City officials say the garage will provide needed parking for nearby residential. cultural and retail developments, as well as new restaurants and medical facilities.
Peter BlandinoThe Patriot Ledger
QUINCY − If you build it, they will come. That has been Quincy's philosophy for more than 15 years as it redevelops its downtown district.
In essence, the city, with the help of state and federal money, invests in infrastructure improvements and parking capacity to attract new development, then pays for those investments on the back end with taxes generated from new growth.
In the latest iteration of this approach, Quincy has applied for a $75 million state grant for a parking garage in the southwest corner of its downtown district. The application submitted to MassWorks says the 1,000-car garage would provide needed parking for several future projects in the area. Quincy would kick in $5 million of its own, bringing the total price tag for the garage to about $80 million.
The garage, and the handful of developments it’s meant to support, mark the latest phase of Quincy Center's metamorphosis.
Having completed the Hanco*ck Adams Common, Kilroy Square and other district improvements, the city now turns its attention to an underdeveloped corridor bounded by Granite Street and Hannon Parkway to the north and south, and Hanco*ck Street and Burgin Parkway to the east and west.
From pancakes to parking. City plans to raze IHOP for 1,000-space garage
The garage would occupy a corner of the Burgin and Hannon parkway intersection where an IHOP restaurant, an urgent care center and a public parking lot now stand.
Mayor Thomas Koch’s chief of staff, Chris Walker, said the city will acquire the IHOP building by eminent domain and ultimately demolish it with money allocated through District Improvement Financing funds authorized by city council in June 2022. District Improvement Financing allows a city to pledge future tax growth to debt service on public bonds for infrastructure projects within a designated district.
MassWorks does not typically hand out grants of this magnitude. In 2022, the MassWorks disbursed a total of $100 for 63 different projects. The largest single grant of $6.5 million went to Haverhill for infrastructure repairs and upgrades in its Urban Renewal District.
Walker said the city will pursue building the garage even if it doesn’t receive the full $75 million MassWorks grant.
“We’re constantly pursuing other options,” he said.
While the city has enjoyed state and federal grants for past projects, “nothing is guaranteed,” he said.
Recent development in the area includes Generals Park, which was unveiled Sept. 11, 2021. Located behind the 1500 block of Hanco*ck Street, it features a fountain and bronze statues and busts of seven military generals from Quincy. Generals Bridge, which connects Burgin Parkway to downtown Quincy, was unveiled the same day.
Large-scale medical building by Fox Rock in "predevelopment phase"
North of IHOP, on the other side of Generals Bridge, massive heaps of earth mark the spot where FoxRock Properties plans to build a large medical office building. Scott Ferson, president of Liberty Square Group (the public relations firm representing FoxRock), said the city is currently using the site as a staging and soil storage area for the new public safety building.
In an emailed statement, Ferson wrote: "FoxRock continues to advance the project in the predevelopment phase to finalize permitting requirements and accommodate the needs of the prospective tenants of the medical office building. We continue to collaborate with the City of Quincy to ensure that the project will live up to the needs and expectations of the community. … We look forward to sharing more in the coming months."
Owned by Rob Hale, billionaire founder of Quincy-based Granite Telecommunications, FoxRock developed Ashlar Park, a 465-unit residential complex on the 15-acre campus of the former Quincy Medical Center.
FoxRock is also remodeling the former Masonic Temple and the Citizens Bank building (1170 and 1200 Hanco*ck St.) in downtown Quincy, which would add 201 apartments to the city’s housing stock, along with commercial space.
Adams Arcade Building, old Family Dollar coming down. New park, restaurant and apartments coming in
Across McConville Way, a stretch of Hanco*ck Street’s western side will start to come down in the coming months to make way for two new developments and a small park.
Restaurateur and developer Joey Arcari, known for his Tavern in the Square chain, has received permits to tear down the old Family Dollar building and build a seven-story tower.
The first two stories would hold a restaurant with dual lobbies opening onto Hanco*ck Street and McConville Way. Forty-three apartment units are planned for the upper five stories, and an 18-space parking garage would sit below street level, Arcari said.
Quincy acquired the two buildings next door with plans to tear them down and build a park connecting Hanco*ck Street and McConville Way. The park would provide outdoor patio seating for the adjacent restaurant. Those buildings, which hold a doughnut shop and a taekwondo studio, could fall in late summer, Walker said.
Arcari said his construction company, Monarch, will wait until the city demolishes the neighboring buildings before beginning sitework. Though dates remain tentative, Arcari said he expects construction will start in March 2024.
“I’m looking forward to seeing this part of Hanco*ck Street transformed,” Arcari said. “McConville Way too. It’s exciting stuff.”
Arcari said he would rent 25 spaces from the planned parking garage for tenants who don’t receive one of the 18 spaces under his building.
“The garage would go a long way to enhancing this neighborhood,” he said.
On the other side of the future city park, Sam Slater’s Tremont Asset Management has proposed a 15-story tower at 1469 Hanco*ck St. The Adams Arcade building, which was built in 1933 and formerly held a discount furniture store, would have 204 residential units and retail space.
Movie producer and developer Sam Slater to partner with city on performing arts center
Slater, who has produced more than 34 movies since 2012 and has two more in post-production, signed a land disposition agreement with the city in 2021 to partner in the construction of a 500,000-square-foot, three-level performing arts center at the site of the former Messina Lot at Hanco*ck Street and Hannon Parkway. The city took the lot by eminent domain in 2019 for $6.8 million.
Walker said that the project is still in the preliminary planning stages and will take time. "It's a very complicated piece of the vision," he said.
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Reach Peter Blandino at pblandino@patriotledger.com
