Cambridge Planning Board Unanimously Approves Center Plaza Schematic Design in Kendall Square

CAMBRIDGE — December 10, 2024 — Cambridge Planning Board approves schematic design for Center Plaza, a new Kendall Square park above an underground electrical substation. Voting 7-0 at its December 10 meeting, the board — sitting jointly with the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority — approved the schematic design submitted by Boston Properties Limited Partnership for a publicly accessible plaza planned above a roughly 100-foot-deep Eversource substation vault near 290 Binney Street, with the condition that the project return to the full board at the design development stage. BXP's Jeff Lohenberg told the board the substation is targeted for energization in 2029, after which plaza construction can begin, while two adjacent buildings — a 38-story residential tower at 121 Broadway and an 18-story life sciences building at 290 Binney Street — are under construction with completions expected in 2026 and 2027. CDD urban designer Eric Philpotton said the design had become "a richer, more interesting, more memorable space" over two years of revision, and members pressed the team on planting palette depth, accessibility details, and the materiality and form of a polished aluminum-tile structure called the Beacon. In a separate 5-0 vote, the board declined to make any recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals on a sign variance request by Moderna to install an approximately 142-square-foot internally illuminated wall sign above the 20-foot height limit at its global headquarters at 325 Binney Street.