Seaport Square Developers To Take Risk, Go Small
By Paul McMorrow
Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer
06/30/10
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The developers of Seaport Square, a 6-million-square-foot development on the South Boston waterfront, said they will be the first developers in Boston to test new models of workforce housing that shrink unit sizes and rely on shared amenities, transportation and public spaces.
Speaking yesterday at a City Hall symposium on bringing new, affordable housing models to South Boston, John Hynes, CEO of Boston Global Investors, said a shortage of affordable housing in Boston's urban core was hampering corporate growth.
"The answer is smaller units," Hynes said. "It's exactly what we believe the market wants. We need more affordable housing, retail and green space; you don't need a lot of cars. The risk is, it hasn't been done yet. You're going to have to convince your lenders and investors you have something worth investing in."
"Somebody has to go first," added John Buza, a managing director at Morgan Stanley, an equity partner in Seaport Square. "We're willing to be the first, and see if it works."
In January, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced plans to re-brand the South Boston waterfront as an innovation district. Menino said he wants to fill the neighborhood's warehouses and parking lots with technology companies, creative firms and business incubators, and with housing developments that keep those firms' workers in the city.
The City Hall symposium brought together architects with South Boston landowners to discuss how new European housing models might be applied along the waterfront.
"We can build more office towers and condos, but it would be anywhere else in America," Menino said. "This is the largest piece undeveloped land on the East Coast, and it has to be innovative. I hope out of this discussion will come new proposals and new ideas."
Several presentations pointed to Amsterdam, where developers have cut unit sizes, delivered partially-finished spaces, emphasized communal spaces and deemphasized costly parking spaces.
"Units are getting much smaller, and they need to get much smaller," said Brian Healy of Brian Healy Architects. The key to making small units work, Healy said, is "the relationship between private and public space."
"There's a sense of community in how the units interact with each other - you're constantly in touch with the people who live and work in the building," added David Hacin of Hacin + Assoc.
Hacin's firm designed Berkeley Investments' FP3 condominiums, and is currently designing the first residential building at Seaport Square.
Young Park, president of Berkeley Investments, said Boston's zoning code doesn't accommodate the kinds of live-work arrangements, shared spaces and dearth of parking that European housing models rely on.
Tim Pappas, president of Pappas Enterprises, said city officials must "help reset expectations in the public process," because the neighborhood groups that review development projects have come to demand ample parking and spacious unit sizes.
Kairos Shen, the Boston Redevelopment Authority's chief planner, agreed.
"The job of the BRA is to take these innovative ideas and make them the new norm," he said.
