Lexington Small Developments

Since April, Lexington has received four proposals for apartment and condo buildings in MBTA zones, for a total of 285 new units. Another is expected as soon as this week, Lexington Planning Director Abby McCabe said, and the town is in talks with real estate developers that could result in still more applications this fall.
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From south to north:
  • ~200-unit CC&F project that I think someone else may have posted elsewhere on ArchBoston (the render in the article looks familiar) is the southern-most dot on this map
  • 46 units next to it
  • 48 planned-but-not-proposed units in the middle on the site of a small retail strip
  • 32 units near Stop & Shop
  • 9 units furthest to the north.

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BXP Planning 300+ Unit Multifamily in Lexington​

“BXP has filed plans to redevelop 17 Hartwell Avenue in Lexington, the current site of a one-story R&D building constructed in the 1970s. Plans now call for the demolition of the commercial building and construction of a 312-unit multifamily property with a standalone 2,100 SF retail building and a 360+ space parking garage. The development would offer a mix of 1 through 3 bedrooms along with numerous amenity areas including 2 courtyards.”

17 hartwell


https://www.bldup.com/posts/bxp-planning-300-unit-multifamily-in-lexington
 
I hope what we're seeing is the teeth biting into the effects of lab building oversupply. If you're a biotech or med tech company (like the one that used to occupy this building) and there's massive oversupply throughout the entire region, why go to Hartwell Ave in a 50 year old building with no amenities around? Lexington doesn't have any public transit, 95 is miserable during rush hour, and there are dozens of other options that for the savvy tenant to use as bargaining chips to drive prices down at much better locations.

BXP has a huge portfolio of over 50 million rentable square feet per Wikipedia. If they're seeing softness in their subprime life science space and also seeing residential rents continue to rise, seems like a savvy move to be the first/only residential on this stretch, offering a bunch of amenities and new build comfort. Now, what's odd to me is I think of BXP as a commercial developer. I don't think they have many residential properties at all, so maybe this is a bit of diversification with the global weakness of the office market.

Really hoping we see more of this, especially developers who have empty lots but have stalled building their lab buildings. Quick pivot to apartments could put them back into an underbuilt market.
 
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