By Seth Daniel
As the steel bones of the new Lower Broadway in Everett – just over the Charlestown line – begin to climb to the sky at the Wynn Boston Harbor, old stalwarts on the roadway are about to disappear.
Wynn Boston Harbor announced this week that it will begin the demolition of the former Mobil Gas Station on Lower Broadway – a stalwart stopping point on the way to and from Boston for decades.
The station will be acquired by the Wynn Boston Harbor resort and it will serve as the entrance to the property.
“That station is going to be demolished,” said Greg John of Wynn Boston Harbor. “It’s going to be happening very soon because that’s where our entrance will be.”
The Dunkin’ Donuts next door is likely to go, but John said it would be staying a little bit longer.
Already this month, fencing crews moved in to put a barrier around the station in preparation for its demolition.
There was no record of sale yet for the property, which is listed in City records as being owned by VMA Corporation. The property is likely under agreement with Wynn, however, as it was listed as the address in a large mortgage transaction two years ago from Deutsche Bank, according to property records from the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds.
Wynn has purchased a number of properties, with one of the largest acquisitions on the books being the LTI Limo property on Bow Street. LTI has been working on a plan to relocation to Chelsea, where its airport heavy business will now be headquartered. There was no timeline for when that property would be taken over by Wynn.
Already, the GT’s Lounge and an accompanying building have been demolished.
Last year, the McDonald’s was torn down and rebuilt next door. The brand new showpiece restaurant opened in March.
Additionally, 3 Charlton St. was acquired by Wynn and demolished as well, opening up in November 2016 as the central nervous system of the design, planning and construction coordination work.
A building directly in front of the site on One Horizon Way – a new office building that was built and never occupied – was acquired and demolished some time ago.
At the same time as the Mobil gets ready to become history, the future of the city is rising higher and higher with steel beams from the tower now being easily seen from the roadway.
The beams now visible – which are two large silo shapes are where the new garage entrance and bus drop-off location will be on the entry road.
John said there are 10,000 pieces of steel weighting 11,000 tons that are ready to go up vertically. When steel is topped off, it will rise to the same height, roughly, as the adjacent windmills topmost blade positioning.
As an interesting fact, John said that six Boeing 777 airplanes could fit within the basement footprint of the building.
On the waterfront, he also said that the old, abandoned barges on the shore will soon be removed as they begin work on the shoreline.
Wynn Boston Harbor has recently been hosting dignitaries from the State House to the site for tours of construction site. Earlier this month, they hosted Gov. Charlie Baker and a contingent of officials from the administration for a tour and update.
Then on Tuesday, June 13, they hosted several state legislators, including State. Rep. Dan Ryan and State Sen. Sal DiDomenico.