100 Hood Park Drive Addition Earns Final Approval From the BCDC

SMMA’s design for a new vertical addition at 100 Hood Park Drive in Charlestown, MA, received unanimous approval last week from the Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC).

Mark Spaulding, SMMA’s Director of Design, guided committee members through the proposed final design, addressing comments related to the building’s shadows, details about the seventh-floor amenity level, and the building’s fenestration and façade.

Designed by SMMA for Hood Park owners Catamount Management, the project consists of a six-floor, 154,700 square foot addition above a new parking structure with lab and ground-floor retail spaces. The new addition will be a purpose-built lab building with state-of-the-art lab/office facilities and is expected to be in high demand due to the booming biotech and life science market in the Greater Boston area.

100 Hood Park Drive forms part of a wider project of urban renewal in a historically industrial corner of Charlestown. SMMA’s revised Hood Park Master Plan, which was approved by the BCDC in 2019, consists of a multi-use urban destination with a mix of retail, residential, hospitality, office, and lab spaces connected by landscaped trails, bike paths, and parks.

Other recent milestones at Hood Park include the completion of a plaza and water feature adjacent to the iconic Hoods Milk stack, and a green roof and streetscape for The Harvey, a LEED Platinum certified residential building.

Approval from the BCDC clears the way for the project to move into its next phase. Construction for the new addition at 100 Hood Park Drive is slated to begin in April 2022.