Lewis Wharf Hotel
Update
09/25/16
State ruling sends proposed Lewis Wharf Hotel back to drawing board
Last Wednesday (September 21st, 2016), The State of Massachusetts' Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ruled that development projects cannot be built onto wharves, piers, and pilings that are submerged by water at high tide, sending the proposed 277-key Lewis Wharf Hotel on the North End waterfront back to the drawing board. Per plans filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) in September 2015, the hotel was proposed to be built on a four-acre waterfront site; while 2.4 acres would have sat on Lewis Wharf, an additional 1.6 acres were planned atop decaying pilings in Boston Harbor.
The DEP ruled that, given many of the decaying pilings are submerged during high tide, the pilings cannot be built upon. "Regarding the proposed Lewis Wharf Project, the Department believes that this regulatory clarification will result in a substantially reduced project shoreline," states the official DEP ruling.
