Southie Real Estate Scoop: Two L Street Projects

Written by Betsy Walsh Frissora

One of the latest development projects headed to Southie is the 45 L Street Development.  Not a big surprise since both D Street and L Street are turning into the “Gates to the Seaport”, meaning almost every block you look at has a project in the making.  

The 45 L Street developer is Peter M. Leoutsakos, and architect is Niles Sutphin.  The two plan to work together to transform a 13,898 sq.ft. site into a new five-story 42,963 sq.ft. residential building.  The project is proposed to cost $11,050,000. The proposed residential project will create 30 residential units.  26 units will be offered at market-rate, while 4 units will be offered at affordable housing rates (in accordance with the Mayor’s executive order on inclusionary development) in an attractive new building.  Of the 30 residential units, there will include 20 two-bedroom units, 4 three-bedroom units, and 6 one-bedroom units.  

The five-story building will contain 1,009 square-foot ground-floor commercial space, and a total of 32 parking spaces.  30 of the parking spaces will be in an at-grade garage, plus 2 outside visitor/commercial spaces. The commercial space will accommodate a local insurance business, Higgins Insurance.  

The Project Site includes 13,898 square feet of land area, comprising two parcels situated at 45 L Street and 45R L Street in South Boston’s Ward 6.  The parcel is currently the site of two 2-story buildings containing Higgins Insurance, which will occupy the new commercial unit, and European Motorsport, an auto repair business that will be relocating.

According to the proposal, the 45 L Street will offer many public benefits to the South Boston neighborhood, such as generation of over one hundred fifty thousand dollars in revenue annually to the City of Boston once the project is completed in the form of new real property tax payments, as well as the expected creation of more than 70 construction jobs over the length of the proposed project, as well as an aesthetically pleasing new building to be more consistent with traditional neighborhood design.

57 L Street

Just a block away from the newly approved 45 L Street project, the BRA is currently reviewing the proposal from Moawed Properties, LLC to redevelop new condos at 57 L Street.  The proposed project will consist of 15 new residential condominium units, including 2 affordable units in accordance with the Mayor’s executive order on inclusionary development.  

The proposed project will replace the existing gas station, which currently occupies 57 L Street at the corner of L Street and East 3rd  with a new 5-story building totaling 23,609 square feet.  Of the 15 residential units, most will be 2-bedroom units, which reflects a common problem for Southie- offering too many 2-bedroom units, and not enough 3 or 4 bedroom units.  The 57 L Street development will also include 21 off-street parking spaces within a ground-level garage, which is a plus that it offers more than one parking space per unit, considering the ongoing parking crisis in Southie.  

The first floor will contain the 21 parking spaces, with access in and out via East 3rd Street. It will also contain the main residential entry vestibule and lobby on L Street, an elevator mechanical room, sprinkler room, some storage space, two stairways, and a ground floor commercial space which will accommodate a new insurance business.  The second and third floors will each contain four two-bedroom units and one studio unit. The fourth floor will contain five two-bedroom units, four of which will have bedrooms situated on the fifth-floor level of the building. The fifth floor will be substantially set back from the outer walls of the building and will contain bedrooms for four of the five fourth-floor units. There will be no roof decks or other recreational space on the roof.

According to the developers, there was careful attention paid to the already existing, and new residential buildings (completing construction on the adjacent block of L Street), as well as two newly proposed developments on the same block.  The proposed building has been designed and scaled to compliment lower L Street as it transitions into Summer Street, aka “the gateway to the South Boston Waterfront and the Seaport area.”

The Proposed Project offers many public benefits to the neighborhood, according to the proposal, which includes 1,009 square foot of ground-floor commercial space accommodating a local insurance business, generation of nearly fifty thousand dollars in revenue annually to the City of Boston (once the project is completed in the form of new real property tax payments), and the expected creation of more than 40 construction jobs over the length of the proposed project.