QUINCY – The new year will be a pivotal one for Quincy Center, which in 2016 will experience more residential construction, a major change in traffic flow and several big decisions by the city council.
In the coming weeks, Quincy developers Sean and Scott Galvin plan to start knocking down the old Woolworth department store building at 1545 Hancock St. to make room for two six-story buildings holding 56 condominiums and ground-floor retail space. The project, called Cliveden Place, is the second private project – the first being the ongoing West of Chestnut development – that officials said they hope will jumpstart the revitalization of Quincy’s long-stagnant downtown.
“We’re hoping it starts the ball rolling, and it dawns on people that this is really happening,” Sean Galvin said. “The downtown is really being rejuvenated.”
Galvin said construction of Cliveden Place, which will replace the old Woolworth building and an adjacent building at 1563 Hancock St., should be finished by spring of 2017.
Last spring, developer Gate Residential and investor Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance started work on West of Chestnut, a plan to erect two six-story buildings holding 169 apartments and ground-floor retail space on the block consisting of Chestnut Street, Cottage Avenue and Hancock Street.
Ernie Corrigan, a spokesman for Quincy Mutual, said the first apartment building will open this April and the second in August.
In addition to the private projects, Mayor Thomas Koch’s downtown redevelopment project could potentially restart this year after it stalled two years ago. Last year, Koch unveiled a new plan that involves the city borrowing about $145 million in public money over the next decade to make infrastructure improvements, including new parking garages, to attract development on the city-owned Hancock Parking Lot and Ross Garage parcels.
Koch’s new plan is smaller in scale than the first one proposed by the city’s former development partner Street-Works, which had called for a $1.6 billion overhaul of up to 12 city blocks. The mayor voided the city’s contract, called a land-disposition agreement, with Street-Works in 2014 after the developer failed to finance its plans.
Two developers have already stepped forward to join the mayor’s new plan: Quincy developer Peter O’Connell has proposed building a 15-story high-rise apartment on the Hancock Parking Lot across from Quincy District Court, and development firm LBC Boston has proposed building a six-story, 116-room hotel with commercial space at 1500 Hancock St.
The city council must first approve a new urban renewal plan and land-disposition agreements with O’Connell and LBC Boston before the high-rise and hotel projects can begin.
“We’re moving methodically and appropriately,” Christopher Walker, a spokesman for Koch, said. “It’s a very large project, and we’re hoping to go before the city council (for approval) in the first quarter of 2016.”
The later stages of the city’s new downtown plan include partnering with developers to create residential, retail and office space on and around the city-owned Ross Garage. In 2014, LBC Boston, led by Alex Matov, from Russia, and Andrian Shapiro, purchased 4 acres of property on Quincy’s Parkingway next to Ross Garage.
This past October, the Phoenix Development Group, a Boston-based company led by Fan Wu, Mike Fan and Yong Ling Wu, purchased the building at 37R-93 Parkingway and the adjacent parking lot at 95-109 Parkingway for $4.1 million. The building at 37R-93 Parkingway, which used to hold Commonwealth Restaurant & Lounge but now holds Revel restaurant and nightclub, abuts the Ross Garage.
Walker said the mayor’s office has been in talks with representatives from the Phoenix Development Group to discuss partnering with the city.
The city hasn’t yet secured all the funding it needs to carry out Koch’s plan for a new public park, tentatively called Hancock-Adams Green, that would connect City Hall Plaza, the Church of Presidents and Hancock Cemetery. However, the mostly-state-funded $7.9 million roadway and sidewalk project, designed to set the stage for the park, will continue this year.
The project involves permanently closing down a portion of Hancock Street between city hall and the Church of Presidents to traffic, while opening up Washington and Temple streets, now one-ways, to two-way traffic.
Walker said the traffic-flow change will likely occur in the spring or summer of this year.
Source: http://www.patriotledger.com/news/20160104/2016-will-be-key-in-shaping-quincy-centers-future