Developer promises one of Boston's first 'post-Covid' projects: Residences and R&D labs on Lincoln Street in Brighton

Local developer Berkeley Investments has told the BPDA it will soon file detailed plans for a three-building complex with 314 residential units and 548,000 square feet of office and R&D space at the Harvard-owned 176 Lincoln St. - the old Boston Tech Center that has sat vacant since the 1980s.

Berkeley says it will tear down the current building and turn the 5.2-acre site into "an 'innovation village' that embraces science, technology, education, art and maker culture in the heart of Allston-Brighton," just across the turnpike from the Boston Landing commuter-rail stop. The buildings will also include retail space and the site will have one acre of open space, the company says.

The complex will be built for a post-Covid world, featuring "new design, engineering and operating strategies in light of this new normal," Berkeley says.

Harvard bought the site for $16 million in 2006 as it was busy snapping up large parts of the area. But aside from a deal to let the Skating Club of Boston move there - which collapsed after nearby residents protested - the school did nothing with the property until last year, when it teamed up with Berkeley to figure out what to do with the parcel.

Harvard bought the property from developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, which turned the hulking warehouse that used to sit there into the Boston Tech Center as a possible home for biotech companies and Globix, an Internet services company that went bankrupt in the dotcom bust.

176 Lincoln St. letter of intent (436k PDF).