| The latest company to attempt redeveloping the 1,400-acre SouthField property in Weymouth is proposing 1,000 units of 55-and-older housing and an increase in zoning for commercial space.
Although no commercial development has taken place at the site since the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station closed in 1997, LStar Management of Raleigh, North Carolina, is seeking to rezone the property to add 1 million square feet of commercial space, up from the current 2 million square feet, the Patriot Ledger reported. The company also wants approvals for 1,000 units of 55-and-over housing in addition to the 2,850 that were approved by the towns of Abington, Rockland and Weymouth in 2007.
“I think 3 million or more is in our grasp,” LStar Managing Partner Kyle Corkum told Weymouth councilors Monday night.
Since the air base closed in 1997, only two apartment complexes, 100 single-family homes and a senior living complex have been built.
LStar acquired the property in May from Starwood Land Ventures, which succeeded LNR Partners as master developer of the property. In January, Pulte Homes of Atlanta acquired a parcel from Starwood for $4.5 million, where a 200-unit condo complex is planned.
In July, LStar sold a 17-acre property to Pulte for a 108-unit residential community, which will become the first phase of Pulte’s planned Brookfield Village community. The project will include 81 single-family homes and 27 townhouses built in two phases, with units ranging from 1,800 to 2,200 square feet.
In a key infrastructure element of the project, the MWRA has indicated that it supports supplying water to the development which currently uses Weymouth as its water supply.
In a recent letter to Corkum, MWRA Executive Director Frederick Laskey said the MWRA board will vote Sept. 16 whether to supply the property with water service. The project would require construction of a 7-mile pipeline through Braintree and Weymouth to the former air base.
