20-story hotel, residential tower proposed for Ross Lot in downtown Quincy
QUINCY — A 125-room hotel, 200 residential units, a restaurant and a massive office building will be proposed Wednesday night for the vacant lot owned by FoxRock Properties at 37R and 86 Parkingway.
Residents have been waiting for almost three years for an official proposal explaining what will go on the now-vacant lot, which once housed the Ross parking garage and more recently the surface Ross Lot. FoxRock Properties was chosen by the city in 2018 to redevelop the property. Demolition at the site and upgrades to water, sewer, drainage and electric utilities have been ongoing.
A detailed proposal for Switchpoint Quincy will be presented at a virtual meeting of the planning board at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Initial documents show a plan for a six-story, 150,000-square-foot office building along the newly-established General McConville Way, which stretches from where Parkingway meets the Ross Lot to Hancock Street. Also proposed is a seven-story parking garage and 20-story building that would house a two-story, 8,000 square-foot restaurant, 125-room hotel and 200-unit residential building.
The building would by the largest in downtown Quincy by far. One Chestnut Place, a tower built by developer Peter O'Connell last year, is currently the tallest building in Quincy Center at 15 stories.
"We look forward to continuing discussions with the city, its residents, and business owners," FoxRock said in a statement.
FoxRock says Switchpoint will "bring much needed commercial development and jobs to the downtown area as well as support the city’s longstanding plans to revitalize Quincy Center."
FoxRock was given the right to develop the downtown property through a complicated land deal ultimately approved in 2019. The deal, called a land disposition agreement, was the result of two years of negotiations between FoxRock and the administration of Mayor Thomas Koch. Initial plans floated for the space included a 200,000-square-foot medical facility, 110 apartments for low- and middle-income workers and a 140-room hotel.
The development company is owned by Robert Hale, a billionaire businessman who owns Granite Telecommunications in North Quincy and has amassed a growing stake in the redevelopment of Quincy’s downtown.
The company purchased the grounds of the former Quincy Medical Center in 2016 for $12 million and has since bought up another $11 million in properties, including the old Masonic Temple building on Hancock Street.
Construction of a 465-unit housing development is ongoing at the Hospital Hill site and demolition of the Quincy Medical Center is finished.
Plans to renovate the Masonic Temple and a nearby building on Hancock Street downtown were approved earlier this year. The temple will be renovated, a six-story residential addition will be built and the Citizens Bank building will be replaced with a six-story, 135-unit apartment complex.
Original Source: https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2021/09/08/20-story-hotel-residences-proposed-ross-lot-downtown-quincy/5767717001/
