There really is an apartment-building boom under way in Boston, and the $40 million renovation of the Terminal Storage Building in Charlestown is no better proof. Developer Michael Rauseo tells The Globe's Casey Ross he will move forward on 17-year-old (yes) plans for 124 loft-style apartments in the century-old building at 267 Medford Street, next to Charlestown High. The apartments should be ready by the end of 2013, and will join thousands of new ones across the city. Why'd it take Rauseo so long? Surprisingly enough, not because of community opposition (Charlestown residents are not unenthusiastic to see something done with the long-vacant building).
After winning city approval in 1995 [editor's note: when Tommy Boy was released], he hit a legal snag because of the project’s location near what used to be an active industrial port on the Mystic River; its location just inland from the riverfront put it in a state-defined district known as a “designated port area,’’ where law prevented construction of residences. What followed for Rauseo were years of legal wranglings involving over the restrictions and over the project's potential impact on tidelands. That last one went all the way to the Supreme Judicial Court, and was resolved in the developer's favor in 2007, just as the economy collapsed. Now, everything's a go, and Rauseo says he will charge $1,800 to $1,900 a month for the apartments, which will average 800 square feet in size.
· Charlestown Project to Get Off the Ground [Globe]
· Rent Check! Boston Apartment Construction Booming [Curbed Boston]