Banker & Tradesman

What can you do with a 3,275-square-foot site in Boston's Chinatown? A local developer thinks a 106-room hotel would work nicely. Sing Ming Chan has submitted plans to the Boston Planning Department that would replace a 5-story commercial building on Harrison Avenue. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e4PmY77F

“The life sciences development hasn’t improved at all [since 2023], so we’ve been reconsidering the development with the developers,” MBTA Chief Real Estate Officer Richard Henderson told the T's board this morning. The upshot? MARK Development LLC is reworking its mixed-use Riverside development in Newton into a two-phased affair, front-loaded with housing. The Newton developer would build nearly all the housing and commuter parking space contained in the original plan in a first phase. Assuming the region's lab market recovers, it would have the right to permit a second phase with an office/lab building and more housing. Read more and see the updated plans here >> https://lnkd.in/eK_V8d-K

Jesse Kanson-Benanav says it's no surprise more than 4 in every 5 Greater Boston residents in a recent survey they'd would support adding ADUs, duplexes and triplexes to their neighborhoods. "People feel the stress and they're open to strategies that we've seen in other regions around the country in terms of reforming zoning to allow more apartments or homes to be built, and that it does bring down costs."

From tank farms to towers: That's The Davis Companies' vision for its new 100-acre Everett asset. The “Everett Docklands Innovation District” proposal calls for dividing the property into a mixed-use subdistrict and a combined mixed-use and industrial district. Potential commercial uses include advanced manufacturing, life sciences and R&D. Members of the project team include architects Perkins&Will and SHoP Architects, urban planners Speck Dempsey, environmental consultants Arup and engineers VHB and Howard Stein Hudson. But to put the idea into practice, the development team needs a pair of big zoning amendments. More here: https://lnkd.in/e_hv_HSH

Gillette's huge factory campus next to downtown Boston is planned for a huge, multi-million-square-foot development. And it could turn into the next big source of housing for the region. A new filing by the company says up to 30 percent of the development could become homes -- totaling as much as 1.7 million square feet of new units. We break down everything known about the project so far: https://lnkd.in/e5Bw88Xm

Should credit unions be allowed to merge with banks? That hot-button topic for community bankers in other parts of the country is getting suddenly more real now that Arrha Credit Union and Pittsfield Cooperative Bank are planning to join up.

Apartment rents hit an all-time high in Greater Boston this summer while the pace of construction slowed to a decade-long low, Colliers is reporting. The new construction pipeline represents 5.5 percent of the market’s inventory, down from a peak of over 12 percent in 2019. The last time that figure was this low was 2014, Colliers reported, just after the region emerged from the Great Recession. Meanwhile, newly completed developments in some Gateway Cities and Boston’s outer suburbs are listing rents similar to those posted in Boston’s Seaport District in the 2010s, topping $4 per square foot. A good example is Redgate's new, 291-unit Gibson Point development in Revere (below), or the 331-unit Breakwater North Harbor apartments in Lynn whose studios start at $2,000. The 330-unit Duo Chelsea apartments scheduled to open in November lists studios from $2,375. There's more in our latest story: https://lnkd.in/evZrE4Am

Don't miss Mass Fintech Hub founding member Sarah Biller’s article on Banker & Tradesman where she shares her insightful assessment of our local banking landscape and the financial technology solutions presented at the Mass Bankers Association's Innovation Summit. https://lnkd.in/exKMNSNH #MAfintech #fintech #innovation

The latest single-family home sales figures for Massachusetts show an 8.2 percent jump statewide. But another record median sale price for July shows we've got a long way to go until we hit a balanced market. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eRRKSdrH Here's what our publisher, The Warren Group, reported for statewide home sales and prices: Single-family sales: 4,427 (+8.2% YOY) Single-family median sale price: $650,000 (+6.6% YOY) Condo sales: 1,947 (+3.25% YOY) Condo median sale price: $565,000 (+1.8% YOY) But even with mortgage rates' steady drop last month, it didn't do much to move homeowners to list. “I think people are taking the Fed’s comments into consideration and holding off a little bit until potentially another rate drop before they commit to a house and a mortgage,” Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® CEO Theresa Hatton told us. “Our closed sales year-over-year are up, which is great and amazing, but we’re not putting the inventory back on to replenish what’s been sold. So we’re still in this predicament of needing more housing.” (Graphs by B&T reporter Samuel Minton)

This week's Hot Property is set to reshape a chunk of East Milton Square. Oranmore Enterprises, LLC's 440 Granite Ave. will include 24 residential units in a Finegold Alexander Architects-designed 62,126-square-foot mixed-use development topped with solar panels and a green roof, and wrapped in a highly insulated thermal envelope. Delivery is anticipated in December 2025. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eW_bf9eN