Local, state officials celebrate Wonderland garage opening

The new $53.5 million parking garage and transit structure at Wonderland T station in Revere is a harbinger of more redevelopment to come, said dozens of city, state and federal officials who attended the garage’s official opening Saturday.”Today marks a great and major turning point in Revere’s pursuit of economic development,” said Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo.The garage consolidates 1,500 parking spaces in one open structure, which sits next to a glass-enclosed building that is the hub for a dozen bus routes, the MBTA’s Blue Line and, after this fall, a pedestrian bridge and plaza that will allow people to walk to Revere Beach without crossing busy roads.State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said the garage has been years in the making, but now that it’s here, it can serve as a catalyst for a planned 100 million square feet of residential and commercial development around the T station and beach.He said transit-oriented development like what’s happening at Wonderland is the future of real estate in Massachusetts.”People want sustainable travel options,” he said in a speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Public transit can fulfill economic development.”If all goes according to plan, the same officials could be back at Wonderland in the fall to cut the ribbon on a bridge that will connect pedestrians to the beach via Wonderland station’s second floor, said Paul Rupp, the principal for Swampscott-based Community Reinvestment Associates, which headed the project.”This is the keystone of all the development that will take place,” he said, standing inside the enclosed station, which features blue, green and grey blocks of color high above glass windows overlooking North Shore Road.Developers with Boston-based Eurovest Development are finishing master plans for a proposed hotel, roughly 700 apartments or condominiums and offices and shops in the now-abandoned parking lots on Ocean Avenue and near Revere Beach.All of that could happen over the next two years, but Joseph DiGangi, the managing director of Eurovest, said much of it depends on if nearby Suffolk Downs racetrack receives the go-ahead from the state to build a casino. If it does, he said, that could spur changes at Wonderland such as building a bigger hotel.He said his company has potentially found a tenant for the hotel but declined to share the name until the agreement is official.The praise surrounding Wonderland came a day before the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority raised fares across its system to close a projected $185 million budget deficit by January 2013.MBTA Chief Jonathan Davis said he knows those fare hikes could hurt some of Wonderland’s 6,000 daily T users but that he hopes the new station and garage serve as a symbol of the MBTA’s commitment to its customers.”A facility like this shows we have reinvested some of that money back into the system,” he said.Twelve-year-old Kamilia Sinkevych of Marblehead, who got off the T in Wonderland after a Saturday morning trip to Boston, certainly appreciated the new structure.”It’s really beautiful,” she said.Sinkevych said she especially likes the fact that the bus stops are now enclosed and protected from the elements.”There’s a place for the buses to come in and you don’t have to wait outside,” she said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].