21-story building would kickoff ‘Triangle’ redevelopment
By JOSH RESNEK
The Zoning Board of Appeals has given unanimous approval for a 21-story apartment building to be built in the residential Triangle area of the city on Spring Street.
This approval does not guarantee the building will go up.
That will take a closer look at market conditions by developers and bankers who will need to raise and borrow about $200 million to make the building appear on a spot that was once one of the city’s most contaminated.
This new apartment house with a roof deck restaurant, with spectacular views of the Boston skyline, would be Everett’s largest and tallest apartment without peer.
Nothing but the Encore Hotel at the casino rises that high into the Everett sky.
It is believed this tall building in the Triangle could lead to two or three more tall buildings with more than 1,000 units of apartment housing.
This would lead inevitably to smaller commercial developments such as restaurants, and retail stores of all kinds to service the new population.
Several developers we have spoken with believe the towers are a pipe dream.
They claim to build the structure is simply too expensive and won’t be sustained by rental income.
Many in the real estate business are not sure about that.
The Leader Herald would like to see this part of the city become a vibrant new residential neighborhood.
Such a thought only a few years ago would have been deemed an impossibility, the stuff of drug-induced dreams.
The cost for steel is so expensive right now that a 21-story apartment house might very well be an unlendable project for banks and an expensive impossibility for developers.
The cost of wood has tripled in the past three months making smaller projects much more expensive.
Now comes the true test – whether or not the project can be sold on the open marketplace.
With 366 units and a rooftop restaurant, some developers will be naturally attracted to this site.