Newton's Riverside Development Next To MBTA Gets Green Light

NEWTON, MA — The development planned for the 13 acre piece of land next to the Riverside MBTA station is a go. The city council approved the project, one of the largest of its kind in recent memory, after downsizing its proposal following pushback from neighbors.

The Riverside Development Project incorporates a mix of housing, office, hotel and retail with parking for both the Riverside MBTA station and the new uses. In the works since 2012, the development will sit on a portion of the Riverside MBTA parking lot. The MBTA will maintain ownership of the land, but that the developer would have an 85-year lease with in order to create a development, according to the city.

The project is set to develop 13 acres of a 25 acre site that includes the MBTA tracks and service area, near the intersection of Interstate 90 and 95 and the end of the MBTA Green Line.

Following concerted pushback by some residents, the developer Mark Development LLC, scaled back plans for its project last year, reducing the overall footage of its proposal to 1 million square feet and lowering the maximum height of the buildings.

City officials say they've long been looking for a place to develop for housing, and the large parking lot area wedged between the highway and the T station has long been identified as an ideal spot.

Mark Development originally planned to bring in 675 apartment units via a 1.5 million-square-foot complex.

Those opposed to the project's size before the downsize, said the development would forever change the face of Newton and fear the leafy corner of Newton will become too citified, complaining of noise issues, too tall of buildings and traffic.

Following work with neighbors during the summer, the developer trimmed those plans and ended up with 582 housing units across 10 buildings between four and eight stories high. Some 85 of the apartment units would be dubbed "affordable" and set aside for households that earn between 50 and 80 percent of the area median income in Newton. In Newton, 80 percent of the area median income is $86,650, according to the city's website. Another 15 apartments is reserved for households earning 100 percent of the area’s median income, according to city documents. The rest will not have such restrictions.

The project would also include a replacing the Hotel Indigo, office space and retail and more than 2,000 parking spaces. The tallest building would be a 150-foot office building, 10 or 11 stories tall, down from the earlier proposal of 18 stories.

This comes as a number of developments are proposed across the city. This proposal at Riverside and the recently approved 800 unit 1.3 million square foot Northland development on Needham Street off Oak Street at the former Marshalls are the two largest Special Permit mixed-use projects in Newton’s history, according to Mayor Ruthanne Fuller. It also comes amid a major rezoning of the city.

The council unanimously approved the special permit and zoning changes needed for the project to move forward Monday.

Patch has reached out to Robert Korff, the head of Mark Development.

Work is scheduled to begin in 2022 and could last up to 12 years, according to the special permit, though neighbors are hopeful the project will start as soon as possible and end as soon as possible.

Once it's built out, the fiscal impact of the development is estimated to be $1.6 million, according to city officials.

City councilor at-large Joshua Krintzman who lives in the neighborhood said he was proud of how the process went.

"I thought the process was very productive," he said. "I was proud to participate in a long, thoughtful, exhaustive process that included neighbor and resident input with a developer who was open to accommodating when possible, the needs of a wide variety of stakeholders. It shows what is possible when you have a group of stakeholders who are willing to come to the table."

And coming to consensus on the size and density of the development was the biggest hurdle, he said. The scale and density of the project still presents a level of discomfort to plenty of residents, he said.

"But there was wide agreement that a parking lot is certainly not the best use of that land," he said. " So I'm proud to live in a neighborhood where residents are so engaged and came together so effectively to try to get to 'yes' on something and make better use of that land."

Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said packed into the special permit for the Riverside project, Mark Development agreed to $7.2 million in funding other investments to be used for schools such as the Williams School, $3 million will go to upgrading the Riverside Charles River trail network, $1.3 for immediate neighborhood improvements and $1.4 million to upgrade the city’s sewer system.

The developer also agreed to fund a new exit ramp from I-95 northbound, providing direct access into the project, construct a new roundabout at the intersection of the exit ramp from I-95 southbound at Grove Street, and add a lane to Recreation Road to allow two-way traffic. Mark Development also agreed to provide a 10-foot, two-way protected bicycle track from the Riverside site to the Lower Falls Community Center, according to the mayor.

Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce president Greg Reibman has praised the proposed development as a "transformative, transit-oriented, project."

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at [email protected] or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how .