Clippership Wharf Project gets State Chapter 91 License

By John Lynds

The developer of one of East Boston’s most anticipated waterfront projects received state approval and was awarded a Chapter 91 license last week.

All waterfront projects in Massachusetts need to go through a Chapter 91 review MassDEP to ensure protection and promotion of public use of its tidelands and other waterways.

The developer of the project, Lend Lease, has received Boston Planning and Development Agency approval and needed state approval to build along the water’s edge.

Lend Lease requested the authorization to create a mixed-use development on Clippership Wharf at 25-65 Lewis Street in and over filled and flowing tidelands of Boston Harbor, where existing historic seawalls and pile fields are to be removed, repaired or replaced with a living shoreline of created wetlands.

Lend Lease’s application approved by the state includes these specific project components.

In their filing Lend Lease outlined the plan that was approved by the state last week.

These plans include construction of four, six story buildings that will result in 492 residential units and approximately 25,870 square feet of Facilities of Public Accommodation.

Lend Lease will construct a single level of structured parking at grade for 300 spaces, approximately 127,965 square feet in size, that extends under the four buildings and creates an upper level publicly accessible courtyard.

The project team will also dredge two areas along the western wharf that will remove fill previously placed in order to create a coastal marsh. This improvement dredging is proposed to a depth of eight feet and will remove an estimated 900 cubic yards of material.

A rocky intertidal beach is also proposed for the northern end of the cove, for a combined total area of Living Shoreline of approximately 0.67 acres (29,276 square feet) being created.

There will be approximately 3.73 acres (162,595 square feet) of publicly accessible open space, excluding the Living Shoreline, an interior roadway, and a new Harborwalk section that at approximately 1,451 linear feet that will link the residences at Carlton Wharf and Maverick Gardens to the water transportation terminal at Lewis Mall.

Support letters from Rep. Adrian Madaro, City Councilor Sal LaMattina as well as three community groups–East Boston Neighborhood Health Center East Boston

YMCA, and the Harbor Arts Board of Directors—were all in favor of the project.

The groups highlighted opportunities and welcomed the provision of restaurants recreational boat dockage, and boat storage facilities to the neighborhood as well as the opportunity of providing for area artists to display large format sculpture on the grounds on a rotating basis and to receive financial support for area programming.

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