A six-story life science building which would to be built on part of the parking lot behind the Home Depot in Watertown is in the planning stages.
Boylston Properties, the developers of Arsenal Yards, submitted pre-application plans to the City of Watertown showing a six-story building with five levels of life science space and one story of parking. Plans were submitted to the Planning Department on Sept. 5.
Boylston Properties Principal Andrew Copelotti said Boylston have engaged the Watertown Planning Department and will have information for the community in the next several months.
“These plans showcase our long-term goal to potentially expand the life science campus at Arsenal Yards,” Copelotti said.
Boylston believes the life science sector still has a bright future in the region.
“While there is an excess supply of life science space in Greater Boston at the moment, we are bullish on the industry in our region, the strength of our campus in Watertown and the companies that make it up,” Copelotti said. “Of note, Arsenal Yards is home to 10 promising companies poised for growth in the next 2-5 years, and while we are in the very early stages of permitting, 300 Forge is an investment that benefits our tenants’ future expansion.”
The project narrative in the pre-application documents submitted by Boylston to the City reads, in part:
“We propose to replace approximately 1.5 acres of the 10.43-acre Home Depot Parcel, which is currently used for surface parking, with a new, approximately 175,150 SF life science building, known as 300 Forge. The building is six (6) occupied stories above grade, with an additional mechanical penthouse, and is 103 feet tall from existing grade. It has a 38,400 SF footprint.”
The building would have 392 interior parking spaces in five levels of a garage. The garage would have 2.5 levels of below grade parking and 2.5 levels of above ground parking within the building podium. Also in the plan are 75 bicycle parking spaces in a bicycle storage room next to the building lobby.
The Master Plan for Arsenal Yards would have to be amended to allow the project, and add the parcel that includes home improvement store.
“The addition of the Home Depot Parcel into the AY Master Plan creates opportunities to greatly improve circulation throughout Arsenal Yards as well as the quality of the public realm,” the project narrative reads.
The plan in the amended Master Plan would realign Forge Road into the Home Depot Parking Lot and away from the landscaped buffer between the parking lot and Greenough Boulevard.
“This move upgrades the quality of the public realm along the river creating a park-like atmosphere and enhancing the pedestrian experience connecting Arsenal Park, Arsenal Yards, 100 Forge (Building G), the proposed 300 Forge (Building H), 500 Forge and ultimately Arsenal Street. Significant new plantings and paths, an enhanced dog park and opportunities for public art elevate the quality of the open space that serves as a transition from the tranquil natural environment of the river greenway to the vibrant activity of Arsenal Yards,” the narrative said.
The addition of 5,333 sq. ft. of open space would increase the open space in the Home Depot parcel by more than 10 percent to a total of 58,431 sq. ft.
Investment money is drying up in life sciences and they are still eager to build? It’ll be a super location for affordable housing if the tenants don’t come.
I thought the life science market was over-saturated, with many buildings being empty! Won’t Home Depot still be there? Their customers need to come in their vehicles to accommodate their purcheses
Are there no other types of businesses that Watertown can attract? We often say don’t put all your eggs in one basket and that seems to fall on deaf ears.
Realizing that developers can establish the businesses they want to build, with some limitations, can’t our Department of Planning and Development encourage other business plans?
We aren’t providing jobs for current residents who are not trained in the sciences. If we don’t want high cost luxury apartments that most people can’t afford, let’s provide a myriad of job opportunities so lower income Watertown residents can stay here and have short commutes to work. They wouldn’t tie up the roads with more congestion if they live locally. Those with higher incomes often eventually move to the suburbs to establish their forever homes to raise their families rather than staying in the high-rise apartments.
There was a meeting on the Newton Corner Long-Term Planning Study last night, the 18th, and the numbers of people coming from outside our area and getting on and off the Pike at Newton Corner count higher than 60,000 daily. Many of them are traveling on Galen St. and continue through Watertown Sq.
If people are living further out to afford a home and driving here for these lab jobs, how are we actually benefiting? People use our streets and then go back to the real suburbs. If these labs aren’t eventually filled, we are losing our tax base too.
Watertown had only one official representative as part of the Newton Zoom meeting. I hope he took good notes and will report back to the City Manager and Councilors on the issues that may have negative long-term effects on us. We haven’t even finalized our Watertown Sq. Plan and this issue will need to be factored in. Let’s plan better for ALL of Watertown’s residents. We certainly now have enough people in the Planning Department to, hopefully, make a difference.
Let’s hope this same group will work together to develop plans to attract better businesses for Watertown so our long-term future will be one to be proud of. A lot of mistakes have been made in the past that we can’t now correct.
This is such a bad idea. Have they not done enough damage to the Arsenal? No tto mention destroying the view of the Charles River. The field is over saturated and yet they want to keep building and removing more green space. Not to mention removing the small dog park they just put in there. Enough is enough. Watertown does not need another New Building in the Home Depot parking lot.
I feel like developers have the mantra, “If you build it, they will come.” However if we look at the current state of Biotech Lab properties it would seem that an additional space could also sit vacant. Off the top of my head we have these vacant lab space currently, and this is NOT a complete list…just the obvious ones (this does not include the list of of empty spaces in Boston, seaport, Brighton) See the Boston globe article https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/15/business/lab-space-vacancy-boston/
66 Galen street – not fully leased (or not leased at all)
64 Pleasant street – 45% vacant
99 Coolidge – 60% vacant
500 Forge – 25% vacant
580 Pleasant street – 60% vacant
250 Arsenal – partially vacant
29 Elm street – partially vacant
Properties that have been approved but not developed:
Acton street (Cannistrano site)
Waltham street (Sterritt Lumber site)
Pleasant Street (Russos site)
This new proposed building would also be competing with the plans that Alexandria has for the Best Buy/ Watertown Mall site as well……
Definitely an eggs in one basket approach
Corey, thank you for providing the info I was looking for. Obviously Watertown is not the only community faced with this growing problem, but we’re being told by “the experts”, and those that claim that they know what they’re doing that things will be fine, which only gives me even more cause for concern.
Just look across the river to our neighbors East of us and see what’s taking place for yet another example of the over saturation of bio-labs that are springing up like ATM machines with no end in sight. Not only has what was once a nice middle class/working class neighborhood been gentrified beyond recognition, the developments taking place will only put more of a strain on local resources, traffic and competition for lab space tenants here in Watertown.
As if that’s not bad enough, how many people are aware that their plan includes removing *all* parking on Western Ave. and making the street one way West so that anyone from Watertown will now have to get onto Soldiers Field Rd., make a loop to the set of traffic lights, and then access SFR that way if they want to go to Star Market, Mahoneys, Speedway or any of the other business’s there?
Keep in mind, that Harvard University is the brainchild and primary developer behind the Allston “Technology Corridor”, which gives them the ability to charge lower rents, better services and more importantly, the influence and sway they have over attracting new tenants. If you were a young, start up bio-tech company, whom would you be more attracted to or inclined to do business with? Watertown or Harvard? (of course that’s assuming if even Harvard can fill all those labs)
And there’s more to it, compounding the situation lab space developers in Watertown will face when looking to fill those buildings is that Cambridge was chosen to serve as the site for National Hub for Life Science Research by the federal government…
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/10/23/arpa-h-hub-kendall/
The region can only sustain so much of a single entity and just like any competitive market, there are going to be winners and losers in this and my concern is that Watertown is going to be the one left holding the scraps
Enough already with the bio-labs! How many are currently sitting vacant, near vacant, underutilized or plans scrapped?
66 Galen, 100 Forge St, old Millers Alehouse building, The Russos lot, Sterritt lumber lot, the old sports club on Coolidge Ave. are prime examples and there are many more.
According to Fire Department records, as of 2/24, there were 28 buildings with known lab tenants 7 of the buildings are still under some form of construction with 4 of them having tenants moving in or in the process of moving in.
Someone in City government needs to conduct a survey of the current occupancy rates (maybe the bio safety committee?). I don’t share BP’s optimism or rosy future, but assuming their projections are accurate (we should hope not), all this will result in is even more traffic and/or demand for more housing
Good heavens-all of the above is on target. Is our city government deaf and blind? Do we need petitions, protests in front of city hall or a referendum to push our concerns?
Maybe.
Those who have concerns about over building in one sector–the eggs in one basket issue–have an excellent point. More diversity in our commercial real estate inventory would be healthy for the town, just as diversity in one’s investment portfolio lowers an idividual’s exposure to risk.
Those who are worried about over development in the area of the river–our most precious natural asset–also raise a vital concern. When we desecrate an area like the riverfront, the damage is unlikely to be undone in our lifetimes, if at all. Boylston Properties has habitually shown little regard for the river.
Those who care about our built environment must also question the land use decision of building more lab space. We are constantly being told that we need more housing and yet too much land is being developed for labs and tech. We need to pause on building labs and find a way to build affordable housing on our remaining developable land. Soon it will be too late.
Too much land going used up bio tech means that we wind up with housing development that is oversized and too dense in other locations. This has a negative impact on the character of our city.
Finally any future development in the Arsenal area must be contingent on upgrades in public transit. Currently the Arsenal Corridor is underserved and has poor transit choices. At a minimum, Bus Rapid Transit should be considered. One cannot continue to pile traffic load onto this area without serious quality of life consequences.
The traffic situation is bad enough presently, but we seem to be gleefully working our way toward a catastrophic breakdown. It is a bloody shame that we lost the Watertown rail spur right of way. It might have been a piece of a transportation solution for the future. It was extremely short sighted not to assign greater value this asset.
I sort of agree that the life sciences building market is a bit oversaturated, but I disagree with the suggestion of some commenters that we should ask our city government to engage in some kind of prescriptive Soviet-style planning, where we have the government dictating what kinds of businesses can be built based on our notions of what businesses are “needed.”
If we are right that life sciences is overbuilt, then this developer will lose money and the next one will be deterred.
To use the term “Soviet style planning” is over the top dramatic. The fact is that many countries have greater degree of planning and government safeguards, particularly in Europe. They often produce better outcomes for their citizens. And they have market economies, not command economies. They also have the support of a majority of their citizens.
When the market is not producing the most badly needed commodity, that is affordable housing, the government must step in, in a reasonable manner, and protect the interests of their citizens. Developers and the financial industry often act recklessly and produce economic downturns that hurt everyone. Witness the bubbles that burst toward the end of the 1980’s, the 1990’s and the downturn of 2008.
When the downside is socialized, as it is consistently in our times, citizens have the right to demand protection from their governments.
No one here is advocating “Soviet style planning”. That’s an exaggeration.
Enough with the overbuilding.These greedy owners want to add more and more revenue.We are being bombarded with these life science buildings.The clowns that approve these ,should be removed from their positions.Traffic has become a nightmare.We DONT WANT MORE LIFE SCIENCE.
In addition to the concerns mentioned earlier, there is an increased inconvenience to HD’s customers. The parking lot has a significant problem already. Since that HD backs up onto Arsenal Street, trucks delivering inventory to HD must park out in the parking lot, blocking access to the “Contractors” door and interfering with traffic in general.
Compared to other HD’s it is a small site to begin. The Waltham site’s building plus garden center is about 30% greater than Watertown’s HD. While both have approximately the same total parking area, Waltham’s total includes a separate area in back of the store for unloading and storing inventory.
I find the Watertown HD to have a lot of inventory stored in the aisles making shopping difficult, especially for large things like lumber. This may or may not be a result of the space issues I mentioned above.
I’m fortunate that I can access both Waltham and Watertown, but I find it much easier to
shop at Waltham.
This new plan will be another reason not to shop at HD-Watertown.
So many laypeople commenting here on the life sciences market without any apparent understanding of its dynamics and cycles! Investment funding into life sciences is now increasing (not decreasing, Mr. Tibets), and the recent decline in interest rates will propel this trend even faster. Look it up – Life Sciences is one of the largest industries in Massachusetts today, and it’s poised for continued growth as stunning biological breakthroughs continue to emerge.
Obviously, the only reason a developer would propose to build a new life sciences building is because they see market demand increasing over the long term. Developers must plan many years in advance. They know that current vacancies are a temporary situation.
Please note that “empty buildings” are private property, not the city’s property. So neither you nor the city have the right to decide which types of businesses to install in these buildings.
Mr. Fortin – Your assumptions are incorrect. Harvard will charge market rents for whatever new biolab space it builds, so Allston has no advantage over Watertown. You may be unaware that MIT owns *many* life science buildings in Cambridge and they lease that space at market rents (a huge source of funding for MIT).
In fact, Watertown has a huge competitive advantage over outer communities such as Waltham and Lexington because we have a *cluster* of companies in close proximity and we’re close to the center of the action in Cambridge. Watertown is so very lucky to have this life science cluster!
Tell me where you are reading where life sciences investment is increasing in Greater Boston.
Kathi, as someone who is actually in that field and would be more in-the-know and insightful about the nature of investment, business cycle impacts, profit margin norms and government structures that undergird the industry, I would read your take or anyone else’s who is in the field. I aced biology, and I understand a lot of medical terminology having grown up around this area, but as a person without a medical degree/practice, I could not advise someone on procedure selection since I don’t have a contextual and holistic understanding of the human body.
And even if the buildings are empty, city is still collecting commercial property tax, which keeps the regressive tax burden off residents. If only we could decouple property tax from school funding and keep interest rates relatively high (money should cost), we’d have better economic outcomes.
Perhaps this is correct when it comes to medicine and fields that rely substantially on knowledge that is not available to the general public. Surely I would not think to instruct my brain surgeon on how to go about my surgery.
But when it comes to the debate over the character of a community, citizens’ lived experience provides much critical information that experts might not consider.
For instance, I have been stunned at times at how erroneous MBTA planner’s conception of our bus routes can be. They often form opinions sitting in front of their computer screen using concepts learned in graduate school. The lived experience of ridership is routinely more informative.
Add to this the fact that most of our developers and some of our planners do not live here. They don’t have the lived experience and the “skin in the game” to understand all of the impacts of their actions.
As the great Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot just by looking.” Words to live by.
Once again the commenter above shows her contempt for “laypeople”. As if intelligent and informed “laypeople” have nothing to contribute to the civic debate. No, all decisions should be made by experts like herself and the rest of us should quietly abide their best judgement.
What citizens do with their “private property” often has great impacts on both communities as a whole and individuals within those communities. This is why we have planning and regulation: to avoid adverse impacts on other citizens.
Market actors often make miscalculations and missteps–sometimes very large ones–that hurt their fellow citizens badly. One only need to look to the recession of 2008 as a case study. In an era where upside profits are privatized, but downside consequences tend to be socialized, we have a right and a duty to exercise oversight in the best interest of all.
If the developer doesn’t secure financing, then may I recommend more housing units or retail/businesses that people must frequent in person or want to frequent in person – restaurants, medical clinics, etc. One cannot get everything online.
This is correct. We need to build and nurture things that have a character that makes Watertown desirable as a home and a destination. Building shlock doesn’t help.
But at the same time we need to figure out how to keep Watertown economically diverse (yes, that it a part of inclusiveness that is seldom discussed) or we risk becoming a haven for the well off and somewhat boring. We needn’t emulate several communities around us which have expelled their working and middle classes.