Encore Boston Harbor

Wynn Resorts retained FPA to manage the environmental strategy and permitting for a hotel/resort and gaming facility in Everett, MA. Located on a 32-acre brownfield site formerly occupied by Monsanto, the project had a challenging environmental review process. The three-million-square-foot, $2.5 billion project, the largest building in New England, activates a neglected portion of the Mystic River industrial waterfront with extensive public amenities both on- and off-site. During the course of design and permitting, the project team incorporated numerous sustainability/resiliency features including raising the ground floor substantially above existing grade to account for future flood events and sea level rise, incorporating a 20-foot wide public Harborwalk along the shoreline, a living shoreline and coastal bank restoration component, water transportation services, and LEED Gold certification. Located on a former Monsanto chemical factory site, the site preparation alone included $68 million in soil cleanup and restoration, removing over 800,000 tons of contaminated soil and 40,000 tons of sediment. Approximately 30,000 tons of clean sand were used to cap contaminated sediment, and a 24,000 square-foot living shoreline was designed to replace the original sheet piling. The public amenities provide shoreline access to the public at the site for the first time in over one hundred years.

FPA has successfully managed the complex public process in the face of multiple environmental and legal challenges, requiring extensive coordination with local, state, and federal agencies and outreach to multiple stakeholders. Concurrently with the resort project proposal, FPA has led permitting efforts with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to permit a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge that will connect the project across the Mystic River to the MBTA’s Assembly Orange Line rail station in Somerville, MA.