Healthpeak project clears planning board – but still has a long way to go.
Holdups include MBTA study and leases that run until 2040.
Last week, executives from real estate developer Healthpeak Properties received approval from Cambridge’s Planning Board for a sprawling mixed-use project in Alewife that will include housing, retail, and lab space. The $4.6 billion project will move on to next steps – but not construction, yet.
The 36 acres owned by Healthpeak in the “Alewife quadrangle” (a large portion of the Cambridge Highlands west of Alewife Brook Parkway) will be converted into 2,300 units of housing, 2.6 million sq. ft. of office and lab space, 76,000 sq. ft. of retail space, and will also include 12 acres of open space. Healthpeak purchased the properties in 2021, but a citywide 2022 moratorium on office and lab developments and rezoning of the area delayed further action.
City officials, who unanimously voted in favor of granting the special permit, praised the plans.
“How do we transform this area as a mixed-use transit-oriented development that balances economic growth with much-needed residential development to help address our housing crisis?” said Assistant City Manager for Community Development Melissa Peters at the meeting. “Not only does [this project] do that, it creates a network of connected open space, provides a new street network, and is responsive to and resilient to future climate change.”
The project will have to be done in phases, though, starting with constructing the first 1,000 housing units, as well as a fraction of the retail space. More office and retail space will come in later phases, in part delayed due to existing leases on the property, some of which go until 2040.
Another feature of the project – a much talked-about pedestrian and bike bridge that would go over the Fitchburg commuter rail line and connect the neighborhood directly to Alewife station – could also slow the project down.
Jim Rafferty, a local attorney representing Healthpeak, said during the meeting the company had already been in communication with the MBTA about the bridge, which the state agency would need to do a study on before approval.
“Then, the T informed us that they had some additional priorities that needed to be addressed, and we winced a bit when we learned that,” Rafferty said, but that “what the T has committed to is to engage in a process of study in a reasonable timeline.”
The longer the project has to wait, though, the more economic risk the project will have to absorb. Construction costs have been rising in recent years, exacerbated further by tariffs and spiking transport costs due to the war in Iran. This, coupled with the Federal Reserve’s announcement last week that it will raise interest rates, paints a solemn financial picture for prospective builders.
But Healthpeak execs say they’re undeterred.
“There are many challenges in commercial and residential development, almost to the point where it’s impossible right now,” said Healthpeak’s Rylan Squirrell. “But as with the last few years … Healthpeak is eager to continue to move forward.”
This article was updated to correct the spelling of Rylan Squirrell’s last name.
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