Two paths revealed for Suffolk Downs
The redevelopers of Suffolk Downs plan as many as 7,500 to 10,000 residential units on the former thoroughbred horse racing track, depending on whether Amazon.com Inc. chooses to site its second North American headquarters on the 161-acre property.
HYM Investment Group LLC detailed plans for two development paths it could pursue in project documents submitted to the Boston Planning & Development Agency. Each plan encompasses 16.5 million square feet of housing, retail, office, hotel and lab space built during a 15- to 20-year period — 11 million square feet on the Boston portion of the site, and the remainder in Revere.
The “pro-commercial” plans would include up to 8 million square feet of office space to meet Amazon’s headquarters requirements, and approximately 7,500 residential units, 550,000 square feet of retail space and up to 830 hotel rooms.
The “pro-residential” plan, if Amazon chooses another headquarters location, would include up to 5.25 million square feet of office space, as many as 10,000 residential units, and up to 450,000 square feet of retail space and 670 hotel rooms.
The retail portions of either plan would include extensive streetfront store space anchored by two new retail squares — Beachmont Square and Belle Isle Square — and a new connecting “Main Street” retail district.
“These two programs are intended to be illustrative of end points on a spectrum, and the actual mix of uses when the master plan is completed will likely fall somewhere between the two,” HYM’s project filing states.
HYM is requesting expedited city and state permitting processes for an initial two office buildings totaling 520,000 square feet that Amazon would want built by 2019 as part of its overall $5 billion, 8 million-squarefoot headquarters.
Suffolk Downs became the city of Boston’s No. 1 site for its Amazon HQ2 bid after the online retail giant asked for bids for a second North American headquarters in September.