New $225 million project will turn abandoned wharves in Boston into cool condos

Australians are accustomed to stiff competition when it comes to real estate. So, too, are Americans, particularly when it comes to prime waterfront apartments.

Perhaps it’s why Sydney-based developer Lendlease knew they were on to a sure thing with two abandoned wharves in East Boston.

The five-hectare site will be transformed to a new waterside community as part of a $225 million project named Clippership Wharf. Four mid-rise buildings comprised of 478 condominiums on the upper floors and a mix of community facilities and restaurants at ground level are taking shape there.

The revitalised waterside development will inject some much-needed housing into Boston’s busy property market. The capital city of Massachusetts was ranked third in a list of hottest real estate markets, a jump up from sixth place.

The ranking, by US real estate site realtor.com, measures cities by median prices and the average time a property is on the market. Boston’s low housing stock and high demand makes it the perfect place for a local construction boom. Recently developers snapped up a 20-hectare candy manufacturing plant and a 14-hectare ex-greyhound racing park.

The city is also abuzz with news that it could become home to Amazon’s second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. Boston is one of 20 US cities aggressively competing to win over the online retail giant.

In his proposal to Amazon, Boston mayor Martin Walsh outlines a citywide plan that is a road map to long-term success in housing and identifies “several large sites with potential for transformative growth”.

It’s music to the ears of fed-up Boston homebuyers. Like Sydneysiders and Melburnians, they know the frustration of packed open houses and bidding wars.

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Boston’s median house price is $US568,300 ($726,477), and a short supply of housing will ensure it increases by a further 4.1 per cent in the months leading up to December, according to online real estate marketplace Zillow.  It explains why the first release of condos at Clippership Wharf, called Slip65, sold out in less than two months. That, and the views.

Set on Boston Harbour, views from Clippership Wharf stretch across the water to take in the Boston skyline.

Prices span the more expensive end of the market, ranging from $700 to more than $1200 a square foot. To put things into context, the median price per square foot for an apartment in Boston is $681.

It may be a high price, but like the whole of Clippership Wharf, Slip65 is big on sustainability and liveability.

Lendlease says it is targeting a platinum rating in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – a national certification system developed by the US Green Building Council. One of the steps towards this rating is to restore natural vegetation on the waterfront site.

This includes landscaping works along a harbourside footpath, a rocky beach and “living shoreline”.

“The living shoreline is all about interaction,” explains Robert Adams, principal of landscape architecture firm Halvorson Design.  “It offers a real opportunity for people living along the harbour to get right down to the water’s edge and experience the tidal fluctuations, native plants and marine life that inhabit this area.”

Adams and his team will create salt marshes and terraced spaces to address the rise and fall of the sea level. In extreme high-water events, the living shoreline topography allows the inter-tidal zones to nearly meet the building’s exterior.

A waterside lifestyle is naturally one of the main attractions at Clippership Wharf. Architects at The Architectural Team have masterplanned a community centred on the water’s edge, including a floating deck and a ramp for residents to launch kayaks.

Tuning into the needs of a changing workforce and updated technology, Clippership Wharf has work-from-home stations plus on-site share cars.

And pet lovers haven’t been forgotten, with a dog park and pet-wash station in the mix.

Construction of Slip65 is set to be completed as early as September this year. The release date for the remaining 398 apartments, named DOX, is yet to be announced.