BPDA getting ready to re-advertise long vacant parcel across from police HQ for housing, local shops and restaurants and maybe life-sciences labs

The BPDA has posted its final draft RFP for the 7.6-acre field of scrub, grass and parking lots on Tremont Street, across from BPD headquarters, which has been vacant since it was almost all bulldozed in the 1960s for an I-95 extension that was never built.

The BPDA will be seeking developers willing to commit to way more affordable housing than required for privately owned land as well as locally owned shops, internships and other programs tied to two neighboring high schools, arts, maybe a museum and lots of trees for the parcel. Specifically not preferred: National-chain big-box stores, of the sort that were included in a previous proposal for the so-called P-3 parcel, which the BPDA canceled in 2019 after a development group of a local non-profit and a builder couldn't break ground after 12 years.

Under the proposal, buildings should not exceed 150 feet talle unless they "clearly demonstrate the greater benefits to the community" of extra height.

The proposal starts with what the BPDA is looking for in general:

Proponents should use development as a catalyst to promote the arts, culture, education, commercial, and retail enterprise in the area. Neighborhood cultural amenities such as museums, art galleries, bookstores, entertainment venues, performance spaces and artist live/work spaces are strongly favored. Amenities and programming associated with the Crescent Parcel should activate the area in the evening, encouraging residents to "stay local" to support Nubian Square businesses for their entertainment, shopping and dining experiences.

In addition, the Property should be developed in a manner that supports the economic growth of the district by providing opportunities for area residents to participate in expanding sectors of Boston’s economy. Proposals should include a mix of uses on the Property that will generate wealth throughout the community and will generate new employment prospects in education, health, medicine, bio and life sciences and/or finance.

It then gets more detailed.

At least two-thirds of any housing units have to be "income-restricted affordable housing with one third targeting low and moderate income households and one third targeting middle income households." Private developers in Boston normally only have to set aside 13% of their units.

For apartments, that would mean setting aside between 30% and 50% of units for people making no more than half the Boston area median income - and 10% of units would have to be rented to people making no more than 30% of that level.

For condos, that would mean selling two-thirds of the units at prices people making between 60% and 100% of the area median income could afford.

Retail space should be offered to local merchants first, possibly as condos, with a "rent to own" policy to help budding entrepreneurs get a start. And:

Proposals with uses which will generate employment, such as commercial, manufacturing, or lab/life science, and green jobs must promote job training, local business and job creation, with special emphasis on providing maximum opportunities for local, small and disadvantaged businesses and job creation and training for people of color and women. This emphasis should take place in all aspects of redevelopment – the planning phase, the construction phase, business development phase, in the procurement of goods and services, the operation and maintenance phase, as well as in permanent jobs created. For lab/life science uses specifically, robust job training programs that create a clear, achievable employment pipeline for Roxbury residents. Such programs may include partnerships with Madison Park Vocational Technical School, the John D. O'Bryant School of Math & Science, Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, and Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Because the parcel was once a marsh that could be increasingly prone to flooding, in a neighborhood with relatively fewer trees than other Boston neighborhoods, the proposal also calls for a variety of components to help residents survive climate change, including heavy tree planting, the creation of a park of at least half an acre. Also:

Proposed projects should provide for a cool/warm community room and essential systems to allow for extended sheltering in place and accommodation of local residents during an extreme weather event or an extended disruption of utility services.