Dig Somerville

How does KSS Realty Partners feel about getting the $52.5M Maxwell?s Green into construction after seven years of site assembly, clean-up, design, and permitting?
Awesome, says development director Ted Tobin. Undaunted by yesterday's rain, he was smiling amid the equipment on the 5.5-acre Somerville site between Porter Square, Davis Square, and Tufts. (We wanted to just get him, but that bulldozer kept sneakin' into the shot.) The 184-apartment, four-building, LEED certifiable community will be ready for the first residents next September. Construction should be totally completed in 18 months. Maxwell?s Green will have underground parking and a separate amenities building with a state-of-the-art fitness center, Yoga room, theater room and club suite with a chef's kitchen and dining area for entertaining. Although Ted declined to mention the rental rates, he says the market should remain ?strong? next fall. While many developers have announced new multifamily projects, few are in the ground yet and few offer Boston/Cambridge-style luxury amenities with more reasonable Somerville rents.
We snapped Gate Residential Properties' Kyle Warwick whose group joined the development a year ago as a co-general partner and brought in a private equity investor. A few weeks ago, they closed on a $34.1M construction loan from Sovereign Bank. The Maxwell?s Green architect is ICON architecture and GC is Callahan. Along with a convenient location, Maxwell?s Green is close to the future Lowell Street stop on the Green Line, which will be built when state finances recoup. Kyle says that the rush to develop multifamily may well be a bubble. When it bursts, those who don't have the best sites or much experience with this asset type may be looking for cover.
Damian Szary, here with and Peter Russell, says he expects Maxwell?s Green to draw tenants who work in life sciences, graduate students at nearby Tufts, Harvard, and MIT, some faculty, young families and perhaps a sprinkling of empty nesters. The name of the development is a play on the name of Max Greenbaum, who owned part of the site. His first name is the origin of Maxwell and Green comes from the half-acre park on site, the LEED certifiable buildings and the tree-lined bike path nearby. Damian and Kyle say they're considering other projects in outer urban/near suburban locations. They're also investigating the possibility of doing a private, university-related residence.

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