Newmarket, the area between the South Bay shopping plaza and Roxbury at the Melnea Cass Blvd. intersection with Massachusetts Avenue, came into existence in the 1950s, as the city’s food processing and meatpacking sector moved out of downtown Boston.

Now, 70 years later, property owners and the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) are, as one planner put it, “looking very closely at how to improve the public realm [in Newmarket] and making a neighborhood that feels safe and welcoming to everyone who’s using it.”

The properties there are still heavily industrial, but over time a variety of companies have set up shop within its boundaries, from construction firms to anti-violence nonprofits. The space is also occupied by a large number of public employees at places like 1010 Mass. Ave., the headquarters of the city’s Inspectional Services Dept. and its Fire Protection Service.

Newmarket’s workforce is considered more racially and ethnically diverse than the city’s overall numbers, and a majority of the area’s workers live within 10 miles of their jobs.

The owners recently put together a Business Improvement District, financed and controlled by them, that was signed off by City Hall. The BPDA is in the midst of refining and finalizing documents, along with expected zoning changes, that will propel the area into its next phase, with a proposal due by the end of the year.

A series of planning meetings, formal and informal, has been ongoing, with slated for November.

Arthur Jemison, Mayor Wu’s chief of planning and the head of the BPDA, called Newmarket a “fascinating place,” citing its wide range of different businesses and its role as a center for jobs.

“When a community has that range of different kind of uses, it’s a careful balance of trying to preserve critical uses that may not be in other parts of the city and have a hard time finding a home, but also having that balanced with the uses that would like to come and be present and increase values in the area,” he said.

Planners have raised the prospect of improving the pedestrian experience and adding bike-sharing locations to encourage sharing the public street with the heavy-duty vehicles that come and go from the loading zones, docks, and garages in the area.

The heavily industrial sections of Newmarket, in particular, lack sidewalks, while the overall area is served by nine bus routes, has a commuter rail station on the Fairmount Line, and is close to the Red Line’s Andrew Station.

In one presentation, city planners identified Newmarket as “particularly problematic” for mobility and safety. The problem areas include Massachusetts Avenue and Newmarket Square; Southampton Street and Allstate Road; Theodore Glynn Way; and Melnea Cass Boulevard and Mass. Ave., where city officials have been working to deal with a steady influx of people struggling with addiction and homelessness.

With its hard surfaces and lack of a tree canopy exacerbating what’s known as the “heat island” effect, the area also is affected by rising temperatures due to climate change City planners have floated adding trees, and looking at other ways to reduce the heat effect, such as social spaces that involve misters and hammocks under tents, as well as solar canopies on roofs.

Ted Schwartzberg, one of the BPDA planners working on the area, said the recommendations to improve bike-riding and walking are “low-hanging fruit.”

“Just because it’s an industrial neighborhood, doesn’t mean it has to be an unpleasant space to occupy,” he said.

During a May 2022 presentation that laid out possible land use scenarios, planners showed one map with a mix of traditional industrial space, a hybrid of industrial and commercial space, room for creative makers and manufacturers, lab and commercial, and a small quadrant between Andrew Square and the Newmarket commuter rail station as lab, commercial, and residential.

Asked if Newmarket could absorb some of the demand for life science space, which is spilling into Dorchester along the Morrissey Boulevard corridor, Jemison said they are trying the gauge the impact of encouraging more life sciences companies in the area.

City planners must also take into account the future of publicly owned land, such as 1010 Massachusetts Avenue.

“We’re obviously looking at what role do our buildings, streets, other things we own in the area, rights of way, what role they have to play,” Jemison said, noting that 1010 Mass. Ave is the Inspectional Service Department’s home, and that it also houses the Fire Department’s Protection Service. “Nothing to report yet, but definitely part of our plan is to consult with them about their buildings,” Jemison added.