If you’ve ever fancied living next door to the room where the Boston Tea Party was organized, you could soon get your chance.
Boston developer Synergy Investments has proposed converting 294 Washington St. — an 11-story Downtown Crossing office building also known as the Old South Building — into 255 apartments. If the project is approved, it would be by far the largest office-to-residential conversion yet in the city.
The building dates to 1902 and is immediately adjacent to the Old South Meeting House, across the street from the historic Old Corner Bookstore. If its conversion gets approved, permitted, and financed, work could start by year’s end, Synergy CEO Dave Greaney said.
But that’s a big if, especially the financing part. Making sure a real estate development project — even an office-to-residential conversion with a 29-year property tax break — is financially viable is tough these days. Still, Synergy is optimistic. The firm has been in talks with the city for years trying to find the best option for such a conversion — and it wouldn’t have formally kicked off Planning Department review if it didn’t think this project could work, Greaney said.
“We will have no issue attracting equity and debt — as long as the numbers make sense,” Greaney said. “The tax program that the mayor’s put in place is obviously helpful and has spurred interest in this space, but there’s clearly going to need to be other sources of capital.”
Synergy is no stranger to melding a complex blend of financial resources to get a project to a groundbreaking. Its conversion of two Worcester office buildings into 198 apartments, under construction now, also included a complicated financing plan, Greaney said. The Boston project will likely need some combination of public and private funding, along with possible state and federal historic tax credits. Greaney declined to share how much Synergy expects the project to cost.
With a center elevator core, two wings, and ample windows, the building lays out well for residential conversion, Greaney said, especially compared with blockier offices with fewer corridors and windows. The 294 Washington St. property is on the Freedom Trail in the heart of Downtown Crossing and has an MBTA station just outside its ground floor.
“We think it’s great policy to have housing close to the jobs, supporting the ground floor retail, taking pressure off the transportation system,” Greaney said.
Office-to-residential conversion has been one bright spot in Boston’s mostly depressed development industry. Since the conversion program launched in 2023, the city has received 22 applications to convert 1.25 million square feet of office space into 1,517 units. Five projects are under construction now, the city said in December, and some 321 units are expected to be complete by the end of this year.
Catherine Carlock can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @bycathcarlock.
link
