The Riverview Condominium’s floor-to-ceiling windows and stunning views of the Charles River are now reduced to rubble. All that remains of the nine-story, 66-unit building at 221 Mt. Auburn Street is asbestos-contaminated debris that is being trucked out of the site to a landfill in Ohio, which should be completed by mid-April. The owners have begun the process of selling the property through the state’s land court.
Roof repair in 2023 uncovered major structural issues that led to the West Cambridge condo building being evacuated in 2024. The building’s problems, complicated by asbestos in joint compounds, floor tiles and popcorn ceilings, proved too extensive to fix, and its condo association turned to the city for help with a full demolition.
“Excellent progress”
Buildings with asbestos are supposed to be cleared before demolition, but Riverview’s faulty structure meant it could not be safely cleared. Instead, the project required a “nontraditional work plan” to demolish the building while containing and disposing of asbestos-contaminated materials, the city announced at a public meeting in October. The city has been working with state environmental protection and labor standards departments, consultant organizations SGH, TRC and Consigli and demolition contractor NorthStar. Demolition, which began on Dec. 17, took place over six phases, the last of which was completed at the end of February.
“The contractor has made excellent progress, keeping the project on schedule and in several instances, ahead of schedule!” city staff reported in a Feb. 20 update posted to the project website. The post added that a high-reach excavator has been removed from the site, and the remainder of the project will be completed with standard excavators and a loader.
Now, the project team is loading debris into double-lined and sealed trucks that will carry the material to landfill in Westburg, Ohio approved by the Environmental Protection Agency to accept asbestos. Outbound trucks will leave on Mount Auburn St. toward Watertown. “They will remain on arterial roads, as they travel to and from the Massachusetts Turnpike,” the report said. This process will continue for an estimated five more weeks, city staff confirmed in an email to Cambridge Day.
Neighborhood impact
Throughout the project, the demolition crew utilized a water cannon to mist the area, weighing down particles of asbestos to contain them in the construction area. Consultants monitored air quality and vibration levels and submitted weekly reports to the city, all of which are available online. Those levels remained within the state’s accepted criteria over the course of the project. “Misting machines, air quality and vibration monitoring will continue until all materials and debris have been removed from the site,” the city’s update said.
Exclusion zones were set 21 and 42 feet from the site at the start of the project. Residents at the neighboring 205 Mount Auburn St. building to the east vacated Nov. 17. They had to stay away until the danger to their building was reduced. The east side of the 221 building was demolished as quickly as possible, and 205 Mount Auburn St. residents returned to their homes on Jan. 31, city staff said.
The city closed segments of Mount Auburn St. and Sparks St. starting on July 19 of last year. Road closures will continue through the expected end of the demolition project in mid-April.
Riverview as it once was
The condo was built in 1963 and was one of the first residential buildings of its size, recalled Sylvia Poggioli, who grew up in Cambridge and briefly stayed in the building. “There were gorgeous picture windows with an incredible view. All these big floor-to-celing glass windows with a balcony overlooking the Charles River,” she said in a phone call from her current home in Rome. “It was great, it was very comforting inside.”
Poggioli and her husband lived in the condo for four months in early 1982, during his fellowship at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. Poggioli only recently learned of the demolition from a friend and said,. “It was quite surprising,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
Cambridge Day was unable to speak with recent residents. The condo association president declined to comment. In a Cambridge Day post calling for comments, some locals remembered visiting the building fondly, citing its views and expressing remorse for the residents. “An unfathomable loss,” one said.
Repayment and sale process
The city allocated $20 million to cover the demolition, whose exact cost is not yet known. Bills will be issued to the condo owners for repayment, and the city will place a lien on the property to ensure payment when it’s sold. At the fall meeting, deputy city manager Kathy Watkins said “My heart goes out to all of the residents of 221. They were doing regular maintenance. They were doing all the right things with the building.”
Property owners are taking steps to sell through the state’s land court (case number is 25 MISC 000484), which will oversee the process and ultimately make a decision on the sale. There are currently no public plans for redevelopment at the property.
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