BOSTON-CAMBRIDGE | Developments

[chris08876]

James Hook & Co. lines up development

A developer representing James Hook & Co. is expected to present plans this fall to convert the Boston seafood retailer/wholesaler’s site — a key underdeveloped waterfront parcel — into new residences or a hotel, according to sources familiar with the proposed project.

SKW Partners is expected to unveil the plans, including options for Boston Harborwalk connections, to the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Planning Advisory Committee at the end of September or in mid-October.

“The city has strongly encouraged them to stay within the (Rose Kennedy Greeenway) guidelines for height (of 175 feet),” said one source. “They’re a bit over 200 feet.”

A third generation of the Hook family manages the business, which got its start in 1925. Its current Atlantic Avenue operations — a retail seafood store with a limited lunch menu that includes lobster rolls — is housed in a small one-story structure after a 2008 fire virtually gutted the approximately 20,000-square-foot site between the old Northern Avenue and Evelyn Moakley bridges. The Hooks, who plan to maintain an expanded presence in the new development, did not return calls.

SKW Partners principal William Zielinski also could not be reached.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority acknowledged preliminary conversations about the site with James Hook representatives. “Any redevelopment proposal would be guided by the municipal harbor planning process, and Hook’s representatives have expressed an interest in presenting to the (Downtown Waterfront) Municipal Harbor Plan(ning) Advisory Committee in the fall,” spokesman Nick Martin said.

The Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan will dictate waterfront zoning. If the city submits the plan to the state by early next year, it would be approved no sooner than next summer, according to Vivien Li, president of the Boston Harbor Association and acting chairwoman of the Municipal Harbor Planning Committee. That would mean any construction at the James Hook site likely would not begin before spring 2016 at the earliest, given the city and state permits needed, Li said.

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http://bostonherald.com/unknown/2014...up_development