Dorchester development could host nearly 6 million square feet of new space

Two adjacent sites in Dorchester could end up hosting 5.9 million square feet of new development under tentative plans that developer Accordia Partners filed with the Boston Planning and Development Agency on March 5.

The sites—the old Bayside Expo Center that the University of Massachusetts leased to Accordia and a partner in mid-2019 for $235 million and another site at 2 Morrissey Boulevard, which the partners also acquired last year and which includes a Santander bank building—would host lab space, housing, offices, retail, and restaurant space, according to the plans. (The Boston Business Journal’s Catherine Carlock had the scoop.)

That could translate into as many as 1,740 new housing units, more than 4 million square feet of office space, and 155,000 square feet of shops and eateries—basically an entire new mini-neighborhood just off the JFK/UMass stop of the Red Line, complete with fresh streets and walkways.

The 32-acre project would easily be one of the largest single developments in modern Boston history, and would join a slew of new development in the Dorchester-South Boston borderlands. Right now, things are in flux as Accordia continues to meet with residents and local officials. The March 5 filing, though, kicks off a months-long formal review. Stay tuned.