Return to the river

Boston's once-neglected river is now a popular address.

The Neponset River, long one of the state's most polluted and neglected waters, is enjoying a renaissance, as about a dozen new housing developments are being built or planned along its riverfront, from Quincy to Westwood.

"We have had so much progress in improving the water quality, bringing back wildlife, and opening up access, the river is finally being seen as a resource," said Ian Cooke, executive director of the Neponset River Watershed Association.

One of the most striking -- and visible -- of the new developments is Neponset Landing, a 12-story, 280-unit apartment building that cuts a slightly curved profile along the riverfront in Quincy. The building is scheduled for completion in October, and features views of Boston and the river as it empties into Dorchester Bay.

Neponset Landing, like most of the new residential projects on the river, is being built on properties previously used by industry. The river, which powered the region's early mills, has since become a desired amenity for condo and apartment dwellers.

A closed pizza box factory in Hyde Park, for example, will host a 48-unit affordable condominium complex and a 51-unit elderly apartment building, with construction on the condos starting as early as this spring.

"There will be an open, green space next to the river. I think it's one of the things that makes the development attractive," said Paula Herrington, executive director of the South End-based ETC Development Corp., which is jointly developing the project, known as Neponset Field, with the Mattapan Community Development Corp.

Across the river and slightly upstream is Milton Falls, a planned 89-unit luxury condo development that would have 600 feet of riverfront. Developer Ken Mackin wants to use a dam that was built for a closed paper plant to power a small hydroelectric generator that would serve his building.

"It's so close to the city with all of the state parkland around it. It's like being in the middle of nowhere," said Mackin.

Indeed, much of the upstream portions of the Neponset are not easily visible, hidden behind overgrown brush and old chain-link fencing. For more than two centuries the Neponset was used mainly as a repository for industrial and human waste. At various points, it was dammed, diverted, and forced underground.

But in recent years a number of clean up projects have cleared out the overgrowth or peeled off the grime that obscured access to the river.

The biggest project is the 65-acre Pope John Paul II Park at the mouth of the Neponset River in Dorchester, which opened in 2001. The following year the 2.4-mile Neponset Greenway bike path along the river in Dorchester and Milton opened.

And last year, another new park with a canoe launch opened on Granite Avenue in Dorchester. The state government is now developing plans to extend the bike path upstream, through Mattapan and Hyde Park, to the Blue Hills Reservation. Plans also are under way for another bike path on the Quincy side, which would extend to Marina Bay and Wollaston Beach.

Several years ago, the headwaters in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium got a sprucing up, when sections that had been covered in concrete were opened up as part of the stadium project.

The river itself has also gotten progressively cleaner since the 1960s, when the factories that had polluted the waterway began closing and municipal and regional sewer systems were expanded and improved.

"Over the past decade, the state has spent tens of millions of dollars in cleanup and land preservation, which has revealed the majestic beauty of the Neponset River to all of us -- including developers, said Milton state Senator Brian A. Joyce.

One of the more recent catalysts for development along the river was the 72-unit Residences at Milton Landing, which was built in 2004 on the site of a former ice cream plant in Milton Lower Mills. Condominiums there sold for between $400,000 and $900,000.

While development along rivers can spark concern about threats to the waterways, the projects on the Neponset have not caused much controversy. Cooke said the Neponset riverfront was built up years ago, and the new housing developments are opening access to the river and replacing uses that were much more harmful.

Even one of the earliest residential redevelopments on the river, the Baker Square condominiums, is finally redeveloping among the last of its buildings in a former chocolate factory complex in Dorchester's Lower Mills and nearby Milton.

Construction on the vacant Baker building on the Dorchester side of the river, for 68 apartments, begins next month.

"It's a great spot really," said David A. Colton, a Baker Square resident and chairman of its board of trustees. "I like living in a more urban environment, and this is an urban environment that is convenient, safe, and has some amenities, like the river."

Two smaller structures from the chocolate factory -- one brick and the other wood -- on the Milton side of the river are slated to be converted to condominiums. The property owner, Extra Space Storage, also wants to erect a new five-story building as part of the project, which would include stores and a restaurant on the first floor and condos above.

A few blocks upstream, in Dorchester Lower Mills, a vacant 19th century schoolhouse overlooking the Neponset is being converted to condominiums. And then further up the river, in Mattapan Square, non profit developer Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp. has a planned 130-unit condominium project that will have views of the river. Also, close to the river is a housing development now in the early planning stages at the site of the former Stop & Shop warehouse on the Readville-Dedham line.

The planned 4.5-million-square-foot Westwood Station community near the Route 128 rail station in Westwood is a short walk to the river, and the developers have been working with the Neponset River Watershed Association on plans for a walking trail.

Rob Gatnik, managing partner of Urban LandWorks LLC, which is developing the schoolhouse in Dorchester, said the proximity to the river gives a country flavor to urban living.

"It is quite picturesque and with views of the salt marshes and Blue Hills from many of the units," he said. "It is a serene escape from the hustle and bustle of city life."

Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com.