The MBTA has ended a recent procurement effort to redevelop the crumbling Alewife station garage at the end of the Red Line in Cambridge, citing unfavorable market conditions for maximizing the property’s value.
The T had initially hoped that a redeveloper could build on 13 acres in and around the station, and potentially 20 acres next door, by demolishing the 2,700-space concrete garage and replacing much of the lost parking within the new development.
An estimate in 2021 pegged the cost of simply tearing down and replacing the garage itself at $155 million; that price tag has certainly increased since that time. T officials said they had no money in their capital plan for such a project, and hoped bringing a private development team on board could help replace the building with a modern complex.
Developers showed plenty of interest in the summer of 2024, when the MBTA gathered some of the biggest commercial real estate players in the city at Ten Park Plaza to discuss the project. Around 175 people attended that meeting in person, and another 75 tuned in virtually.
The concrete garage has suffered over the years from extensive water damage. In 2018, a chunk of concrete fell and crushed a parked car, prompting tens of millions of dollars in repairs. That was considered a stopgap measure. The garage, built in the 1980s when the Red Line was extended to its current terminal, eventually needs to come down.
The T expressed redevelopment priorities in 2024 beyond simply demolishing the garage, such as building a better Alewife station, incorporating flood mitigation and energy efficiency measures, and driving economic development in the area.
The area has been a hotbed for development during the past decade, in part because of its train access and underused industrial parcels. Colorado-based lab developer Healthpeak filed plans with state regulators last year for a massive mixed-use project that could consist of more than 4 million square feet of construction.
The Alewife garage would need to be taken apart in pieces, while maintaining train service and temporary replacement parking. Other potential challenges included the possibility of contaminated soil, relatively high interest rates, and Cambridge’s requirement that 20 percent of housing projects be committed to affordable units.
The T had hoped to start demolition as soon as 2025.
But it was not meant to be. The MBTA did issue a request for proposals as planned, to enter into a long-term lease to redevelop the garage property but didn’t receive a response that met the initiative’s objectives, T officials said. However, they said prospective developers confirmed interest in the property under “different economic circumstances.” The T declined to share the responses to avoid influencing a future competition.
A spokesperson for the T provided a brief statement this week saying that T officials “remain interested in models like joint development and recognize its value, as it offers innovative ways to support the communities we serve [and] we will continue to explore and evaluate opportunities that align with our long-term goals.”
Joshua Miller of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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