Incomplete picture

As development booms across the harbor, boosters’ anxiety over languishing waterfront projects in East Boston rises

July 12, 2011|By Kathleen Pierce, Globe Correspondent

Fenced-off land near Clippership Wharf in East Boston, site of a proposed… (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe…)

Just the words “South Boston Waterfront’’ can set off City Councilor Sal LaMattina of East Boston.

“I love my neighbors in South Boston, but it’s time the city looked at East Boston. It’s our time now,’’ he said.

LaMattina’s frustration echoes a common lament in East Boston; that all the action in waterfront development is happening across the harbor in South Boston. And despite having fabulous views from an expansive waterfront, and no shortage of big projects that would maximize Eastie’s vantage point, there is little sign that long-dormant development will pick up anytime soon.

With so much focus on the South Boston waterfront, “you feel like a stepchild here,’’ said Carlo Basile, the state legislator who represents East Boston. “South Boston is so hot, everyone wants to live over there, but we have a better view.’’

Four main projects - Portside at Pier One, New Street, Clippership Wharf, and Hodge Boiler Works - have languished for years. Most, like New Street, are fully permitted and awaiting financing.

“We didn’t think it was going to take as long as it took,’’ admitted Bruce Ohanian, who with his family owns three attached buildings on a four-acre waterfront parcel on New Street.

Ohanian started the development process 11 years ago and did not receive his final permit until this spring. His plan calls for 224 apartments and adding seven stories onto a nine-story building. At 16 stories, it will be the tallest building in East Boston. He is looking for a financial partner, a developer to run with the project, or an outright sale.

Some people have expressed interest, but “there is some pioneering that needs to be done. Charlestown has emerged, the North End … this is East Boston’s time now,’’ said Ohanian.

Residents have been saying that for years. LaMattina remembers first hearing talk of redeveloping East Boston’s waterfront when he began working for the mayor’s office in 1987. Twenty-four years later, LaMattina calls the inertia in his community, which has staggering views of downtown Boston, Bunker Hill, and the Zakim Bridge, “disappointing’’ and singles out choice weed-choked waterfront plots that have stood idle for years as “disgusting.’’

“When you hear ‘waterfront development,’ you think of opportunities for jobs. We need to do something,’’ said LaMattina.