Somerville, MA ZRE Development, a leading producer of multifamily housing in the greater Boston housing industry, has selected The Congress Companies as construction manager for its 65-71 Bow St. project, a 25 unit five-story multi-family residential building including one-story of retail. The architect for this unique project is Peter Quinn Architects, who also provided all interior designs for the project. The civil engineer is Design Consultants Inc., the mechanical engineer is Norian/Siani Engineering, Inc., Hayes & O’Neill LLC are the structural consultants, and Zero Energy Design are the passive house consultant.

Congress Cos. and ZRE both have extensive experience and strong track records in delivering premium multifamily projects throughout the greater Boston area. The Congress Cos. has completed over 8,000 units of housing across multiple project types throughout the New England and the Mid-Atlantic over the past 40 years.

65-71 Bow St. is designed and will be constructed to Passive House Institute US standards. The Passive House is a sustainable construction concept that provides for, high-quality buildings with extremely low energy consumption, and comfortable, healthy living conditions. As the Passive House principles require thoughtful and exacting design along with construction and quality control standards, ZRE’s selection of its design and construction team required professionals committed to high levels of performance to meet the project’s demanding standards.

Congress worked with ZRE, Peter Quinn Architects and the design team, to manage the project though the pre-construction and construction phases. Congress delivered preconstruction and construction phase scheduling, line-item budgeting, value engineering, cost estimating, and evaluations of alternative building system options as part of its full-service construction management approach.

Congress will lead and coordinate the subcontractor and supplier prequalification, pricing and procurement process. During the site work, which commenced in December 2020, and the construction phase, Congress will manage construction activities, cost control, quality control, and safety programs and procedures.

William Nicholson, CEO of Congress, said, “We are excited to have been selected for this project and are honored to work with ZRE Development. The ZRE team is at the leading edge of the multi- family industry. Their commitment to Passive House and sustainable principles are unparalleled, and we are truly delighted to collaborate with this fine provider on this high-quality project.”

“We are elated to partner with The Congress Companies to build the first large scale mixed-use building in Somerville, designed to achieve Passive House standards. High performance buildings are the future of the industry and we are proud to be at the forefront,” said Scott Zink, president of ZRE Development.