June 30, 2014
Magellan, Mesirow picked to develop massive project near Boston
By David Lee Matthews
A joint venture between Magellan Development Group LLC and Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. won the competition to build a 2.3 million-square-foot real estate project in suburban Boston.
The venture led by Magellan Co-CEO James Loewenberg and Mesirow Senior Managing Director Richard A. Stein was chosen June 26 by local authorities to be the master developer of the 12-acre project in the Union Square neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts. Somerville, a city neighboring Cambridge about two miles northwest of Boston, was soliciting master developer bids for Union Square in anticipation of a new rail transit stop in the neighborhood.
“We see ourselves as not just developers, but as community partners and place makers,” Greg Karczewski, a Mesirow managing director and development director of the Union Square project, said in a statement. “We promise that the future Union Square will maintain its edge and the authenticity that everybody loves today.”
4 FINALISTS
The Chicago-based venture, named Union Square Station Associates (US2), was chosen from a field of four finalists, authorities said. US2 will work with local authorities and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the redevelopment effort and will be able to take Union Square property by eminent domain.
“I am pleased that a thorough community process has led to the selection of US2 as our partner in achieving the goals that the community charged us with,” Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said in a statement. The redevelopment will focus on job creation, public green space, and mixed-income housing “while preserving the history and unique character of our historic commercial center and neighborhood,” Mr. Curtatone said.
Chicago-based Magellan is perhaps best-known for its $4-billion Lakeshore East development, a neighborhood of high-rise apartments, condominiums and retail on a 28-acre site just northeast of Millennium Park. Mr. Stein is a veteran Chicago developer who has built more than 17,000 residential units and sold more than $2.5 million in condos. The firm he founded, Stein & Co., was acquired by Mesirow in 1997.
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