Joslin Diabetes Center's $200M Expansion Gets City Approval

BOSTON-The Joslin Diabetes Center’s $200 million mixed-use project finally got its green light from the city. The Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the center’s expansion plan which the institution is calling the “western gateway” to the Longwood Medical Area.

The 490,000-sf project involves a 29-story, 305-ft residential tower, 150 units and 306,000 sf of lab space. The buildings will be located adjacent to the present Joslin Diabetes Center site at One Joslin Place. The project is the first one to go under the LMA interim guidelines, which is a precursor to a master plan for this area-home to a concentration of medical and academic institutions that the city is in the process of creating to control development.

In a surprise move at BRA’s last meeting, the city agency delayed its vote on approving the project because it wanted Joslin to increase the affordability component. At the time, the project had 10% of its units as affordable, the required amount according to the city’s inclusionary zoning code, but Meredith Baumann, a spokesperson for BRA, tells GlobeSt.com that the city wanted to see more.

“Due to the impact of the project we wanted to make sure there was adequate mitigation,” she says. “The size of the project warranted more affordable housing.” Joslin increased the amount of affordable to 20% with 10% of that on site and the other 10% to be developed within the neighboring communities.

Both Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, president of the Joslin Diabetes Center and Mary K. Iacocca professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School emphasize that this expansion is critical to Joslin’s mission to find a cure for diabetes.

“We’ve been working with city officials for over two years to ensure that the project was acceptable to the surrounding community and met BRA design guidelines for development in the LMA,” emphasizes Carl Finn, Joslin’s general counsel, who has led the project team. “Through this project we are able to help the City of Boston meet some of its needs, including increased housing and job training opportunities for local residents.”

The Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, was established in Boston in 1898 and has been located in the Longwood Medical Area since the 1950s. The Center’s most recent major construction was in the early 1990s when several floors were added. The current Joslin facility houses the world’s largest academic diabetes research effort.