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The office portion of two mixed-use buildings in Boston's West End occupied by Massachusetts General Hospital could soon become more housing.
Chicago-based Equity Residential this week filed plans with the Boston Planning Department for an office-to-residential conversion project at 1 and 10 Emerson Place. The developer plans to convert approximately 20K SF of the two buildings into 33 housing units.
The project, first reported by Banker & Tradesman, would be broken up between the two buildings, with the developer converting 15K SF of offices into 26 units at 1 Emerson Place and 5K SF into seven units at 10 Emerson Place.
All of the office space is leased to MGH, but the tenant will vacate the space "in the near term," according to the developer. The two towers already have 444 residential units.
Residents of the new units will have access to the amenities in the buildings, which include an on-site laundry facility, fitness center, patio and dog run. Tenants would also have access to the shared parking garage below the adjacent 4 Emerson Place.
A publicly traded REIT, Equity Residential owns 27 properties in the Boston area totaling more than 7,000 apartment units, according to its annual report filed last month.
Equity Residential was one of the first applicants for the city's Downtown Residential Conversion Incentive Pilot Program in 2023. In addition to the Emerson Place property, the firm also put in an application to convert space at 2 and 5 Longfellow Place into 24 housing units.
Mayor Michelle Wu unveiled the office-to-residential tax break program in 2023 and extended it last year so applications could be received until December 2025. The program offers developers an average tax reduction of up to 75% for up to 29 years.
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