Waterfront District

The Boston Waterfront District offers spectacular views of Boston Harbor and pleasant outdoor space. The Harborwalk wends its way through all the wharves of the Waterfront District, punctuated by luxury condos, lofts, upscale hotels and high-rise apartments. Residential developments at Rowes Wharf, Battery Wharf and Lincoln Wharf reflect the historical continuum of Boston's waterfront from the founding of Boston to the present day.

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Easy walking to the Financial District, downtown and North End make the Waterfront a prime residential area. Restaurants featuring seafood and ethnic fare attract locals and visitors. Residential quarters include lofts, luxury waterfront condos with marinas, apartments and industrial buildings converted into townhomes. Several metro stops connect to points in all directions. Water taxis provide access to all points on Boston Harbor including Logan Airport.

Waterfront Residential Investments

Luxury high-rise condos with stunning views of Boston and the harbor offer all amenities. Renovated warehouses, modern apartment towers and low-rise condos are among the choices offered to residents of the Waterfront area. The Rose Kennedy Greenway serves as a focal point for the community, providing pedestrian access and community space to the district's subdivisions and nearby neighborhoods.

Home values vary dramatically from area to area within the district. The average list price for homes in the downtown area, which includes the Wharf and Waterfront districts, was $1,706,680 for June 2015. The median sales price of $1,880,000 for the quarter of March to June 2015 is an increase of 43 percent over the same period of the previous year.

Choosing the Right Waterfront Investment Property

Neighborhoods that were divided by the elevated John Fitzgerald Central Artery Expressway are now being reunited. Development guidelines for the Waterfront recommend integrating underused property into the neighborhood through new retail and residential space. The new luxury condo at 55 India Street sits on a lot once isolated by the expressway but now opens onto the Greenway. Proposed projects include a mixed-use industrial, retail and residential area at Lovejoy Wharf and a high-rise tower proposed for the Harbor Garage site.

Boston City Properties works with an extended network of real estate professionals including lenders, tax specialists and developers. Whether you prefer a short-term investment, a capital gains-deferred exchange or a long-term investment for regular income, we can help you purchase properties that complement your investment goals. Call 617-247-1933 to speak to one of our real estate agents about exciting investment opportunities in the Waterfront District.

The hectic pace at which buildings are being planned and developed proves that the Waterfront District in Boston is one of the fastest growing real estate markets in the city. Many of the new projects have price tags in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

One of the biggest projects on the horizon for the area is the new $550 million Omni Hotel currently under construction. It will be located next to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and will offer 1054 rooms and upwards of 40,000 square feet of mix use dining and retail space. It will also house one of the largest ballrooms in Boston.

To eliminate parking and traffic headaches, developers plan on building a pedestrian bridge that will connect the parking area found at the Waterfront Transportation Center to the hotel. The hotel will also be connected to the next door convention center with an underground tunnel.

Developers also remark that construction on the new hotel should not pose any problem since the Massachusetts Port Authority owns 800,000 square feet of the development property. This ownership excludes the development from being subject to Boston's zoning codes. The hotel is scheduled to be open to the public in 2021.

Another commercial project currently underway in this neighborhood is the building of General Electric's new Boston headquarters. As the company plans to relocate from Connecticut to Boston, it has proposed the construction of a new $200 million complex. This development, scheduled to open in 2019, will feature a 12-story building that will house the company's main offices.

However, GE also wants to renovate several buildings on the existing property. It plans to rehabilitate a four-story bridge already located on the campus. It also promises to build a new rooftop space for employees and visitors to use.

Developers admit that these new commercial spaces will bring an unprecedented influx of commuters and visitors to the area. While many will arrive via the mass transit system, others may have difficulties driving and finding parking close to the new buildings.

To ease the stress on the mass transit system, developers propose creating a $100 million gondola system that can accommodate up to 15,000 commuters to the area per day. The gondola will run from the South Boston station to the new real estate developments.

While commercial developers are excited about their current and future prospects in the Waterfront district, residential developers and real estate agents are relishing in the neighborhood's red hot housing market. This part of Boston is one of the most expensive places in which to buy a new home. Even so, the demand for housing continues to reach new heights.

Current single family home prices average more than $1433 per square foot. It is just higher than the $1410 per square foot found in Back Bay home prices and $1205 per square foot for Beacon Hill home prices.

The price hikes are also found in the listing prices for condominiums in Waterfront. The typical Waterfront condo sells for $631 per square foot. This price is comparably higher than the $527 square foot average for all-market rate listings throughout the entire city and $422 per square foot for condos in neighborhood districts.

The Boston Waterfront is an area that continues to reach new heights in its real estate market. Much of the growth is currently taking place in the commercial sector. However, home prices also continue to rise higher than in other parts of Boston as the demand for new housing increases.

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