Construction workers finished baseline excavation work this week on one of the city’s biggest new developments on Langdon Avenue where a former railroad yard operated decades ago.
The development, called the Rail Yard, is one of the biggest in the city where 199 rental units are expected to be built. The complex will feature affordable apartments, a community clubhouse, a fitness center and two commercial spaces spread between four larger buildings and two smaller, three-story buildings when all phases are complete.
“The site itself was an urban landfill,” said construction project manager Sean Donnelly. “They leveled these buildings and buried a lot of it in place.”
Over the past two and a half months, Donnelly and his crew pulled up building debris, including brick, concrete, granite slabs and old railroad timbers, he said. What they found isn’t unusual for a site like this.
In addition, crews cleared trees from the far south end of the property where a storm retention pond will be built. They also dug out the area for four foundations – three residential and one community building.
“We did the excavation for the footing and foundations and we have four building pads ready,” Donnelly said. “We have about 10% done with construction so far.”
When the project was first presented to the Planning Board in the summer of 2021, Massachusetts developer Dakota Partners estimated construction could take between 12 and 18 months. City officials expect the first certificates of occupancy could be is sued by the fall of 2023.