Plan floated to redevelop Bayside Expo site

June 1, 2007 06:14 PM E-mail| |Comments ()| Text size – +

The owner of the Bayside Exposition Center today floated a plan to replace it with a $1 billion residential, retail and office development, creating a new waterfront neighborhood that juts out into Dorchester Bay.

Corcoran Jennison Cos., the developer, says the expo center was doomed by the flight of its core tradeshow business to the gigantic Boston Convention and Exposition Center, which opened three years ago less than four miles away. But now the developer sees a golden opportunity to redevelop a 30-acre peninsula that is arguably one of the most valuable waterfront parcels in the city.

In a meeting with reporters today, executives involved with the project said they plan to file a detailed plan with the city by September. In the meantime, they will meet with residents, business owners and elected officials in the area to hear their concerns.

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Preliminarily, they said the development could have roughly 1,000 new housing units facing the bay, a commercial section with a grocery store, dozens of shops and expansions of the existing office building and hotel on the end of the site closest to the JFK-UMass Red Line station. Connecting the two would be a "main street" with green space, sidewalks and both water and street access.

"We're at the very beginning of this process," said Richard Heapes, a partner at Street Works LLC, a White Plains, N.Y., developer that is Corcoran Jennison's consultant on the project.

"We wanted to see whether we are just out on Mars with this, does it resonate with anyone out there or should we just stop right here."

(By Keith Reed, Globe staff)