Skanska just landed the kind of city signoff developers spend years chasing, giving its Longwood Place plan room to finally move ahead on a big slice of Simmons University’s residential campus. The 1.7 million-square-foot mixed-use proposal would layer lab-ready office space, ground-floor retail and several hundred apartments into the Longwood Medical and Academic Area. There are still technical reviews and neighborhood conversations to get through, but this commission decision marks a major procedural milestone after years of planning and public scrutiny.
According to CoStar, the commission’s vote authorizes Skanska to proceed with the approximately 1.7 million-square-foot Longwood Place plan. In public filings, Skanska describes a multi-phase redevelopment featuring life-science-ready commercial buildings, two residential towers and an expanded public realm. The developer detailed its ground lease with Simmons and related development rights in a company release from Skanska.
Phase One Focuses on Labs, Housing and Public Realm
The Boston Planning & Development Agency project page pegs Phase One at 305 Brookline Avenue and puts the initial submission at about 1,043,000 square feet. That first slice includes two commercial lab and office buildings plus a 227-unit, 17-story residential tower. City documents and meeting materials describe below-grade parking, a new mid-block roadway and roughly two acres of reworked public open space intended to better stitch the site into nearby institutions. Reporting by the Boston Globe has walked through the design tweaks Skanska unveiled during recent public meetings.
Benefits, Community Commitments and Concerns
Skanska’s team has committed to a package of community benefits that includes reserving 20 percent of the residential units as on-site affordable housing and making multi-million-dollar contributions for parks and linkage, according to The Boston Sun. The master plan, outlined by Sasaki, is billed as a way to limit new shadows on the Emerald Necklace while adding protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and improved MBTA stops. Neighborhood groups, however, have flagged wind and traffic as key worries during Impact Advisory Group meetings, and those operational concerns are expected to drive the technical studies that come next.
Timeline and Next Steps
Skanska is already building Simmons’s Living & Learning Center, and the company has said Longwood Place will follow once Simmons moves into that new campus facility. In its 2023 release, Skanska projected completion of the living center for September 2026. Industry coverage and project documents indicate the developer is eyeing 2027 at the earliest for a Phase One construction start while it finishes permitting and public review. The BPDA project page tracks submissions and a record of Article 80 filings tied to the Phase One review.
Why Longwood Still Matters for Labs
In Sasaki’s master plan, Longwood Place is framed as a chance to add more lab-ready space within walking distance of major hospitals and research institutions, with full buildout expected to deliver more than 1.3 million square feet of commercial space. Analysts and local reporting note that lab vacancy has eased in some Boston submarkets, but that Longwood’s proximity to clinical and academic partners keeps the district attractive to life-science tenants. That proximity argument is front and center in Skanska’s pitch to city officials and neighborhood stakeholders.
The Boston Planning & Development Agency project page and posted Article 80 documents remain the official hub for design packages, meeting schedules and public comment instructions as Phase One advances. Neighbors, local institutions and Skanska are expected to keep meeting while technical studies and permit work move toward eventual construction.
