: office / research space with subterranean parking
Parcel H: approved for a 16-story residential building with subterranean parking
 
No noticeable progress on D/F/G. Most of them are being used for seasonal activities such as the Cisco beer garden on F/G. There’s parking on D but sometimes they’ll have craft markets and similar.

H is well on its way and near topping out. It shares the already complete underground garage shared with the Goodwin building next door.

One Harbor Shore Dr. | Fan Pier Parcel H | 1 Harbor Shore Drive | Seaport

New website for the building. Don't think it's been posted here yet. Promotional signs are wrapped around the worksite now, advertising all the trappings of what you might expect from a waterfront Seaport development. Not much of substance, but guessing the site and the associated Instagram...
archboston.com
 
stefal said:
Would love to get a thread started on this once there are details. You'd figure with a new building project starting in 3 months there'd be some detail, apart from a start date.

I walked by the site this weekend and looks like the contractor's pretty much done with early utility work. There's a small fenced in ad-hoc construction yard on-site with some equipment and a trailer left.

Harvard to Break Ground on Pritzker-Funded Economics Building in June 2025​



This "weak" source puts the value at $67M: https://www.construction.com/projects/dr-202100781209-harvard-university-pritzker-economics-building
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Following up on this, there was a non-public (as far as I'm aware) groundbreaking Friday, per the utility project construction notes.
 
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