At November’s luncheon, Peter Standish, SVP of Development at Northland Investment Corp, Michele Quinn, Senior Project Manager at Cube 3, and Michelle Lambert, President and Founder of Lambert Sustainability teamed up to provide a comprehensive overview of Northland’s Newton Development which has been over 40 years in the making. In the Spring of 2020 this project finally received approval to move forward by the Newton City Council after nearly 3 years of community outreach, hundreds of meetings, and a public hearing process that lasted nearly 18 months. This development will be setting the bar for community developments moving forward in sustainability, affordable housing, transit integration and demand, as well as historic perseveration and open space planning.
It took years to assemble the critical mass necessary to put together a 21st century green neighborhood and now Northland is moving forward in converting an aging industrial complex into a vibrant 23-acre mixed use community within Newton. There will be 800 new housing units (140 of which will be affordable housing units), 180,000 SF sf office space, 115,000 SF of retail space, 1,100 bike parking spaces, as well as 750 planted new trees and 10 acres of open space. Northland has committed to preserving the Saco-Pettee Historic District by integrating its unique historic character into the architectural design of the project. There will be an innovative mobility hub that connects MBTA, ride, and bike share programs incorporated into the development and a new Main Street with shops and restaurants that will offer connectivity between the Upper Falls Village and Needham Street.
Peter shared that he and his team are most excited about their commitment to achieve LEED for Neighborhood Development certification. Additionally, this development will be creating the largest Passive House Residential Communities in the US. Neither of these were easy tasks but something that the development team was very passionate about having at the forefront of the development. The project broke ground last Spring and will be built out over the next several years.
