This month, the Economic Development Board will take up a proposal regarding development along the Chelsea Creek waterfront, with a likely vote to follow before month’s end.
Since spring, both local and state officials have engaged in preliminary discussions about developing a waterfront parcel stretching from Willow Street to the Chelsea Street Bridge. The City has been formulating an overall plan during this period, while the state has simultaneously begun its own process to remove the area from Designated Port Area (DPA) district status.
A land swap represents the City’s strategy, according to Planning Director John DePriest.
The City currently holds title to 324 Marginal St., a substantial parcel across from the Creek presently under lease to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The proposed arrangement would involve exchanging this property with a developer seeking to construct a large parking garage on the waterfront site adjacent to the bridge, where a brick wall now stands. By allowing the developer to build the garage on the Marginal Street property away from the water, the City would acquire the waterfront parcel for hotel development and waterfront park access.
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An Economic Development Board meeting tentatively scheduled for July 23 will finalize the plan and seek endorsement, though the City Council must also approve it.
According to DePriest, a hotel developer has already shown interest in developing part of the waterfront property. Colwen Hotels, which has developed multiple Chelsea properties, is rumored to be the interested party, though this remains unconfirmed.
A one-acre section of the waterfront would be designated for a park or activation zone, DePriest explained.
he stated.
The state’s DPA removal process continues independently from the City’s land swap initiative.
A draft report on DPA removal is anticipated in October or November, followed by a 30-day comment period and a Draft Final Report in December, which will trigger another 30-day comment period.
An overall Harbor Plan would likely emerge 12 to 18 months after that.