On Thursday, Redgate Capital Partners filed updated plans with the Boston Planning Development Agency for L Street Station, the redevelopment at the former Edison plant site. The new plans integrate feedback that the team gathered from neighborhood stakeholders over the past year, a process that will continue through this fall with the new comment period.

Project Overview:
Hilco Redevelopment Partners and Redgate Capital Partners, the real estate joint venture behind the redevelopment of L Street Station, filed a Draft Environmental Impact Report/Project Impact Report (DEIR/DPIR) with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) and the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) on Thursday, August 16. The proposed redevelopment will remediate a 15-acre site and transform the former industrial area into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood that supports a diversity of housing, office, hotel and retail uses. The project preserves the former power station’s century-old turbine halls, which are rich with cultural history, and improves access to the waterfront through a series of public walkways, green spaces, and areas for the South Boston community to gather.

Noteworthy Program Changes:
Since its original filing with the BPDA last year, we have had a number of conversations with elected officials, community groups, and local residents that have informed redevelopment plans moving forward. The DEIR/DPIR contains a number of noteworthy changes:

15-year phasing plan: We heard concerns about construction, and have developed a 15-year phasing plan to bring residential units and commercial space to the site in a manageable way. This will allow the project to grow slowly and gradually become part of the neighborhood.

Reduced height and density: The project program has been reduced from 2.1 million SF to 1.93 million SF and includes fewer housing units, more parking spaces and more retail, hotel and office use. We have also reduced building heights; for instance, we’ve lowered the height on Block F from 200’ to just 115’ to help better blend the buildings into the neighborhood context.

Improvements to public transportation: We are actively pursuing better public transit options for South Boston. One proposed solution is to add additional bus service to the neighborhood, which we would fund and operate in conjunction with the MBTA. We will continue to work with the city and state to help find solutions that will benefit the entire South Boston community.

Improvements to local streets/intersections: Improvements to local streets and intersections will be made over time as project phases are built.

More parking: We are adding more parking than originally proposed, with up to 1,397 parking spaces to be built throughout the project phases. Additionally, we are evaluating the ability to provide night, weekend and snow emergency parking opportunities for neighborhood residents.
Affordable housing: All of the affordable housing associated with this project will be on-site at L Street Station. 

Historic preservation: We have determined that we can and will save all four of the beautiful buildings on the site that are 100-plus years old, including the 1898 Building. We realize these buildings are vitally important to the heart and soul of the development and give the site character, a sense of place and preserve a piece of South Boston history for future generations.

Project Summary:

• 1.93 million square feet of development phased over a 15-year period
• 8 development blocks with building heights that range from 56’ to 210’
• Approximately 1,344 residential units, both for-sale and rent, at various price points
• 368,000 SF of office space and 85,000 SF of neighborhood retail space
• Two hotels with 344 keys in total
• Up to 1,397 parking spaces, and with an opportunity for night, weekend and snow 
emergency parking made available to South Boston residents
• Adaptive reuse and preservation of the Turbine Halls
  New buildings will be LEEDv4 certifiable
• Dedicated space for arts and industry uses
• Within walking distance of MBTA buses #5, 7, 9, 10, and 11 and the MBTA Silver Line

“We look forward to continuing our conversation with the South Boston community and sharing our latest plans for the project with the public throughout the fall. We have refined the site plan to reflect the feedback we have already heard, and the updated proposal reaffirms our commitment to historic preservation, improving transit and mobility, and making the site a natural extension of the neighborhood,” said Ralph Cox, Principal at Redgate

About the development team::

The development team for L Street Station is a joint venture between Hilco Redevelopment Partners and Redgate Capital Partners. Hilco has deep experience in complicated, adaptive reuse projects of obsolete industrial sites, including The Gauge in Waltham, Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore, MD and numerous other properties across the country. Redgate has a long-standing and proven track record of successfully completing projects in Greater Boston, including projects at Cambridge Crossing, in Quincy Center and for MIT in Kendall Square. The team has strategically partnered to make the site a unique and transformative development on South Boston’s waterfront.

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Image via Stantec.