New Developers Take Over Westwood Station Project
BOSTON (CBS) - The stalled Westwood Station project has a new team that vows to complete Phase 1 in 2014.
A partnership of New England Development, Eastern Real Estate, National Development, Charles River Realty Investors and Clarion Partners bought the 130 acres in Westwood for $45 million and plan to develop a scaled down mixed-use development to include 500,000 square feet of retail, housing, office, and a hotel.
The once-promising project which, at its peak, carried a proposed $1.5 billion price tag and was to feature more than 4 million square feet of development including 1,000 luxury condominiums, retail and restaurants and lab and office space, has been on hold since 2007 amid financial and planning problems.
Located along University Avenue at the junction of Routes I-95/Route 128 and I-95, and abutting an Amtrak and MBTA commuter rail station, the project is being named "University Station." The development team is in the initial stages of crafting a proposed master plan to submit to Westwood officials.
"We look forward to working with the town of Westwood, the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the local community on such an exciting project," said Stephen Karp, chairman of New England Development, in a statement.
"Many retailers, including Wegmans and Target, have expressed strong interest in this location, and we anticipate that they will be key components of this new development."
This is the latest in a series of stops and starts for the project.
Eastern had the site under contract in 2010 but that deal fell apart after the former developer, Commonfund Realty Investors, changed its mind about selling several necessary, adjacent land parcels that connect the development to the nearby highway. That issue has been worked out.
Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal can be seen weekdays at 6 a.m. on WBZ-TV.
You can follow Lisa on Twitter at @lvanderpool.
