Attorney General Maura Healey's office has entered into an agreement to facilitate to clean up a former automotive and industrial site on Washington Street. The property will then be made into a mixed-use development for retail space, apartments and condos.
Richard Heath
Demolition work at the former Flanagan & Seaton Motor Car Co. site on Washington Street in January 2016; English High School is in the background.
The agreement was agreed upon through the AG’s Brownfields Covenant Program, which provides liability protection to the current owner and to three development entities that are developing the former site of Flanagan & Seaton Motor Car Co., a 3.36-acre property at 3521-3529 Washington St.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection received notification that the site was contaminated in October 2011. The property is currently contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds, petroleum, polychlorinated biphenyls, trichloroethylene and heavy metals.
The redevelopment will create a three-lot property with a parking garage, retail space and residential units on one lot, a four-story storage building on the second lot, and a four-story residential building with underground parking and a community garden on the third lot. The project will provide approximately 132 units of housing, including 19 affordable units.
“Our Brownfields Covenant Program is about bringing under-utilized properties in Massachusetts back into productive use while providing economic benefit to local communities,” said Healey via a press release. “This agreement will preserve open space and bring permanent jobs and housing to the city of Boston. I’m glad our office was able to play an important role by paving the way toward revitalizing this site.”
The liability relief being provided is expected to allow JPLOT1, Inc., SSG JP Lot 2, LLC, and SSG JP Lot 3, LLC to purchase the property from Burnett Realty Co., Inc.