Bulfinch Moves Forward With Massive Needham Project

The owner of the former Muzi Ford car dealership site near I-95 in Needham is ready to move its mixed-use plans forward. 

The roughly 10-acre site once slated to be a lab project is now set to be home to a big mixed-use development, the Needham Observer reported. The new plans include up to 480 housing units, 100K SF of medical office space and 10K SF of retail space. 

The Bulfinch Cos. President Robert Schlager presented the plans to the Needham Planning Board on Tuesday. The company seeks to pursue the project under a zoning overhaul for the site.

Schlager said the goal is to bring the project before a special town meeting in October and to move forward with the project soon after that. The site has sat stagnant for some five years.

The plan's housing portion could partly center around senior living, Schlager said.

“We believe that a multifamily concept to include senior living over age 55 that was emphatically stated and emphasized would prove to be most likely the highest and best use,” Schlager said at the meeting, according to the Observer.

Bulfinch acquired the site at 557 Highland Ave. for $57.2M in late 2021. At the time, the firm planned to develop a life sciences space there, and it later won approval for a special permit for the project in 2022.

In June, Schlager floated plans to pivot to a mixed-use development, but he didn’t reveal many details at the time. Part of those discussions in June included the possibility of a hotel, but those plans have since been scrapped.

The project would also include 1,000 parking spaces.