Boston, MA
More than 270 new homes approved in Boston this month
New development projects approved in the city of Boston this month will create an estimated 273 new homes, including 156 affordable homes.
At the Boston Planning and Development Agency Board’s monthly meeting on Thursday, the board approved six new residential development projects, some also include commercial space.
According to the board and planning documents, the developments will create about 241 construction jobs and seven permanent jobs.
Here are the projects approved this month:
20 Charlesgate West, Fenway
The largest residential development approved this month was at 20 Charlesgate West in Kenmore Square, where Our Lady’s Guild House lodging house will be converted into 86 affordable apartments by the Fenway Community Development Corporation and the Archdiocese of Boston.
The development will be made up of 22 permanent supportive housing units for people coming out of homelessness, 45 studios and 19 one-bedroom apartments. Twenty units will be reserved for households making up to 30% of the area median income and 39 for households making up to 60% of the area median income.
The project will also include a community room with a kitchen, an office, lounge, laundry facilities, bicycle parking and other resident spaces.
The 140-room lodging house was originally built in 1899 and the redevelopment will largely focus on improvements to energy efficiency, according to planning documents filed with the city.
Current residents of the lodging house will be relocated during construction, and five of the apartments will be set aside at below-market rents for long-term tenants.
279-283 North Harvard St., Allston
The Hill Memorial Baptist Church on North Harvard Street in Allston will be preserved as a community space connected to a new, four-story building with 49 affordable apartments for seniors making up to 60% of the area median income.
According to documents filed by the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, the property currently houses the church and a two-story, single-family home, which will be demolished.
The basement of the former church building, built in 1903, will be used as community space. The development will also include a 2,500-square-foot courtyard and a surface parking lot with 15 spaces.
49-51 D St., South Boston
An existing brick industrial building and parking lot on D Street in South Boston will be replaced with a new, nine-story, mixed-use building with 70 apartments and about 1,970 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.
While most of the apartments will be market-rate, 12 will be income-restricted to follow the city’s inclusionary development policy. The 70 units will be made up of seven studio, 32 one-bedroom, 29 two-bedroom, and two three-bedroom apartments.
The project will also create a landscaped public “pocket park” and add a new Bluebikes station on D Street, according to planning documents. It will include 70 indoor bicycle parking spaces for residents and about 15 visitor bicycle spaces.
691-695 Morton St., Mattapan
In Mattapan, a six-story building with 29 apartments and ground-floor retail space will be constructed on a currently vacant lot on Morton Street.
The apartments in the building will be made up of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Six will be income-restricted to follow the city’s inclusionary development policy.
According to planning documents, the project will include a roof deck for residents and a small parking garage with five spaces for vehicles and 36 bicycle spaces at the rear of the building.
Other projects approved this month
The board also approved two smaller housing projects in Brighton and East Boston.
The first, at 434 Washington St. in Brighton, will convert a vacant single-family home in Brighton into 18 condos with ground-floor retail space facing Washington Street. Three of the units will be income-restricted. The project will also include building new accessibility ramps for nearby sidewalks.
The second project, at 944 Saratoga St., East Boston, will create a four-story building with 21 apartments on a currently vacant lot. The apartments will be a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units.
The final approval at the board’s November meeting was a two-year extension of Berklee College of Music’s 2022-2024 Institutional Master Plan, with no changes to the existing plan.