Three bids to redevelop S. Boston marine park
Three bidders are vying to lease and redevelop a 3.4-acre site in South Boston’s Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park, with proposals including a new processing facility for two to three seafood wholesalers now at New Boston Food Market on Widett Circle.
Boston Global Investors has proposed an 80,000-square-foot fish processing and cold storage building for New Boston Food Market Development Corp. on Parcel M at 3 Dolphin Way. The New Boston Food Market at Widett Circle, between the Southeast Expressway and South Boston, has 18 seafood, beef and poultry wholesalers in 300,000 square feet on 19 acres.
“Although Parcel M can only accommodate two or three of the seafood operations, it should be noted that all 18 businesses are interested in relocating to the Flynn Marine Park should the city and Massport find a way to accommodate that goal,” BGI said in its proposal to the Boston Planning & Development Agency, which owns Parcel M. “They would be prepared to move en masse, which of course presents an extraordinary opportunity for the city with the resulting development potential of the 19 acres at Widett Circle that would follow.”
Backers of the failed push for Boston to host the 2024 summer Olympics eyed the Widett Circle site for an Olympic stadium, and Mayor Martin J. Walsh still wants to see it redeveloped.
Parcel M is zoned for maritime-dependent and general industrial uses; at least half of it must be used for the maritime purposes.
Boston-based GM Partners LLC is pitching a 150,000-square-foot shellfish and seafood warehouse and distribution center for China’s Dalian Dongze Seafood Co. Ltd. Dalian, which already has a Bay State operation, has tabbed Parcel M as its first choice for a U.S. headquarters.
Braintree’s Campanelli Cos.’ proposal on behalf of Pacific American Fish Co. Inc. of Los Angeles calls for a 124,000-square-foot facility. Two-thirds of it would be for seafood processing and cold storage, including about half for PAFCO, which would relocate from its 5,600-square-foot facility in the marine park. The remaining space would be for distribution, science and technology, research and development, importing/exporting and aquaculture tenants.