It seemed all so settled in December after months of stop and go: The state had picked a developer, Leggat McCall, for the old 22-story Sullivan Courthouse in East Cambridge, and that developer planned to turn the asbestos-ridden, jail-hosting building into offices. Then, opposition erupted from surrounding residents who wanted some sort of residential redevelopment to alleviate the city's chronic housing shortage.
It looks like Leggat McCall would now not be averse to some sort of residential component in the tower. A project manager from the developer told The Herald's Greg Turner quite delicately: "We're not against doing residential on a small scale in the podium, and we're studying that." In fact, the developer had once looked at turning the entire 595,000-square-foot building into mostly apartments; and then backed away because it said that that didn't make economic sense.
What we do know as of this point is that the Sullivan Courthouse will become at least partially offices on the upper floors and on the ground floors will have quite a bit of retail. Everything from a grocery store to a coffee shop to a winter garden is on the table. Still, we'd love to see some apartments, if only for the marketing: "This place is a steal!" "Killer views!" And so on.
· Developer Planning to Court Residents [Herald]
· Killer Vus! Inside East Cambridge's Sullivan Courthouse [Curbed Boston]
· NIMBYs and YIMBYs in Cambridge Hone Their Messages [Curbed Boston]
· Our Development du Jour archive [Curbed Boston]