No less than six developers are competing to change the 18-acre land site of the old Boston Edison power plant at Summer and First avenues in South Boston. Plant proprietor Exelon Corporation simply put the property available for purchase, and plans for its redevelopment are still pretty much in flux.
Recently, there has been talk of revamping the site, which currently houses the New Boston Generating Station, into an excellent blend of lodging, business space, and so forth. The allotment is too good to be true from numerous points of view due to where it is located and due to the current structures at the location. According to the Globe’s Tim Logan: It’s “waterfront property along the Reserved Channel, close to the Summer Street Bridge to the Seaport District, and on the edge of blasting South Boston. Furthermore, a percentage of the site — a few gigantic structures cobbled together over decades — could be saved, with its brick walls and arched windows along First Street.”
To give a feeling of exactly how huge a redevelopment could be, consider the latest news about the fate of 185 Kneeland Street. That 5.5-acres of land situated in the middle of Chinatown and South Station is slated to be redeveloped into 2,000,000 square feet of new property, with housing likely an enormous space. That is the square-footage likeness another Hancock tower to say the very least. The Southie site is more than three times as vast as 185 Kneeland. Stay tuned. Exelon told Logan it would like to offer the property before the end of the year.