Stimulus funds boost project in Revere

The state’s commitment in December of $22.7 million in federal stimulus funding has propelled a long-sought project to develop a nine-acre parcel between the Wonderland MBTA station and Revere Beach.

The stimulus funds account for almost half the cost of a nine-story parking garage at Wonderland Station, near the site of a planned mix-use development that is expected to include 902 residential units, a hotel, 145,000 square feet of office space, and 28,000 square feet of retail space.

“In order for any development to occur, you need more parking than currently exists in the area,” said Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino.

The amount of surface parking in the area, Ambrosino added, is expected to decline as the land near Wonderland Station becomes more valuable to developers.

The MBTA, which will own and operate the parking garage, has committed about $11.3 million in bond financing. Revere, meanwhile, will channel roughly $13 million in transit-oriented federal earmarks and state grants to the project.

The proposed development, known as Wonderland Square, would include a footbridge to a historic stretch of Revere Beach in an area that local officials have sought to revitalize for decades. Ambrosino noted that special legislation authorizing the city to acquire a nine-acre parcel near the ocean from the Department of Conservation and Recreation was approved in the mid-1970s.

An agreement to acquire the state-owned land has yet to be worked out, but Ambrosino expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved relatively easily now that funding for the parking garage is in place.