New Developments Transform Boston’s Allston Neighborhood

In the Allston neighborhood of Boston, surrounded by elite colleges, the collaboration of two developers is transforming a former industrial area into a resident-friendly neighborhood. Bohler Engineering has supported the integration of two projects into one collective development consisting of two multifamily buildings and one mixed-use building.

The Cobalt Development located at 40 & 20 Rugg Road will be a 270,000 SF mixed-use development across two six-story buildings and will contain 265 apartment units and 2,500 SF of retail space. The structure will also feature a valet parking garage, roof deck, and courtyard. Bohler is providing civil engineering, permitting, and landscape architecture services for the project.

Neighboring 30 Penniman is a proposed seven-story multifamily building with 46 units. An open courtyard will link it to Penniman in the Park (20 Penniman Road), another multifamily building already nearing completion. Bohler is providing civil engineering and permitting services.

The Michaels Organization’s Cobalt Development surrounds Jumbo Capital Management’s 30 Penniman. Due to the configuration of the site, the two developers built a rapport over site development topics.

While serving independent clients and focusing on both sets of project goals, Bohler has worked as the go-between to ensure the developments also meet community requirements. Bohler is collaborating with each developer and the approval board to ensure that both projects can begin construction at the same time, set for this fall, to minimize impact to the surrounding neighborhood.

This new multifamily and mixed-use development will replace four industrial buildings to provide much-needed high-quality housing in the rapidly growing neighborhood. It will also appeal to buyers as opposed to renters, as is the case for much of the existing housing. Bohler has assisted in integrating community input in all stages of the approval process, as we spearheaded the submittals of the Article 80 Large Project Review for the Cobalt Development and the Small Project Review for 30 Penniman to the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA).