Site thought better suited to 4-6 story project
By JOSH RESNEK
The proposed 21 story tower with 387 units for Spring Street in the so-called “Triangle” where the city wants to build apartment housing on a grand scale is considered by several local developers as undoable.
The notion that Everett can enter the 20-story high Boston type building club is improbable at best and impossible at worst, according to the developers, who all wished to remain unnamed.
“Not even at Assembly Square (in Somerville) are the buildings taller than 12-14 stories,” said one of the developers.
Another developer said the numbers just don’t work for such a building in Everett.
“The proposed building is going on a plot of 39,000 square feet. They are planning for 387 units. Do the math. It will cost approximately $125 million to put up such a build- ing. Each unit will have a cost of about $400,000 with land acquisition costs. Bottom line – it can’t be done,” said the developer.
All the developers agreed that what might be built in the triangle is a continuation of the type of construction going up on the Chelsea/ Everett line where some 700 units are now being built.
The Pioneer on the Parkway is another example of what the developers said will work.
“What is working now in Revere along Revere Beach, in Chelsea and Everett are four-five and six-story buildings with the first two or three floors built with steel framing and the above floors of wooden construction. A 21 story skyscraper in Everett requiring steel and cement construction is going to be a very hard sell to investors,” the developer said.
A well-known local developer was adamant.
“It will never be built,” he said.