Malden backs mixed-use project

The Malden City Council unanimously gave preliminary approval Tuesday night to a $138 million project that would reconfigure its downtown with a mixed-use development that proposes housing for 800 graduate students from Boston-area colleges and universities.

While details still have to be worked out, Mayor Richard C. Howard said, ''In percentage terms, it's 70-30 this will happen."

Many communities are wary of college students and their often disruptive lifestyles, but Malden sees the calmer graduate student as a population that could help revitalize its downtown.

The student housing, which would be leased by colleges or universities, would be near an MBTA stop that serves both the Orange Line and the commuter rail system.

Called Malden Commons, the project also proposes to tear down City Hall and construct a new one, and to build an urgent-care medical facility and a senior center. The development would also include retail space.

Northeastern University has expressed interest in leasing space for 200 to 400 students but has made no commitment. William J. Hunt Jr., senior vice president of New Boston Development Partners, which is developing Malden Commons with Habitat for Learning LLC, and Steffian Bradley Architects, is in talks with other schools he declined to identify.

NU is considering Malden Commons partly because its Boston campus is near the Ruggles Orange Line stop, making it a potentially easy commute, university officials said.

The challenge for Malden Commons is to get a critical mass of universities to sign on as tenants, said Larry Mucciolo, NU's senior vice president of administration and finance. ''It's a chicken and egg situation," he said. ''If they don't have other passengers on board, this train isn't going anywhere."

Most schools like to keep their students close to campus. For that reason, Malden Commons doesn't make sense for Boston College, said BC spokesman Jack Dunn.

Meanwhile, Harvard University is looking to provide more housing for its graduate students. Harvard offers housing to about 40 percent of its 12,000 graduate students, and its goal is to have housing for 50 percent, said spokeswoman Lauren Marshall. Harvard recently agreed to buy 170 units in a mixed-use project planned for Boston. The idea is to provide housing for graduate and medical students and faculty members and professionals who work and study in the Longwood Medical Area. Marshall declined to comment on Malden Commons.

Phil Hailer, spokesman for the Massachusetts Office for Commonwealth Development, said the Malden Commons proposal ''fulfills the criteria for the Romney administration's definition of smart growth," which encourages dense development near public transportation stops.

Malden's downtown took a hit about two decades ago when a Jordan Marsh store moved out. Over the years, there have been several attempts to revitalize the area, and now the city is pinning its hopes on graduate students.

''Somebody has to take a chance," said Jeffrey Donahue, Malden's City Council president. ''In my opinion, it can't get any worse."

Malden Commons would be built on land owned by the city and its redevelopment authority. Developers are offering $2 million for the 4.5-acre parcel and some infrastructure improvements, Howard said. He thinks the land is worth about $6 million. Negotiating a price for that land is one issue that has to be resolved.

And what about all those noisy students? Would they enjoy being in a smaller city away from all of the action in Boston?

''The grad student is a very different animal," said Geoffrey Lewis, whose job as assistant director of policy at the Boston Redevelopment Authority includes tracking student housing in Boston. ''They're older, richer, and they drink less beer. They spend more time studying, and a lot of them have families."

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.