CWDI updates Cambridge waterfront: promenade progress, harbor master plan, hotel talks and brokerage debate

The Cambridge Waterfront Development Initiative (CWDI) on Thursday updated city and county partners on construction of the waterfront promenade, a new harbor master plan and related development steps, saying the promenade is roughly two-thirds complete and that agency and private partners remain in talks about a hotel, fishing pier and marketing strategy.

CWDI President Andy Hanks said the promenade project is a $3,000,000 effort funded primarily by a U.S. Economic Development Administration award. “This is a $3,000,000 project with 2,400,000.0 coming from EDA with a $600,000 match from CWDF,” Hanks said, adding that the poured concrete base completed recently will be topped with brick pavers and is designed to allow emergency-vehicle access. He said the general contractor is Earth Movers and that CWDI expects work complete by the end of the summer, if not sooner.

The funding match for the EDA award, Hanks and other presenters clarified during discussion, includes a $300,000 land valuation under the promenade footprint plus a $300,000 cash match drawn from a prior state PAYGO award. CWDI emphasized the land portion is limited to the promenade…