Here's a twist: One Canal, the would-be $175 million, 320-unit apartment complex in Bulfinch Triangle, will never get the O.K. from the state unless it snags a supermarket first. As you know, the North End, the West End and Beacon Hill have been a veritable food desert, bereft of a traditional supermarket since the Stop & Shop... just stopped on Cambridge Street in 2003.
Now, to speed things along, MassDOT, owner of the former Central Artery parcel where One Canal would go, says developer Trinity Financial (they did the nearby Avenir apartments) must get a Shaw's, a Stop & Go, something, by March 1 or risk not being able to build. For its part, Trinity says everything's going according to plan. One Canal's project manager tells The Herald's Greg Turner that Trinity is in "serious conversations" with two "credible supermarket operators." The manager declined to name names, though Trinity did develop a Shaw's years ago in Dorchester.
· Developer Must Bag Grocer to Get O.K. [Herald]