Over the next 10 years or so, M.I.T.’s so-called Kendall Square Initiative is slated to spawn six new buildings and 740 apartments over two of those buildings, or 500 net new housing units, including affordable housing and graduate-student residences.
It is also expected to create 100,000 square feet of new and re-positioned ground-floor retail; nearly 1 million square feet of office and research space; 3 acres of plazas and parkland; and to retain some 800,000 square feet of existing capacity for future academic use.
M.I.T. is also driving big plans (rendered) for the Volpe transportation hub that the university bought from the federal government in early 2017 for $750 million.
Current plans, per the university, include approximately 1.7 million square feet of commercial space, including retail; around 1,400 housing units, representing 40 percent of the development and including 280 permanently subsidized affordable units and 20 middle-income units; a minimum of 5 percent innovation space for entrepreneurship and incubator activity; and approximately 2.5 acres of open space on the M.I.T.-owned land, which is a minimum of 25 percent of the site.
At least one of the new Volpe properties could run as high as 500 feet, which would mean the site would host Cambridge’s tallest building.