By Dan Murphy
The owner of Motor Mart Garage has apparently scrapped its ambitious redevelopment plans and is now reportedly poised to put the property on the market this winter.
The CIM Group, owner of the century-old garage since 2016, has apparently hired the global commercial real estate services and investment firm, CBRE, to potentially sell the 1.2 acre site, which spans a full city block where Bay Village meets Back Bay, according to the Jan. 7 edition of The Boston Globe. (Banker & Tradesman first reported the listing.) Prior to the pandemic, an affiliate of the Los Angeles-based CIM Group and Boston Global Investors were poised to redevelop the existing eight-story, Art Deco garage at 201 Stuart St. into a mixed-use building with new condominium units located within the western portion of the existing structure, as well as additional units within a new 20-story residential tower that would sit atop of the existing structure. In all, the project would have created 306 new residential units while retaining approximately 46,000 square feet of restaurant space and retail space, along with 672 of the 1,037 existing parking spaces. The project would also have included a new basement-level space at Columbus Avenue and Church Street designed to accommodate a supermarket.