Riverside's Revised Plan Guarantees Newton's Half of the River Path. Weston Holds the Other Half.

The revised Riverside Station plan puts 267 senior units in place of 309 apartments, shortens the garage, and brings in a new lead developer. For anyone in Auburndale who walks, bikes, or paddles past Grove Street, the change that matters most sits at the project's edge. The revision commits Mark Development to finish a multiuse path along Recreation Road all the way to the bridge at the Newton/Weston line, even if Weston never signs off on its own piece. That makes the path the most solid promise to the neighborhood in the whole revision. It also depends on a town that has no vote on the project.

A project that pulls inward

The City Council approved 753 housing units with supporting retail at Riverside in December 2025. Under the new proposal, Greystar becomes the primary developer and Harbert South Bay, a senior living developer, joins as a partner. The city's summary of the proposed changes says the partners would start construction in Spring 2027 and build for about four years.

Here is the city's own side-by-side of the approved and proposed plans:

Nearly every change points inward. The garage loses two floors. The playground, once planned for the Grove Street frontage, moves into the middle of the site. According to Fig City News, the public-realm changes also add resident gardens, stormwater management, a gathering space, and a small bistro with a patio near the rotary.

The one building that gets bigger is Building 2/3, near where the Indigo Hotel stands today. It would hold the senior housing and rise to 59 feet, up from the approved 52. The city also reports 62 fewer on-site affordable units, because a senior building with assisted living and memory care can't feasibly include an affordable component. Under Newton's inclusionary zoning, Mark Development would instead pay about $4,350,000 toward affordable housing elsewhere in the city.

Retail barely changes, going up by 95 square feet. The materials name no grocery or other tenant. For now, the bistro by the rotary is the only food-and-drink use with a described location.

The path, before and after

The edge of the site is where the revision changes what Auburndale can count on.

According to the city's summary, the 2025 approval described a multiuse path running from the project's boundary along Recreation Road and on through Weston, ending at "the existing regional trail network at Riverside Park." That full trail project was priced at $1,500,000. The older deal had a gap in it. If Mark Development couldn't get approvals from the Town of Weston, it would pay the $1,500,000 and have "no obligations to construct any multiuse paths beyond the limit of their site along Recreation Road."

So under the approved plan, a no from Weston meant a check and no path past the property line. Under the revision, the Newton stretch gets built no matter what. Mark Development commits to finish the path from its site to the start of the bridge at the Newton/Weston line. If Weston withholds approval for its section, the developer pays a pro rata share of the $1,500,000, covering only the length inside Weston that it isn't allowed to build.

The state permitting record shows how much of this runs through Weston's process. A February 2026 MEPA notice for the project describes a shared-use path on Recreation Road Extension between Grove Street and Main Street, along with a $1.5 million contribution for the Department of Conservation and Recreation to fund trail design, construction, or improvements. The same notice lists an Order of Conditions from the Weston Conservation Commission among the permits the project expects to need for off-site transportation work.

What's already at the end of Recreation Road

The path matters because of where it leads. Newton Conservators places Riverside Park at the end of Recreation Road, across I-95 from the Leo J. Martin Golf Course. The golf course hosts cross-country skiing in winter. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council describes it as a DCR facility.

The Conservators' property page lists a few details for anyone heading out this fall:

• Blue Heron Trail. The property connects to it, and the wider area has rough trails.
• No bikes. The page lists biking as prohibited, so leave the bike at home for this stretch.
• Canoe launch. Riverside Park has one, and the page lists fishing and paddling among its uses.
• Winter sports. Cross-country skiing at Leo J. Martin is the best-known one.

This riverbank has been public recreation land for more than a century. The Riverside Recreation Grounds, known as "The Rec," once had riverfront sports fields, a pool, tennis courts, and a boathouse. The grounds were given to the Metropolitan Park Commission, DCR's predecessor, in 1914.

Getting there on foot has never been easy. In a 2020 overview, MAPC noted there was no river trail through Leo J. Martin Golf Course, and any future trail there would depend on more study of the course's needs. MAPC also called the sidewalk on the Route 30 bridge over I-95 substandard, in poor condition, and exposed to high-speed ramps. A guaranteed Newton segment along Recreation Road gets walkers closer, but the last link to the trail network still goes through Weston's process.

The clock behind all of it

None of these changes is final yet. The city's development projects page, last updated October 5, 2026, still lists Riverside's special permit as "approved," meaning the 2025 version. The revised plan has to clear its own review before it replaces the approved one.

Fig City News reported on August 18 that Mark Development struggled to raise roughly $150 million after the December 2025 approval. It also reported that the project's agreement with the MBTA requires construction to begin by March 2027. On September 10, the Boston Business Journal ran the headline "Greystar joins Newton's long-delayed Riverside station project," noting the 711-unit project has to start by March to meet MBTA requirements. The city's summary says Spring 2027. Those two targets overlap by only a few weeks, which leaves little room for delays in financing or permits.

Four things are still open for anyone who uses Grove Street, the station, or the river:

1. Traffic. The city expects traffic to go down, but its summary says the traffic study isn't finished yet.
2. Commuter parking. The 727 garage spaces cover both residents and MBTA riders. The plan doesn't yet show how they'll be split, or how station parking will work during four years of construction.
3. Retail tenants. The square footage is set. Who will lease it is not.
4. Weston's segment. The Newton half of the path is now promised. The connection to the regional trail network at Riverside Park still needs Weston's approval.

Closer to the village this fall

The project's timeline runs into 2027. The village calendar for the next few weeks is set, and it starts right after this post goes up.

• Saturday, October 31, 11 a.m. to noon. Halloween Story Time and Craft at the Auburndale Community Library, with costumes welcome, spooky stories, and a monster-making craft.
• Saturday, November 7. Winners of the Halloween Window Painting Contest, scheduled for October 24 with an October 25 rain date, will be celebrated at City Hall. Auburndale is one of seven participating village centers.
• Wednesday, November 11. Newton Parks and Recreation hosts a LEGO Family Photo Scavenger Hunt at Auburndale Cove, with sessions listed from 10 a.m. to noon and from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

If you live near Grove Street or Recreation Road and wonder how a smaller garage, a guaranteed path, and a 2027 groundbreaking might affect your home's value, Valerie Wastcoat is glad to walk through it with you street by street. Request a complimentary home valuation, and she'll keep you posted as the revised Riverside plan moves through review.