Developer plays another tune for piano factory site
A Boston company is switching development plans for a former South End piano factory to a mixed-use building with 18 residential condos.
Holland Development again reworked its proposal for The Factory at 46 Wareham after running into construction and cost issues that require demolishing the entire 19th-century warehouse. A new six-story, 64,530-square-foot building would have three floors of condos atop three floors of retail and office space.
The new plans are more in keeping with the neighborhood’s direction, partner John Holland said: “This neighborhood is becoming a mixed-used neighborhood and not just solely all commercial.”
In April 2015, the BRA approved Holland’s plans for a six-story, 64,350-squarefoot building with 15 apartments, 45,570 square feet of office and retail space and 57 below-grade parking spaces. Those plans included partially demolishing the existing three-story warehouse, while leaving the front and west facades in place and adding three stories. That August, the BRA approved revised Holland plans that excluded the housing, based on strong demand for all commercial office space and some community opposition to the apartments.
But attempts to shore up the building’s foundation revealed that the two facade walls are in worse condition than thought, and the safest option would be to take down the walls and install a new foundation, according to Holland’s latest project filing with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Holland added: “With the increased costs and the time delays, we need to recoup those costs, and forsale residential is an avenue to do that.”