Boston — Cottonwood Management, a private real estate management and development firm based in Los Angeles, has started construction of Echelon Seaport, a three-tower, $900 million mixed-use development in Boston’s Seaport district.
Set to open in phases between 2019 and 2020, the project will feature 733 condominiums and apartments and 125,000 square feet of retail space.
The 3.5-acre development is situated at Seaport Boulevard and B Street and directly across from HarborWalk and Boston Harbor, providing miles of walking and bike paths, as well as water taxi access to places like Logan International Airport. The project will also be located one block from the MBTA Silver Line and within walking distance of Boston’s downtown/financial district.
Cottonwood unveiled its Echelon lifestyle brand at the groundbreaking ceremony held yesterday. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker and James Beard award-winning chef Ming Tsai of the nearby Blue Dragon restaurant attended the event.
“Boston’s Seaport is one of the most exciting neighborhoods in the world right now and is the perfect starting place for Cottonwood to establish the Echelon lifestyle brand,” says Alexander Shing, chairman and CEO of Cottonwood Management. “Echelon Seaport will anchor the Seaport community with a new level of design, service and lifestyle amenities.”
Echelon Seaport will include 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, including two outdoor pools, an indoor spa pool, fitness center and two sky lounges. The rest of the amenity package will be unveiled once Echelon Seaport’s sales office opens in the fall. The project will also feature underground parking and bike storage.
A 19,000-square-foot, open-air piazza featuring outdoor seating, tree canopies and a bridge connecting the three towers will anchor the project’s retail component. WS Development will own and manage the retail portion, with plans to bring in upscale retailers and fine dining. WS owns more than 1.3 million square feet of retail space either built or under construction in the 20-city-block Seaport district.
The project team includes general contractor John Moriarty & Associates, exterior designer Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC, architect of record CBT Architects, residential brand partner Regent Hotel Group and The Collaborative Cos., which will handle sales and marketing services for the condo portion. Boston Global Investors LLC provided permitting and predevelopment assistance to Cottonwood, which expects five tower cranes and up to 1,000 tradespeople to be working on the site at the peak of development.
Cottonwood Management has offices in Boston and New York and currently has more than $2 billion of assets under management. Echelon Seaport is the company’s first property under the Echelon brand, which will also include a New York City property underway on Fifth Avenue near the Empire State Building.
— John Nelson