Boston developer wants to take advantage of moratorium lift

After more than a year of building moratorium, the borough of Cambridge is ready for construction investments again.

Boston-based Boylston Properties is eyeing a 12-story, 227-unit multifamily project at 745 Concord Avenue in the Alewife neighborhood, the Boston Business Journal reported. The developer is starting to hold community meetings as it looks to redevelop the site of a single-story office building.

About a year ago, this type of development wouldn’t have been possible. It wouldn’t have been likely before, either, because the area’s zoning favored life science labs. That’s what Boylston said he’d build when he first looked at the site in 2021.

But after lab developer Healthpeak Properties acquired several properties in quick succession, Cambridge City Council halted most development at Alewife. The area has since been rezoned to better balance residential and commercial development.

The Boylston project could be the first significant development in the area since the land was rezoned and the moratorium ended.

“Thank God the moratorium came,” Boylston Principal Andrew Copelotti told the Business Journal. “We would have had a life sciences building built or half-built in a tough market. Sometimes the projects you don’t do are the best ones.”

The planned development is near the Belmont border and one mile from the local MBTA station. The developer is considering 15 parking spaces at the project site.

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Boylston plans to file a formal application with the city’s planning board in the fall. It doesn’t actually own the land — it does, a subsidiary of Spinelli Commercial Properties — and the sale of the land is contingent on approval of the project. It’s unclear how much Boylston will spend to acquire the land.

Copelotti expressed hope that expected interest rate cuts could make construction prices more reasonable.

— Holden Walter Warner