Boston's Geographic Center May be Growing

2/13/2015

Eden's Inc, the owner of Boston's largest strip mall has submitted a proposal for an urban lifestyle center the likes of which the Newmarket District has never seen. The property in question sits just beyond the current South Bay Center on land currently occupied by light industrial facilities. South Bay Center will remain, for the most part, untouched.

The proposal calls for 500 apartments, 200 hotel rooms, a 65,000sf cinema and 115,000sf of new retail space. This is very much in line with Mayor Walsh's call for taking a look at transit nodes in this section of the city and converting vacant and underutilized industrial spaces into high density residential use. The Newmarket Station on the new Fairmount Line is only a few thousand feet from the proposed development and would provide residents direct access to the downtown corridor.

Newmarket sits adjacent to Widett Circle, the much discussed "geographic center" of Boston and a district that is at the center of discussions to be redeveloped into the focal point of the Boston2024 Olympics. Following the Olympics the site could then utilize Olympic Infrastructure to redevelop what is now a heavily underutilized area of Boston.

The South Bay Center expansion will no move through Article 80, Large Project Review at the BRA and is subject to a lengthy community process over the coming months.

3 Comments

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10/27/2019 05:22:39 am

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Randee Rae Martin

5/24/2022 02:51:22 am

Thank you for your insight in locating the geographic center of Boston. I do agree that the New Market Area is underutilized as an all-purpose center although for distribution it is positioned well. I loved to eat at Victoria Restaurant as all the neighbors ate there harmoniously. At that time, I lived in the South End on Blackstone Square (nick named needle park by the police). I was happy that South Bay Center was developed as I could shop groceries at Star Market although grateful for Foodies and Tropical Foods Grocery Store in Roxbury (which I see on the internet has also been claimed as the geographic center of Boston). I hope that with the development of South Bay Center that green space will be a priority. I loved Blackstone and Franklin Parks and so happy each morning to view them from my window on West Newton Street. I helped to start the neighborhood association and to make the center of our purpose the care, maintenance and improvement of them. I have all the records in my basement of the early development of the Blackstone Franklin Square Neighborhood Association with data on the battles we fought and our victories and defeats, but I can happily say that our members were undaunted and today that area is valued monetarily as a place to live. I hope all the neighborhoods adjacent to South Bay and Newmarket will work together to make this center vital for business and residential with a shared green space for all to enjoy and cherish.

Aimee Edwards link

6/28/2022 11:33:48 am

Great reeading

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