Habemus details! The 10-block lot at 275 Albany Street in the northeast corner of the South End began its developmental life as a plan for a 408-unit hotel. Then developer Normandy Real Estate Partners of the so-so State of New Jersey said the market couldn't support an inn of that size. So it kind of disappeared into a haze of rumors and expectations, overshadowed by its ambitious neighbor, the Ink Block, which will bring not only 475 luxury rentals to the old Herald site but also a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods. Well, now, thanks to The Globe's Casey Ross, we know that 275 Albany is back—and with the potential to be just as transformative for the grittiest area of the Hub's No. 1 neighborhood.
[There are] plans for 220 apartments and 325 hotel rooms on the rectangular lot at 275 Albany St. The apartment tower could be as tall as 18 stories, adding a new level of height to the area that would also offer views of the downtown skyline and the Seaport District. The hotel, whose operator has not been named, would be 11 stories. Not only would the two buildings write a new chapter in scope for the area, they would also spur improvements that all Bostonians of goodwill could enjoy: namely, sidewalk improvements. Pedestrian rights of way would be reconstructed and cafe tables and benches plunked upon them. Two seventy-five Albany, as a statement from Normandy put it, “will ... serve as a buffer between the imposing hulk of the Southeast Expressway and the historic South End neighborhood.”
· Apartments, Hotel Proposed for South End [Globe]
· Big Development Doings on the South End-Chinatown Border [Curbed Boston]
· Another Sign of South End's Constructionpalooza: $14M Deal [Curbed Boston]
· Hey, Something Big Could Be Built in the South End! [Curbed Boston]
· The Curbed Boston Cup Neighborhood of the Year: South End! [Curbed Boston]
· Our Development du Jour archive [Curbed Boston]